What was your first semester GPA?

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Lindsayvarkula

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Pre-med students, med students, doctors, etc..

what was your first semester GPA for freshman year (undergrad)?

I'm a little worried.. I just received a 3.5 GPA (20 credit hour load) I was so close to getting a 3.75 but I earned a 89.3% in my bio course (the prof wouldn't budge on this).

What can I do with this GPA? is it so bad? I had internships for the last two summers at the Cleveland Clinic but now I am worried that I won't be able to hook another job because of my low GPA.
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3.5 is perfectly fine. Especially for a freshman taking 20 credits. Stop being such a pre-med.
 
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Lindsayvarkula said:
Pre-med students, med students, doctors, etc..

what was your first semester GPA for freshman year (undergrad)?

I'm a little worried.. I just received a 3.5 GPA (20 credit hour load) I was so close to getting a 3.75 but I earned a 89.3% in my bio course (the prof wouldn't budge on this).

What can I do with this GPA? is it so bad? I had internships for the last two summers at the Cleveland Clinic but now I am worried that I won't be able to hook another job because of my low GPA.
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Hey,

I know it's easier said than done, but try not to worry too much. With so few hours under your belt, one B really skews the GPA. To earn a 3.5 after taking 20hrs your first semester is a great accomplishment. Try to polish up your study skills, earn some more A's and watch that GPA rise!
 
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Lindsayvarkula said:
Pre-med students, med students, doctors, etc..

what was your first semester GPA for freshman year (undergrad)?

I'm a little worried.. I just received a 3.5 GPA (20 credit hour load) I was so close to getting a 3.75 but I earned a 89.3% in my bio course (the prof wouldn't budge on this).

What can I do with this GPA? is it so bad? I had internships for the last two summers at the Cleveland Clinic but now I am worried that I won't be able to hook another job because of my low GPA.
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OMG IDIOT.

Just kidding. That's great! Tons of people fail their first semester because they don't understand how to do college/slack off/figure out drinking is fun/etc.

1) You have A TON of time to raise your GPA. If you can get mostly A's (with some B's...give yourself room for Ochem...) your GPA will be great. Don't. Stress. Improve next semester.

2) In the non-SDN/non-premed world, a 3.5 is not low. Trust me. A 3.5 will get you into the honors program and you'll graduate with latin honors at my school. Don't let SDN trick you into thinking 3.5 is a crappy gpa.

However,
You're right that a 3.5 is not as competitive as far as med school goes. If you can get it up to a 3.7 you're golden. And at this point theirs no reason you couldn't raise it higher if you work hard.

A side note: from personal experience,
I have a 3.5 cGPA. Subpar MCAT. I had 6 interviews, 3 MD acceptances, 1 DO acceptance, 2 waitlists. Why? Because I have good EC's and I'm not a crazy person. Your GPA isn't everything.

Work hard and you'll be FINE. DO. NOT. WORRY.
 
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Just found out my gpa for this semester (1st semester) is 3.62. Im not too worried because I am an engineering major and I know Ill be seeing a lot of B's in the next few years.
 
3.61 + a W in pre-calc. A 3.5 is fine, especially at 20 credits? I know many pre-meds who completely screwed up just taking 12 credits freshman year. You're fine!
 
Thank you so much you guys.. this is really helping me feel better. I think I am just disappointed because

1.) I'm pre-med
2.) I was almost guaranteed a 3.75 but screwed up my last bio exam..

** I don't want to use this as an excuse but I found out finals week that my grandpa was diagnosed with terminal cancer... It really messed me up.

In bio I had a 94% exam average, 94% quiz average and 94% in lab.. I got a 68% on the final.
 
I got a 3.11 with 8 credits. I have a W for Chem. I was in jeopardy of academic dismissal (below 2.0) so this is good I guess. I'm not discouraged by it. I rather see it as an opening. They told us shoot for 3.0 or better
 
doit4themunki, you're right GPA isn't everything. Your personal experience has made me realize that there are many other factors they consider
 
3.200, and I haven't received anything but a 4. since!
 
