PhD Student Interested in Medicine, Need advice regarding past academic performance

[ECE-protein]

Hello everyone,

I was hoping to gain some advice on my situation. I earned my bachelors (BA in Biology) in 2017 with a 3.1 GPA, since I really loved research, I spent a majority of my time in lab and not class, along with some personal stuff that happened, which caused a plethora of withdrawals, bad grades, and overall bad time.

I then ended up going into the biotech industry. During my time there, I took 30+ credits of upper level undergraduate coursework and maintained a >3.9 GPA in those courses. The reason taking additional classes was because I was very interested in pursuing a PhD later and wanted to show graduate schools that my undergraduate performance was an anomaly and did not define me as a student.

After about 4 years in industry, I joined a "very good" PhD program in Biochemistry (I am a second going on third year), although the lab I work in is BioE/synthetic bio (which is ranked "top 10" if that matters). I recently realized that I want to go to medical school more than anything. The reasoning is a very long story and something that I have thought about for an extended period of time. For the sake of brevity in an already long post, I will omit the reasons .

Of course wanting to go to medical school really stinks since my undergraduate performance is very lackluster, and quite frankly makes me feel disgusted in hindsight. I have used the AMCAS Excel grade calculator spreadsheet and entered all the classes I took:

• AMCAS GPA: 3.43
• AMCAS BCPM: 3.48
• Post-Bacc GPA: 3.85
• Post-Bacc BCPM: 3.93
• Graduate program GPA: 3.75 - 3.8 by the time I am done (two B's really killed me!)

I have not taken the MCAT yet, and know that it will be the ultimate test (no pun intended). But I am worried that even if I score high (which I don't even know what to aim for), I will not be able to overcome my past.

To summarize a long post:

1. I am unsure if I will be able to overcome my past undergraduate performance with what I have done
2. I am unsure what MCAT would be acceptable to apply with, I am aiming for as high as possible, but unsure what would be something that allows me to gain acceptance
3. Unsure if I should finish my PhD or not. I am leaning toward yes since it will probably be a positive on my application. The only downside is that I will probably be around 31 when I finish hehe.
4. Not sure what else I should be doing to increase my application chances.

Some additional information of note:

• There was a brief point in my undergrad where I considered nursing, so I have a couple of years of work experience as a Nurse Assistant and Medical Scribe as well as clinical volunteering
• I have been volunteering at my local hospital, will begin shadowing
• I do not care about ranking, MD vs. DO, etc. Just want to get into a US medical school (MD or DO)
• I am a Texas Resident

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[esob]

Definitely more competitive with a PhD. Not because it necessarily will benefit you as a physician, but because in a sea of applicants, it is a reason (all other things equal) to pull your name out of the sea compared to someone else.

 

[gyngyn]

1. I am unsure what MCAT would be acceptable to apply with, I am aiming for as high as possible, but unsure what would be something that allows me to gain acceptance
2. Unsure if I should finish my PhD or not. I am leaning toward yes since it will probably be a positive on my application. The only downside is that I will probably be around 31 when I finish hehe.
3. Not sure what else I should be doing to increase my application chances.

1. A 505 MCAT will get you some DO interviews, as is.
2. Although a PhD is an honor, it will have only a very modest effect on an MD application. It will be better than a PhD drop-out, however. That said, if you have no interest in the degree at all, it makes no sense to continue.
3.You will find an abundance of support here for each step of the path forward.