Online Medical Classes

Medical School admissions desperate advise required?

I am currently a 3rd year Bsc. Biochemistry student in McMaster University, Canada. My GPA is 3.25 which for professional schools is very low. I request all my readers to please advise precisely with source leaving aside any information from google search/online discussion threads. 1) With my GPA, I cannot apply to Canada. So considering US medical schools, my gpa still is low. 2) The reason for my low GPA is that, every year I get about half A's and B's, but also I get one D which brings down the GPA. Although I really dislike retaking those odd courses, unless will it really ddelete the previous grade ? and will it bring up the calculated final GPA ? If I am to retake the course, I can do so in summer, will summer grades then be used in GPA calculation ? 3) I have also come to know of optometric schools that grant OD, and doctor of osteopathy OD, Dental, Pharmacy and last preferred Podiatric. Will my current GPA be a good shot for any of these professional schools. I am yet to take the Mcat, but could a good MCAT score offset a little the low GPA ? 4) All sources for these professional schools, say that a minimum of 3 year undergraduate study is required. I will complete 3rd year in April, does it mean I can give MCAT (or the test for optometry) apply this summer and get admitted this year itself ?. My friend researched and said though 3 years is required, they will not accept me with my gpa and only 3 year completed Bsc. even for optometry & dentistry, let alone osteopathic schools (DO schools) Please advise on this, as my whole purpose of doing Bsc is to get into professional school. I really don't want to spend another 4th year studying stuff that is very irrelevant in later life. Please consider this as well. As you may have noted, I really am depressed beyond words, thinking on my future which is so uncertain now and I assure that I could find no credible information on google or the websites. At one hand one optometric college website claims that the average entring gpa 2009 was 3.3, whereas the discussion forums, people claim atleast 3.50/4.0 even for non-md fields. My goal, my friends, is any one of such professional fields in preference order, MD, DO, Optometry, Dentistry, Pharmacy. Any advise (please be as detailed as you can) that you can give will help me, whom you may not even know, but I will be grateful to you beyond words. I will keep checking your answers and will keep adding any foot notes and thank you's as I read your advise, Thanks

Public Comments

1. Do yourself a favor and take a practice MCAT test right now. If you score well on it, then you will have proved it to yourself that you have mastered the material, regardless of what your GPA indicates. If you don't score well, then your GPA should tell you what it is telling others--you haven't mastered the material. If you haven't mastered the material you can't expect any school to give you a free ride, regardless of how nice of a guy you are. Quite understandably, nobody wants to entertain the idea of repeating courses to elevate a GPA. But it is a very common practice of medical school applicants, so somewhere along the way they pony up and do what they need to do. If you really want to become a MD, you'll go through that process, too. It is possible to get accepted to a US medical school with a minimum of 90 semester hours. But you better be walking on water when you apply as opposed to just squeaking by. Medical schools do like well-rounded applicants, but that doesn't mean "average". You can pretty much ignore other medical students' advice on getting into medical school. Some will tell you that you MUST attend a prestigious school and have a BS in biology--and they're very sincere in their belief. Somebody told them that, they did it, got in, so it must be true. But the music major from Podunk U sitting next to them in medical school reveals the urban myth. Approaching your future as "any professional school will do" is a fairly safe bet that you won't get into the better ones. Many people want to be doctors. The better ones are people who have to be doctors. Read what you've written--it sounds more like you're looking for an easy out rather than a way to achieve a dream. That's not a criticism, but your words may have revealed what you are refusing to accept. If you decide you really want to become a physician, then there's only one clear choice--elevate your GPA.