Master's vs Postbac to Raise Your Premed GPA | Ask Dr. Gray

When you need to raise your GPA for your med school application, how do you decide between a special Master's program (SMP) and a postbac (or post bacc)? Today, I talk with Gina, who already applied to some Master's programs but was rejected. I tell her why I think a postbac is the better choice for her.

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Gina was rejected from some Master's programs she applied to because of her undergraduate GPA, which is about a 3.0. She does have a bit of an upward trend in her GPA (it used to be a 2.5). But it's not a huge upward trend—her last semester was still just a 3.2.

I asked Gina what she thinks has been behind her low grades. She said Spanish is her first language, and that has maybe made classes harder for her. Hearing this, I actually recommended that she start speaking English more at home with her family if language issues are actually behind her low grades.

But there are plenty of ESL students who do well in their classes, so we discuss other possible issues like whether she's fully utilizing her academic advising, tutors, and office hours with professors.

I recommend that Gina look at "academic enhancer" post bacc programs, and we also discuss the possibility of taking a DIY postbac at a community college or a local university. (Do-it-yourself postbacs can be more flexible and sometimes cheaper. )

The reason I recommend a postbac instead of an SMP (special Master's program) is because I'm just seeing a lot of medical schools really focus on that "undergraduate GPA" number. Even if your Master's GPA is a lot better, they can still get hung up on that low undergrad GPA. So adding another year of classes onto that undergraduate GPA with a post bacc is the way I recommend attacking the issue.

Since Gina already has a bit of an upward trend in her GPA, I recommend she try to take just 20 or 30 more credits over the next year, get A's, and be ready to apply. But it's crucial that she does well in the postbac. Getting something like a 3.2 in her postbac would hurt her application quite a bit. You need to show that you're ready for the rigorous course load of medical school.

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