Long post, appreciate anyone who reads it,
Background:
I'm 26, oldest of 6 kids, first gen, raised in NYC. In 2019 I had to leave college because my family was financially drowning. I stepped up and did what I had to do. No regrets, but it wrecked my GPA, i made the mistake of trying to continue school but it backfired on me. I had a mix of F's, D's, and C's that left me with a sub-2.0 when I walked away.
I came back in spring 2024. Started at my local community college, got my associate's degree, then returned to the 4-year I was previously attending. I'll be getting my B.S. this fall.
These past two years I've taken a heavy course load and brought my cGPA up to a 2.9 (according to AMCAS) and my sGPA to a 3.175, I finished all my prereqs this semester.
my shadowing hours are very low: 10 hours
Non-clinical volunteering: 50 hours
Clinical hours: 3,000 as a CNA
currently doing a EMT course.
MCAT:
I've been grinding. My most recent full-length came back at a 517. I'm testing June 27th and hoping to break 520.
Why I'm sitting out this cycle
I know my GPA isn't where it needs to be. I made the call not to apply this cycle rather than waste apps and secondaries on a file that isn't competitive yet. It hurts to wait another year but I think it's the right move for me. I understand i can probably get into a DO school if i can bring in a good MCAT but i'm very interested in neurosurgery and its seems impossible to match out of an osteopathic school.
Plans for this year
Complete my degree this fall, get clinical hours as a EMT, Increase shadowing hours, increase non clinical hours.
I plan on taking 24 credits after i complete my degree this fall as a DIY post bacc. will doing this and receiving a substantially higher GPA from that help me in anyway?
below are some more questions.
Is the DIY post-bacc route (24 credits) actually enough to make my application competitive, or do I need more volume and/or an SMP?
For MD only applicants with a low cGPA and a strong MCAT ,is an SMP essentially required, or have people gotten in off a well-executed DIY post-bacc alone?
Which MD programs are actually known to weigh upward GPA trend and context heavily? Looking for schools that won't auto-screen me out at 3.1.
Is 20 credits in a single spring semester a red flag to adcoms if I pull it off, or does it just not matter compared to the grades themselves?
Non-trads with a hardship gap and a rocky early transcript how did you frame it in your personal statement without it sounding like an excuse?
I really appreciate any advice. Thank you all.