Hi,
If your GPA is in 2.something. You have already taken all the science courses required for pre-med. You suddenly decided to attend medical school. Which path would you take?
Path 1: Repeat all undergraduate science courses (required for pre-med) to bring up your GPA.
Path 2: Attend a graduate program (relevant to physical sciences)
Athena
Athena
Far from being an expert, I have read on this forum that your graduate GPA doesn’t matter as much as your undergrad GPA as they are computer separately for one and many pre-med don’t have a graduate degree.
Second you can always repeat but it seems that some med schools will always take into account both attempts in the calculation of the GPA. However repeating and taking as many undergrad courses as possible will definitely raise your GPA.
Please experts, comment on this.
Hi,
Thanks for your response.
I would love it if I don’t have to go through a graduate program! They are more intensive and they are designed to create permanent interest in the subject in people (my own opinion). My goal is to get into the medical and not get attached to one subject (graduate programs do that to people).
So, yes it will help with my decision if more people could comment on this issue.
Thanks
There are a few post-baccs designed specifically for students with poor original pre-req grades, such as the special masters at georgetown. But redoing the undergraduate, particularly if they ae more than a few years old is perfectly acceptable as well
When med schools review/reorganize your transcripts, they will see a separate entry/GPA for Post-bacc. Doing well on that and on the MCAT is what you need.
You should also be aware that one of the application differences between MD and DO is that MD will use EVERY grade you ever had (I mean EVERY grade) to calculate your GPA, including repeated courses. DO schools will take the HIGHEST grade of a repeated course
yea I read about a 2 year biomedical science masters program designed for those who want to strengthen their experiences/grades and head on to medical school.
I’m partial to that route though…I would rather repeat my pre-reqs.
Ultimately this falls under my rule #3: It depends
you have to look and what you have, the logistics of where you might want to go to post-bacc, the cost, etc, and decide. Non-traditional implies atypical, no one solution will fit everyone.
no point in doing extra for the sake of a degree. Medical schools are just concerned that you can now handle the material. Retake the classes and set yourself up for 4.0’s (study the material before the class begins, take classes that do not have a high failure rate. Do your homework on the class itself. sit in on a class if you can and confirm that you can get an A.