I'm looking to go back into school and start a pre-med track. It has always been my goal to be a doctor, I just repressed this drive for a long time due to family issues and personal problems. I graduated with a 3.8 from community college and was in several honors societies, and transferred to a great state school, TCNJ. This was my first mistake, as I would find out later that TCNJ isn't very well-known outside of New Jersey (a few employers and graduate schools thought it was NJCU). TCNJ was very academically rigorous and a combination of adjusting to classes at TCNJ and severe depression (fueled by a huge family dispute/divorce) caused my grades to go down miserably. I never failed a class, but I got six C's and retook five of them, as well as a couple B-'s. Due to having finished many psychology credits at the community college, I majored in Clinical Psychology, yet my first year's experience destroyed my hopes of attending medical school, so I didn't take any pre-med courses (I even dropped out of biology at that point).
I graduated and have been working for a while at a psychiatric hospital, where I began to read more and more medical material and decided I should try again. I visited the state's DO school and heard of their grade replacement policy. These are my stats:
Community College: County College of Morris
GPA: 3.87
Phi Theta Kappa, International Students' Club, Student Government Association, Youngtown Edition Newspaper
College: The College of New Jersey
GPA: 3.103
A&P Grade: A-
No chemistry, physics, or organic chemistry taken so far. I am looking into WPUNJ's Post Baccalaurate program in Pre-Med, but also into nursing programs in case I don't get accepted due to my TCNJ GPA. I know I can take the level of Pre-Med courses, and I feel like I wasn't giving my all at TCNJ due to my circumstances at the point. I actually think I can go in as a nursing student and fulfill my pre-med requirements first, take my MCAT and apply to schools- if I get in, I get in. If I don't- well, I can continue with nursing.
I have shadowed my family doctor (an Internist) and am going to shadow a DO psychiatrist at my hospital. There is also an opportunity to shadow doctors at the St. Barnabas regional hospital in my town and I am currently speaking to a plastic surgeon to see if I can shadow him as well. I am driven and determined, and I've heard stories of people getting into medical schools with sub-par GPA's, if they did well on the MCATs and put in enough medical experience. I just want to know if my goals are realistic (have been speaking to the DO school in my state as well as a few Carib schools, but I want more opinions since they are admissions boards and may inflate the prospects).
If I do well in pre-med (will also take Genetics, Microbiology, Immunology, and a Public Health course to back up my grades) I can bring my cumulative (Community college & Four-year) GPA to a 3.4-3.5 (community college credits + four year college credits= 3.39ish). I was wondering if there is anything else I can do to bulk up my application. I will be applying to medical schools in two years.
I graduated and have been working for a while at a psychiatric hospital, where I began to read more and more medical material and decided I should try again. I visited the state's DO school and heard of their grade replacement policy. These are my stats:
Community College: County College of Morris
GPA: 3.87
Phi Theta Kappa, International Students' Club, Student Government Association, Youngtown Edition Newspaper
College: The College of New Jersey
GPA: 3.103
A&P Grade: A-
No chemistry, physics, or organic chemistry taken so far. I am looking into WPUNJ's Post Baccalaurate program in Pre-Med, but also into nursing programs in case I don't get accepted due to my TCNJ GPA. I know I can take the level of Pre-Med courses, and I feel like I wasn't giving my all at TCNJ due to my circumstances at the point. I actually think I can go in as a nursing student and fulfill my pre-med requirements first, take my MCAT and apply to schools- if I get in, I get in. If I don't- well, I can continue with nursing.
I have shadowed my family doctor (an Internist) and am going to shadow a DO psychiatrist at my hospital. There is also an opportunity to shadow doctors at the St. Barnabas regional hospital in my town and I am currently speaking to a plastic surgeon to see if I can shadow him as well. I am driven and determined, and I've heard stories of people getting into medical schools with sub-par GPA's, if they did well on the MCATs and put in enough medical experience. I just want to know if my goals are realistic (have been speaking to the DO school in my state as well as a few Carib schools, but I want more opinions since they are admissions boards and may inflate the prospects).
If I do well in pre-med (will also take Genetics, Microbiology, Immunology, and a Public Health course to back up my grades) I can bring my cumulative (Community college & Four-year) GPA to a 3.4-3.5 (community college credits + four year college credits= 3.39ish). I was wondering if there is anything else I can do to bulk up my application. I will be applying to medical schools in two years.