My chances. Read and you will understand.

[Round4]

First of all, I'm 22 and I'm a freshman at Arkansas State University. Now you know that so here it goes. I have been in school for 4 years and only have 8 semester hours, I have only finished one complete semester and did horrific. I currently have a 2.3 GPA, so which probably gives me the worst GPA on this forum. I want to be a Family Physician but I easily lose my motivation in school. I have a 2 year old son and a wife that is about to graduate and go to dental school, here is the kicker she is 20 yrs old!! Depressing I know, anyway while she wants me to go to school it's hard to work part-time too and pay all our bills. So we will be stressing out and all that jazz so I quit to go to work but get so unhappy with what i'm doing with my life that I go back to school to ultimately repeat the cycle. Is it in anyway possible for me to still get into Med school after messing up things academically for the past 4 years? Be honest

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[nabeel76]

Well first off you need to decide whether your ready to go to medical school. If your having trouble getting motivated to study etc. then you might not be ready mentally just yet. Your still young, I would take some time off, maybe a year or so to figure out exactly what you want to do. As far as the GPA is concerned I wouldn't worry about it, if you've only attempted 8 credits that GPA can easily be raised. Put it this way I have a 3.7 cumulative GPA over approx 145 credits and the first semester I was in college I had 12 credits of F's. So your GPA is going to be more reflective of the grades you obtain from here on out, don't worry about those 8 credits. Also how did you end up with 8credits over 4 years of enrollement to begin with? Did you just keep withdrawing from courses every semester?

 

[Round4]

Exactly!!! I went and played basketball my first semester and that's the 8 hours I got. I then dropped from the college and didn't return until fall and only lasted about a month before dropping again. This semester is actually the first semester I've finished in almost 4 years. I'm motivated to do it but my family life (my son and wife) get me in the dumps about money mostly and I take the easy way out and go work for $13.00 an hour as a welder. I should be easier for me since my wife is so young and is graduating in the spring of next year. This semester I had to miss a month of school because I broke both elbows in a basketball accident, I've actually stuck it out to everyone including my amazement of course my grades weren't great but if it's possible to bring them up i'm going for it.

 

[Freezer]

if you feel those 8 semester hours are worthless to you in the long run, look into something called an academic restart... many schools offer it... basically, they will erase your transcript as if you never took a class... then you just start over... clean slate... sometimes that's all you need... be warned though, sometimes academic restarts have a catch... many times, they will allow you to do a restart, but if your GPA falls below a 3.0 after the first 15 hours, then they reinstate your old classes and they reappear on your transcript...

 

[Freezer]

and no, academic restarts are not selective... you either delete your entire transcript... or none of it...

 

[Round4]

At ASU they have a thing were you take classes again and you can replace the new grade in place of the old grade for up to 18 hours. Of course I'm transferring next year so my wife can start dental school, so maybe the new school will have something like that. If my grades aren't well still.

 

[sumstorm]

I dont know how it works for med school, but in vet med you are required to provide all transcripts from all post-secondary schools, and all attendance (and completion or such) of all post-secondary schools. some of the vet schools then let an individual request that all material X years old be ignored in consideration for admissions. You may need to check and find out if that is possible.

The concern, in my mind, is that if you aren't motivated and haven't been for 4 years (2 of which you didn't have a child as part of the reason) by the pursuit of medicine, you are going to have to figure out exactly what has changed that now makes it more attractive to delay gratification of money in the pocket for income and career benefits later on. And that will probably need to sound good enough to convince ad coms.

Out of random curiosity, how does one need the use one's elbows to attend classes and learn material?

 

[bigpharmD]

dont let med school be the same as pharm school...........

 

[Thrombomodulin]

.

 

[Round4]

Out of random curiosity, how does one need the use one's elbows to attend classes and learn material?

Well when you break both radial heads you have no movement in the arms for a while and so no writing so therefore not typing or taking notes. I'm not a sponge so I can't just listen and understand the material. Also I was on Vicodin and wasn't able to attend class until I was off the meds.

