Trying to Make a Smart Decision After Some Missteps

Hello everyone! I’m having a difficult time making some school-related decisions and wanted to get some additional opinions. Sorry that this is a long post. Thank you all in advance for any insights or advice you might have! ?

A little background information. I have a BA in psychology from a public university from 2014. I completed general biology 1 & 2, general chemistry 1 & 2, and general physics 1 at a not so great post-bacc from a private university that took a big chunk of my federal aggregate loan limit. I did well in those courses (3.75) but my GPA from my psychology degree was around a 2.75. Giving me a cumulative and science GPA of 3.3.

I have been accepted to a private university to complete a second bachelors in biology with organic chemistry, physics, biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, microbiology, and a research requirement with the possibility of summer research. It would be a 2 year program at minimum. The 4-yr university would require private loans of about 20K per year.

The community college would essentially be free due to a tuition scholarship and my family said they would help cover any additional costs such as parking and textbooks. I would be able to take organic chemistry, physics, biochemistry, and microbiology. I need to decide soon if I should complete the 2nd bachelors at a 4-yr university or go to a community college and do the DIY post-bacc.

Should I do a free 1 year DIY post-bacc at a community college or a loan-heavy 2 year 2nd bachelors at a private university?

AGAIN THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND ANY ADVICE YOU HAVE TO OFFER!

Depends. I’d spend some time looking at a GPA calculator online. Figure out where you think you realistically could be in 1 year with your cumulative GPA and science GPA (cGPA and sGPA) versus where you could be in 2 years. I suspect that one year could make you very competitive for D.O. programs and most likely a state school for M.D. programs, but you also will need to do well on the MCAT.

Hope this is of some help.

I will look into the GPA effects! That’s a great place to start, thank you!

Hi! Thank you for your post! Dr. Gray covered your question on podcast Session 161! We hope we helped you answer your question of DIY post-bac versus a second bachelor’s degree! If you have other questions please feel free to post in the forum again!

Thank you,
Team MSHQ