Mmy last semester gpa was a 1.29 (yes I know I completely messed up) and I don't know what my overall gpa is because I can't get my degree audit to load. I was wodnering though, is there any chance I could bring my overall gpa up to a 3.5 in the span of two years?? I think my overall gpa was something like a 2.0 before last semester. I would ask my counseler but I am too embarrassed to right now.

Not likely. if you can pull a 4.0 every semester for the rest of your college career you'd hit about a 3.0. Depends on exactly how long you've got left and what your cumulative average is now. However, you can get better than a 4.0 by taking honors courses, so it might be barely possible. This means science, though, honors levels humanities or arts stuff won't do you any good at all. However, you won't get into a U.S. med school with a 3.5. My nephew barely got into med school with a 4.17 average and massive amounts of extra stuff like volunteer work and discovering two new species of mushrooms in the North Carolina mountains (any sciency stuff counts a lot). It's very difficult to get in and even harder to stay in. Count on 100 hour weeks for the entire time you're there. Basically we'll see him at Christmas for the next 10 years or so, till he finishes his residency. Maybe longer, if he ends up in neurosurgery as he's considering.

I thought it was possible to get in with a 3.0 as long as you have great MCAT scores? I haven't done any volunteer work- I was actgually supposed to graduate this past spring but I've done terrible so far. Should I give up trying to be a doctor?

The amount of raw information you need to take in as a doctor is staggering. A new MD coworker of mine said that this years boards was asking questions about meds that haven't even been FDA approved yet. You're expected to read a phenomenal amount, work as a slave to the hospital for several years as a resident, don't expect to be able to sleep but 2-4 hours many nights, and you'll be going all day long. It's grueling.

Maybe not give up, but certainly cultivate some backup options.

Sityl wrote:The amount of raw information you need to take in as a doctor is staggering. A new MD coworker of mine said that this years boards was asking questions about meds that haven't even been FDA approved yet. You're expected to read a phenomenal amount, work as a slave to the hospital for several years as a resident, don't expect to be able to sleep but 2-4 hours many nights, and you'll be going all day long. It's grueling.

Yes, a friend of mine graduated last year and has been on her current residency (pulled from a lottery) since. She works 5 AM to 11 PM 6 days a week, sometimes longer. She's got 4-5 years more of this to go, but it seems like she'll be all set after that.

Unless you enjoy lack of sleep and work really well under pressure, I say try something else. RN is a respectable way to contribute, as I understand. There always seems to be a lack of medical personnel.

I haven't heard of anyone getting in with great MCATs but a low GPA, there are so many people with both great MCATs and GPA in excess of 4.0 that the schools can afford to be very, very picky. Vet school is even harder to get into, unbelievably. My sister was accepted to law school and med school but only got an alternate at a veterinary school.

Nursing is a great profession, as is therapy (like occupational or physical). At the moment you only need a masters to get into occupational therapy but a PhD is required for physical therapy. That's changing soon, I believe, so it's a good time to get into occupational therapy before they raise the requirements. They're always in demand and can easily make 90-120G a year.

I don't want to be a nurse though- I don't really like caregiving I like solving problems. Physical therapy doesn't sound too bad. Maybe if I did additional schooling and then tried to get into med school? I would want to do other things too though, like maybe start a cosmetics buisness. I like knowing how to survive which is a big reason I want to learn about medicine...like what plants are used for certain purposes. I just don't want a boring job though.

inkaStepa wrote:I don't want to be a nurse though- I don't really like caregiving I like solving problems. Physical therapy doesn't sound too bad. Maybe if I did additional schooling and then tried to get into med school? I would want to do other things too though, like maybe start a cosmetics buisness. I like knowing how to survive which is a big reason I want to learn about medicine...like what plants are used for certain purposes. I just don't want a boring job though.

I think you may have the wrong perception of what is taught in medschool.

kiore wrote:

inkaStepa wrote:I don't want to be a nurse though- I don't really like caregiving I like solving problems. Physical therapy doesn't sound too bad. Maybe if I did additional schooling and then tried to get into med school? I would want to do other things too though, like maybe start a cosmetics buisness. I like knowing how to survive which is a big reason I want to learn about medicine...like what plants are used for certain purposes. I just don't want a boring job though.

I think you may have the wrong perception of what is taught in medschool.

Yeah, pharmacy school might give some information on that, but the vast majority will be about medicines, not plants.

I'm not really sure what degree you'd want to know about plants and their health benefits... botanist?