Lowest of the low GPA’s

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
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Good afternoon everyone,

Hope everyone is doing well. I’ve been on here for about a month or so, just reading threads and haven’t come across an answer I’ve been searching for, so figured I’d just ask myself.

Quick back story; started college 12 years, basically did poorly or failed all my classes that first year, wasn’t into school at the time. Joined the army, been active duty ever since.

When I left that school 12 years ago, I had a 1.1 gpa. Fast forward, at my current school I have a 3.4 cGPA and a 3.2 sGPA. I was recently made aware that I have to submit all grades when applying, and the 10 yr rule only applies in Texas. That would bring my cGPA down to a 2.5, but my sGPA would stay the same since I never took science class at the first school.

I have 5 classes left until I’m done with my degree, and even if I got all A’s, it would only bring my cGPA to a 2.7 and my sGPA 3.5(for all my math nazis, yes I’ve done the math correctly, they are accurate to the tenth) but from the threads I’ve read I’m seeing that some schools filter out applications below a cGPA of 3.0 .

My question. Does it make sense to get another bachelors to raise my overall GPA, since the focus isn’t with my science pre-reqs? Or does a special masters program and post-baccs need to be what I’m looking at?

Thanks to anyone that can help!

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Unfortunately there are indeed many pre-screening tools that med schools use to filter out the thousands and thousands of applicants; this is almost a unanimous 3.0 GPA. This would mean that many, if not all, of the schools you applied for with a 2.7GPA would not even manually decline - it would be filtered out before it reaches any human hands.

Now, this may seem horrible, but I highly recommend that you actually punch out the math, and see what the highest GPA is you could achieve with a 4.0 post-bacc/masters. It might be possible to squeak out a 3.0, 3.1+, which would be fantastic, because then you could tell your story and how you have overcome all odds. It might also mean that you will have to manually submit letters to each school asking them to review your application before it gets filtered out. Also, what’s so bad with Texas? :wink:

If you want something badly enough, you can get it.

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I think the amount of credits needed to raise my GPA to a 3.0, is around the same amount I’d get with a second bachelors. I just assumed another bachelors would be better, price wise, and GPA. I’m also told a masters isn’t reflected in GPA, so application can still be weeded out.