Anyone here had bad first semester but were accepted somewhere?

[anub2]

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Did anyone here have a bad first semester (i.e below 3.0) and have been accepted to med schools. If so, then what was your first semester gpa and your overall gpa now...and maybe your MCAT score?

 

[jlee9531]

there are alot of us that had bad semesters and still get accepted to med school...

take me for instance i had maybe around a 2.5 or so? my first semester and pretty much the same thing for my first year...

and i have been accepted to med schools so far...

waiting on uc davis and have an interview at ucla next week.

overall gpa ended up being around a 3.4 and an mcat of just 31.

 

[jlee9531]

reading a lot of your posts you seem to be very focused on numbers right now...

are you just starting college and just prematurely paranoid/worried?

 

[anub2]

I PM'ed you.

 

[jlee9531]

if you do a search on sdn about the members on here with less than stellar grades that are getting interviews and acceptances i think you will find some inspiration there and hope...and belief in the fact that admissions are not all numbers based..but that doesnt mean that you dont need to try hard. do the best you can.

you can check out exmike's profile and check out his mdapplicant's site. hes a warrior and he is an awesome applicant.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Don't worry about it. I had all W's my first semester, and so far have had 7 interviews, all of which went really well. Two at UC schools (which I'm beginning to think, really don't mean anything more than any other interview: CRAPSHOOT!). Just make sure you can explain weak spots concisely, and that the end trend in your app is constant improvement.

 

[jdr]

I had 2.7 my first two semesters, but cleaned it up after that and graduated with ~3.7. I've had 7 interviews and a couple acceptances, so it *def.* can be done! Good luck.

 

[loomis]

Originally posted by anub2
Did anyone here have a bad first semester (i.e below 3.0) and have been accepted to med schools. If so, then what was your first semester gpa and your overall gpa now...and maybe your MCAT score?

i had a c- in chem, and b- rounding out my GPA to be something like 2.2 my first semester in college. i was lucky enough to turn it around..did well following that and spent several years out of school doing other stuff. now i have been very fortunate in the med school process. your early grades alone will not bury you!!!! best of luck!!!
loomis

 

[indo]

Originally posted by anub2
Did anyone here have a bad first semester (i.e below 3.0) and have been accepted to med schools. If so, then what was your first semester gpa and your overall gpa now...and maybe your MCAT score?

So far you've scored slightly below 1250 on the SAT and had a tough first semester of college?

 

[anub2]

You people make it sound like I'm worried or panicking right away. I know Med schools look for improvement, but I was just wondering like how have people improved..

Indo, I don't know... English is my second language. I had a tough time in SAT Verbal. And Now I am trying to work on MCAT verbal.

 

[missbonnie]

well i dont have any acceptances yet, but have 5 interviews. I had a 2.8 for ALL of freshman yr which included 2 classes I passed and a W! If they just look at my overall gpa of 3.4 that ain't so hot, but the rest of the semesters years are like 3.6-3.7.

So don't sweat a bad semester or bad yr, just change it up for the good later on.

No school has mentioned/asked about the freshman yr grades.

bonnie

 

[bella_dottoressa]

Textbook case right here. First quarter of school...C+ in gen chem and D in calc II!! 😡 2.9 GPA first qtr...I'm a sophomore now w/ a 3.4 that is on the move up! 🙂 Hopefully will apply with a 3.6 or so...Don't let it bother you. I posted millions of threads back then and no one told me it would ever matter. The key is to turn it around as soon as possible.

 

[SteveNC]

I got a C- in organic chemistry and a C+ in some other class. Both of my interviewers at UNC asked me specifically about each bad grade and why it happened. I said "I wish I could change it but I can't" and he responded "well you actually did, you got very good grades your junior and senior years." The other interviewer said how he remembered how he got a 17 on his first chemistry test. So its not a big deal as long as you show an upward trend in your grades and prove to med schools that you can do the work necessary of a med student, and that you corrected your priorities after your bad semester(s).

Hope that helped,
Steve

 

[indo]

Originally posted by anub2
You people make it sound like I'm worried or panicking right away. I know Med schools look for improvement, but I was just wondering like how have people improved..

Indo, I don't know... English is my second language. I had a tough time in SAT Verbal. And Now I am trying to work on MCAT verbal.

You'll do well. You have plenty of time to improve your verbal reading skills although I doubt they're that bad.

 

[Lux Aeterna]

Yeah I had a 2.4 science gpa first year of school. 😳

Not one of my best moments. Basically I did not have my act together. But made a 180 and worked really hard to boost my grades (of course my gpa is still "average" b/c of those bad grades--- PM me if you want more details). You WILL be asked about it at interviews, of course, but approach the question with humility and maturity-- admit you messed up but learned a lesson. Adcoms are human too. And remember, This process is very humbling, there are SO MANY people with amazing stats....

but never count yourself out. I've been pleasantly surprised with the interviews (fortunate to have some top 10s--you will never know if you can make those schools unless you try), I have gotten. Of course, i've gotten my fair share of rejections, but those are totally understandable 🙂

good luck!

P.S. My MCAT isn't anything stratospheric either.

 

[freesolo]

me too, i messed up summer before freshman year i had a 3.3 cuz of comp I and 2 Ws! Well im back up to a 3.6 with a mixture of As and Bs, sophmore now, hoping to get it to 3.7 come interview time. I was pretty close to giving up, especially after talking to my advisor, you make mistakes in life, its all about how you recover from them =D.

 

[hanselthemedic]

I had a 2.5 or so my first year. One of those semesters was ~2.1 and included a D and two Fs. I took three years off and brought it up to 3.5 and scored a 27 on the MCAT, which has been good enough to get me acceptances and 7 interviews. Nobody even asked about the first year. I think they're more interested in the big picture and trends than picking apart details about a certain semester.

 

[idq1i]

first semester: 1.92. Take that, everyone!
Second semester: 2.3
First year: 2.123

The rest of the years: 3.9+

 

[BigRedPingpong]

Some interviewers just tend to look at the big picture and "look past" the first semester mess-ups. Yet, other interviewers (ad comms) love to flame students and bring up the past. Questions like, "Why did you get a C in orgo? Why did you get a 6 in verbal? Why did you ....?" are asked merely to draw out guilt and explainations. The explainations are all the same: family problems, immaturity, illness, etc. The bottom line is NOT all interviewers look at the big picture; many like to nit pick as well.

Originally posted by hanselthemedic
I had a 2.5 or so my first year. One of those semesters was ~2.1 and included a D and two Fs. I took three years off and brought it up to 3.5 and scored a 27 on the MCAT, which has been good enough to get me acceptances and 7 interviews. Nobody even asked about the first year. I think they're more interested in the big picture and trends than picking apart details about a certain semester.

 

[docmemi]

honestly, i think that the school itself is more interested in your overall and sci gpa's. i think the interviewers, if they get your grades, might ask you why; and you just be honest and give them the reason, no big deal, everyone has problems. really, worry about next semester and how youll improve....its all about the overall numbers, bigger picture.

good luck.