So I’m a junior Neuroscience major at Amherst College and my freshman and sophomore years were not too good due to family problems and weird illnesses so my grades suffered and now my science gpa does not look too hot. It is basically a C+.
I know it is horrible but I have a plan. The rest of my science courses I believe I could get high B or A in them so I can maybe graduate with a 3.1 or higher. So I was thinking of postbac to increase my gpa.
Another kink in the plan is that I want to do an MD/PhD. I know the gpa might not be high enough but I have heard of so many success stories and the things that overcame a low gpa were high MCAT and good research which is what I am striving for. I have good research (nothing publish but its coming) and I am hopeful that my MCAT will be pretty high.
I don’t know if this factors in but I’m also an african american female so I guess an URM so I was wondering if that could help.
So these are my goals. What do you guys think of my plan?
I think you should definitely investigate post-bacc opportunities. There are actually a fair amount of post-baccs whose main purpose is increasing medical school admissions for under-represented people, be it minorities, women, or otherwise disadvantaged.
As for the MD/PhD, these programs are horribly competitive. Not saying you don’t have a chance, but unless you have some awesome undergrad research cooking, I think it’s going to be tough. You could call some schools and inquire about their programs and get a feel for whether or not you stand any kind of chance. In your situation, if you truly want the PhD, you might be better off pursuing that and THEN applying to med school with the PhD in hand. If you did well in your PhD - good recommendations and grades, it could help your medical school application.