So I screwed up...

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Kumfert

Kumfert

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Hey everybody. So I'm a rising sophomore and I screwed up freshman year. Adjusting to college life was hard and I finished with a 2.634 GPA. Obviously I need to get my GPA up but does anybody have advice on how to improve my chances of being accepted to a medical school? Please don't say "you don't have a chance" because I will just ignore that. I am determined to make it to medical school and it is what I truly want to do so I am willing to do anything to get there. Thanks!
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Get a 4.0 for the next 3 years?
 
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Also DO isn't out of the question but I really want a MD.
 
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Find better reasons for your lack of success. Adjusting to college life is not a good way of approaching the situation. What will happen if/when you get to med school or residency? Find the reasons you did not perform so well and lessen/eliminate those.
 
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You need to evaluate your life habits. "Adjusting to college life" doesn't cut it as an excuse, but plenty of people deal with it. What did you do wrong to get where you are, and what did you do right that you can build on?

The above poster is right in saying that you need a high GPA for each semester from here on out if you want to show you're capable. Try to get your cumulative and science GPAs to 3.3+.

Kumfert said:
Also DO isn't out of the question but I really want a MD.
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It better not be out of the question because with grade replacement, that might be your best or only option down the road.
 
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I'm didn't take school seriously enough. I breezed through high school with minimal effort and carried that bad habit into college. I changed my study habits but it was too little to late. Apart from academics what are some other things I can do to make my application more appealing to an admissions council?
 
Kumfert said:
I'm didn't take school seriously enough. I breezed through high school with minimal effort and carried that bad habit into college. I changed my study habits but it was too little to late. Apart from academics what are some other things I can do to make my application more appealing to an admissions council?
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Leadership, diverse EC's, clinical and non-clinical volunteering, shadowing, research
 
Kumfert said:
I'm didn't take school seriously enough. I breezed through high school with minimal effort and carried that bad habit into college. I changed my study habits but it was too little to late. Apart from academics what are some other things I can do to make my application more appealing to an admissions council?
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I don't really understand what you are asking here. Do you mean in terms of volunteer and EC's? Because your biggest concern should be doing well in your classes at this point.
 
Kumfert said:
I'm didn't take school seriously enough. I breezed through high school with minimal effort and carried that bad habit into college. I changed my study habits but it was too little to late. Apart from academics what are some other things I can do to make my application more appealing to an admissions council?
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Considering what you have now, academics is the ONLY thing you should be thinking about or working on. Once you get a year of straight A's, you can worry about ECs and the like. Until you do get those straight A's, everything else is meaningless.
 
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So far I'm a FF/EMT and I have a board position in my fraternity. I have some non formal shadowing experience and am researching a formal internship/shadowing experience for next summer
 
Once your grades are where they need to be, get involved in some extracurricular activities like clubs, volunteering and research. You need to do some physician shadowing in a variety of specialties, including a PCP.

This site is absolutely full of every ounce of information you will need to figure out what you need to do to prepare yourself for med school applications. Take a look around; use the search function.
 
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Kumfert said:
So far I'm a FF/EMT and I have a board position in my fraternity. I have some non formal shadowing experience and am researching a formal internship/shadowing experience for next summer
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Sounds good in terms of EC's and whatnot, but as others have said, academics should be your primary concentration at this point.
 
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Absolutely what Senpai said. You will find a plethora (sorry gyngyn) of information on this site.
 
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If your "location" beneath your avatar is any indication of where you go to school, I know your UG has plenty of academic services to help students succeed. I suggest you make the best of those resources.
 
I already have some help lined up for next semester and I'm already looking over my coursework for my classes. So far my plan to raise my GPA consists of just studying more in advance. I go to all of my classes and pay attention so I think more study time is my best bet to raise my grades.
 
J Senpai said:
If your "location" beneath your avatar is any indication of where you go to school, I know your UG has plenty of academic services to help students succeed. I suggest you make the best of those resources.
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I'm at UMD College Park
 
:smack:I know.

