Bad CC Grades

[CrownofLaurel]

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Hi everyone.

I'm currently a senior in high school, and will be graduating in May. I am strongly interested in veterinary medicine and have already begun getting experience hours. I am attending university in the fall in a pre-vet program (major is in science). My HS cumulative GPA was about a 3.8 until this semester.

This year my school offered a college credit program. I took online courses through a local community college. The classes were free (since I maintained high enough grades). In the fall semester, I did great. I ended with a 4.0 GPA. This spring semester, I went through a rough period of time dealing with personal problems and my grades dropped tremendously as a result (all Fs). Once I got myself out of the mess and I regained my mental health, I improved my grades as much as possible. The semester ends after this week and I currently have a D, C, and B. I believe my final grades will be a bit higher, though I can't say for certain.

Will this semesters' college grades hurt me? I know high school grades won't matter to vet schools, but I'm afraid they'll factor in my CC grades. I am hoping they won't impact much because none of them are science or math classes.

The college classes I took this year:
Fall semester:
Anatomy & physiology
Environmental science
English composition II
Psychology

Spring semester:
Interpersonal communication
British literature II
Sociology

 

[Practicals]

I believe your academic record from the community college will transfer up to the university. So yes, vet schools will see those grades; however, having a few bad grades here and there doesn't mean you're hurting your chances for veterinary school. It's a bit far to already be forecasting your outcomes after undergrad, but you'll have plenty of time at your university to improve your GPA. Nobody expects you to be impeccable because life happens.

 

[ComputerGuy365]

Everyone has hiccups. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to improve your grades. Good luck.

 

[randomguy123456]

Hi everyone.

I'm currently a senior in high school, and will be graduating in May. I am strongly interested in veterinary medicine and have already begun getting experience hours. I am attending university in the fall in a pre-vet program (major is in science). My HS cumulative GPA was about a 3.8 until this semester.

This year my school offered a college credit program. I took online courses through a local community college. The classes were free (since I maintained high enough grades). In the fall semester, I did great. I ended with a 4.0 GPA. This spring semester, I went through a rough period of time dealing with personal problems and my grades dropped tremendously as a result (all Fs). Once I got myself out of the mess and I regained my mental health, I improved my grades as much as possible. The semester ends after this week and I currently have a D, C, and B. I believe my final grades will be a bit higher, though I can't say for certain.

Will this semesters' college grades hurt me? I know high school grades won't matter to vet schools, but I'm afraid they'll factor in my CC grades. I am hoping they won't impact much because none of them are science or math classes.

The college classes I took this year:
Fall semester:
Anatomy & physiology
Environmental science
English composition II
Psychology

Spring semester:
Interpersonal communication
British literature II
Sociology

To be realistic, having a D or C on your record is not good at all for medical school. You would definitely have to explain why you received those grades in your medical school application. Even so, you would be competing against other pre-med students have stellar academic grades. Therefore you would have to get almost all A's in the rest of your college years and stand out by having a SUPERB MCAT score to even out your low grades. It's not impossible to get into medical school with your current record, but it is extremely tough. But im sure if you really wanted this bad you make the necessary sacrifices and put in the work to make your resume shine. Good luck.

 

[ComputerGuy365]

To be realistic, having a D or C on your record is not good at all for medical school. You would definitely have to explain why you received those grades in your medical school application. Even so, you would be competing against other pre-med students have stellar academic grades. Therefore you would have to get almost all A's in the rest of your college years and stand out by having a SUPERB MCAT score to even out your low grades. It's not impossible to get into medical school with your current record, but it is extremely tough. But im sure if you really wanted this bad you make the necessary sacrifices and put in the work to make your resume shine. Good luck.

Wouldn't it really depend on the school you're trying to get into? Doesn't DO do grade replacement? Therefore he could retake the D course and replace it with an A.

 

[CrownofLaurel]

I've improved my grades even more and will be ending the semester with two Bs and a C. So, to summarize the entire year:
4 As, two Bs, and a C. Plus the A I've had both semesters in my HS class.

Most of the As were very close to 100%s (especially in science and math), for what it's worth. So as long as I don't slip up again like I did this semester, I should be okay? I don't want to have ruined my chances of vet school before even starting undergrad.

