Is it realistic. .

[desireformed]

Hello everyone, I have lurked around and finally decided to sign up. A little bit of my background I'm 27 this month,wife and kid, after 6 years in the army and 3 years going from one place to another working, I decided to start school. I have been studying since June 2013 and stopped may 2014. In that time I took 4 semesters of classes 12 credits a semester and working full time. So far my cGPA is 2.97 I withdrew one class and one F which killed me from a 3.9. After taking this time off I have seriously put my priorities straight. I have also decide to shoot for Med school. My question, to anybody that can help me out, is can I still pull it off with on year down of schooling. If so what recommendations do you have for someone like me. I do t want to waste more school time taking classes that aren't going to help me down the road.

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[theseeker4]

Hello everyone, I have lurked around and finally decided to sign up. A little bit of my background I'm 27 this month,wife and kid, after 6 years in the army and 3 years going from one place to another working, I decided to start school. I have been studying since June 2013 and stopped may 2014. In that time I took 4 semesters of classes 12 credits a semester and working full time. So far my cGPA is 2.97 I withdrew one class and one F which killed me from a 3.9. After taking this time off I have seriously put my priorities straight. I have also decide to shoot for Med school. My question, to anybody that can help me out, is can I still pull it off with on year down of schooling. If so what recommendations do you have for someone like me. I do t want to waste more school time taking classes that aren't going to help me down the road.

Where exactly are you in your schooling? Do you just have one year total of college courses, or do you have a prior degree plus one more year that you have taken more recently? Either way, yes, you could potentially get into medical school still, but where you are and your total performance will determine what options you have.

 

[desireformed]

Thanks for the reply. Yes as of right now I only have one total year of college courses.

 

[GunnarBronson]

1) Choose a major that you enjoy and will get good grades in.
2) Begin taking the med school prerequisite courses (2 semesters each of bio, gen chem, ochem, and physics). Some schools require calculus, some require biochem, but at least get started on the essentials.
3) What do you do for employment? If it isn't clinical, start getting clinical exposure by volunteering.
4) Engage in meaningful non-clinical volunteering.
5) Shadow some doctors. I'd make sure to at least shadow a DO, in case you end up applying to DO schools.
6) Be engaged in class, so that when you ask your science professor for a letter of recommendation (LOR) they will be able to write a good one for you.
7) Retake that F course if feasible. DO schools do grade replacement so that should give you a nice GPA bump if you ace it the next time around.

 

[theseeker4]

1) Choose a major that you enjoy and will get good grades in.
2) Begin taking the med school prerequisite courses (2 semesters each of bio, gen chem, ochem, and physics). Some schools require calculus, some require biochem, but at least get started on the essentials.
3) What do you do for employment? If it isn't clinical, start getting clinical exposure by volunteering.
4) Engage in meaningful non-clinical volunteering.
5) Shadow some doctors. I'd make sure to at least shadow a DO, in case you end up applying to DO schools.
6) Be engaged in class, so that when you ask your science professor for a letter of recommendation (LOR) they will be able to write a good one for you.
7) Retake that F course if feasible. DO schools do grade replacement so that should give you a nice GPA bump if you ace it the next time around.

I agree with all of this. I would just add to make sure you identify what went wrong in the W and F courses, and make sure you correct it. An F and a W won't keep you out of med school, but if it becomes a habit, that might.

 

[Goro]

First off, many thanks for your service to our country.

One F isn't going to kill you, but it better be a wake up call. If it was in a science class, retake it and ace it.

Go seek out your school's learning center for help with time mgt, learning styles etc.

It's OK to cut back and go part time on the schooling.

Hello everyone, I have lurked around and finally decided to sign up. A little bit of my background I'm 27 this month,wife and kid, after 6 years in the army and 3 years going from one place to another working, I decided to start school. I have been studying since June 2013 and stopped may 2014. In that time I took 4 semesters of classes 12 credits a semester and working full time. So far my cGPA is 2.97 I withdrew one class and one F which killed me from a 3.9. After taking this time off I have seriously put my priorities straight. I have also decide to shoot for Med school. My question, to anybody that can help me out, is can I still pull it off with on year down of schooling. If so what recommendations do you have for someone like me. I do t want to waste more school time taking classes that aren't going to help me down the road.

