What are my chances? (South Carolina)

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Hi, I've been lurking for a while but finally decided to start my "What are my chances?" thread. Before I begin, I want to say a BIG thank you to everyone who has contributed to this forum. This forum has helped me learn a a great deal about getting into medical school and whatnot.

Stats:
South Carolina Resident (SC Med Schools are top on the list)
Freshman GPA (SDN GPA calculator): 2.68
Gen Bio 1: B
Gen Bio 2: B
Trance dental Functions: C-
Calculus: C-
Volunteering at a hospital (I am working a lot this summer, 70+ hours a week. So, will only be able to shadow and do more community stuff in August.)

Explanation:
1. I was working 25 hours a week
2. Poor time management. Not to sound arrogant, I did not find my courses individually difficult. I found school difficult when everything became really busy. I have been working on my time management since summer break started. I believe once I fix my time management problem I will get good grades.

Concerns:
1. Using SDN GPA calculator, I calculated my GPA with 70 more credits at 4.0 for all of the credits and ended up with 3.58 by the end of my junior year.
2. Is depending on strong MCAT and ECs safe or should I take summer courses?
3. What will ADCOMs think of my Freshmen year?

Big thanks in advance.

Thanks for the move mods.

Originally Posted by carolinaLFC

Hi, I've been lurking for a while but finally decided to start my "What are my chances?" thread. Before I begin, I want to say a BIG thank you to everyone who has contributed to this forum. This forum has helped me learn a a great deal about getting into medical school and whatnot.

Stats:
South Carolina Resident (SC Med Schools are top on the list)
Freshman GPA (SDN GPA calculator): 2.68
Gen Bio 1: B
Gen Bio 2: B
Trance dental Functions: C-
Calculus: C-
Volunteering at a hospital (I am working a lot this summer, 70+ hours a week. So, will only be able to shadow and do more community stuff in August.)

Explanation:
1. I was working 25 hours a week
2. Poor time management. Not to sound arrogant, I did not find my courses individually difficult. I found school difficult when everything became really busy. I have been working on my time management since summer break started. I believe once I fix my time management problem I will get good grades.

Concerns:
1. Using SDN GPA calculator, I calculated my GPA with 70 more credits at 4.0 for all of the credits and ended up with 3.58 by the end of my junior year.
2. Is depending on strong MCAT and ECs safe or should I take summer courses?
3. What will ADCOMs think of my Freshmen year?

Big thanks in advance.

1) If the 4.0 doesn't work out, there are other ways to redeem a GPA, like an SMP (Special Masters Program), but it's a lot cheaper and less-time-consuming to get it right the first time. Figure out your GPA after senior year grades would be in. You'll be reassuringly closer to the cGPA average for MD acceptees of 3.67.

2) Either take summer classes, or plan on applying after your senior year. Or both.

3) Freshman year grades never disappear from the radar screen, but some schools discount them by weighting the early years less or the recent years more. A steep persistent upward grade trend always gets positive attention. What you want to avoid is the roller coaster ride of inconsistency. For those schools that don't reweight your GPA, a strong MCAT score can be helpful. Without good ECs, none of the rest will matter.

Yes!, first responder is Catalystik. I remember calculating my GPA including my senior year. The GPA was around 3.67. I have plans in place to develop a strong ECs resume and score a strong MCAT score.

1. If I have strong ECs, MCAT, and were able to raise my GPA to 3.6, will my difficult circumstances help me? (e.g. immigrants; single parent; worked to help family)
2. MUSC's incoming class had 3.6GPA and a 30 MCAT. Will a 3.58 still be competitive?
http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/...statistics.htm

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by carolinaLFC

Yes!, first responder is Catalystik. I remember calculating my GPA including my senior year. The GPA was around 3.67. I have plans in place to develop a strong ECs resume and score a strong MCAT score.

1. If I have strong ECs, MCAT, and were able to raise my GPA to 3.6, will my difficult circumstances help me? (e.g. immigrants; single parent; worked to help family)
2. MUSC's incoming class had 3.6GPA and a 30 MCAT. Will a 3.58 still be competitive?
http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/...statistics.htm

1) Maybe (depending on whether other disadvantaged applicants are scarse). But if you have all that, you won't need special consideration.

2) A GPA can be weaker than the average, so long as the MCAT score is correspondingly stronger. The BCPM is important, too. Be sure it's up where it should be (average for MD acceptees=3.61). Can you manage it?

2. Yes, I believe I can.

Thanks for the informative responses. I will now work on preparing for the coming semester. I will update this thread once I get my fall semester grades. Again, thanks for the help.

I look forward to your update.