Bad Gpa

[FutureMD46]

I have a 2.1 GPA. No im not proud of it and im not going to make excuses i just plain and simple messed up. This is not to say im not smart. I am just the type of person that is not interested in my school and have alot of distractions in the city that i live in. When i am focused the sky is the limit for my ability. I do research at my university on mitochondrial reproduction and the interaction with HIV and anti-retroviral drug treatment. I will be published in a few months as a second author in the journal "Cell" So all i can say is when i put my mind to something i can excel at anything. I have already taken the proper steps to making myself a better student by taking summer classes and getting tutored on how to study.

My dream is and has been since i was young is to become a physician. I have noticed that my GPA is pretty much something that cant be recovered from so all of my hopes of going to a US medical school is out the window. So this leaves me with the Caribbean. I know that a few different school offer a way to go to their schools without having to finish college or take an MCAT. I think this is going to be the best route for me to take if i want to accomplish my goal.

My question is what do you think the chances of getting accepted to a caribbean medical school and what schools. Thanks for you time

[spch]

I think u are better off taking some classes to improve ure GPA. Competition in the top caribbean schools will make it difficult to get in and you really do nead a good MCA to offset teh GPA. My suggestion is to take more time to increase the GPA, retake any science classes that were mediocre, prep for the MCAT and then u can say that at least u have changed ure ways.

[FOID]

I know that a few different school offer a way to go to their schools without having to finish college or take an MCAT. I think this is going to be the best route for me to take if i want to accomplish my goal.

My question is what do you think the chances of getting accepted to a caribbean medical school and what schools. Thanks for you time

many schools require you to take the MCAT. since you believe your grades can't be fixed, you must do extremely well on the MCAT to be considered.

[stateofequilibrium]

Just because you believe US schools are out of the window, doesn't mean you should also limit yourself as well to a few of the Caribbean schools who don't require the MCAT (mainly the questionable ones). Finish college, maybe do another year, take as many upper division science courses as you can and do as the best you can, TAKE THE MCAT. You'll find you'll have a lot more opportunities if you do so. Plus, it'll prove to yourself that you can do it before throwing tens of thousands of dollars to the wind.

[ericismyname]

I would retake all the classes you got a D in and maybe some of the science prereq Cs. Like they said above you will want to take the mcat and do really well on it to try and offset your GPA, but I dont know if even a 30+mcat will offset a 2.1 GPA enough. I guess the only real thing to do is try. Most people study for the MCAT for at least a semester. But like I said above I would retake a bunch of classes so you have at least a 3.0 cum and 3.0+science. then not as much pressure will be on you to get a 30+mcat which isn't impossible but not the easiest to do.

[stateofequilibrium]

My question is what do you think the chances of getting accepted to a caribbean medical school and what schools. Thanks for you time

Oh, and to answer this question as honestly as possible right now: The really bad ones.

Take the MCAT, do as well as you can on it while taking as many sciences courses as you possibly can and doing REALLY well in them.

[slevit1]

No question...take the MCAT. You don't want to be at the schools that don't require it! Unless you bring up your GPA quite a bit and do well on the MCAT, you're going to have a difficult time getting into the Big 4 carib schools, but you may be able to get into SMU, AUA, or St. Eustatius. Don't limit your self to the lowest of the low.

[FOID]

like SOE said, finish school. if your grades are bad, do a master's program or a post-bacc program. that will strengthen your GPA.

[slevit1]

like SOE said, finish school. if your grades are bad, do a master's program or a post-bacc program. that will strengthen your GPA.

Post bacc or masters probably won't help for the US, but probably the caribbean. I think you're right that you're not going to recover enough for a US school.

[ericismyname]

Post bacc or masters probably won't help for the US, but probably the caribbean. I think you're right that you're not going to recover enough for a US school.

He couldn't fully recover. Depending on his transcript he would probably spend a couple semester retaking D and Cs, and then finishing up his current programs getting A and **. So i would think he could recover but probably never be at like 3.5+

[Zut Alors!]

I know that a few different school offer a way to go to their schools without having to finish college or take an MCAT. I think this is going to be the best route for me to take if i want to accomplish my goal.

This is the worst way for you to go about accomplishing your goal.

Here's what you need to do:

1) Take at least 1-2 more years of undergraduate courses in the US; and not easy ones whose only point is to raise your GPA. Indeed, you do need literally straight A's from here on out, but you also need to immerse yourself in challenging science courses. You have to prove not to adcoms, but yourself as well, that you can handle a full semester course load of difficult material. If you can't do well in undergraduate classes, you will become a statistic if you ship yourself off to a Caribbean medical school. Be as prepared as possible before you go to an overseas medical school.

2) Take the MCAT; study as much as you can and become as familiar as possible with the exam before you take it. For someone in your position, you need to do as well as possible on it. Hopefully you can break 30.

3) Retake any science courses that were a C- or lower; don't bother retaking a class in which you've received a C or better, because your GPA won't improve much and you won't impress anyone this way.

4) Get into a one-year master's (SMP - Special Master's Program) that is offerred at a variety of schools (Georgetown, Virginia Commonwealth University, Boston University, Eastern Virginia Medical School, UMDNJ, University of Cincinatti, etc.) and get as close to a 3.5 GPA as possible (this will by far be the hardest thing for you to do out of this list).

5) Apply to DO schools, the lowest ranked US MD schools, and some of the more established Caribbean schools.

There's no guarantee you'll get in, but welcome to how medical school admissions works. If you are saying to yourself "that looks like too much work," or "that's going to take too long," than you probably aren't cut out for the field. It may take you a few years to get to medical school, but it will be worth it. You want as few doors shut to you from the get-go as possible. Trust me, there have been people that have gotten into Yale medical school with under a 3.0 GPA; but you better believe that they had some other aspects of their application that blew all others out of hte water. You need to shine from now on in class as well as outside.

[ericismyname]

dang, WELL SAID!