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magicaldinosaur

magicaldinosaur

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Hello SDN, I really need your help. Here are my stats as a sophomore:
2.85 Science GPA
3.21 Cum GPA
I know I need to improve, now. But even with almost perfect grades from now on, I'll only have a 3.3 Science GPA if all my free classes are BCPM.
And then there's my extra-curriculars. Besides a bit of research, I have almost nothing. Surfing this site depresses me a bit because of how bad I screwed up and the fact that I might not be able to undo my mess up.
Am I screwed, should I just concentrate on ec's and then do an SMP?
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Don't lose hope! You may be able to turn it around. Look into DO schools/grade replacement. I would guess that you should focus on your GPA at the moment, as you don't want to be autoscreened out upon submission.
 
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magicaldinosaur said:
Hello SDN, I really need your help. Here are my stats as a sophomore:
2.85 Science GPA
3.21 Cum GPA
I know I need to improve, now. But even with almost perfect grades from now on, I'll only have a 3.3 Science GPA if all my free classes are BCPM.
And then there's my extra-curriculars. Besides a bit of research, I have almost nothing. Surfing this site depresses me a bit because of how bad I screwed up and the fact that I might not be able to undo my mess up.
Am I screwed, should I just concentrate on ec's and then do an SMP?
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Brah or Grah, you still have all the time in the world to retake your classes and do EC's. Who cares if it takes you longer to graduate. What's better improving your GPA or sticking with what you have so far?

mr-tjpg.jpeg
 
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magicaldinosaur said:
Hello SDN, I really need your help. Here are my stats as a sophomore:
2.85 Science GPA
3.21 Cum GPA
I know I need to improve, now. But even with almost perfect grades from now on, I'll only have a 3.3 Science GPA if all my free classes are BCPM.
And then there's my extra-curriculars. Besides a bit of research, I have almost nothing. Surfing this site depresses me a bit because of how bad I screwed up and the fact that I might not be able to undo my mess up.
Am I screwed, should I just concentrate on ec's and then do an SMP?
Click to expand...

Stop focusing on the end-goal and start focusing on the now. Who cares what your GPA will be if you ace everything? That shouldn't preclude you from trying your best.

Between now and this time next year, just focus on doing well in school. Don't worry about applying yet. After next spring, reanalyze where you are and plan accordingly. You'll likely have to take a gap year, it's not the end of the world and will give you even more time (i.e. senior year) to improve your GPA and ECs.

The thing is.. if you continue worrying about where you CAN get to and whether that may be good enough.. you're probably not going to get to that point because you'll just discourage yourself. Stop worrying about the end-goal.
 
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Jepstein30 said:
Stop focusing on the end-goal and start focusing on the now. Who cares what your GPA will be if you ace everything? That shouldn't preclude you from trying your best.

Between now and this time next year, just focus on doing well in school. Don't worry about applying yet. After next spring, reanalyze where you are and plan accordingly. You'll likely have to take a gap year, it's not the end of the world and will give you even more time (i.e. senior year) to improve your GPA and ECs.

The thing is.. if you continue worrying about where you CAN get to and whether that may be good enough.. you're probably not going to get to that point because you'll just discourage yourself. Stop worrying about the end-goal.
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Yeah I worry about future more than present. Thanks, I'll try my best and hopefully it's not a B.
 
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You need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. If you can only do:

A: Ace classes but not do ECs or
B: Do ECs, but muck around in classes

HOW are you going to preform well in medical school, which will be way harder than anything you're doing now?

So the answer is C) develop better time mgt skills. Go see your school's education or learning center for help in this.

magicaldinosaur said:
Hello SDN, I really need your help. Here are my stats as a sophomore:
2.85 Science GPA
3.21 Cum GPA
I know I need to improve, now. But even with almost perfect grades from now on, I'll only have a 3.3 Science GPA if all my free classes are BCPM.
And then there's my extra-curriculars. Besides a bit of research, I have almost nothing. Surfing this site depresses me a bit because of how bad I screwed up and the fact that I might not be able to undo my mess up.
Am I screwed, should I just concentrate on ec's and then do an SMP?
Click to expand...
 
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Goro said:
You need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. If you can only do:

A: Ace classes but not do ECs or
B: Do ECs, but muck around in classes

HOW are you going to preform well in medical school, which will be way harder than anything you're doing now?

