Hi Everyone,
Thanks for having me on the boards. I’ve recently come across this website and have found some fantastic guidance and input on many med school-related issues. Thank you all for everything.
After a 5 year break from an insanely challenging engineering curriculum that I performed poorly in (2.8 GPA), I decided to go all out and try to get into medical school clinging to the hope that a few medical schools out there would be willing to look past my early blunders as a kid, and recognize my 2 straight years of 4.0 work at the graduate level in Biomedical Sciences.
My bad GPA in undergrad was hardly due to a lack of intellect, but can be better attributed to immaturity and lack of guidance during my early college years.
2 years ago at the age of 32 I decided to aggressively pursue premed and then a post-bacc program to help my GPA.
I have the final numbers, and would like some input if you all have a few minutes.
Some information about my background:
Emergency room technician for 2 years with plenty of hands-on experience with patients and physicians
My final BPCM GPA is 3.46
My final overall GPA is 3.18 (Engineering grades KILLED me. Yikes!)
My MCAT first attempt was 32 which I am very happy with.
Based on the experiences of people on this board, is there anyone that can offer any reassurance, suggestions or input as I start applying to various schools?
Thank you all so much for your time as I’m sure there are infinite variations of this type of post.
P.S. I am not trying to get into medical school based on grades alone because clearly there are much better applicants number-wise. I am trying to SHOW the Adcoms that I am not the same person I was 5 years ago. And to prove this, show them a strong increase in GPA even if the cummulative numbers aren’t the most competitive.
Kind Regards,
Bill
Based on everything I’ve been reading, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting into a med-school. The top schools are going to be extra picky, but so long as you don’t have your heart set on a specific school you should get in to a program based on the research I’ve done.
i had a 30 mcat
a 3.12 ugrad gpa (with 2 failing semesters)
a 3.7 science ugrad gpa
and around a 3.5 grad gpa (all science) with my last three quarters of classes being a 3.8
and i am in…
so yes it CAN be done…just look for schools that are willing to look at YOU and not your grades. you are more than that, you are who you are. be sure you can explain how things are different now and what you have changed to make sure that you do not have difficulties again…spin them in a positive rather than a negative light.
best wishes 
Bill, with your ER experience, you have already succeeded in facing intense situations that most beginning med students won’t face for at least 4 more years. You’ve remained stable in the face of traumas and know what the pressures are like.
Plus your stats look good, esp the mcat. Cast a wide net. I think you’ll get some good responses.
Good luck!