 

[Stratego]

There's no rush to get to med school. Why not wait to do your undergrad work until your wife finishes dental school and starts bringing home some income. Then you can take your turn when you'll be less distracted by the need for supporting your family. People can apply to med school well pass their 30s. You won't do yourself any favors by going to school and getting poor grades. You are lucky to have only eight hours of low-GPA classwork to compensate for.

 

[Freezer]

AMCAS requires you to report all courses. No exceptions.

If you retake a course, AACOMAS will allow the applicant to use the new grade for GPA calculations, thus raising the BCPM and AO GPA.

I admire your enthusiasm... however, how do you propose informing AMCAS of a class you took when there is not a transcript on this planet that contains such information after an academic restart? sure you could list those courses on your app, but as soon as they do an error check, they are going to be stricken because they do not appear on your transcripts...

 

[dragonfly99]

You need to decide if school is a priority in your life, or not.
If it is, you will find a way to hack it academically. If it isn't, you aren't going to make it to med school. No more excuses.

 

[Round4]

I don't plan on anything like that if I have to later on I will retake the course and just have it replaced with the bad grade. I have really strapped down this semester and plan to keep putting one foot in front of the other and get through this.

 

[EricH]

Round4....first Dragonfly99 is 100% right. You either will do this or you wont, it's on you either way.

I have been in your shoes, but worse. It took me 7 years to get enough credits to become a sophmore (with a 2.4 GPA). It's so easy to make excuses to drop, not to mention instant gratification. In the stort term, it's financially good to. To make the dream happen requires consistant discipline and sacrifice.

My wife was also an inspiration to me. I watched her get her BS then MS. I watched her study all hours of the night, and cry over her laptop a 3am, trying to finish a paper that we due. She taught me about being a student.

When I decided to pursue medicine, I thought it was too late. I had a 2.7 GPA with 40 credit hours, and that was at a JC. I had to continue working full time while my wife finished her MS, so I went to school at night and took 9-12 units a semester. I studied on the weekends, at nights and on break at work. I sacraficed my hobies, selling my old cars and woodworking stuff so that I wouldn't be distracted. When my wife went to work I figured out a budget we could survive on (no luxury here) and quit my job. I then spent 4 semesters taking 20 units a semester to get done with my BS and my pre-reqs for med school. One semester I was taking O-chem II, Physics II, O-chem lab, physics lab, Advanced Cell Biology w/lab, epidemiology, and population health while taking TPR for the MCAT....it sucked....but my GPA was 3.7 that semester and I survived. My daugher was born pre-mature the summer I was studying for the MCAT and I had to care for her while doing my prep. I would wrap her against my chest, skin to skin, while she was on a monitor to help her develop while I had my MCAT stuff and flash cards going for hours on end. Taking breaks to feed and change her. In the end, I still did pretty well on the MCAT, I graduated in may and had multiple interviews/acceptances this year. I feel that I am only at the end of the beginning on my struggles to become a doctor, and I know my family will suffer in the short term for my decision. I have to believe that in the long term this will be good for all of us.

Your diversity and your struggle can be a wonderful enrichment experience if you let it. However this will only happen if you take ownership and move beyond your past behavior.

The grades are always hard to get, but as you add A's to you transcript the momentum will start to carry you and your confidence will build. The hardest moments are when you are broke, hungry, behind and there is a test tomorrow that you must ace. If you can get through those bitter moments, you'll probably be ok. If you're stuggling with $$ then you need a budget that you can stick to and survive on.

Best of luck.

 

[Round4]

Wow! thank you so much for that. It's nice to know that i'm not alone. I really think I have found my motivation and hope that keeps fueling me. I start summer school June 1st and will take full summers to try and get to where I need to be. Again thank you so much if you have anymore wisdom please share it with me.

 

[student1799]

At ASU they have a thing were you take classes again and you can replace the new grade in place of the old grade for up to 18 hours. Of course I'm transferring next year so my wife can start dental school, so maybe the new school will have something like that. If my grades aren't well still.

AMCAS (the application service for allopathic med schools) doesn't recognize "academic restarts"--they count every grade you ever got, even if your college doesn't. They have a whole handbook of rules and regulations about filling out the application, and it says multiple times that they don't recognize grade forgiveness, erasing grades from transcripts, etc. So if you retake a course, BOTH the old and new grades count toward your GPA.

