Please Help

I graduated College in 2003 with a degree in biomedical engineering. Unfortunately, my gpa was extremely low, 2.3. I was discouraged by my counselor to try medical school and encouraged to be a P.A., which I did not want to be. While working full time as a chemist for a pharmaceutical company; I decided to get my MBA from AIU and graduated with a ~3.85. I have been a medical sales rep and sales manager since 2005 and have helped successfully grown the the company by 50% every year. I want to be an oncologist and I am willing to do whatever it takes. I am actually in a better position right now than I was 7 years ago for med school.

I’m in a very similar boat… I also graduated college in '03 with a science degree and a low GPA; I also now work in industry where I’ve had success; I also now want to attend medical school.


Before leaping in, I’d recommend you start by testing the waters:


First, see how you feel about a clinical environment. In other words, put your dream to a test… see if you really truly enjoy what it is that a doctor does. But don’t do it just once and say “yup, this is for me;” you have to keep at it until the novelty wears off. That way, you can honestly assess your interest. For example, I started my “exploration” by volunteering at a free clinic; some days are awesome, some days are grueling, some days are boring… every day, though, I ask myself “is this what I want to do with my life?”


Second, enroll in a science class at a local university or college; ideally a competitive course with other premeds. See if you’re really as excited by the material and education as you think you are. You might have to consider enrolling in a post bacc course, which is tough. The MCAT is very difficult too. It doesn’t get any easier when you enter med school. Make sure you’re ready to commit to many years of dedicated study. I took the leap by enrolling in a college physiology course… it wasn’t easy and I had to tone down the frequency of many other family/friends activities to succeed.


Once you’ve done these two things and you’re still as motivated, then you can start thinking about the next appropriate next steps, whether post bacc, MCAT prep, etc. There is no way to achieve this process quickly… it will take time; perhaps years until you even apply to medical school. But if you really want this, you can’t let that deter you.

One other thing to note: science courses expire!!! If a class was taken over five years ago (seven years for physics, I believe, but five for the rest), then med. schools will no longer count them! You will most likely want to join a Postbac program to retake those courses that you need.

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One other thing to note: science courses expire!!!!! If a class was taken over five years ago (seven years for physics, I believe, but five for the rest), then med. schools will no longer count them! You will most likely want to join a Postbac program to retake those courses that you need.



Not necessarily true.

The topic of expired pre-requisites has been discussed on this forum quite a bit.

I think the bottom line is that you need to check with the schools that you are applying to.

A better option may be to forego repeating a class and take an advanced science class instead.

This is not necessarily true. I checked with the schools I want to apply to and all said they is no expiration on classes taken.

Great post by Jd… You really need to get the feel of what being in the healthcare is all about … I spent around six months volunteering at a level 1 ED to see if I can handle the blood, sweat, and tears (and urine smell too) … That is just a start … You get the point … I knew if I could not handle even that then I knew I would not be able to handle cutting up bodies (gross anatomy).


It was not all fun changing sheets and wheeling patients down to XRAY/MRI. However, I was there when all the docs got together to review the patient board, learned many new medical terms, and even got to shadow a few docs.


I plan on getting more hours in the fall …