Veterinary Lower than expected GPA in first semester of School

[Question]

Hello,
I just was looking for some guidance. I ended my first semester of veterinary school with a 3.0 GPA and am honestly freaking out. I have been a straight A student my whole life with an incoming GPA of 3.87 as a dual bio/psych major and animal behavior minor in undergrad. Am I doing terrible? I have only gotten one C in my life before this ( It was trigonometry or something) and I got a C+ this semester in both histology and Immunology. I just am worried about my potential internship/ residency competitiveness later ( I want to do a rotating internship and then critical care residency once I am out of school). I am just very concerned about this set of grades due to how I was in undergrad. Overall I just need some guidance on any recommendations anyone has to succeed and thrive in vet school. I have a ton of clinical/ emergency experience as a technician (I am that tech that is already prepping what is needed for the patient before the doctor puts in orders, or asking if they want me to do x,y,z in emergency situations before they give the orders) and do so well with clinical application stuff, I just don't understand why I am doing so poorly and how to fix it. I thought this experience I had would help me thrive here. I want to do well and be a great vet, and provide my patients with the care they deserve and am concerned if I am not doing great how can I do that. Sorry for the length of this post I am just spiraling a bit.
Any feedback/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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[lord999]

As far as a 1st semester shock, it happens. Most of the time, it is either study skills or background prep. Since you were a high GPA entering in, I would think it was background prep where you probably did not have an intensive a schedule. There's actually posts on this in the vet board, but probably look at your foundational sciences and make more time to prepare for the exam periods. 3.0 is not an absurdly low score for 1st semester, and the first two are basic science heavy. If you are doing poorly on clinicals, that is different and more worrisome.

 

[PerioDont]

I wouldn’t freak out over this, it’s your first semester in grad school and probably your highest courseload ever.

Reach out to your upper class men who have done well and ask their advice as far as study strategies and matching into your residency of choice.

You can also read through the various study strategy forums on here and other places to improve your grades and look into anki esp for subjects like histo.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

As others have mentioned, welcome to grad school, and it isn't as easy as undergrad. Whatever you did previously to study isn't going to be sufficient. Talk with your student services team. You haven't failed a class (thankfully) but they should be able to address your concerns and suggest tips.

Do you have a study group? How well did they do?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Undergrad and grad school are COMPLETELY different. In vet school, you are now with the cream of the crop and graded against them. A 3.0 is not horrible and it's your first semester. Figure out how you study best and you will rebound.