However, as a previous poster said, you're not in too deep a hole with only 8 credits to your name. If you do well from here on in, you should be all right. HOWEVER, you must be sure that you really are ready to take school seriously and stay with it. If you're not, you're just going to be wasting your time and money, and you won't get into med school anyway.

What is it that has caused you to become interested in medicine anyway? That's an awfully demanding career for anyone to go after, much less someone who has had serious trouble with school in the past. Does the fact that your wife is going to dental school make you feel like you have to keep up with her achievements?

I'm not saying you don't have a right to want this, or that you can't succeed at it if you are very determined, but I'm suggesting that you think long and hard about whether medicine is really the right career path for you. It's a huge commitment of time, money and effort, and not something you want to enter into lightly.

I think it would be wise to get some medically-related volunteer experience under your belt as soon as possible, to give you some exposure to the day-to-day realities of health care so that you'll know what you're getting into. If you do like health care but don't want to take on such a heavy-duty academic burden, maybe you could become a PA or nurse practitioner instead. Just something to consider.

If you do decide to go after medicine, I think you'll be able to overcome your rocky start if you really apply yourself. Good luck.

 

[Round4]

1

 

[Round4]

Well the majority of my family is in medicine outside of my immediate family (Dad, mom, G-pa) The rest are nurses, Radiologist, and Family Physicians. When I used to talk to them I would ask questions about their careers. I would always find these things fascintating. Of course you would say well yea medicine is just a fascinating subject doesn't mean you should dive in. There is one thing that I have always been love with and that's Coaching. I mean I love everything about teaching young people how to succeed at a sport. Nothing ever got my attention like that. Until medicine. I have looked and looked at things involving medicine even bought the Gray's Anatomy book (not the tv series) and was hooked.

My wife isn't much of a motivator for me to pursue medicine. She is pretty much like most people are "do you think you could do it even though you started so bad." I hear you and her and everyone else, and I completely understand what everyone is talking about. My grades are completely my fault I was too caught up in living on campus as a college ball player to focus and go to bed on time and actually do my work. I got so depressed everytime I went to school because of money that I didn't think I could keep going. Things are a little different now though I'm watching friends I graduated high school with leaving for med school, pharmacy school, and starting there new careers after graduating their undergrad. I'm sick of living in fear that i'm going to fail every semester so I decided to attack school. I have 5 A's and 1 B this semester. So I think I may be ready.

As far as volunteering or shadowing. I'm wanting to shadow a doctor. I just really didn't know if it was like my wife does for a dentist since it's a different profession. Any pointers on how to get a chance to shadow?

 

[EricH]

Any pointers on how to get a chance to shadow?

Call your local medical association and ask for help with this. I work for a county medical association right now and we bend over backwards to help people get shadowing.....the surprisingly few requests that we get. Good luck!

Also, assuming that your BA/BS will be 140 units....if you get 4.0 from here on out, you could have a 3.9 GPA in the end....that will get you in anywhere.

 

[Round4]

Call your local medical association and ask for help with this. I work for a county medical association right now and we bend over backwards to help people get shadowing.....the surprisingly few requests that we get. Good luck!

Also, assuming that your BA/BS will be 140 units....if you get 4.0 from here on out, you could have a 3.9 GPA in the end....that will get you in anywhere.

Thank you much. I think here at ASU we only have to have 124 units to graduate. So do some schools require more units to get a degree than others. I went to a small 2 year christian college before Arkansas State, so i'm somewhat dumb about these things.

 

[EricH]

Thank you much. I think here at ASU we only have to have 124 units to graduate. So do some schools require more units to get a degree than others. I went to a small 2 year christian college before Arkansas State, so i'm somewhat dumb about these things.

I ended up with about 150 because some of the med pre-reqs weren't in my major curriculum (non-science), plus I got a minor in chemistry.

124 sounds about right if you are a bio/chem major (at least at my university)

 

[Round4]

I only know it's 124 here because my wife is a Biological Science major. I'm a history major as of now but not for long.