Lindsayvarkula said:
doit4themunki, you're right GPA isn't everything. Your personal experience has made me realize that there are many other factors they consider
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Take it easy on yourself, bud. 3.5 is good for first year. There was a kid who had a 2 something and managed to bring it up. And remember you always have your MCAT's :)

Congrats. I assume you made Deans list? Also you're eligible for course over load :)
 
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Venc said:
Same here, although only the first semester lol
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I hate you two :laugh: hahHa congrats guys don't get cocky though. Hopefully I'll get a membership to the 4.0 gang as well

Next semester here I come!
 
tripwm said:
3.200, and I haven't received anything but a 4. since!
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Wow this is seriously inspiring! Did that first semester give you the kick you needed or something? How difficult was this feat for you?
 
Guys with a 3.11 what's the highest my cummalitive can be pulled up to?
 
I was not able to attend this semester but my first and second semester g.p.a. was 4.0 but I only have 27 credits.

OP, you actually have a great g.p.a. for having taken 20 credits a semester. This upcoming semester I'll be taking 17 hours and I hope my streak continues.
 
Lowest here: 2.2 cGPA

D in chem, D in Polysci. :scared:

Now, cGPA is around a 3.3(3.284 or something like that). Hoping for a 3.5 before I apply(Summer and next semester).
 
I had a 3.54 or something around there and got a 4.0 the next semester to make it a 3.75...I'm around there now, so don't worry about your first semester gpa. You did good!!
 
Doubtnichts said:
I had a 3.54 or something around there and got a 4.0 the next semester to make it a 3.75...I'm around there now, so don't worry about your first semester gpa. You did good!!
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oh god thats what i'm hoping to do! Glad someone else pulled it off :)
 
Still waiting on my calculus grade, but I anticipate the first semester GPA to be 3.56. That's just for my GPA at my college; since I took some college courses in high school, my cGPA is 3.78ish. Hoping I can pick up the pace next semester and make an A in Chem II to show that I actually know what I'm doing; my B in Chem I was so close to being an A it kind of makes me sick. At least now I know how much I need to study, do practice problems, etc., in order to get the grade. :)
 
Got a 3.6 here. Pretty happy with that, considering it was my first semester in a university after 2 years away, plus had a Russian intensive course that took up most of my time.

I've learned some much better study skills, so I'll implement them for next semester. :)

All you guys have gotten some nice GPA's this semester. Keep it up!
 
3.375 with 16 credits :/

Next semester is definitely going to be my sGPA recovery semester (Only 3 of my 18 credits is not going to my sGPA)
 
Same, as far as sGPA goes. My two B's were in BCPM classes, so I definitely need to balance out those grades next semester with Cell Bio and Chem II...
 
Ummm...a 3.5 is good, especially over 20 credits, and even more so for your first semester.
 
3.90 my first semester but I only took about 15 credits at that time.

Congrats on doing well, especially with that course load.
 
3.2 stupid calc
 
FWIW, I think the professor is being unnecessarily harsh not giving you the grade bump, given the circumstances. Not that you should pursure it further - just saying tough break.
 
^It's absurd that you think his professor not budging on the grade is harsh. You earn what you earn. Period.

What do you mean "given the circumstances?" What, that you're applying to med school? Not the professor's problem, you should have studied harder.
 
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3.52 with about a 3.4 bcpm. A in bio and B- in general chem/B in lab. A 3.5 is nowhere near bad for first semester. Wish my gpa was still there, this semester kicked my ass.
 
3.84 with 17, but I was a wreck after the semester ended. I didn't know what a lab class was since we didn't have them in high school, so I signed up for four of them.
 
DKTacts said:
^It's absurd that you think his professor not budging on the grade is harsh. You earn what you earn. Period.

What do you mean "given the circumstances?" What, that you're applying to med school? Not the professor's problem, you should have studied harder.
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The circumstance is that he was taking 20 credits his freshman year. Anyways in principle you're correct. However principles are meant to be pissed on if you want to get anywhere in life without putting yourself at a disadvantage.
 
