Failed freshman year...currently a junior...can I restart pre-med?

[brideofwalken]

I started out college as pre-med but didn't realize that my study habits were completely ******ed. I literally would not open my textbook and show up for exams because the concept of reading textbooks or studying for more than an hour had been completely foreign to me through high school. Needless to say, my freshman year GPA was in the low 1's. I was also busy going to acting auditions and modeling gigs.

Sophomore year...took a semester off and realized a lot of things (that I wanted to quit acting/modeling completely) and got a 3.6 GPA for the second semester.

I'm currently a junior and 20 yrs old and realize that when I'm 30 yrs old I'll probably slap myself upside the head if I don't kick my ass right now. Does this mean that I'll have to do 8 more years of school including med school? And is it worth it as I'll be 28-30 yrs old if I actually become a doctor?

Can all the pre-med requisites be completed within two years (if courses are also taken over the summer?)

Also, I'm HORRIBLE at math and I remember taking chemistry was like trying to teach a homeless man living in a sewer learn to read Chinese. Anyone else this way but somehow learned to overcome it?

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[MonsterAddict]

Are you considering both forms of medicine, allopathic and osteopathic? The reason i ask that is because they have something called grade forgiveness. If you retake a class your new grade will replace your old one. To your is it worth it question, if it is that important to you then i think you should. There is a reason why you see people in their 40s becoming a doctor. They have the passion for it. Only you can answer if its worth it.
I personally have not spent too much time in the sewer so as to your math problem you might have to ask someone else

 

[brideofwalken]

Are you considering both forms of medicine, allopathic and osteopathic? The reason i ask that is because they have something called grade forgiveness. If you retake a class your new grade will replace your old one. To your is it worth it question, if it is that important to you then i think you should. There is a reason why you see people in their 40s becoming a doctor. They have the passion for it. Only you can answer if its worth it.
I personally have not spent too much time in the sewer so as to your math problem you might have to ask someone else

Haha, good thing you have not spent too much time down there.

I am interested in allopathic, definitely.

 

[Chemist0157]

Did you actually go into college wanting to be a doctor, or did you decide after you had made these mistakes? Several of these kinds of threads have popped up recently, and I'm wondering if people royally screw up and then decide to be doctors (which really doesn't make any sense).

 

[brideofwalken]

Did you actually go into college wanting to be a doctor, or did you decide after you had made these mistakes? Several of these kinds of threads have popped up recently, and I'm wondering if people royally screw up and then decide to be doctors (which really doesn't make any sense).

Nono, I went into college wanting to be a doctor. If I had gone to college without wanting to be a doctor and screwed up this bad, I don't think the idea of wanting to be a doctor would ever have entered my head.

 

[majestic red]

Haha, good thing you have not spent too much time down there.

I am interested in allopathic, definitely.

For osteopathic schools, they will replace your old grades with new ones if you re-take the class. For allopathic schools, your two grades will be averaged. You might want to look into going osteopathic, as you might have a better shot that way.

 

[liquid8r]

If being a doctor is your goal, I do not think it is too late for you. You are only 20! Jump head first into your coursework and do not slack at all. Also do very well on the MCAT. Many times a low GPA (~3.0) can be overlooked with a great MCAT.

You mentioned you excelled in high school. Did you take math? What math do you struggle with? You will run into basic algebra in all of your inorganic chem and physics classes. If you struggled with calc, there is good news for you. Most schools do not require it. You can fulfill your mathematics requirement with college algebra or Stats.

Again, if this is what you really want to do, then you have little choice. Get started right away!

 

[cbrons]

If being a doctor is your goal, I do not think it is too late for you. You are only 20! Jump head first into your coursework and do not slack at all. Also do very well on the MCAT. Many times a low GPA (~3.0) can be overlooked with a great MCAT.

You mentioned you excelled in high school. Did you take math? What math do you struggle with? You will run into basic algebra in all of your inorganic chem and physics classes. If you struggled with calc, there is good news for you. Most schools do not require it. You can fulfill your mathematics requirement with college algebra or Stats.

Again, if this is what you really want to do, then you have little choice. Get started right away!

i agree

 

[RySerr21]

For osteopathic schools, they will replace your old grades with new ones if you re-take the class. For allopathic schools, your two grades will be averaged. You might want to look into going osteopathic, as you might have a better shot that way.

agreed. Time to broaden your horizons. Osteopathic schools or very forgiving if you are willing to put in the time to correct your mistakes.