So the answer is C) develop better time mgt skills. Go see your school's education or learning center for help in this.
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He could focus on his classes and maybe take a gap year after undergrad to bolster his application (do ECs, shadow, do some community service, etc.). That's what I'm doing.
 
Apply to broad spectrum DO schools.
 
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mizzu said:
Apply to broad spectrum DO schools.
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Do you think he has a chance with his grades? He'll need to get straight As and a stellar MCAT to be competitive.
 
xnfs93hy said:
He could focus on his classes and maybe take a gap year after undergrad to bolster his application (do ECs, shadow, do some community service, etc.). That's what I'm doing.
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You're missing the point that someone who cannot perform academically without completing these requirements sequentially will have a very hard time meeting demands in med school where such obligations must be met simultaneously. The requirements for admission aren't just check boxes -- when you have trouble meeting them, you have to seriously consider how it reflects on your ability to meet expectations in med school & ask what's going to change in med school to allow you to succeed when the stresses, demands, and stakes are higher.
 
xnfs93hy said:
Do you think he has a chance with his grades? He'll need to get straight As and a stellar MCAT to be competitive.
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Yes because DO allows grade replacements.

He can also do a post bacc
 
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I can't retake classes until after graduation because I have a lot of B-s and I can't pay 60k a year to not gain credits (retaking = no credit). I think I'll just do a SMP later.
 
xnfs93hy said:
Do you think he has a chance with his grades? He'll need to get straight As and a stellar MCAT to be competitive.
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I know at least 10 people with 2.9 (or lower) sGPAs who got into a top 10 medical school let alone a medical school all together.

I just don't want to rely on this type of luck.
 
Also, I'm worried because:

"Academic rigor should be considered. Many Hopkins students are brilliant and few of them might get by without some serious effort. For the more average student, the challenge will be greater. Kids who had all A's in high school may find themselves working hard to get B's or C's. I see this as an issue of fit. Most kids who come to Hopkins will meet the challenges, grow, and excel. A few will be overly stressed and would be happier in an easier environment where they are at the top of the class and continue to be rewarded with easy A's. Grades can also be a concern for graduate or medical school admissions. I don't see this as a negative. Graduate and medical schools know Hopkins and they know the students are challenged and are not all going to have high gpa's."

I know I haven't given college a fair chance, but continuing to fight for B-s will kill me inside. lol
 
magicaldinosaur said:
I know at least 10 people with 2.9 (or lower) sGPAs who got into a top 10 medical school let alone a medical school all together.

I just don't want to rely on this type of luck.
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WOW, this is a hilarious statement. They were nobel laureates, right? Nope, don't believe that for a second and you shouldn't either. Good schools with 10th percentile GPAs around 3.5-3.6 aren't going to dip 2 standard deviations below that just because your friends may have gone to "hard" schools. This might happen once in a blue moon because of unusual circumstances, but not 10 times to people you know.

You can get into med school. It's just going to take some work and you might have to do some post bacc work to raise the GPA if you can't get it above 3.5 by graduation.
 
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magicaldinosaur said:
I know at least 10 people with 2.9 (or lower) sGPAs who got into a top 10 medical school let alone a medical school all together.

I just don't want to rely on this type of luck.
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The average GPA for allopathic medical schools is 3.7. I find it hard to believe that anyone with a 2.9 science GPA got into a top 10. If this is true, they must have had a ridiculously high MCAT and amazing ECs. You should focus on bolstering your GPA. There's also the option of doing a post-baccalaureate program. As another poster mentioned, DO schools have the grade replacement policy, so you could consider retaking the classes you did poorly in and the bad grade will be replaced by the better one. I wasn't trying to be an ass, so please, don't think that.
 
xnfs93hy said:
The average GPA for allopathic medical schools is 3.7. I find it hard to believe that anyone with a 2.9 science GPA got into a top 10. If this is true, they must have had a ridiculously high MCAT and amazing ECs. You should focus on bolstering your GPA. There's also the option of doing a post-baccalaureate program. As another poster mentioned, DO schools have the grade replacement policy, so you could consider retaking the classes you did poorly in and the bad grade will be replaced by the better one. I wasn't trying to be an ass, so please, don't think that.
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You know how hard it is to retake classes? I will/can do that after graduation which I won't do unless I take otheer classes.
 
jlescher said:
WOW, this is a hilarious statement. They were nobel laureates, right? Nope, don't believe that for a second and you shouldn't either. Good schools with 10th percentile GPAs around 3.5-3.6 aren't going to dip 2 standard deviations below that just because your friends may have gone to "hard" schools. This might happen once in a blue moon because of unusual circumstances, but not 10 times to people you know.