Lindsayvarkula said:
** I don't want to use this as an excuse but I found out finals week that my grandpa was diagnosed with terminal cancer... It really messed me up.
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Pretty sure that this is a good excuse to bomb a final. I feel like the professor should have given you a break....I'm sorry to hear that.

Anyway like everyone has been saying though, you'll be fine. :luck:
 
serenade said:
The circumstance is that he was taking 20 credits his freshman year. Anyways in principle you're correct. However principles are meant to be pissed on if you want to get anywhere in life without putting yourself at a disadvantage.
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:thumbdown: Spoken like a gunner.

S/he didn't have to take 20 credits, and it's not the professor's prerogative to give out brownie points and grade boosts for no reason. 89.3 does not round up anyway, sorry.
 
Chops369 said:
:thumbdown: Spoken like a gunner.

S/he didn't have to take 20 credits, and it's not the professor's prerogative to give out brownie points and grade boosts for no reason. 89.3 does not round up anyway, sorry.
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I guess she didn't have to have a grandfather diagnosed with terminal cancer either. Next time she should plan better.

Come on.
 
20 hours? At my school students can't stand anymore than 19. I personally would never take any more than 15, I see no point in taking more than that unless you're double majoring or trying to graduate early, both of those are dumb to me but to each it's own. My GPA is really low, I think I may actually be on academic probation, or close to it. All these three-poing somethings are making me mad I didn't try harder..it's not the end of the world tho, I have time to improve.
 
3.7 with 18 credits. A's in everything except Calc (B-).

I anticipate a 4.0 next semester, 17 hours of nothing but cake. nomnomnom
 
DKTacts said:
^It's absurd that you think his professor not budging on the grade is harsh. You earn what you earn. Period.

What do you mean "given the circumstances?" What, that you're applying to med school? Not the professor's problem, you should have studied harder.
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given the circumstances that I had a family member passed away...and that i was .2% off... way to be sensitive.
 
Chops369 said:
:thumbdown: Spoken like a gunner.

S/he didn't have to take 20 credits, and it's not the professor's prerogative to give out brownie points and grade boosts for no reason. 89.3 does not round up anyway, sorry.
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However it is at the professors discretion, simple as that. Whether it is a right of the professor is not in question here. I am not disagreeing with the teachers judgments, but I will disagree with a standardized quantitative means of grading only. If he/she came in on office hours and built a good student-teacher relationship then there will be advantages such as having the professor bump you up.
Fact is that if you function on principle alone you'll be walking in a straight conformist line. Which is what I personally was aiming for saying when I was targeting this guys thought pattern. Life and the way to what you want isn't a single straight line, there is a context and a content to things. Which is why the qualitative must also be examined.
Anyways calling someone who is sympathizing with another person a gunner doesn't make much sense.
 
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Lindsayvarkula said:
given the circumstances that I had a family member passed away...and that i was .2% off... way to be sensitive.
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The next few years you're going to have to learn to ignore people like that. There's a lot of them out there trying to go to medical school....

A professor "being understanding" doesn't necessarily mean like just giving you that extra .2%...he/she could have worked with you on maybe taking the test a little later to give you time to recover/study, stuff like that. I don't know why everyone assumes that by "being understanding" that means giving "brownie points". They're obviously not required to do this but you would expect, since they are human beings and have emotions, that they would be more flexible in situations like this.

I think anyone who puts themselves in your shoes (i.e. thinks about their family member dying during finals week) would no doubt also really hope for some empathy from professors.
 
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I got a 4.0 with 17 credits (I entered my school thinking that I was the dumbest person there because other premed kids in my classes seemed to be so smart, I worked really hard to make sure I didn't fall behind. The result turned out to be way better than I expected =) ). My college only allows us to take up to 18 hours, so yeah, 20 is a heavy load.
3.5 is pretty good already, and you have plenty of time to pump it up, so don't worry.
 
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