Back To Haunt Me!!!

[princessd3]

Senior year of High School I took two College Now classes just for taking it sake. I had just moved to NY from another state and had just started to go to this particular school just before senior year. Anyway I went from being a top student (in my other school) to being very delinquent. I didn't care about those classes...I hardly even went to school.
My heart is now breaking as I come to terms with the fact that I have to put the grades I got in those stupid classes on my medical school application. I got an F in one and a D in the other. All throughout high school I was an A and B student.
Do I really have to report those grades, can I just pretend it never happend. Right now I'm doing fine, Junior at college with a 3.3 but with steady progression. This term I'm even anticipating nothing less than 3.7. I'm really trying hard to raise my gpa to about 3.5 by the time I apply next year. Would these grades affect me tremendously?

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[wolferman]

The grades will effect you to the extent that it will give the admission committees a reason to choose a similarly qualified applicant over you.

Given one spot, who would you choose? A guy with a 3.5 GPA and 30 MCAT who has never failed a class or a guy with a 3.5 GPA and 30 MCAT who has?

 

[carrigallen]

I second the above poster.

Also, if you didn't get any college credit in high school (since the classes were a bust) maybe you only have to report college credit *received* in high school, not attempted. I don't want to encourage you to do anything unethical though.

 

[2ndave]

Given one spot, who would you choose? A guy with a 3.5 GPA and 30 MCAT who has never failed a class or a guy with a 3.5 GPA and 30 MCAT who has?

Assuming I was not a computer--and the people who staff adcoms are people, not machines--I would be looking at various aspects of the applications in question! Personally, if the applicant who never failed a class was boring cookie cutter material, but the person who did fail a class (way back during high school) seemed interesting, mature, and well-rounded, I'd choose that person. Plus, even if all I cared about were numbers, I'd keep in mind that I was comparing one person's high school grades with another person's grades from college.

If I were you, I'd do the best you can in everything you have up ahead. It sounds like you are doing the right things already. But don't limit your focus to grades. Get involved in things (research, study abroad, whatever) that show you've grown up a lot since those bad grades.

Good luck, and don't lose heart!

 

[filmdoc26]

Though those grades will stick to you, I don't think it's as discouraging as the above posters make it out to be. For instance, if you go to mdapplicants.com and view some of the top med schools, you'll see that some of the acceptances have abnormally low MCAT scores and/or GPA. Not all hope is lost.

Don't be TOO discouraged. On the AMCAS you have to list all the institutions where you had received college credit. If they see that you took those classes during HS, then that could be the redeeming factor in your application During the interview process, be prepared to have an answer for those grades. Just work hard and finish off strong. I think you'll be fine. Best of luck!

 

[Reality Check4u]

Originally posted by wolferman
The grades will effect you to the extent that it will give the admission committees a reason to choose a similarly qualified applicant over you.

Given one spot, who would you choose? A guy with a 3.5 GPA and 30 MCAT who has never failed a class or a guy with a 3.5 GPA and 30 MCAT who has?

think about what u say before you open your mouth. the guy that hasnt failed a class with a 3.5 gpa has grades that are constant. if you have a 3.5 gpa and you failed classes as freshmen that must mean you are doing awesome as a jr/sr to bring up your gpa to the 3.5 level. my advice is to have a good reason for failing your classes. college was a big change of pace or something like that. make sure you get a 30+ mcat and u will get in.

 

[indiandoc]

I had a similar situation, in which I took two classes at a local college and blew them off my second semester senior year (B and C). I ended up reporting them and they took a little bit off my GPA for AMCAS. I don't think it matters at all. Mine weren't BCPM, so it was no big issue. I would ask your pre-med counselor if you have to report it. I must admit that I was really stressed about this last summer. I know that everything looks like a big issue right now, but just focus on why you want to be a doctor and the positive and everything will work out.

 

[Asclepius]

I think I'd chose the one who failed and then overcame that failure-all else being equal. At the time of application, moreover, the 'failure' is achieving a full 0.2 GPA or more than the consistent applicant.

Are medical schools more interested in demonstrated success than blatant potential? Maybe...but improvement and maturation is a form of success in itself, don't you think?

 

[sunflower79]

Take heart princess!

I was in exactly your shoes. Senior year in HS I was in the accelerated program at my undergrad college, i.e. I was a regular college student and took 3 classes in addition to my 4 HS classes. I was also active in ASB and other stuff. Was I nuts or what! Needless to say, I bombed the college classes.

Anyway, I didn't have the luxury of contemplating whether to report the grades to AMCAS because I did my undergrad there, so they would see all the grades. But I retook the classes, aced them and kept my grades up. I even got asked about it in an interview (screening red flags) but the interviewer was totally sympathetic: she said something like, wow I can't believe they even let students do that!

