3.0 gpa freshmen year, am I screwed?

[crystalwatt]

Hi all, I’m a rising sophomore at an Ivy League college and freshmen year I got my ass handed to me on a platter. My high school definitely did not prepare me for the rigor of college nor the imposter syndrome I would feel. I ended my first semester with a 3.02 B- in chem 1, C+ in calc, A - in an English course, and B+ in a mandated university writing class. Our second semester was made mandatory pass/fail due to COVID and if I’m estimating right, I barely did better. Thus, I was not able to increase my gpa and I ended my freshmen year dishearten and with a 3.0 gpa. Am I already screwed? I don’t believe this one bad year should demolish my dreams of being a doctor and I don’t want to drop out of the pre med track. On the other hand, I feel so disheartened because I haven’t proven to myself that I can do better yet. I can’t think of myself doing anything else career wise because all my life all I’ve wanted to do is become a doctor. If you guys have any advice such as how I can do better in classes etc, it would be super helpful. I have been working in a psych lab as a research assistant for about six months now and I’m starting to reach out to other organizations within my university as my depression and anxiety from the year before prevented me. I want to change and become a better student that will make a worthy doctor, so I’ll take any advice or constructive criticism that you all have to offer. And to my other pre meds, good luck and I’m rooting for you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[okayyyalx]

no

 

[Justapremedguy]

Nope. Just learn from your mistakes/bad habits and do better

 

[deleted941485]

Hi all, I’m a rising sophomore at an Ivy League college and freshmen year I got my ass handed to me on a platter. My high school definitely did not prepare me for the rigor of college nor the imposter syndrome I would feel. I ended my first semester with a 3.02 B- in chem 1, C+ in calc, A - in an English course, and B+ in a mandated university writing class. Our second semester was made mandatory pass/fail due to COVID and if I’m estimating right, I barely did better. Thus, I was not able to increase my gpa and I ended my freshmen year dishearten and with a 3.0 gpa. Am I already screwed? I don’t believe this one bad year should demolish my dreams of being a doctor and I don’t want to drop out of the pre med track. On the other hand, I feel so disheartened because I haven’t proven to myself that I can do better yet. I can’t think of myself doing anything else career wise because all my life all I’ve wanted to do is become a doctor. If you guys have any advice such as how I can do better in classes etc, it would be super helpful. I have been working in a psych lab as a research assistant for about six months now and I’m starting to reach out to other organizations within my university as my depression and anxiety from the year before prevented me. I want to change and become a better student that will make a worthy doctor, so I’ll take any advice or constructive criticism that you all have to offer. And to my other pre meds, good luck and I’m rooting for you!

they are opening up med schools left and right all across the US. You'll get in somewhere.

 

[Rogue42]

No, you're not screwed.

Advice: STOP DOING EXTRA. A 3.00 gpa isn't terrible, but it isn't great either. Focus on solely school; none of the research will matter if you don't end up with a high enough gpa to get in - bank on that. Focus on you and your studies. Figure out what works and what doesn't work. Don't start research or time-consuming EC activities until you prove to yourself that you can pull 3.5+ (really 3.7+) semesters. You start doing that consistently, THEN find the time for research and time consuming ECs.

 

[deleted1027026]

Hi all, I’m a rising sophomore at an Ivy League college and freshmen year I got my ass handed to me on a platter. My high school definitely did not prepare me for the rigor of college nor the imposter syndrome I would feel. I ended my first semester with a 3.02 B- in chem 1, C+ in calc, A - in an English course, and B+ in a mandated university writing class. Our second semester was made mandatory pass/fail due to COVID and if I’m estimating right, I barely did better. Thus, I was not able to increase my gpa and I ended my freshmen year dishearten and with a 3.0 gpa. Am I already screwed? I don’t believe this one bad year should demolish my dreams of being a doctor and I don’t want to drop out of the pre med track. On the other hand, I feel so disheartened because I haven’t proven to myself that I can do better yet. I can’t think of myself doing anything else career wise because all my life all I’ve wanted to do is become a doctor. If you guys have any advice such as how I can do better in classes etc, it would be super helpful. I have been working in a psych lab as a research assistant for about six months now and I’m starting to reach out to other organizations within my university as my depression and anxiety from the year before prevented me. I want to change and become a better student that will make a worthy doctor, so I’ll take any advice or constructive criticism that you all have to offer. And to my other pre meds, good luck and I’m rooting for you!

3.0 GPA is bad. But you know that already. Good news is that I got a 2.7 GPA at the end of one semester in freshman year and thought it was game over for me. I was able to change my studying habits and now am applying with a 3.6 GPA. This is recoverable. But something will need to change. You know the courses are only going to get tougher from here. You still have organic chem I and II, biochem, and physics I and II ahead of you.

These are the things that really helped me out: going to prof's office hours, active reading instead of passive reading, reviewing the lecture later on in the same day that I had the lecture. Hope this helps.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

You have one bad semester, but have 4 semester to recover minimum and 6 if you want to take gap year, so you should be fine.

 

[crystalwatt]

3.0 GPA is bad. But you know that already. Good news is that I got a 2.7 GPA at the end of one semester in freshman year and thought it was game over for me. I was able to change my studying habits and now am applying with a 3.6 GPA. This is recoverable. But something will need to change. You know the courses are only going to get tougher from here. You still have organic chem I and II, biochem, and physics I and II ahead of you.

These are the things that really helped me out: going to prof's office hours, active reading instead of passive reading, reviewing the lecture later on in the same day that I had the lecture. Hope this helps.

Congrats! Thank you so much for your advice! Are you applying to enter right after college or are you taking a gap year?

 

[deleted1027026]

Congrats! Thank you so much for your advice! Are you applying to enter right after college or are you taking a gap year?

I took a gap year to give myself more time to pull up my GPA to a competitive range, which I think is 3.6+ for the schools I'm looking at. Also more time to study for MCAT and to do volunteer work.

 

[MDMechEngr]

depends.

 

[crystalwatt]

I took a gap year to give myself more time to pull up my GPA to a competitive range, which I think is 3.6+ for the schools I'm looking at. Also more time to study for MCAT and to do volunteer work.

That's pretty amazing. I wish you good luck when applying! As someone who's done it before, do you have any advice for how to effectively increase my gpa? I still feel as if I haven't cracked the code to doing well or studying effectively. Thanks!

 

[Osteosaur]

You can take a gap year and do some truly awesome ECs.

Do you like the physics research? Maybe stick with that but try to roll back a little. Your GPA is the hardest thing to change in your app. You can absolutely fix it but you need to figure out why you struggled and change. Seems like you're doing that.