Extremely low freshman gpa?

[tchristine]

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My first year at UCLA I did extremely poorly. I ended up with a 2.9. I came from a small town in illinois and had an extremely difficult time adjusting and was very homesick and then both my grandparents (whom I was very close with) passed away within months of each other. I found it extremely difficult to focus on schoolwork and got a very low gpa. I'm a second year now and I should be finishing this year with a 3.3 gpa and my grades are going up. How much will my gpa hurt me when applying to medical school?

 

[Storph]

My first year at UCLA I did extremely poorly. I ended up with a 2.9. I came from a small town in illinois and had an extremely difficult time adjusting and was very homesick and then both my grandparents (whom I was very close with) passed away within months of each other. I found it extremely difficult to focus on schoolwork and got a very low gpa. I'm a second year now and I should be finishing this year with a 3.3 gpa and my grades are going up. How much will my gpa hurt me when applying to medical school?

Depends on how well you do later. The GPA is only one part of your application, and the Freshman GPA is only one small part of that. I didn't do well my Freshman year, maybe 2.5ish, but I worked really hard and wound up graduating with honors, so you can really turn it around if you stay motivated. Also, if you do well in your other classes and the MCAT, no admissions officers are going to bat an eye at that Freshman GPA. That is, however, dependent on you succeeding in the future.

 

[mbeus]

The upward trend is a good sign, but you'll need higher than a 3.3 to bring that gpa up to a reasonable level for applications. Do well in all your other classes, rock the MCAT, and keep that upward trend going. You'll be fine. A 2.9 isn't absolutely abysmal....

 

[xSpaceFetusx]

Hello,
I really need to get into medical school. I have wanted to get into medical school for years. I just completed my first semester in college at a small local private college and I did terrible. I know that i shouldn't make excuses but my dad had an emergency surgery and a very close friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a lot of distractions I guess you could call them. I ended up with a 1.0. I'm technically a bio major but have yet to take any science classes. It was my first ever semester in college and I didn't know how to act in college. What are my chances of bringing it up to a competitive medical school applicant's gpa? Is it even possible? Thanks

 

[Storph]

1.0 is pretty bad, but given the fact that you have taken very few classes, they shouldn't factor too heavily into your total GPA. It also helps that it will have no impact on your science GPA. You do, however, have to crush it for the rest of undergrad to show that you are capable, and I think you still have a pretty decent shot at it.