 

[airplanes]

It's gonna be a long way up and the classes will definitely get harder than gen. chem. But if you're sure that this is what you want to do, and you have the drive and motivation to get it together, you should be able to do it.

I also agree with broadening horizons not just to DO but Physician's Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, and other health related fields that can be very fulfilling.

Good Luck!

 

[JeetKuneDo]

If you have one year of around a 1.0 gpa, I will have to agree with the other posters that you may want to consider osteopathic schools and use their grade replacements to your advantage. However, I believe anything can happen if someone puts their mind to it, so if you do another 5 or 6 more years of school with straight A's, you might be able to pull that gpa up to be competitive enough for allophathic considering your MCAT is high. Either way, I would just forget about what type of schools, MD or DO, that you want to apply to. Instead just concentrate on getting those grades up one semester at a time and in two years see where you're at and go from there.

 

[brianmartin]

If you are stuck on MD, your best bet would probably be a SMP or Special Masters Program which is kind of like a last resort testing ground for people with low GPA but who still feel they can handle med school (search SDN, tons of info). Since your GPA is so low, I doubt you could get it above 3.0 while taking all the pre-requisites, and below 3.0 is an automatic rejection from many schools. And it's quite possible you will NOT pull a 4.0 every term given your admission that chemistry is very difficult for you. If you go the SMP route, you'll need a good MCAT score and good grades in pre-reqs, but they take people with low GPAs, put you through some actual med school courses and if you do well, you stand a good chance of getting into real med school. If you don't do well, however, you have basically no chance of getting in.

All the med school pre-reqs can be completed in 2 years, I THINK. I did all my science pre-reqs in 2 years, but I already had all the humanites/english stuff done. It was tough but doable. The first year I did chem and bio, and 1 quarter each in stats, biochem, and evolution. The second year I did organic and physics, but no other classes so it was not too bad, although the hardest point was probably during the middle of the 2nd year, when both organic and physics were ramping up in difficulty.

 

[shaggybill]

Assuming you had 32 credit hours at 1.3 GPA, you would need 118 additional credit hours at a 4.0 to bring that GPA up to a 3.4. If do well in all of your sciences as well as the MCAT, that's ~8 semesters worth of classes to bring your numbers up to a competitive MD application. It will be on the low side, but definitely doable if you apply to the right schools. If you are really serious about it, you could take a full load at a community college during the summers to shorten the time it would take to complete your UG. That's a great way to knock out your gen. ed requirements too.

Play around with this GPA calculator to find out what you need to do.

http://advising.wichita.edu/lasac/gpacalc/wsugpa.html

 

[MD2B2009]

It's never too late to start over! I started out pre-med in college, but decided to major in English after getting an A in that class and a D+ in Gen Chem 1 (the sad part is that I was super excited about the +). I had very similar study habits and quickly figured out that they weren't working for premed classes.

I graduated with a BA in English, worked for a few years in a completely unrelated job, then decided to go back to school to become a doctor. I started off by taking a college algebra class, which really helped when i enrolled in Gen Chem 1 again. This time around, I went to every class, took notes, did all of the reading, and made a 3.8 in the prerequisites. I studied hard and got a good score on the MCAT and applied to a billion schools with a personal statement that explained my bad grades as a relic of my former immaturity. And on November 15th, I got into Medical School!

Long story short: Medical schools obviously look for perfection, but they also look for maturity and proof that you can learn from your mistakes. If you have grown up and are committed to doing what it takes, you CAN still go to medical school, it's not too late. When I start school, I will be 27, so I'll be 31 when I graduate medical school. Add on roughly 4 years residency and I'll be 35 before I'm fully licensed. But then I'll be able to practice medicine for more than 30 years! Trust me, it's so worth it to take the time and go back to school!

 

[Law2Doc]

If you are stuck on MD, your best bet would probably be a SMP or Special Masters Program which is kind of like a last resort testing ground for people with low GPA but who still feel they can handle med school (search SDN, tons of info). Since your GPA is so low, I doubt you could get it above 3.0 while taking all the pre-requisites, and below 3.0 is an automatic rejection from many schools. And it's quite possible you will NOT pull a 4.0 every term given your admission that chemistry is very difficult for you. If you go the SMP route, you'll need a good MCAT score and good grades in pre-reqs, but they take people with low GPAs, put you through some actual med school courses and if you do well, you stand a good chance of getting into real med school. If you don't do well, however, you have basically no chance of getting in.

