1.7 GPA for freshman year.... HELP

[lilmacstew]

I was just wondering about what you all thought. My mother died my freshman year of a sudden heart attack, and it really affected my GPA. As you have read it was a 1.7
I have raised it, and hopefully when I graduate I should walk away with a 3.3-3.5 cum. I really want to go to medical school. It is something that i have wanted to do since I was like 5 years old. But I am scared to apply, because of my freshman year, and I don't know if my gpa will be high enough to get in. I am planning on kicking butt on the MCAT, which I am taking in April. But what do you all think? Anyone think that I have a chance?
Any responses and opinions would be apprechiated.
lilmacstew

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[Ibrahim05]

My gpa is almost as bad, thankfully not that low. You have to do exceptionally well from now onward, maybe try to have some exceptional EC and you must absolutely kill the mcats. Considering your circumstances you should have no problem convince one school that you are good enough to be a doctor.

 

[Ibrahim05]

I'll also be interested to hear from current medical students with really low 1st year gpa.

 

[lilmacstew]

What kind of EC's are good to do? I was going to look into shadowing Dr's but have heard that doesnt' really count as EC's
lilmacstew

 

[marleybfour]

Lilmac,

One semester with a low GPA will not keep you out of medical school. Losing a parent is a horrific experience and below average grades would be expected.

I am very sorry for your loss. It must have been very difficult.

Keep up the motivation and present trend and you will do fine.

Good luck.

 

[PimplePopperMD]

If it's one semester, and it was 1st year, andyou have an excellent upward trend, it WILL NOT keep you from getting in. Particularly if you explain in your essay what happened.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss.

best of luck

 

[none]

The most important thing is to shed the fear and quickly! You want to go into those interviews with the UTMOST in confidence.

 

[8744]

Originally posted by Ibrahim05
I'll also be interested to hear from current medical students with really low 1st year gpa.

Dude, I was kicked out of school for bad grades after two years back in the early eighties. These grades haunted me contributing to my cumulative GPA of 2.9 when I finally finished my pre-med requirements in 2000.

But I still got into medical school. The key is to forget about the damage you have done but modify your study habits to ensure you don't repeat your mistakes.

Good grades from now on will allow you to attribute your previous grades to "youthful indiscretion."

Have you thought of taking a year or two off from school to both rest your mind and collect your thoughts. It won't really hurt you.

 

[Jeff698]

Originally posted by Ibrahim05
I'll also be interested to hear from current medical students with really low 1st year gpa.

Would a 1.3 for the first two semesters count? I managed to graduate with a 2.37 (actually, I strongly suspect the school was afraid I'd come back if they didn't graduate me).

I started medical school 12 years after they kicked me out, er, gave me a diploma. Granted, I had to do lots of very strong academic work after that, but I'm going to be a doctor despite that undergrad gpa.

Don't overly worry about your first year GPA. Do well from here on out and you'll be in great shape.

Medical school ad coms want to know three things about applicants: 1) can you do the academic work, 2) will your personality fit in at their school and 3) will you be a good doctor.

GPA and MCAT scores are typically how they decide on number 1. If you have a bad GPA early on, you just need to do really well after that to establish your ability to do the work. In other words, you need to prove that the bad grades were an anomaly.

In your case lilmacstew, you have a incredibly understandable reason for the low grades your first year and a strong track record sense then. I don't think you'll have much trouble as a result of those grades.

Good luck!

Take care,
Jeff
MS-II

 

[FutureM.D.]

Originally posted by lilmacstew
I was just wondering about what you all thought. My mother died my freshman year of a sudden heart attack, and it really affected my GPA. As you have read it was a 1.7

This is something I would HOPE med schools wold understand. Keep up the good work with the GPA and find some stunning EC's. Good Luck!!

 

[Rasputin]

i'm not going to tell you not to worry but neither am i going to tell you by any means that you can't become a doc.

there are many people that i've seen in med school who've had worse situations and still got in.

what you need to realize is that you don't really have much room for mistakes - that being said, you could still screw up again and get in but each screw up will require you to possibly apply again and have to take a year's worth of additional classes

your game plan:

dean's list every semester after this
get A's (an occasional B+) on all premed sciences
get a 32 plus on the mcat
do volunteer work
explain this semester on your essay in a mature yet self-accountable fashion
do research work if possible and get published

make sure you give adcoms no additional reason to not look at you, cover all your bases and do everything right. there are many people who get in with situations like yours and i'm 100% positive that if you do what i've told you and end up with a 3.3-3.5 gpa and a 32 plus mcat, you'll get in

good luck and my best wishes are with you!