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- Jun 9, 2013
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Hi, I just finished my freshman year in chemical engineering at the University of Texas and my GPA took a faceplant in my second semester. It's a 3.2. I'd like to know what kind of shot I have at getting into any med school, as well as my shot at getting into any MD/PhD program, as well as some guidelines on what I'd need to do to get there.
Last fall, I took some introductory courses and basic requirements for my major:
3-hr required signature course: A
calculus: A
gen chem II: A
chem lab: B+
basic computing course (ie. "how to use MATLAB"): A
Spring:
chemical engineering basics (mass balances): C-
diff eq: C+
genetics: A-
ochem I: C
ochem lab: B+
The chemical engineering basics course is known for being one of two weed-out courses in my major. Half of the class gets a C, and the tails on either end of the distribution are about the same. Since I took several cell/microbio/genetics courses as well as diff eq in high school, I spent much less time preparing for them, and instead, dedicated the majority of my time and effort to the chemical engineering course. I did fine in math, genetics, and ochem for the first month or so, but small mistakes plagued me in the weed-out class, to the point at which I lost focus and fell apart.
Now here I am, trying to pick up the pieces. Next semester I'll take the second of the two weed-out classes (transport phenomena), ochem II, and a couple new classes within my major; essentially, a "second shot" at the scenario that wrecked my GPA. Over the summer I'm taking a physics class, studying ahead for the new weed-out, and researching.
If it's somewhat of a consolation, my extracurriculars are decent:
- I've been volunteering at the hospital every week since last spring
- I have four semesters and one summer of research experience from high school, and will continue to research in a similar area this summer
- the prof for whom I'm working says I've a good chance of getting a paper (perhaps two) published with him
- I've two leadership positions in different organizations, and will be a VP for one of them next year
This seems to scream, "spend more time on your actual classes!", but I honestly didn't dedicate that much time to extracurriculars last semester. I wasn't doing research at the time, spent perhaps an hour per week on average on both leadership positions combined, and volunteered for three hours per week. I believe that poor study habits were the main culprit for poor grades.
I purposely lightened my class load next semester to have the right amount of core classes to still finish early (I'm a semester ahead of schedule), with no classes on Fridays. I'm contemplating on cutting down the non-school stuff, but I don't know how much it would help. Later on I'd like to take several more biology classes, since I'm confident that I would do well in those courses (which would importantly boost the GPA). However with the new 2015 MCAT coming out, I have no idea if I should be planning to take psychology, ethics, or some behavioral courses instead, since I have little to no background in those areas.
At this point, I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place and am not sure what is realistic anymore. How much can be fixed in two years, and do I still have a shot at getting an MD/PhD?
Last fall, I took some introductory courses and basic requirements for my major:
3-hr required signature course: A
calculus: A
gen chem II: A
chem lab: B+
basic computing course (ie. "how to use MATLAB"): A
Spring:
chemical engineering basics (mass balances): C-
diff eq: C+
genetics: A-
ochem I: C
ochem lab: B+
The chemical engineering basics course is known for being one of two weed-out courses in my major. Half of the class gets a C, and the tails on either end of the distribution are about the same. Since I took several cell/microbio/genetics courses as well as diff eq in high school, I spent much less time preparing for them, and instead, dedicated the majority of my time and effort to the chemical engineering course. I did fine in math, genetics, and ochem for the first month or so, but small mistakes plagued me in the weed-out class, to the point at which I lost focus and fell apart.
Now here I am, trying to pick up the pieces. Next semester I'll take the second of the two weed-out classes (transport phenomena), ochem II, and a couple new classes within my major; essentially, a "second shot" at the scenario that wrecked my GPA. Over the summer I'm taking a physics class, studying ahead for the new weed-out, and researching.
If it's somewhat of a consolation, my extracurriculars are decent:
- I've been volunteering at the hospital every week since last spring
- I have four semesters and one summer of research experience from high school, and will continue to research in a similar area this summer
- the prof for whom I'm working says I've a good chance of getting a paper (perhaps two) published with him
- I've two leadership positions in different organizations, and will be a VP for one of them next year
This seems to scream, "spend more time on your actual classes!", but I honestly didn't dedicate that much time to extracurriculars last semester. I wasn't doing research at the time, spent perhaps an hour per week on average on both leadership positions combined, and volunteered for three hours per week. I believe that poor study habits were the main culprit for poor grades.
I purposely lightened my class load next semester to have the right amount of core classes to still finish early (I'm a semester ahead of schedule), with no classes on Fridays. I'm contemplating on cutting down the non-school stuff, but I don't know how much it would help. Later on I'd like to take several more biology classes, since I'm confident that I would do well in those courses (which would importantly boost the GPA). However with the new 2015 MCAT coming out, I have no idea if I should be planning to take psychology, ethics, or some behavioral courses instead, since I have little to no background in those areas.
At this point, I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place and am not sure what is realistic anymore. How much can be fixed in two years, and do I still have a shot at getting an MD/PhD?
