An entirely different situation

[Meridian]

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Unlike most students who turn around their grades their freshman or sophomore year, I'm doing it my senior year. Actually, my 5th year as a senior. Well, the thing is, I screwed up in my intro classes my freshman year, so I decided to not take up any science classes for a while, and I got more scared as the semesters went by, and it finally hit me that I was supposed to be taking those premed prerequisites. Finally, Im doing what I should've done my sophomore year. Well, I also got some C's in required-for-graduation classes that didn't really challenge or motivate me - Well anyway, my tentative schedule is that ?'d finish the organic and physics before this summer and take the MCATS next april... so what are MY chances? i was told to not even try for medicine...

 

[Meridian]

and by the way, I also wasn't motivated by classes at school coz i was doing research and the classes just seemed so morbid. anyway, I also have publications and volunteer hours... just thought i'd throw that out there...

 

[14931]

what exactly was the question? and how bad did u screw up?(if at all u did 😕 )

 

[Meridian]

well the multiple C's and like 2 f's.. which pulled down my gpa really really low.. well my question was .. how good are my chances, if there is any atall..

 

[Jumpu]

It might help if you could provide some specifics of your situation, like when do you plan on taking the mcat, how badly did you screw up, so forth...🙂

 

[Jumpu]

Whooops! I see that you did. Well, first off, medschool acceptances are hard to come by even if you are a good candidate. There are a lot of people who found themselves in a similar situation as yours and needed to do a postbac and/or grad school (a situation I am preparing for as I write this). Of course ECs are good, but don't rely on them to offset GPA/MCAT redflags. For many medschools, GPA and MCAT help to put your foot in the door for consideration, irrespective of your ECs.

In short, its not impossible, but it will require hard work and possibly more time than you think.🙂

 

[14931]

Originally posted by Meridian
well the multiple C's and like 2 f's.. which pulled down my gpa really really low.. well my question was .. how good are my chances, if there is any atall..

well u should really try and improve ur gpa, and redo the classes u got fs in or take advanced classes in those courses, either way study hard for the mcats and get great EC's and some schools could overlook ur Cs and Fs enough for an interview, anyway all isnt lost, u could always do a post-bac or something, but point is, u still have a chance, good luck

 

[Meridian]

oh sorry, forgot to mention that i plan on taking the mcats in april 2004. I plan to get good scores on them, and yes I'm going to repeat the ones I flunked and minimize the number of c's... in our school we can't go back and take a lower level course if you've taken the next course in the sequence... which means, since i'm in ochem right now, i can't really go back and change the c in general chemistry.

by the way, since i'm taking the mcats in april, should take that spring semester off to study? or take a couple of easy courses?

 

[Meridian]

and please disregard the uncapitalized 'i's ..and lack of punctuation, i'm just too lazy right now...

 

[lola]

just so you know... once you've gotten a grade in a course, AMCAS will calculate that grade into your gpa. thus, if you got an F and retook it for an A, your gpa will be a 2.0. it's hard for us to assess the seriousness of your situation since we don't know how many courses you've taken, how many you've failed, how many you've gotten c's in, if you're capable of pulling off a 4.0 right now, etc...
what's your gpa right now?

 

[Meridian]

jesus, there's no way i can pull off a 4.0.. a 3.2 yes, but not a 4.0.. see it's that serious... but i'm a good test taker and i've already started preparing for them... and test isn't untill next april.. i'm wondering if i get like a say 33 on the mcats, it'd balance out the sub standard gpa?

 

[Meridian]

you should also keep in mind that i'm in ochem1 and physics 1 right now.. i have ochem2 and physics2 and labs for ochems yet to take.. so my science gpa would look very good, it's just the overall that's pretty effed up...

does amcas average out the first course AND the repeated course to calculate the science gpas??!

 

[Jumpu]

Originally posted by Meridian
you should also keep in mind that i'm in ochem1 and physics 1 right now.. i have ochem2 and physics2 and labs for ochems yet to take.. so my science gpa would look very good, it's just the overall that's pretty effed up...

does amcas average out the first course AND the repeated course to calculate the science gpas??!

amcas takes all the classes you've taken into account, including repeats. And as far as a 33 making up for a subpar GPA, don't count on it. I got a 3.3 and 33 and absolutely no interviews and most likely I'll have to grad school and reapply this June.🙁

 

[lola]

Originally posted by Meridian

does amcas average out the first course AND the repeated course to calculate the science gpas??!

yes. amcas calculates a science gpa and a non-science gpa, and possibly an overall gpa (can't remember). the science gpa includes all classes in the bio, chem, physics, and math departments regardless of whether or not they are med school prereqs. if you take chem1 and get an F, retake it and get an A, you will end up with a C (2.0) average.

a 33 mcat *might* balance out a 3.1 - 3.3 gpa. it would probably depend on other factors (extracurricular activities, race/ethnicity, disadvantaged status, circumstances that might have caused an initial poor performance, etc...)

 

[brownman24]

Meridian
I screwed up a lot in college too. however, mine was for the first two years. i don't want to discourage you, but in my eyes, I am not sure how much a 33 will help. you might need to do better.

I graduated with a 3.2 cumulative from a name school. I had like a 2.4 my first two years and a 3.6 my last 2. I had a few C's in science classes, than I retook and got A's, but AMCAS sees all of the C's anyway. I have descent EC's, nothing special. So i decided to get my MPH, and have like a 3.8 in this program. I got a 34 on my MCATs and I have only had 3 interviews, but 2 acceptances, so I am in no position to really complain, but I thought I would have a shot at a few more schools.
Given my experience, I am just saying that a 33 might not be enough to overcome your poor grades.