Can I get into medical school with 4 C's on my transcript??

[Hopefulxxxx]

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So I am at a good state school where I am a Biomedical Engineering major, with a full scholarship.

I wanted to go into engineering originally, but now im pretty much sure I would like to go to med school and become a doctor.

The only problem is that my first semester, I had a lot of family issues and ended up getting C's in all of my classes (2 were engineering courses, and 1 was Physics II which counts as premed). I took one class as Pass/Fail - and recieved a Pass.

My second semester, I got my act together and got 3 A's and 1 B+. I took courses in the summer and got 1 A and 1 B+.

This semester, the same issues I was dealing with in my first semester happened again (my father lost his job again, and things were a mess emotionally and financially at home). I got 1C, 2Bs, 1A, and withdrew from a class. I took Orgo I as Pass/Fail, and I passed, but i realized now that I need to take the class for a letter grade, which I will.

If I get my act together, and end up doing really well from now onwards (all A's and that stuff), I will end up with a good GPA - a little bit higher than 3.5.

If I do that, how will the 4Cs (3 from 1st Semester of Freshman Year, 1 from 1st Semester of Sophomore Year) and 1W from 1st Semester of Sophomore Year affect my chances of getting into a good med school (assuming by the end I have a 3.5 GPA, and a good MCAT (mid 30s)?

I'm worried, because while I know my circumstances are not supposed to be an excuse, I know that I am capable of doing well. I just had some really tough times that really affected my performance.

What do you think? Please give me some advice?

 

[Catalystik]

If you get enough As to get your cGPA and BCPM GAP into the competitive range with a strong MCAT score to compensate for it being slightly low, along with the usual and customary ECs, strong PS, supportive LORs and good interview skills, there is a US med school that will accept you despite the Cs. But don't do it again or you cast doubt on your ability to perform well in the face of stress.

 

[J ROD]

yes, assuming everything else is competitive....

MCAT, Overall cGPA and sGPA, ECs, etc....

 

[DendWrite]

You are absolutely not out of the running. Keep in mind that those 2 engineering C's are most likely not BCPM and will only affect your cGPA (which is easy to pull up with ... easy classes 🙂 ). Upward trends are a good thing. Lots of people make mistakes early. What's important for you is to identify precisely what went wrong and how you are going to fix it. You don't go from C's to A's overnight. Make sure you have everything solved that was going on freshman year and have a good support system in place. It is way too early to admit defeat though. You have a lot of time left. Just keep things going up from here on out.

 

[JustinG]

I think this situation isn't too different from having a ton of B's, which may be more common.

But what if one of these C's is in your senior year (all other senior classes received A's)?

 

[J ROD]

I think this situation isn't too different from having a ton of B's, which may be more common.

But what if one of these C's is in your senior year (all other senior classes received A's)?

1 C is not gonna hurt even then.....

one C a yr is not gonna hurt.

look at the overall GPA and science GPA....

 

[MaryLennox]

i had at least 4 C's. (not a ton, but probably 4-6.) and 2 W's. and i have 2 acceptances, at what i consider to be good schools. if you think US allopathic school= good school, and are not obsessed with getting into a top 20 that is . . . then its definitely not a dealbreaker.

plus, bad grades are much more easily forgiven freshman/soph year than junior/senior year. so just be sure to avoid repeating the same mistakes and you'll be ok.

 

[dokein]

I got 3Cs and a W my freshman year. All in BCPM classes.

The application cycle hasn't been too painful for me. But you have to be very smart about how you phrase it to the schools.

 

[PediatricPaula]

what's a BCPM gpa?

 

[DendWrite]

what's a BCPM gpa?

BCPM (biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics) classes make up your science GPA. The AMCAS reports 2 GPAs, your cumulative GPA (everything...typically is the same as your institution GPA unless you get extra for A+'s or something) and science GPA. They should both be high, but the science GPA is the more important one usually (within reason ... i.e. 3.7 science 2.8 cumulative is bad... 3.7 science 3.5 cumulative, probably ok).

 

[Hopefulxxxx]

Hey you guys,

Thanks a lot for the helpful advice. It really calmed me down and I know that I have a long way to go before I can be a good candidate for med school, but atleast knowing there is hope means a lot.

MaryLennox - what i meant by good med school was just simply one with a good reputation. A state medical school, etc etc. I do want to do Allopathic Medicine, and I'm not keen on leaving the country, but I rather go a medical school where I feel comfortable, but I don't care about the actual rank.

Dokein - how exactly do you phrase it to medical school?

DendWrite, JDub, Justin G, Catalystik - thanks a bunch too!

Thanks again you guys!
you were awesome...

any more advice you have for me - keep them coming. at this point, i could use all the help I can get 🙂

 

[MrCheetah]

Hey you guys,

Thanks a lot for the helpful advice. It really calmed me down and I know that I have a long way to go before I can be a good candidate for med school, but atleast knowing there is hope means a lot.

MaryLennox - what i meant by good med school was just simply one with a good reputation. A state medical school, etc etc. I do want to do Allopathic Medicine, and I'm not keen on leaving the country, but I rather go a medical school where I feel comfortable, but I don't care about the actual rank.

Dokein - how exactly do you phrase it to medical school?

DendWrite, JDub, Justin G, Catalystik - thanks a bunch too!

Thanks again you guys!
you were awesome...

any more advice you have for me - keep them coming. at this point, i could use all the help I can get 🙂

If you get all A's from here on out you should be fine.

 

[patisserie]

Do upperdivision science courses like microbiology, biochem, virology, etc. count as part of the BCPM gpa? Or is itstrictly the general pre-req science/math courses?

 

[JustinG]

^Anything that falls under those sciences, should count as a science. However, once in upper div, you want to keep taking upper div.

What does psychology count as?

 

[Velocity]

I don't think that psychology counts as a science. Strangely, engineering doesn't count as one - which leads me to believe that if engineering isn't a science, then nothing outside of the core sciences (biology, chemistry, physics... maybe math?) counts.

As far as grades go, the higher, the better. We all know that, but don't lose hope - an upward trend is a redeeming factor. Don't psyche yourself into being over-stressed and ultimately performing poorly, either. As someone who also had poor performance partly due to an unstable family situation, my advice is to try and maintain a good frame of mind, and bring balance to your life. That'll be helpful to you in future endeavors, as well.

If you don't get A's in every single class for the rest of your undergrad, then you don't, and that's fine - don't beat yourself up over it or feel that it's the end. Give it your best, keep pushing forward, and don't let anyone tell you that you have no chance of making it in.

 

[just one]

I can't speak for 4 C's, but I have 1 F, 1 D, 1 C, 2 W and got in. My first 64 hours included those grades while my last 120 hours has been a 3.93
Just show improvement

 

[Velocity]

I can't speak for 4 C's, but I have 1 F, 1 D, 1 C, 2 W and got in. My first 64 hours included those grades while my last 120 hours has been a 3.93
Just show improvement

Congratulations! You give hope to those of us who have a similar record.