A few very selective schools may look for reasons to reject ppl, but many will look for an upward trend. Adcoms have said that they understand there may be a drop in freshman year b/c of the transition to college, but as long as there's an upward trend you should be ok. Like others have said above, they look at the whole package and not just one or two grades.

Don't be discouraged! Two thoughts that helped me when I applied:

There is a medical school out there for everybody.

I can only be myself in this process. I'm not perfect and it would be ridiculous to present myself that way. If med schools are looking for perfect people, then screw them.

Have faith and good luck!

 

[lola]

Originally posted by princessd3

Do I really have to report those grades, can I just pretend it never happend. Right now I'm doing fine, Junior at college with a 3.3 but with steady progression. This term I'm even anticipating nothing less than 3.7. I'm really trying hard to raise my gpa to about 3.5 by the time I apply next year. Would these grades affect me tremendously?

yes, you really are supposed to report those grades. yes, you can pretend it never happened. this is very unethical/not recommended, but it is likely that amcas/schools will never find out if you don't report them. i wouldn't choose to do it or advise anyone to do it, but it is an option. if they ever find out, you can get kicked out of med school i believe.

were the courses biology, chemistry, physics, or math courses? if not, it will probably not be that big of a deal. your science gpa is probably more important to med schools, and you likely have fewer science classes than non-science, right? thus, if they're science classes, it'll probably make a bigger difference than if they're non-science.

as others have mentioned, most schools are somewhat forgiving, particularly when mistakes happened early on.

 

[relatively prime]

Originally posted by 2ndave
Assuming I was not a computer--and the people who staff adcoms are people, not machines--I would be looking at various aspects of the applications in question!

Yeah but... unfortantely, this usually isn't the case. Even your interviews are going to be scored and entered into a computer. Contrary to popular beliefs... med school admissions lacks that personal touch.

 

[princessd3]

The classes were mass communication and business. I can't believe this. You mean my AMCAS wouldn't even say that those classes were taken during High School. I'm speechless...just really tarnishes my transcript.
I am involved in other things too though. Research, clubs, hospital experience, work as a pharmacy technician. I'm just really disappointed, how could I have been so stupid.
I'm hoping it works for me though because it would seem like I came from rock bottom. It's not that I was dumb or the classes were hard, I just didn't think they mattered and I couldn't wait to get out of High School, I didn't care.

 

[princessd3]

Also, the program was with a local community college so yeah I did get college credit for it I think. I just never transferred it to my current school. So I guess I have to report them right? Really sucks.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

If you didn't transfer it to your current school, that means it will appear separately, with its own semester, which will indicate it was taken before college. Even if it appears with the rest of your freshman credits, having the extra credits fall semester will indicate to adcoms that some of that credit was AP or otherwise taken in high school. You can overcome this--just make sure the rest of your app is solid. Good luck!

 

[ashkan33]

Originally posted by 2ndave
if the applicant who never failed a class was boring cookie cutter material, but the person who did fail a class (way back during high school) seemed interesting, mature, and well-rounded, I'd choose that person.

trust me, there will be plenty of mature, interesting, and well-rounded students that are applying....you're not the only one. i don't know if you will get caught if you just "ignore" that period of your life but it seems that right now you are very borderline and those grades could bend you over and give you a stiff one in the end. if you do ignore them and they do find out...get ready for the caribbs. good luck.

 

[carrigallen]

Originally posted by princessd3
You mean my AMCAS wouldn't even say that those classes were taken during High School. I'm speechless...just really tarnishes my transcript.

I don't know who said this, but I think you were being misled. AMCAS allows you to specify if a course was taken in High School; freshmen year, sophomore, etc. The course will clearly show as taken in high school, if you designate it as such.

Now, it may be added on to your freshmen year *gpa*, but as I recall (maybe I'm wrong) AMCAS allows the schools to separate the gpa's by year, if they want.

 

[relatively prime]

Wait... are we talking AP classes here? or actual college courses?

 

[chapinsita]

Me too. Senior year in high school, I had just moved to California from the East coast, and was too caught up in the ocean waves to care about studying all day. I took 5 AP classes in addition to Calculus at my local community college (yes, I was insane). I did the bare minimum to get straight B's in the AP classes (which was still a 4.0) but got C's in both semesters of calculus. Now at my university, I'm not allowed to re-take calculus (can't retake if a score above C-) and so I just have to live with my horrible calculus grades for the rest of my life

But keep your head up. Hopefully they'll see that was then, and now things are different. I pray Carrigallen is right though, that you specify that it was taken during high school. Good luck.