 

[Practicals]

I've improved my grades even more and will be ending the semester with two Bs and a C. So, to summarize the entire year:
4 As, two Bs, and a C. Plus the A I've had both semesters in my HS class.

Most of the As were very close to 100%s (especially in science and math), for what it's worth. So as long as I don't slip up again like I did this semester, I should be okay? I don't want to have ruined my chances of vet school before even starting undergrad.

That's great, just keep it up and keep moving forward.

 

[randomguy123456]

Wouldn't it really depend on the school you're trying to get into? Doesn't DO do grade replacement? Therefore he could retake the D course and replace it with an A.

OP was asking if his D's and C's would hurt him, and yes it would because you need a competitive GPA whether you are applying to DO or MD schools. One solution to this is what you have mentioned. However, I haven't heard of DO schools completely replacing your initial grade with a the new one, but instead averaging the two. Either case, it's better than doing nothing.

 

[MD2BE92]

OP was asking if his D's and C's would hurt him, and yes it would because you need a competitive GPA whether you are applying to DO or MD schools. One solution to this is what you have mentioned. However, I haven't heard of DO schools completely replacing your initial grade with a the new one, but instead averaging to do. Either case, it's better than doing nothing.

Most DO schools will do complete grade replacement, as this is policy for the AACOMAS (although the initial grade will still show, it may be replaced for gpa calculations). MD schools allow remediation but keep both grades visible and only the initial grade counts for the gpa calculation in AAMCAS.

 

[ComputerGuy365]

OP was asking if his D's and C's would hurt him, and yes it would because you need a competitive GPA whether you are applying to DO or MD schools. One solution to this is what you have mentioned. However, I haven't heard of DO schools completely replacing your initial grade with a the new one, but instead averaging to do. Either case, it's better than doing nothing.

@Goro correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it retake is averaged for MD, replacement for DO.

Example: C retaken to A would equal a B for MD, C retaken to A would equal an A for DO.

Don't quote me, but I believe that DO schools still will see the grade on your transcript regardless of whether you retake it or not. I may be wrong however.

 

[Goro]

Correct on all counts.

@Goro correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it retake is averaged for MD, replacement for DO.

Example: C retaken to A would equal a B for MD, C retaken to A would equal an A for DO.

Don't quote me, but I believe that DO schools still will see the grade on your transcript regardless of whether you retake it or not. I may be wrong however.

 

[spiffysteve]

The MD/DO discussion is perfectly valid and great, but if I understand the OP correctly they're asking about vet school, not med school.

OP, you haven't ruined your chances. You can easily overcome one non-science/prereq C on your transcript. Just keep an eye on your mental health during college, and try not to let your grades sag again.

 

[CrownofLaurel]

The MD/DO discussion is perfectly valid and great, but if I understand the OP correctly they're asking about vet school, not med school.

OP, you haven't ruined your chances. You can easily overcome one non-science/prereq C on your transcript. Just keep an eye on your mental health during college, and try not to let your grades sag again.

Yes, I was referring to vet school. And thank you for the reassurance.

Would it benefit me to retake the course I got a C in over the summer? I'm fairly certain I could manage an A the second time around. If it's not worth the time and money, I won't bother, but I'm open to the idea if it'll help. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm repeating what's already been discussed, but I don't really understand the MD/DO talk.

 

[Practicals]

Yes, I was referring to vet school. And thank you for the reassurance.

Would it benefit me to retake the course I got a C in over the summer? I'm fairly certain I could manage an A the second time around. If it's not worth the time and money, I won't bother, but I'm open to the idea if it'll help. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm repeating what's already been discussed, but I don't really understand the MD/DO talk.

The MD/DO discussion is about medical school, which doesn't pertain to you since you want to go to vet school.

 

[DVMDream]

Yes, I was referring to vet school. And thank you for the reassurance.

Would it benefit me to retake the course I got a C in over the summer? I'm fairly certain I could manage an A the second time around. If it's not worth the time and money, I won't bother, but I'm open to the idea if it'll help. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm repeating what's already been discussed, but I don't really understand the MD/DO talk.

No. And one C isn't going to ruin your chances. Relax, you are being way too high strung. No need to even explain the one C on an application. Just move on and continue to do well. Try to avoid any more C's.