Please don't post where you go to school on the forum. Anonymity and all.
 
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J Senpai said:
:smack:I know.

Please don't post where you go to school on the forum. Anonymity and all.
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Well if you can see my location that pretty much narrows it down to one school haha
 
Kumfert said:
Well if you can see my location that pretty much narrows it down to one school haha
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Yeah, might want to fix that!

It sounds like you have a good idea of what you need to do to improve your grades. Work hard next semester. You'll get more used college coursework with practice.
 
Thanks for the help everyone and as far as the location thing I just signed up for this site so I have some account management to do!
 
Pre med and alcohol don't mix...


Learned it that hard way...lol
 
Put all EC's to the side until your grades improve.
 
I did bad as well in my freshman year, ~3.2 GPA overall. However, I stepped it up and got 3.75+ for three semesters and 3.66 for two other semester. Even striving for a 4.0 was almost impossible. I will say if you get a 3.65 gpa every semester, your overall will be a 3.4. This will put you at below average GPA applicant. You will need a 36+ on your MCAT.

As for volunteers and stuff. We can't tell you what you should do and what you shouldn't do. It makes the applicant unique in their own way.
 
Fargofargo said:
Secret gunner...it was actually water the whole time....haha jk!
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If I had to friggen help carry someone back to the dorm passed out because they drank water I would be hella pissed.
 
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If you ever got a job as a ER scribe, or anything in a regular hospital with DOs, you'll discover that DOs are just as capable as MDs. Try to get some experience with one, before outright disregarding the DO degree
 
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That is pretty terrible in some cases one bad grade can ruin in your chances, one whole year can make it pretty much impossible. Prepare for other options other than US MD. That is the honest truth.
 
deanthedream17 said:
That is pretty terrible in some cases one bad grade can ruin in your chances, one whole year can make it pretty much impossible. Prepare for other options other than US MD. That is the honest truth.
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lol wut?
 
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Make Or Break said:
lol wut?
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I stated it poorly. One bad grade like a C can make it quite hard to get into school, a bad semester can put an end to all your chances. Read the NY times article and comments about similar stories from people that went through the same thing.
 
deanthedream17 said:
I stated it poorly. One bad grade like a C can make it quite hard to get into school, a bad semester can put an end to all your chances. Read the NY times article and comments about similar stories from people that went through the same thing.
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There is no way that a single C with no other problems on an application will make it hard to get into med school. It might make the chances less at a top school, but unless the overall GPA is poor, it isn't going to keep anyone out of med school. Even a very poor first semester does not automatically make US MD schools impossible.
 
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skiier54 said:
even if you got 4.0s for the rest of college, youd only finish with a 3.65 overall gpa. even if that were to happen, it might not cut it by the time you start applying for MD schools. youd have to take summer classes as a supplement. id start studying for the mcat early and try to score above 35, since averages for that are going up too
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I would say this advice only holds true if OP wants to apply to top tier schools. There are plenty of MD schools OP can get into with a 3.65 GPA and 30 mcat. Granted, getting a 4.0 is fairly challenging, but completely doable.
 
I get what you guys are saying but to write off med school completely is crazy. Obviously I have a long uphill battle ahead of me but I've talked with my advisors (who are close with many MD admissions councils) and they said it is still viable. GPA is important but not everything. If you look at the original post I said don't tell me it can't be done. Can't and impossible are words that shouldn't be thrown around. Thanks for the concern but I'm not letting one ****ty year bring me down. Hopkins and Harvard are out of the question but med school isn't.
 
deanthedream17 said:
That is pretty terrible in some cases one bad grade can ruin in your chances, one whole year can make it pretty much impossible. Prepare for other options other than US MD. That is the honest truth.
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What... I don't think one bad grade/semester can ruin it... Lots of people have upward trends and get in. Many people have told me that it's actually more positive if you have a bad start and an upward trend vs someone who has consistently had the same grades because person A has grown and improved... Then again, I'm biased because I brought up my sGPA significantly from a 2.6 and will continue to do so.
 