 

[operaman]

Yeah I think you've got a great shot assuming you get it together and don't get anymore low grades. You're only 48 credits in so theoretically you could take 48 more and with a 4.0 you'd be at a 3.5 cGPA. Most Bachelor's degrees require ~120 hours so if you can pretty much slam solid As from here on out, you can repair that GPA in to the 3.6/3.7 range. At the same time, I hope the math impresses upon you the importance of earning As from here on. The isolated F won't hurt (Ws don't really hurt at all) though it may come up in an interview. I had 8-9 Ws from undergrad and never got asked once; I always overloaded with the intent of dropping an elective if the prof wasn't good. What matters is the final GPA as AMCAS calculates it. You want it above 3.5 at minimum; 3.7 is much nicer.

Beyond that, work hard, shadow, volunteer, etc. Ex-military applicants can be very strong if the numbers are there.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I think you've got time to recover, but you really need to find a good balance between school and everything else so you can keep your grades up.

 

[desireformed]

First off, many thanks for your service to our country.

One F isn't going to kill you, but it better be a wake up call. If it was in a science class, retake it and ace it.

Go seek out your school's learning center for help with time mgt, learning styles etc.

It's OK to cut back and go part time on the schooling.

Just doing my job.. luckily it wasn't a science class and it was a wake up call. The following semester I aced it and my GPA seemed like it didn't even go up.. crazy how that works

 

[desireformed]

Yeah I think you've got a great shot assuming you get it together and don't get anymore low grades. You're only 48 credits in so theoretically you could take 48 more and with a 4.0 you'd be at a 3.5 cGPA. Most Bachelor's degrees require ~120 hours so if you can pretty much slam solid As from here on out, you can repair that GPA in to the 3.6/3.7 range. At the same time, I hope the math impresses upon you the importance of earning As from here on. The isolated F won't hurt (Ws don't really hurt at all) though it may come up in an interview. I had 8-9 Ws from undergrad and never got asked once; I always overloaded with the intent of dropping an elective if the prof wasn't good. What matters is the final GPA as AMCAS calculates it. You want it above 3.5 at minimum; 3.7 is much nicer.

Beyond that, work hard, shadow, volunteer, etc. Ex-military applicants can be very strong if the numbers are there.

Thanks operaman.. I definitely felt the blow of how quick your GPA goes down and how hard it is to bring down.. I usually don't settle for anything less than an A but that on class I was dumb I should have dropped it but I figured I could push through it ( military mind set) and F'd myself .. mostly my fault. I'm glad to hear that I might still have a shot. Have to buck up more..

 

[desireformed]

I think you've got time to recover, but you really need to find a good balance between school and everything else so you can keep your grades up.

Appreciate the advice

 

[operaman]

You may also want to check with the institution and see if they have any grade-replacement policy if you retake the class. Specifically, do they report the first attempt AT ALL to AMCAS on your official transcript. Some colleges offer grade replacement for calculating internal GPA, but others will expunge the old grade and replace with the higher one. It's a longshot, but worth asking about just in case.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

You have time to get things in order, but you need to go at a pace that is reasonable to get As. If that means PT, then go PT... Don't rush it... You're still a youngin

 

[wholeheartedly]

You may also want to check with the institution and see if they have any grade-replacement policy if you retake the class. Specifically, do they report the first attempt AT ALL to AMCAS on your official transcript. Some colleges offer grade replacement for calculating internal GPA, but others will expunge the old grade and replace with the higher one. It's a longshot, but worth asking about just in case.

Even if the school replaces the grade, AMCAS still requires you to report all attempts per policy.

Now if the user wants to do the grade replacement for osteopathic schools or the Texas fresh start program, that's a different story.