You can get into med school. It's just going to take some work and you might have to do some post bacc work to raise the GPA if you can't get it above 3.5 by graduation.
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No... you realize it's average for a reason right? I highly doubt people would lower their GPA when talking about being accepted to MS
 
xnfs93hy said:
The average GPA for allopathic medical schools is 3.7. I find it hard to believe that anyone with a 2.9 science GPA got into a top 10. If this is true, they must have had a ridiculously high MCAT and amazing ECs. You should focus on bolstering your GPA. There's also the option of doing a post-baccalaureate program. As another poster mentioned, DO schools have the grade replacement policy, so you could consider retaking the classes you did poorly in and the bad grade will be replaced by the better one. I wasn't trying to be an ass, so please, don't think that.
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Hey do you mind showing where you found that stat for average GPA? I've looked high and low for that info and can't find it
 
magicaldinosaur said:
No... you realize it's average for a reason right? I highly doubt people would lower their GPA when talking about being accepted to MS
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I do understand that it's an average. That's why I provided two other discriptive stats to make my argument. So the average is more like 3.7 to 3.8 with the low end (ie, 10th%) being 3.5. Although someone could still have a gpa below that, a 2.9 is over a sdv below the low end of the range. These schools get over 7k applicants, 2k+ have stats in the range. They just don't need to take people with 3.0s. It just doesn't happen. Did you mean to say MS because that's different? Are there other factors here that your leaving out, like their parents being doctors in the faculty because that would change things too.
 
About28 said:
Hey do you mind showing where you found that stat for average GPA? I've looked high and low for that info and can't find it
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I averaged the GPAs in the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements) and it came out to around high 3.6/ low 3.7. I have an older version (2010-2011), so take it for what it's worth. This was for cumulative GPA.
 
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xnfs93hy said:
I averaged the GPAs in the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements) and it came out to around high 3.6/ low 3.7. I have an older version (2010-2011), so take it for what it's worth. This was for cumulative GPA.
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Thanks, I have data from medical schools from my school and low tier medical schools average around 3.3 sGPA. I have no doubt I'll get in from Johns Hopkins if I step up my game. I'm just discouraged at this point.
 
Just because you attend JHU as an undergrad has hardly any bearing on getting into their med school, especially with a poor gpa.
 
ciestar said:
Just because you attend JHU as an undergrad has hardly any bearing on getting into their med school, especially with a poor gpa.
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I know? I'm saying, if I get As from now on, I'll be at a 3.3sGPA which is fine according to data provided by medical schools in my state.
 
magicaldinosaur said:
I know? I'm saying, if I get As from now on, I'll be at a 3.3sGPA which is fine according to data provided by medical schools in my state.
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Sorry I must have misinterpreted that post. Raising your sGPA definitely will help you, I agree.
 
Hypothetical question What's more impressive: working butt off for B+s-As at JH from now or working decently hard for As somewhere else?
 
magicaldinosaur said:
Hypothetical question What's more impressive: working butt off for B+s-As at JH from now or working decently hard for As somewhere else?
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The former is probably more impressive, the latter is more likely to get you into medical school.
 
ahstern said:
The former is probably more impressive, the latter is more likely to get you into medical school.
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the internal struggle, why can't I have my cake and eat it too :p
 
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magicaldinosaur said:
the internal struggle, why can't I have my cake and eat it too :p
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It's the one down side of going to an awesome school. Just work hard and you'll get in somewhere. The MCAT is a big equalizer for people in your situation.
 
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magicaldinosaur said:
I know at least 10 people with 2.9 (or lower) sGPAs who got into a top 10 medical school let alone a medical school all together.

I just don't want to rely on this type of luck.
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Why did you even ask your question? You already believe you can get into a Top 10 with your current stats. So just go about your business and do what you think is good. Or maybe have coffee with some of those 10 you mentioned and see what they advise.

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