skiier54 said:
even if you got 4.0s for the rest of college, youd only finish with a 3.65 overall gpa. even if that were to happen, it might not cut it by the time you start applying for MD schools. youd have to take summer classes as a supplement. id start studying for the mcat early and try to score above 35, since averages for that are going up too
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This info should be really harrowing for the OP. Even students who put their nose to the grind stone from day 1 and do their best find a 4.0 every semester difficult to obtain.

The fact is that MOST people who achieve a 2.0-3.0 never get much better grades. I'm not trying to discourage you, and there are absolutely exceptions, but let's look at this honestly. It's entirely possible that you'll kick it into gear and get those aced semesters, but it's frankly statistically unlikely (statistics in question here coming out of my rear). Were I you, I'd ensure that my major was marketable in preparation for the very real possibility that I didn't get into med school right out of college. You could always do a post-bacc if your grades were close at the end, but should they not be, you don't want to turn 22 with nothing going for you.
 
Kochanie said:
What... I don't think one bad grade/semester can ruin it... Lots of people have upward trends and get in. Many people have told me that it's actually more positive if you have a bad start and an upward trend vs someone who has consistently had the same grades because person A has grown and improved... Then again, I'm biased because I brought up my sGPA significantly from a 2.6 and will continue to do so.
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Yup that is simply not true. Think about how ridiculous that sounds. Are they going to take the person who messed up or the other person who consistently did well? You are looking for a reason that it would be good for you though what you are saying is flat out wrong.
 
deanthedream17 said:
Yup that is simply not true. Think about how ridiculous that sounds. Are they going to take the person who messed up or the other person who consistently did well? You are looking for a reason that it would be good for you though what you are saying is flat out wrong.
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When you're comparing someone who has a 3.6 to someone else who has a 3.6, the person who consistently got a 3.6 every semester in my eyes doesn't look as good as someone who started with a 2.6 and had to get basically straight As to get a 3.6. I believe this question has been asked on here.
 
Kochanie said:
When you're comparing someone who has a 3.6 to someone else who has a 3.6, the person who consistently got a 3.6 every semester in my eyes doesn't look as good as someone who started with a 2.6 and had to get basically straight As to get a 3.6. I believe this question has been asked on here.
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.
 
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deanthedream17 said:
Go for it, but what they say is rarely what they do and you will find this when you apply to med school. These adcoms read thousands of apps and they look for any reason at all to eliminate you. If you don't have it well there is a ton of applicants that have done well throughout. Also I think for your typical white or asian applicant I think 3.6 is a bit low based on my experience unless you have a really competitive MCAT and application to back it up.
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There are tons of factors that go into it besides GPA. At my particular school, we tend to have a lower GPA due to rigor/slight deflation, but a higher than average MCAT.
 
Kochanie said:
There are tons of factors that go into it besides GPA. At my particular school, we tend to have a lower GPA due to rigor/slight deflation, but a higher than average MCAT.
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.
 
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Back to the OP I asked for advice on how to improve my chances of having a standout app not life advice. Please keep it relevant or stop posting.
 
Kumfert said:
Back to the OP I asked for advice on how to improve my chances of having a standout app not life advice. Please keep it relevant or stop posting.
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It is relevant... Knock your next 3 years out of the park and try to get your GPA as high as possible? You should focus on grades and instead of wanting to get in based on other factors.
 
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Kochanie said:
It is relevant... Knock your next 3 years out of the park and try to get your GPA as high as possible? You should focus on grades and instead of wanting to get in based on other factors.
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I'm referring to the people saying give up now
 
Man, why is SDN filled with people complaining about their poor performance lately?
 
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