A pre-meddie who has lost her way...

[Guest lostpremeddie]

Hi all,

 

I just want to say how great this forum has been... its been a great help to me, I stumbled upon it while surfing late one night (long story).. and its been one of those places that i go to read and well... try and sort out the mixed feelings that I've had about medicine.

 

Anyways... I am in a dilemma and I would really like some advice on this: I (after much soul searching and what not) have decided that it is medicine that i really want to do. Its kind of a long story, but in a nutshell: I have come to the realization that I am not suited for pharmacy, and will not have (soon or ever) that kind of satisfaction one gets from doing a job that she/he loves.

 

Its actually kind of sad, b/c I have put so much into pharmacy, and at the very end of the road, realize that I do not have the skills/personality/interest in being a pharmacist, and that I should have followed my dreams in the first place and went down the medicine route. The biggest reason why I did that was b/c I thought that I would not get in, GPA was (and still is) always in the way.

 

I don't know, at this point in time, I'm kind of regretting my decision to go into pharmacy...who knows? perhaps if I had stayed in UGrad, worked my ASS off, entered medicine via the traditional route.. maybe now I wouldn't have screwed myself as badly over. I had a 3.7 (cummulative) in my first year of undergrad, 3.57 in my first and second year of pharmacy... and then... a 3.02 in my third (I'm going into my final year of pharmacy now).

 

Yes, I know... the sudden drop in my GPA. I had a really, really tough last year (hence the regret - i worked my bum off for my GPA in pharmacy) ... both in terms of trying to figure out what I really wanted in life, my family life and well, to be brutally honest, my first ever, major depressive episode. And I somehow thought that I could juggle it all with dealing with school (NINE Courses/semester... what sickos do that??) ... and obviously I wasn't able to. And now I don't know what to do, b/c with such an awful record (not stellar in the first place, and now just plain painful to look at), what options do i have? What can i do to pull myself up? Should I do a Master's degree? maybe a PharmD?... or should I just go back to school? Do my undergrad again? Can I do it part-time so that I can pay off my debt, or should i just go hardcore and do another degree? Should I even bother applying?

 

The saddest part of it is that I have the (or I think I have the) extra-curriculars (leadership and whatnot), the clinical experience, the MCATS (not great, but its 10PS, 11VR,9BS and Q WS), the research experience (getting my undergrad NSERC summer project published this year!! ) ... but what is the point of all that when I cannot even get past the GPA cutoffs?

 

Advice would be so welcome... I really do not know what to do How did you guys manage to deal with all this? What can I do to do something about all this?

 

with love,

 

- a very lost and confused pre meddie

 

 

p.s: congrats on all of you who got into med school!!

[Guest satsumargirl]

Hey Lostpremeddie,

 

Sounds like you have had alot on your plate this past year. It is tough to be in a program that you aren`t so thrilled with.

 

But, pharmacy would have taught you many skills that will be useful should you one day end up in medschool. So hard though it may be, to not look back and think about what you "should" have done, try to focus on what pharmacy has given you that will help you achieve your new goal of becoming a physician.

 

Now, you know you want to go to med school. That is great, it gives you something to work with and for. Sounds like you have already tried to look at your profile and identify strengths and weaknesses. You feel strong in most areas except your GPA. And you are correct, that if you don't meet GPA cut-offs the rest of your application doesn`t get looked at. So if GPA is standing in the way of your dreams, you simply have to figure out what you are going to do about it.

 

For starters, have you looked at the various schools and tried calculating your weighted GPA for each school you are interested in? Different schools weight different years differently and forgive a certain number or worst marks etc.

Are there any schools that you would be competitive for with your weighted GPAs? If yes, you could consider applying this year and see what happens

 

If no...well then you have some options to consider.

Your goal of getting into med school may help you ace your last year in pharmacy!! And that at least in a step in the right direction, if you had at least one stellar year under your belt.

 

So then, you will be done pharmacy...what will you do then? You could work. Working is not a bad idea. It lets you earn a bit of money for when you start med school, gain valuable experience in healthcare which is great for applications but also good for letting you further sort out whether medicine is for you. Sounds like you have had rough year. And having a break between pharmacy and med school could let you sort through any life issues and start med school completely grounded.

