u/sheriff017

Please don’t cook me for my stats, I messed up a few years ago and I’m trying to get myself back out of that hole.

Basically I don’t know if a postbac or a SMP is a better option for me. For context, I was doing well in college and then…I was not. I had multiple family deaths and personal problems that completely destroyed my progress. I withdrew from classes (sometimes entire semesters), I failed classes, ended with d’s and c’s in some, missed semesters for financial reason, etc. I essentially for like two years dug a huge hole. Well these past couple years I’ve been doing the work to get out but it wasn’t enough.

After 6.5 years I finally finished my undergrad. My finishing grades were really good but even with retakes, the amount of credits I have dilute any good good to essentially nothing. Anyway, I ended with:

1500 scribing hours in busy ED/lvl 1 TC
3.2 cGPA and 3.459 sGPA across 210 attempted credits and 138 completed credits
0 shadowing
Essentially 0 volunteering
3 strong LORs from biology department chair (research), ED physician, and anatomy professor
Approx. 500 hours research with upcoming publication.
I did take the MCAT during my hole digging phase unfortunately (did not study at all, scored a 491 :) )

I don’t know if I should just take a gap year, find a clinical job, volunteer and shadow a bunch and kill future Mcat attempts or if I should do a SMP or a postbac

Hi everyone, I need some advice. Please don’t cook me for my stats, I messed up a few years ago and I’m trying to get myself back out of that hole. Basically I don’t know if a postbac or a SMP is a better option for. For context, I was doing well in college and then…I was not. I had multiple family deaths and personal problems that completely destroyed my progress. I withdrew from classes (sometimes entire semesters), I failed classes, ended with d’s and c’s in some, missed semesters for financial reason, etc. I essentially for like two years dug a huge hole. Well these past couple years I’ve been doing the work to get out but it wasn’t enough. After 6.5 years I finally finished my undergrad. My finishing grades were really good but even with retakes, the amount of credits I have dilute any good good to essentially nothing. Anyway, I ended with a 3.2 cGPA and just over a 3.459sGPA across 210 attempted hours. I also stupidly took the mcat while in my hole digging phase “for practice” and scored a 498 (did not study a single second). I have another mcat scheduled for June 13th and I have been busting my butt studying for. I have 1500 clinical hours from scribing in an ED. Strong LORs from ed physician, research mentor, and other professor who know me well. Essentially what I’m wondering though is are my hours too diluted for a postbacc to even matter? Even good 30 hours worth of As would barely nudge my GPA right? So a SMP is really my only choice?