All the med school pre-reqs can be completed in 2 years, I THINK. I did all my science pre-reqs in 2 years, but I already had all the humanites/english stuff done. It was tough but doable. The first year I did chem and bio, and 1 quarter each in stats, biochem, and evolution. The second year I did organic and physics, but no other classes so it was not too bad, although the hardest point was probably during the middle of the 2nd year, when both organic and physics were ramping up in difficulty.

The better SMP schools require you to have a 3.0 GPA, so that wouldn't be a good route for the OP at this juncture. An SMP might be something you do after doing substantial ug grade rehabilitation. And definitely no point thinking about MCATs at this stage because honestly, they may expire before OP has a GPA that's competitive for med school. In general, the digger a hole you've dug yourself, the longer it's going to take to dig out. Currently the average matriculant has a 3.6/30-31. So OP, you can get there if that's your dream, but there are no quick fixes. Plan on working for a number of years to make yourself competitive for med school.

And no matter how long it takes you, you likely won't be close to the oldest person in your med school class. There are plenty of folks starting this venture in their 30s and 40s.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Sorry, I haven't been following the discussion at all... but I just had to say that I saw the thread title as "Failed freshman year...currently a janitor"

Sorry, carry on

 

[dragonfly99]

I think your age is a nonissue. You're only 20, and even supposing that it took you a few more years to get in to school, and you started at age 25 or 26, you aren't going to be much older than most of your classmates.

Having a terrible GPA as a freshman is the best time to have a terrible GPA, if you're going to have one. It won't help but I don't think it's the kiss of death for your application. However, you MUST do well from now on...and I mean 3.7-3.8 GPA well....

I think you can still try and do this, but you need to straighten up and fly right from now now. The 3.6 for one semester was good, but you need to prove you can do that well (and better, hopefully) for at least a couple of years in a row. For now I would concentrate on finishing up some degree/major within a reasonable time (i.e. 4-5 years total in undergrad). Try to take as many prerequisites as you can while you are an undergrad, but DON'T screw yourself over by taking too many hard classes at once. I took physics and organic chem with labs, plus a cell bio course all in one semester when I was a junior and it was pretty hard (also had another class or two of humanities courses). It was still doable, but it was hard.

I thought I was "not good at math" too until I had a great statistics professor. I do think that calculus (at least some) is helpful and you should take at least one semester at some point. It also helps in understanding physics...

After you've had a 3.5+ GPA for a couple of semesters, go to the premed advisor at your school and get his/her input into course selection and volunteer opportunities, etc.

If you told us what classes you have taken so far (especially science ones) maybe we could give you better advice.

 

[nk2050]

This inspires me more than anything I have been reading lately....I am out school right now and hoping to go back soon...your comment gives me the strength to fight back all the struggles...

It's never too late to start over! I started out pre-med in college, but decided to major in English after getting an A in that class and a D+ in Gen Chem 1 (the sad part is that I was super excited about the +). I had very similar study habits and quickly figured out that they weren't working for premed classes.

I graduated with a BA in English, worked for a few years in a completely unrelated job, then decided to go back to school to become a doctor. I started off by taking a college algebra class, which really helped when i enrolled in Gen Chem 1 again. This time around, I went to every class, took notes, did all of the reading, and made a 3.8 in the prerequisites. I studied hard and got a good score on the MCAT and applied to a billion schools with a personal statement that explained my bad grades as a relic of my former immaturity. And on November 15th, I got into Medical School!

Long story short: Medical schools obviously look for perfection, but they also look for maturity and proof that you can learn from your mistakes. If you have grown up and are committed to doing what it takes, you CAN still go to medical school, it's not too late. When I start school, I will be 27, so I'll be 31 when I graduate medical school. Add on roughly 4 years residency and I'll be 35 before I'm fully licensed. But then I'll be able to practice medicine for more than 30 years! Trust me, it's so worth it to take the time and go back to school!

 

[Abagnale]

This inspires me more than anything I have been reading lately....I am out school right now and hoping to go back soon...your comment gives me the strength to fight back all the struggles...

Solid necro bump Good work!

I wonder how the OP is doing actually. It would be nice to know some news - hopefully good ones! These threads always give me motivation.

 

[biomaj]

I started out college as pre-med but didn't realize that my study habits were completely ******ed.

Great choice of words there for someone interested in medicine. I liked the part about the homeless man too, very egalitarian of you.

 

[Koosalagoosagoo]

This inspires me more than anything I have been reading lately....I am out school right now and hoping to go back soon...your comment gives me the strength to fight back all the struggles...

God I hate you I read the whole thread without looking at the date, lol