RN applying to med school: low GPA; what are my options??

[EmergMed23]

hi, basically, i'm here to ask for advice on route options for getting into a medical school, based on my current situation

School: first did practical nursing at an Ontario college (currently an RPN) and just graduated from an Ontario university with a bachelor of science in nursing (BScN) (nclex-rn to be taken shortly)

- university gpa: 2.3

- mcat: haven’t taken it yet and no prep started yet

- medically related experience: nursing school clinicals/ working as an RPN

- extracurriculars: barely any volunteer experience (at least not recently), didn’t join any clubs in university, not particularly part of any groups outside of school other than rec sports

- No other parts of application started yet: personal statement, letters of recommendation, etc.

an individual told me about a 'post bacc' school in toronto called medical education programs (MEP) (https://www.medschoolimg.com/) ... apparently you can take courses at this school to improve your gpa/mcat prep and subsequently apply to the school's partner medical schools (schools that accept their courses/credits).

**I would 100% like to get into a US med school vs. going to the Caribbean and would also like to start in the next 1 to 2 years.  Obviously my gpa is beyond rough so that doesn’t give me leeway to have a choice but just stating this so readers are aware**

plan (current ideas):

- Caribbean: looking at particularly Ross university or SGU (or any of the big 4)…. take pre-req courses at MEP to increase my GPA/MCAT prep with self MCAT prep/prep course and apply to both schools for September 2019 or January 2020 start. 

*Note*: Ross utilizes a program called medical education readiness program (MERP) in which if admissions thinks you could benefit from the 15 week MERP to prep for med school success by learning better learning strategies and more prep in science coursework then your conditional Ross acceptance will be granted to you upon your completion of MERP (which may be a possibility for me if I can I boost my GPA with the MEP courses??)

- Canada: I understand Ontario schools currently out of the question for me… unless I do another undergrad and kill it, which I don’t want to do at this point.   not sure about any other options for me in Canada nor did I do further research on this

- USA: explained my situation to an admissions advisor and she said even if I excel in the MEP course and kill the MCAT, I would possibly have to do another 2 years at uni to up my GPA to be able to be even slightly competitive to apply to US schools.  Please give your thoughts/ideas on routes for me to get into US schools

- UK/ Australia/ Ireland/ Israel/ elsewhere: ?

[yichem]

Ever considered becoming a mid-level practitioner and complete a master degree to become a nurse practitioner? 

 

If you complete your master with a better grade you might be able to get into medicine. Otherwise, you'd still be able to practice some level of diagnostic.