Confused Junior, should I be thinking pre-med?

[foody]

So this is my first post here. I'm a third year wanting to pursue medicine. Basically my first two years kind of sucked and my gpa at the end of sophomore year was 2.3. I also had to withdraw the last quarter of sophmore year, because I didn't want to screw up my grades more as I was failing a lot of my classes. Last summer and last quarter kind of improved my gpa to a 2.52. I know I could have done better in my classes and improved more but hopefully I've finally learned my lesson with procrastination.

Basically my question is, am I crazy to consider medical school? I calculated my gpa after two hypothetical additional years at college and spending both summers after this year and senior year, and if I got straight A's I would have a 3.5. If I just wanted to graduate senior year, and got straight A's from now on I would have a 3.3~3.4. I know my track record seems like this is highly unlikely and that'd Id be able to achieve this but I feel differently as I have become much more motivated and sorted out some of my family problems. I have little volunteer work maybe 50+ hours, was a research assistant for two months over the summer but otherwise I have nothing else on my resume. I'm a little overwhelmed as in I know I should have an internship, shadow a physician, research experience, and some amazing ec's that demonstrate leadership, wow factor etc. Anyone recommend how I could go about doing all this? What do you guys think about my situation right now, am I a hopeless pre-med? Advice? The truth? Am I crazy?

Thanks in advance

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[Everglide]

A 3.4/3.5 isn't bad. There's a lot more to the admissions process than your GPA of course. Get out there and make the grades, go after volunteering, shadowing and whatever else you feel would help.

You're far from hopeless and now would be a good time to turn it around rather than later.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Moving to What are my Chances.

 

[Law2Doc]

So this is my first post here. I'm a third year wanting to pursue medicine. Basically my first two years kind of sucked and my gpa at the end of sophomore year was 2.3. I also had to withdraw the last quarter of sophmore year, because I didn't want to screw up my grades more as I was failing a lot of my classes. Last summer and last quarter kind of improved my gpa to a 2.52. I know I could have done better in my classes and improved more but hopefully I've finally learned my lesson with procrastination.

Basically my question is, am I crazy to consider medical school? I calculated my gpa after two hypothetical additional years at college and spending both summers after this year and senior year, and if I got straight A's I would have a 3.5. If I just wanted to graduate senior year, and got straight A's from now on I would have a 3.3~3.4. I know my track record seems like this is highly unlikely and that'd Id be able to achieve this but I feel differently as I have become much more motivated and sorted out some of my family problems. I have little volunteer work maybe 50+ hours, was a research assistant for two months over the summer but otherwise I have nothing else on my resume. I'm a little overwhelmed as in I know I should have an internship, shadow a physician, research experience, and some amazing ec's that demonstrate leadership, wow factor etc. Anyone recommend how I could go about doing all this? What do you guys think about my situation right now, am I a hopeless pre-med? Advice? The truth? Am I crazy?

Thanks in advance

If you haven't already taken the prereqs I suggest you stop. take courses you enjoy and can do well in from now until graduation, and bring that GPA up as high as you can. Then after graduation, plan on taking a post-bac (formal if you haven't taken the prereqs, or informal otherwise) to take those sciences and upper levels and bring your GPA up further. With your college start, you aren't going to get there in 4 years so no point trying. Best to cut your losses, improve your GPA, and take another run at it later. Many people get into med school by taking no sciences in undergrad, taking only things they are interested in and can do well in, and later, when they have more honed study skills, more maturity, and can take fewer courses at a time, go back and take the prereqs, and find they do a lot better. med schools don't really hold this against you and the percentage of folks with decent grades and postbac sciences who get in is pretty significant. So I say cut your losses, get away from the courses that are causing you difficulty, and spend the rest of your time in undergrad trying to graduate with A's, even if you have to major in underwater basket weaving and never take another course that requires you to enter a lab or do basic math between now and graduation. Get that GPA up to a 3.5, by taking the same course the jocks are taking. Then, after graduation, circle around and pick up the things you need for med school, at the pace that benefits you. A lot of folks will tell you that in retrospect, this was probably the way to do college in the first place.

 

[Law2Doc]

A 3.4/3.5 isn't bad. There's a lot more to the admissions process than your GPA of course. Get out there and make the grades, go after volunteering, shadowing and whatever else you feel would help.

You're far from hopeless and now would be a good time to turn it around rather than later.

He doesn't have a 3.5, he has a 2.5. Time to totally stop adding things on the side and do what needs to be done to salvage. Now is not the time to add on volunteering and shadowing. Now is the time to bail on whatever you were doing, limit outside activities and get the GPA up.

 

[Everglide]

He doesn't have a 3.5, he has a 2.5. Time to totally stop adding things on the side and do what needs to be done to salvage. Now is not the time to add on volunteering and shadowing. Now is the time to bail on whatever you were doing, limit outside activities and get the GPA up.

Well, I meant the hypothetical GPA of 3.4/3.5 wouldn't be bad. I'll second the getting grades up is first priority. You can always make time for volunteering and shadowing later.

Take a serious self-reflection on why you did poorly in your classes.

 

[Catalystik]

If you can get your GPA to a 3.5 and score on the MCAT a 32 or so, you will have a decent shot at allopathic med schools. With a 3.4 and MCAT 26, you'd have a decent shot at osteopathic med schools. Don't worry about ECs right now. Your priority next semester is to prove to yourself that you can get straight As in anything. You will have plenty of time to get in the expected activities once you figure out how to consistently get great grades. Law2Doc has outlined a reasonable strategy for you to follow.

 

[foody]

Thank you all for your wonderful and helpful feedback. I think I'm going to just focus on grades right now before I go into other things. I am a little relieved to know that all is not lost but I know I have to kick my own ass to get going.

I hope to return to these threads one day when I turn things around and apply to med school.

Thanks again.