Be honest with me

[Under_dawg]

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I'm going to keep this short. I failed out of undergrad after my second semester with a 1.4 GPA while studying computer science. I had a surgery that really changed my mind about what I wanted to study medicine. My same school said they would reaccept me for the next semester but I decided it would be too hard to get my GPA back up. I transferred to a community college where I'm currently attending and studying surgical technology. I currently have a 3.6 GPA there. When I finish my degree I plan on going back to my original undergrad school and plan on doing pre-med to get into medical school. I just need someone to tell me did I screw up too bad already to get into med school? Should I spare myself some possible disappointment or Jeep charging ahead? Thanks guys and girls 🙂

 

[Goro]

Display academic excellence and do well with ECs and the MCAT, and there are MD schools (and all DO) that reward reinvention.

Retake all F/D/C science coursework.

I'm going to keep this short. I failed out of undergrad after my second semester with a 1.4 GPA while studying computer science. I had a surgery that really changed my mind about what I wanted to study medicine. My same school said they would reaccept me for the next semester but I decided it would be too hard to get my GPA back up. I transferred to a community college where I'm currently attending and studying surgical technology. I currently have a 3.6 GPA there. When I finish my degree I plan on going back to my original undergrad school and plan on doing pre-med to get into medical school. I just need someone to tell me did I screw up too bad already to get into med school? Should I spare myself some possible disappointment or Jeep charging ahead? Thanks guys and girls 🙂

 

[GreenDuck12]

Welcome to the forums,

Here's the "good" news: your academic struggles happened early in your college career. This can be overcome with handwork and an excellent academic record after your prior difficulties as medical schools like to see an upward trend (read: improvement).

Now for the reality check: it is going to be an uphill climb. Medical admissions are a crap shoot for everyone involved. 60% of applicants in any given year do not matriculate for a variety of reasons (grades, test scores, experience, bad interview, and bad luck). There are more applicants than there are seats so medical schools get to be very selective with who they pick. Your cGPA will most likely recover if you can sustain high academic achievement going forward (think 3.7+). If you do this, your cGPA will slowly start to climb upwards. You are going to have to work hard, add in ECs to fill out your application, gain substantial experience through volunteering, and cultivate excellent letters of recommendation. Then come the MCAT, where a competitive score is in the top 20% of all test takers (you need to "beat" 8 out of 10 students taking the test). Make sure you take this test seriously and prepare accordingly.

Long story short: there are many things that you can do to put together a competitive application. Research allopathic vs osteopathic medical schools and grade replacement policy for F/D/C classes. Focus on figuring out why you struggled in the beginning and keep evaluating how you can improve as a student.

 

[etp123]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/finally-did-it.1184789/

Take a look around at some of the low GPA threads and you'll find many people who had the odds stacked against them academically yet managed to turn their act around. The above OP left college after 5 years with a 1.7 GPA but then worked through blood, sweat, and tears to get an acceptance into UCSF. If it's possible to come back from that, then I believe it's possible to come back from your bad semester or two. Just gotta put in the work

 

[HopefulCanadian]

You show an upward trend. Assuming your MCAT is strong you have a decent shot. Not stellar but your MCAT is really your gatekeeper. You kill that and you are in without question. Maybe not to every school you want, but you can make it in. possibly even to several schools. You have a good compelling story to. Especially if you have ECs you got a shot.

 

[Under_dawg]

Thank you so much 🙂

 

[Under_dawg]

Welcome to the forums,

Here's the "good" news: your academic struggles happened early in your college career. This can be overcome with handwork and an excellent academic record after your prior difficulties as medical schools like to see an upward trend (read: improvement).

Now for the reality check: it is going to be an uphill climb. Medical admissions are a crap shoot for everyone involved. 60% of applicants in any given year do not matriculate for a variety of reasons (grades, test scores, experience, bad interview, and bad luck). There are more applicants than there are seats so medical schools get to be very selective with who they pick. Your cGPA will most likely recover if you can sustain high academic achievement going forward (think 3.7+). If you do this, your cGPA will slowly start to climb upwards. You are going to have to work hard, add in ECs to fill out your application, gain substantial experience through volunteering, and cultivate excellent letters of recommendation. Then come the MCAT, where a competitive score is in the top 20% of all test takers (you need to "beat" 8 out of 10 students taking the test). Make sure you take this test seriously and prepare accordingly.

Long story short: there are many things that you can do to put together a competitive application. Research allopathic vs osteopathic medical schools and grade replacement policy for F/D/C classes. Focus on figuring out why you struggled in the beginning and keep evaluating how you can improve as a student.

