Failed first semester of college...do I even have a chance at med school?

[emmabean]

I graduated high school with a good gpa, better SAT score than almost everyone in my graduating class, and went to a big state school in the fall of 2013 thinking college was gonna be a breeze and I was gonna get into med school easily. I know theres really no excuse, however, I received news of my parents divorce almost as soon as I got to college and it caused a lot of stress to me and I ended up just partying my entire first semester and didn't realize how different high school was from college until it was too late. As a result I failed everything-0.42 GPA my first semester of college. I returned home December 2013, began taking classes at my community college in January, and have steadily improved my GPA. My GPA including my first semester grades is a 2.18 currently, and I'm expecting it to be around a 2.6/2.7 at the end of the semester. This is my second year of college and Im hoping to transfer to a small, private university in the fall.
Do I have a chance at all at medical school with my first semester grades if I continue to improve my GPA? I'm also a medical scribe and am involved in a lot of extracurriculars.

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[Goro]

Ace everything from now on
Seek some counseling to help deal with your parent's divorce
Retake all F/D/C science coursework.

So yes, you CAN recover from this!

I graduated high school with a good gpa, better SAT score than almost everyone in my graduating class, and went to a big state school in the fall of 2013 thinking college was gonna be a breeze and I was gonna get into med school easily. I know theres really no excuse, however, I received news of my parents divorce almost as soon as I got to college and it caused a lot of stress to me and I ended up just partying my entire first semester and didn't realize how different high school was from college until it was too late. As a result I failed everything-0.42 GPA my first semester of college. I returned home December 2013, began taking classes at my community college in January, and have steadily improved my GPA. My GPA including my first semester grades is a 2.18 currently, and I'm expecting it to be around a 2.6/2.7 at the end of the semester. This is my second year of college and Im hoping to transfer to a small, private university in the fall.
Do I have a chance at all at medical school with my first semester grades if I continue to improve my GPA? I'm also a medical scribe and am involved in a lot of extracurriculars.

 

[karling]

Many, many, many people have been in your situation and have gotten into medical school. Just continue doing well. A strong upward trend (and a good MCAT) will prove that you are not who you were when you were 18 and that you have what it takes to succeed in medical school.

And as Goro said, retake those F's.

 

[cabinbuilder]

Been there. Took a while to recover. Need to mentally strong to get through med school. Don't expect a turnaround overnight.

 

[holmBEAST]

Yes.

 

[referee3]

How did you manage a negative GPA? Quite impressive.

 

[URMD]

You can recover - you can even shoot for MD if you continue to ace. Don't count yourself out just yet.
Many schools look favourably upon reinvention

 

[YourMD]

You have still have a shot at medical school. However, you are clearly not ready for college coursework at this time. Take some time off from school before it's too late. Regroup, refocus and return when your emotionally ready to attack these classes. Good luck!

 

[keels99]

I graduated high school with a good gpa, better SAT score than almost everyone in my graduating class, and went to a big state school in the fall of 2013 thinking college was gonna be a breeze and I was gonna get into med school easily. I know theres really no excuse, however, I received news of my parents divorce almost as soon as I got to college and it caused a lot of stress to me and I ended up just partying my entire first semester and didn't realize how different high school was from college until it was too late. As a result I failed everything-0.42 GPA my first semester of college. I returned home December 2013, began taking classes at my community college in January, and have steadily improved my GPA. My GPA including my first semester grades is a 2.18 currently, and I'm expecting it to be around a 2.6/2.7 at the end of the semester. This is my second year of college and Im hoping to transfer to a small, private university in the fall.
Do I have a chance at all at medical school with my first semester grades if I continue to improve my GPA? I'm also a medical scribe and am involved in a lot of extracurriculars.

My older brother failed his first semester of college (similar type story, he just partied his first semester) but ended up retaking courses and just graduated from pharmacy school last May. A bad first semester is NOT a death sentence, especially if you take time to fix your mistakes. Best of luck!

 

[yanks26dmb]

I graduated high school with a good gpa, better SAT score than almost everyone in my graduating class, and went to a big state school in the fall of 2013 thinking college was gonna be a breeze and I was gonna get into med school easily. I know theres really no excuse, however, I received news of my parents divorce almost as soon as I got to college and it caused a lot of stress to me and I ended up just partying my entire first semester and didn't realize how different high school was from college until it was too late. As a result I failed everything-0.42 GPA my first semester of college. I returned home December 2013, began taking classes at my community college in January, and have steadily improved my GPA. My GPA including my first semester grades is a 2.18 currently, and I'm expecting it to be around a 2.6/2.7 at the end of the semester. This is my second year of college and Im hoping to transfer to a small, private university in the fall.
Do I have a chance at all at medical school with my first semester grades if I continue to improve my GPA? I'm also a medical scribe and am involved in a lot of extracurriculars.

I had a 2.5 after my second year of college. I'm matriculating this fall.

 

[j4pac]

I had a 2.7 after my first semester. I think that I had about a 2.8 after my first year. I ended up with a 3.65 and had no need for grade replacement.

 

[The_Sunny_Doc]

There is hope if you get your academic and personal life straightened out and start to excel in your coursework. Do the retakes and after you have a solid academic foundation, start pursuing medically related ECs and research. Best of luck to you!

 

[UltraTooth]

Be realistic about what medical schools you can gain admission to. Aim for osteopathic schools and Caribbean medical schools.

 

[BigGAC1]

Be realistic about what medical schools you can gain admission to. Aim for osteopathic schools and Caribbean medical schools.

Don't listen to this - DO be realistic, for sure - but you definitely still have a good shot if you want it bad enough. I'm not looking to turn this into a MD/DO pissing contest, but you definitely don't need to be worried about the Caribbean yet and I wouldn't say a DO is any sort of inferior to an MD.

Plenty of people have been in your shoes before - Med schools put considerable weight on an upward grade trend - failing your first year as an undergrad doesn't have to be a kiss of death.

 

[kenjixshadow]

"Aim for osteopathic schools and Caribbean medical schools."

Bad advice. OP, do not aim for Caribbean schools. If you want to know why, use the search button.

 

[URMD]

You can also aim for allopathic schools too.

 

[JW2020]

Why is a dentist trying to hand out advice on applying to medical school? The paths have some overlapping similarities in the pre-reqs, but it's still a completely different process. And OP no matter what happens don't even consider Caribbean

 

[emmabean]

How did you manage a negative GPA? Quite impressive.

I meant the - as a pause in my sentence, lol. I didn't have a negative GPA.

But thanks everyone! Gives me some reassurance 🙂