Advice

[premedtexas]

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I am an 18 year old student from Texas. I am still a senior in high school but I am already a junior in college. I was part of a program of early college high schools in Texas, where students in high school get the opportunity to attend college and high school at the same time and end up earning both a college degree and high school diploma at the same time. I will be graduating from high school within two weeks, however I already graduated from my local community college with an Associates Degree when I was a 17 and during my senior year I attended my city's university. I unfortunately didn't do as good as I would have wanted. Since I still attended my high school and the university at the same time along with family reasons I did not have enough time and concentration to study for the much harder exams of my college classes and it hurt my grades. I currently have a 3.0 GPA in college since I earned A's and B's for the most part and a couple of C's along with receiving an F and a D in two classes . I am worried if there is still a chance for me to become a doctor. If so, then should I retake the classes I did poorly on? Also, I was thinking about changing my major from Microbiology to Nursing and become an RN meanwhile and take the extra requirement classes that I need for medical school and then apply for medical school so that I can have a fall back and a well paying job during med school, but I want to know if this is a good choice or not?

 

[LostInPreMed]

I've seen a few threads throughout SDN that talk about the whole nursing/med school question. One of the main points (which makes sense) is that when an adcom looks at your app and sees that your major was nursing, yet you applied to med school...it appears that you are hedging your bet. Medical schools want to know why you want to be a doctor. Having a nursing degree and no experience as a nurse seems like you just want to be in the medical field. Moreover, although both are in the healthcare field, the way they about patient care is very different; completely different philosophies.

However, with that said, I don't think its too late for you to get into medical school. Obviously you have some intellectual parlous or else you won't have been accepted into the high school/community college program in the first place, right? If you are able to destroy college from here on out while trying to get your BS and you take down the MCATs, you should be fine. Also, this whole "I got a 3.0" can become part of your personal statement. Showing that you were able to turn around a "bad situation" will only speak to your character. Don't give up. You'll get there!


Onwards!

 

[rguil15]

I am an 18 year old student from Texas. I am still a senior in high school but I am already a junior in college. I was part of a program of early college high schools in Texas, where students in high school get the opportunity to attend college and high school at the same time and end up earning both a college degree and high school diploma at the same time. I will be graduating from high school within two weeks, however I already graduated from my local community college with an Associates Degree when I was a 17 and during my senior year I attended my city's university. I unfortunately didn't do as good as I would have wanted. Since I still attended my high school and the university at the same time along with family reasons I did not have enough time and concentration to study for the much harder exams of my college classes and it hurt my grades. I currently have a 3.0 GPA in college since I earned A's and B's for the most part and a couple of C's along with receiving an F and a D in two classes . I am worried if there is still a chance for me to become a doctor. If so, then should I retake the classes I did poorly on?

I think I'm following...
What are your plans next year, for what would be most people's freshman year of college?
Re-taking F's and D's will be a necessity if these classes are pre-reqs for most medical schools. If they are, then yes, retake them and be the shining star in your class.

Also, I was thinking about changing my major from Microbiology to Nursing and become an RN meanwhile and take the extra requirement classes that I need for medical school and then apply for medical school so that I can have a fall back and a well paying job during med school, but I want to know if this is a good choice or not?

No need thinking about a well paying job during medical school, you won't be working. Your job will be getting through medical school.

I'm not sure how nursing is viewed by Adcoms, I'd be blowing smoke if I even pretended to. The nursing curriculum at my University is for all intents and purposes is not nearly as rigorous as pursing an undergrad in one of the hard sciences, so I'm not sure a nursing degree will be taken as seriously. YMMV