At what point are your science grades too low to even bother applying?

[priorities2]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I know someone who got a C+ and a C in OChem I and II (out of 3, his school in on the trimester system), and two B+'s in Bio I and II. Should he continue on the premed track or give up? I'm a little worried about him. I've had other friends get into denial about the fact that their grades are too low for med school and keep trying only to keep lowering their college GPA, which could be important for other career opportunities... meh. I guess I'm just wondering if it's possible to pull up one's sciGPA at this point. For what it's worth, he'll be a sophomore this year.

 

[kpcrew]

Someone. I'm not going to say who. Oh, I think you know him very well.

 

[carnelian]

It really depends on the person. Your friend would have to work very hard and do well in his other classes to bring up his GPA. Is he a science major? But there has definitely been success stories about applicants with Cs and Bs on their transcript. He can retake the course too (DO schools will disregard the older one) if needed. The problem is identifying why he is doing poorly and try to fix it. Rising sophomore is still very early to talk about giving up... The question comes down to how much he wants to be a doctor and how persistent he is.

 

[priorities2]

It really depends on the person. Your friend would have to work very hard and do well in his other classes to bring up his GPA. Is he a science major? But there has definitely been success stories about applicants with Cs and Bs on their transcript. He can retake the course too (DO schools will disregard the older one) if needed. The problem is identifying why he is doing poorly and try to fix it. Rising sophomore is still very early to talk about giving up... The question comes down to how much he wants to be a doctor and how persistent he is.

Yeah, he's a hard science major.

 

[MaenadsDance]

If you spend more time on the non-trad forum, you'll read plenty of stories about people overcoming very low gpas - even low science gpas - and making their way into med school, whether by an
SMP, a post-bacc, or through some other means.

 

[Rezonance]

Someone. I'm not going to say who. Oh, I think you know him very well.

You mean somebody?

Are you trying to quote Russel Peters, he is my homeboy!!! 😎

I know someone who got a C+ and a C in OChem I and II (out of 3, his school in on the trimester system), and two B+'s in Bio I and II. Should he continue on the premed track or give up? I'm a little worried about him. I've had other friends get into denial about the fact that their grades are too low for med school and keep trying only to keep lowering their college GPA, which could be important for other career opportunities... meh. I guess I'm just wondering if it's possible to pull up one's sciGPA at this point. For what it's worth, he'll be a sophomore this year.

O-Chem, is arguably one of the toughest Pre-Med courses, seriously, your friend should not sweat and instead look at this forum for some motivation: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=830401

Like previously mentioned there are a lot of non-trad routes, but being a Pre-Med does not mean a perfect 4.0 is needed, you are going to go through some bumps and obstacles, but that is also a part of life, its not game over yet.

 

[davidbm95]

I know someone who got a C+ and a C in OChem I and II (out of 3, his school in on the trimester system), and two B+'s in Bio I and II. Should he continue on the premed track or give up? I'm a little worried about him. I've had other friends get into denial about the fact that their grades are too low for med school and keep trying only to keep lowering their college GPA, which could be important for other career opportunities... meh. I guess I'm just wondering if it's possible to pull up one's sciGPA at this point. For what it's worth, he'll be a sophomore this year.

If he's a sophomore he has a lot of time to fix his sGPA but I don't think you can recover dramatically from those grades.

 

[NightGod]

I'd be more worried about why he's getting those grades. Is it possible to bring those up? Sure, if he can start pulling As. But if it's a sign of a trend, then no.

 

[beyondhuman]

I got earned 2 B's and a c Right off the bat and finished with an sgpa around 3.58ish also I was not a natural science major so I had less classes to balance it than your "friend" will. Your "friend" can do this but they will need to work extremely hard, identify what went wrong, and keep very on top off their grades. When people were counting points needed to get an A I was watching those 25 I could lose for the whole semester. You have to change the way you do school but it is possible.

 

[Verum]

Is the person a urm?

 

[Parklife]

Is the person a urm?

lol

Well, we're all talking nicely about grades and how-to, but the question is does your friend really want to become a doctor? Does your friend know what it's like to be a doctor? what are our shadowing hours looking like here? What are our volunteering hours looking like? EC? Does your friend party a lot and go out a lot? Did he just have a hard professor? Does he just not study or is he just trying hard, but not getting the grades? We can't tell you the specs of a mansion while only having the dimensions of a window pane.

As for the grade itself, there's always a back up. Your friend seems to not enjoy or do well in science courses. Is he sure he wants to pursue being a health professional in general? DO, MD, DDS, PharmD I mean everyone needs the UG science courses. If your friend is not doing well, then he probably doesn't know the material. If he probably doesn't know the material, then he probably won't do so hot on the MCAT.

My final verdict is keep trying, but take a step back and think first. Good luck friend of a friend!

 

[Praefectus]

You're going to need to retake those classes because you generally shouldn't have pre-req grades that are lower than a B.

 

[Vespertilio]

balls

 

[Irish Football]

I read so many threads that start with a question of "My friend etc." Not to sound selfish, but I have so much on my plate trying to figure out how I am going to get into medical school, I would probably go crazy worrying about what my friends chances are. But hey, if you are a nicer kind of person then all the more power to you.

 

[FTFY]

There's no right answer. The inventory of responses usually ends up being:

That's terrible, you'll never get in with those grades.
-or-
You have to retake them because I'm on the admissions boards and know exactly what they're thinking.
-or-
If this is really his career goal maybe he should re-evaluate his strategy because something isn't working.
-or-
They'll never make it into an MD school, they need to apply to DO or go caribbean.
-or-
Make sure other parts of the app are really strong, they'll need it.
-or-
Make sure to take some upper level science classes instead of re-taking. Re-taking is redundant unless you really think it's going to make a huge differences in your overall studies. Taking higher level classes and doing well shows one's ability to succeed despite prior difficulties with the material, and that you excel when challenged.

Personally, I got into a great school despite a few bad grades. The main thing he needs to ask himself is how he can do better and why he's not doing well. Fix those problems and then move forward from there.

Also, med schools love the upward trend. If this friend of yours just starts doing well from here on out, then it'll look like they really overcame a challenge.