Doomed by a non science class?

[Solar Bear]

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Hi,

I met with the pre med advisor at my school the other day and she informed me that due to me receiving an F in a history class freshman year chances at medical school were not good. I was under the impression that upward trend could soften the blow of the F but she told me that the cumulative GPA was the medical school's main concern. The history class brought me down from a cgpa of 3.7 to 3.43. Also my sGPA is 3.75 with an upward trend. I had hoped that this was enough to overcome the F but my advisor suggested otherwise. I was hoping to get sdn's opinion on this.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Hopeful_vet]

Caveat: This is coming from someone who will be applying this year for the first time, so I don't have any solid knowledge on it, just a lot of reading on this forum.

I think your advisor may be leading you astray. 3.43 isn't ideal, but with 3.75 sGPA, and an upward trend? I think you could have some success at some lower tier MD schools. especially with that F being in your freshman year.

Obviously it all depends on your ECs and MCAT, but if those are in order, I think you should get some love.

 

[BluMist]

Doesn't look like you are calculating your GPA correctly. For F in one class to bring down your GPA from 3.7 to 3.43, it means you are only taking around 12 or 13 classes total. You may be confusing cGPA with non-science GPA or you have had other low grades in non-science classes...

In any case, even with a 3.43 cGPA, most likely you won't be outright rejected because of it. It really depends on the rest of your application.

 

[Hopeful_vet]

Doesn't look like you are calculating your GPA correctly. For F in one class to bring down your GPA from 3.7 to 3.43, it means you are only taking around 12 or 13 classes total. You may be confusing cGPA with non-science GPA or you have had other low grades in non-science classes...

In any case, even with a 3.43 cGPA, most likely you won't be outright rejected because of it. It really depends on the rest of your application.

Maybe OP is only a sophomore? In that case, the premed advisor should be fired... Surprise surprise...


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Holmwood]

Keep working to raise that GPA. . . Freshman year is known to be rough, but it is a prime time for figuring out your best study strategies. You'll have plenty of classes later on to buffer out that bad class.

 

[Solar Bear]

Thanks for the replies guys, I am a junior btw. I was just curious because after reading these forums because I thought that since it was freshman year the adcoms would be much more likely to not hold it against me. Now I am questioning this after what my advisor told me. Do they treat it as if I had failed a class junior year?

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

An F in history is perhaps the least consequential F you could get, save for maybe failing PE. Dont get more F's but your by no means doomed.

On the other hand, the students of that advisor probably are lol.

Your looking at someone who Failed Bio 😉

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Do they treat it as if I had failed a class junior year?

Also I'm no adcom but I doubt it. Its a freshman year history class. Theyll probably call it what it is...a freshman year history class.

Youll probably have to write a little blurb explaining it on some secondaries, but thats it.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Your advisor, like most pre-med advisors, is a *****.

 

[Turkishking]

Your advisor, like most pre-med advisors, is a *****.

That's why I avoid mine. She told me a C+ in Gen Chem was acceptable..

 

[ChrisMack390]

That's why I avoid mine. She told me a C+ in Gen Chem was acceptable..

Mine told me that since my undergrad GPA was 3.4 there is no way I can ever go to MD school (despite a 97th percentile MCAT, 5+ years of full time research, and straight As in a master's in biology).

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

Yes I echo what has mostly already been said. One bad grade (especially in your freshman year) is not going to destroy someone with a 3.7 sGPA and upward trend. You ought to be fine, just keep working hard.

That being said, it is advisable to keep an eye on classes that you may anticipate similar poor outcomes. It is better to have a W/Drop + a retake than an F

 

[ChrisMack390]

BTW, OP - have you taken any other history or humanities courses since? I would suggest taking one and getting an A. Once you do that there is basically no way anyone can be concerned about 1 F in freshman year.

 

[Solar Bear]

Thanks everyone for the replies! Feeling a little better now : )