 

Working of course will not help the GPA issue though. You mentionned grad school...most schools don`t count grad school marks, so grad school doesn`t help your GPA. Grad school can help if your app is deficient in other areas (like research etc.) but sounds like you have this covered. There are a few schools that have grad school streams, you will still need to meet a minimum undergrad GPA cutoff and then show proof of productivity as a grad student (publications, sholarships, conference presentations etc...). If you think you may be interested in research as a plan B, then it could be a good option. But if your intention is to raise your GPA it probably isn`t your best route.

 

If you decide to upgrade undergrad courses, you need to consider the following: most schools will only consider your marks in you were going full-time (so the part-time to pay off debt option may not work), some schools like Ottawa will only count courses that you took as part of a degree....so special student years don`t count etc.

 

So...there is no one right way to get into med school. And there is also no rush really. Do your best in your last year and see where that puts you. And go from there. You can take a break , work for a bit and go back to upgrade or start right away... you don`t have to decide everything right now!

Focus on one step at a time!

 

Good luck

Sats

[Guest JMN048]

I am sure your feelings are shared by many others, concerning a bad GPA year and a loss of interest in your current progam. Keep your head up and the answer will come to you. Don't be afraid to take some time to make the right decision...for you. Don't lose sight of your goals...and do move forward with a smile. I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason!

 

JMN

[Guest daryn]

Hey lostpremeddie, I think I saw you in the chat room last night.

 

I had no idea how similar our situations are. I also had a bad year, but my year was second year instead of the third. In second year I had to deal with the deaths of three close family members in the span of six months. That was tough. But you know what, after my "brief" period of ... being lost, I really learned from that and I try not to look back. I am still suffering for it GPA wise (and dammit it's not a pretty sight) but I am trying as hard as I can now because I know that the end is near and I don't want to give myself any more excuses for my own inadequacies or inability to handle adversity.

 

Maybe it's a way of comforting myself, but maybe it's better to have gained something after you have lost it rather than having something all along and not valuing it. The journey is more tough but maybe we know more about ourselves, as cliche as it sounds.

 

Sats, thanks for that post. Very informative and encouraging.

 

I hope we both do ok this year, lostpremeddie.

 

 

daryn

[Guest lostpremeddie]

Hey guys,

 

thanks for all your encourgement, it really helps!

 

I think i will apply this year (I'm all about the mimimum cut offs man...)... I checked the reqs of each school, and i BARELY make the cutoffs at UT, and a couple of others - so i think i'm going to make a go of it and try this year. if i don't get in, well... i'm going to have to do some serious re-thinking. or something :S

 

This board has been a great help tho, its really nice to see such a supportive gp here

[Guest lostpremeddie]

yo daryn,

 

yes... it was me you saw. HIIII!!!!

[Guest doctor robot]

Something I found really useful after my first unsuccessful year of applying to medicine was contacting the admissions offices of med schools I was interested in to get some feedback about how to improve my chances of getting in. While they are often really busy during the summer, don't be afraid to contact them as I got some really crucial advice for what needed improvement in my application.

 

At that point I had the choice of further graduate studies or improving my undergrad GPA by taking a second bachelor's. Basically every admission officer I spoke with pointed out that I really needed to bolster my undergrad GPA and that while grad school can help some applicants, I needed the two or three years of super high marks. Since I was sure that I wanted to be a physician, I decided to do a second bachelor's degree to get the necessary GPA. (I could have done courses as a non-degree student, but depending on the school, you may need to be enrolled in a bachelor's degree full-time for courses to count. Check with the schools for their exact admission requirements!)

 

It was a long-term commitment, but three years of undergrad (and two application cycles) later I got accepted to UO. I also used the past few years to grow and really get to know medicine by volunteering at hospitals regularly and working in healthcare for the past year.

 

So what worked for me was to be persistent, research and talk with the schools, and think long-term. While it was daunting to do another three years of undergrad for a far-away goal, I did enjoy and learn a lot!

 

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[Guest Who MD]

I'm kind of in the same boat. I took a program that forced me to take 7 courses a term (real hell at times, but in a way it was "fun" in the challenging sort of way and in that all of us in the program really bonded). My GPA was good in first year, a bit low in second year, and completely fell through in third and fourth. :-(

 

I've done a second undergrad GPA and I had a weak first year, but two decent years since. I'm rewriting my MCAT to boost that mark. And I'm hoping that will be enough. I have great non-academic experiences and qualifications, but I'm worried that my low GPA is going to come back and bite me.

 

There are a few of us in this boat.