Would this be possible with a very low 2.1 GPA?

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
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Hi everyone, hope you can help me with this big gap in my application.

I am an older nontraditional, 30+ premed applicant which I graduated back in 2015. During that time after 10+ years of schooling, I graduated with a 2.1 cGPA, 2.2 sGPA. Yes, it was very horrific and there were many reasons beyond it, but mostly it was my fault. Most of the courses were science and math classes which I have C for all of them. Apparent we can graduate with C’s, but that doesn’t take you any further.

After a few years, I was working on my maturity, focus, and gather clinical experiences. I came back to school doing DIY postbacc at a local university and was able to have a 3.7 GPA after 30 credits. However, thanks to your handy Mappd, I could only raise my GPA of about 2.4 cGPA and 2.5 sGPA. I could take additional 90 credits to get over a 2.75 GPA, but that would take 4 more years and I do not have the resource to continue paying for classes. I did take an MCAT which I scored a 510. In addition, I have a substantial amount of volunteer hours and clinical experience.

I have spoken to many MDs and DOs schools to see if they would ever consider my application with a low 2.4 GPA. I even tried to sell myself as a potential candidate to them. However, as I feared, I was shut down for the most part. Most of them required at least a 2.75 cGPA despite being considered a holistic review. Some schools would recommend me to do their very pricy master’s program, but my GPA would not let me be eligible as most master’s programs have a hard GPA cutoff, and the admission I have spoken said there would be no further consideration.

However, there were some schools that do look at the last 30 units which I have a shot at, but my options are very limited to the very few. And no, I would not ever consider Caribbean or foreign schools as I have a young family.

I am very frustrated and lost during this process. My past GPA pretty much anchored down of any hope of getting into medical school. I have worked so hard for the past few years to reinvent myself, but odds are that I would not even considered for the majority of them. I am also ORM and do not have any military experience which gives more odds to overcome.

So everyone and Dr. Ryan, what are my options here if I am not considered for master and SMP programs? Should I continue to take more classes and hope for the best or just cut my losses despite how far I have come?

Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

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This is really tough, because of just how competitive med school is. You said it yourself, there are some schools that partially dismiss grades older than 10 years, and you should do research on what these are - sorry I can’t give any advice on this, I just know that they exist. I would say IMG (foreign)/carribean would be your best bet with that GPA, but it seems like you don’t want this. DO seems like a great bet, as well, but still 2.75+ it sounds like. 90 credits is effectively a second bachelor’s degree, which is a ton of classes. I hate saying it, but quoting a Dr. Ryan video, “sometimes it’s just not the right path.”

If the 90 credits would be going towards something that you are passionate about, and could see pursuing if medicine does not work out, I say full steam ahead. Same goes for the masters program. Your best bet to offset that GPA is to be a literal god on the MCAT, like 518+. Prove to a committee that you know your shit. 510 is a good score, but not good enough I don’t think. I say it often, and I’ll say it again. If you want it badly enough, you can get it. Period. You have an uphill battle that’s in the top 1% of difficulty, but it’s possible. It might take 3 years of classes, hundreds of phone calls, emails, and hours researching, and 4+ cycles, but it’s never over until you say it’s over.

You have to weigh the costs of your pursing medicine with the joy you would get through practicing medicine. If it’s worth the many bonus premed years of money, stress, hours, struggles, and hardship, then 7+ years of medschool/residency, then put this baby into gear. If you’re questioning it, my tried-and-true method is to flip a coin - you’ll know what you want it to land on before it lands :wink:

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Also, just came across a great post, similar to yours. Might be worth taking a read: Applying with a troubled beginning college career and personal life

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Thank you for the info. It just sucks and discouraging that for sure. Hopefully, anyone else here who may have a similar experience might have a success story here.