Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A: Postbac vs Masters to help a low GPA?

Session 75

If you have a low GPA, first ask yourself why. Before picking between post-bac, masters, and SMP programs, be honest about where you need to improve.

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[00:59] Question of the Day:

Our student today is wondering whether she should do a postbac or continue for her master’s program with a major in microbiology. Although she’s showing upward trends on an individual basis, her GPA has not gone higher than 3.0. So she’s asking about about the best option to get into medical school because of her grades.

[02:32] Figure Out What Went Wrong

The biggest question here is why this student has not gotten closer to a 4.0 and just staying around a 3.0 because this is going to hinder her in the long run.

If she gets into a master’s and is still getting around a three, it hasn’t actually done anything to help her.

Same thing with the post-bac. It’s not going to do anything to help you unless you figure out why it is that you’re not getting better grades.

If you know there’s something to be corrected because you don’t see any improvement in your grades, try figuring out what’s wrong in the process.

One way is to change your learning style. Our student today says she’s been commuting for an hour and a half per day, traveling into campus. So this is a great time for listening to podcasts and audiobooks.

Or think about recording yourself when reading your notes so you could listen to yourself reading notes and you still get to study in your car. Figure out if there’s a way to potentially increase study time.So you’re either not putting in enough time studying or you’re not studying properly.

“For most people that are struggling with grades and they continue to struggle with grades, there's some sort of time commitment issue.”Click To Tweet

[07:09] Nothing Seems to Work!

I talked to a lot of students and I get a lot of feedback from students, students similar who are in a similar situation and say they’ve tried a bunch of different things and nothing seems to work. Their grades don’t improve and they put more time in and more effort in. Nothing happens.

And then they emailed me like two months later saying they have dyslexia and have just been diagnosed with it.

If you think you’ve changed your learning style and you’ve put in enough time studying and nothing still seems to work, consider having tested for any sort of learning disabilities.

So this is also something to think about. Just to keep it in the back of your mind to say maybe it’s not the effort that you’re putting in.

“Maybe you are putting in a ton of effort. But maybe there’s also something biological happening that's preventing you from learning.” Click To Tweet

[08:27] Worry About Your Grades First, SMP Later

The discussion on postbac, master’s and SMP is too premature at this point. Just continue to take your undergraduate classes. As soon as you start to hit that curve and, and you’re getting all A’s or as close to As as possible, then you’re ready for the next step.

“You need to fix your grades first. And until you’ve done that, you shouldn’t worry about master’s, postbac, etc.”Click To Tweet

Then you would already have the confidence and the skills necessary to show the admissions committee that you can handle the coursework. But don’t start thinking about the coursework until you’re ready for that.