Yeah, I've actually just started volunteering at my local hospital in the ER. I've just gotta take everything one step at a time because I'm honestly not 100% sure of everything I need to do. Definitely finish up at my community college and go back to my university is step one for me I think. But I really appreciate this and I'm happy to know it's not over for me yet 🙂

 

[rcmedic]

Not sure if I have much business contributing, as I am still pre-med.

However - your struggle to acceptance will not be as hindered as you might think. I base this upon the story of my mentor - dropped out of college to join the Army as a medic (though he was a SF medic), and later dropped out of the Army to go to med school (as I am in the process of doing). He was a 3.6 GPA like yourself, 30 MCAT. Bottom line: he is now a practicing MD ten years out of residency.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Not sure if I have much business contributing, as I am still pre-med.

However - your struggle to acceptance will not be as hindered as you might think. I base this upon the story of my mentor - dropped out of college to join the Army as a medic (though he was a SF medic), and later dropped out of the Army to go to med school (as I am in the process of doing). He was a 3.6 GPA like yourself, 30 MCAT. Bottom line: he is now a practicing MD ten years out of residency.

There are a lot of us. I dropped out of college to join the Navy, and now I am trying to go to med school (although I'm trying to do it through the Navy).

 

[ZPakEffect]

I'm going to keep this short. I failed out of undergrad after my second semester with a 1.4 GPA while studying computer science. I had a surgery that really changed my mind about what I wanted to study medicine. My same school said they would reaccept me for the next semester but I decided it would be too hard to get my GPA back up. I transferred to a community college where I'm currently attending and studying surgical technology. I currently have a 3.6 GPA there. When I finish my degree I plan on going back to my original undergrad school and plan on doing pre-med to get into medical school. I just need someone to tell me did I screw up too bad already to get into med school? Should I spare myself some possible disappointment or Jeep charging ahead? Thanks guys and girls 🙂

You want honesty? If you're taking classes at a community college and are still only getting a 3.6 GPA, you currently don't have what it takes to be successful in medical school. Start working harder.

 

[Kasey79]

I also had a similar situation where when I was younger I messed up pretty badly and ended up with a GPA lower than yours. However, when I decided to go back to school I knew that I would be on academic probation but I also knew if I couldn't change my GPA I wouldn't have much of a chance. So I researched and found that my university had an option to apply for academic renewal where previous bad grades are erased if you are coming back after a certain number of years. The problem with my situation though was I was not on my first degree. When I got those bad grades I later finished a business degree at a private university so they wouldn't grant me an academic renewal. However, they reset my grades since it was an entirely different degree (biochemistry) and now at least until physical chemistry I had a perfect GPA. So check with your school and see if they have those options available. I think going the little extra effort shows med schools how serious you are about this and then just make sure from here on out you are getting mostly A's with a few exceptions of B's.

 

[CaffeineTwitch]

Something to keep in mind about academic resets is they only reset you in the eyes of the undergraduate institution. When you later go to apply to medical school you will have to list every class you have ever taken, so plan accordingly.

 

[QofQuimica]

You want honesty? If you're taking classes at a community college and are still only getting a 3.6 GPA, you currently don't have what it takes to be successful in medical school. Start working harder.

OP, you're asking us (and yourself) the wrong question here. The real question you need to answer is this: how badly do you want to go to medical school? No one here can answer that question for you. Only you can, and it requires some serious thought and introspection.

Some people like the idea of going to medical school in theory. I mean, it sounds pretty awesome when you see the made-for-movies version of a medical career where the docs are going around saving all these lives while grateful, gorgeous members of the opposite sex (or the same sex if your predilections go that way) are falling over themselves to sleep with them in the call rooms. But that's not the reality. So, your first order of business is to get some clinical experience to see if you even like medicine as a career. Go do some shadowing, volunteer in a clinical setting, work in a clinical setting, or some combo of the above. Watch and observe what really goes on. See if you can imagine yourself doing that job.

On the academic side of things, if you're serious about medical school, you need to get your act together. While I wouldn't have put it quite as bluntly as the poster I quoted above, his/her logic here is sound. Up to this point, you have not demonstrated that you are capable of performing at the necessary academic level to succeed in medical school. That doesn't mean you can't go to medical school eventually. But you do need to kick up your effort level a few notches. Your goal should be to consistently hit a 3.8+ GPA every single semester from now on until you go to medical school. Every single semester, starting now at your community college, and continuing on after you transfer back to the four year school. That probably means spending a lot more time in the library, at office hours, etc. If you really want to be a doc, and if a lot more studying is what it takes for you to become one, then you need to put in that amount of work. Make up your mind that reaching this goal is worth it to you, and then go put in the needed effort to get there.

I often tell premeds that you don't have to be a genius to get into (or through) medical school. But you do have to be willing and able to work darn hard. This career path is not for dilettantes.