Freshman year ended on a bad note...What now?

[Emmet2301]

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Hey,

I'm wondering what I should do now.

I wanted to do an engineering major and be a pre-med when I first came to college. So, I took some engineering classes, but I did badly and ended up with a 2.83 gpa. For second semester I decided to try arts/sciences stuff and so I took 3 sciences and 2 labs and 1 history class. I thought I would do well and handle it, but unfortunately I couldn't. I ended up with a 2.63 gpa.

So cumulative my gpa is like a 2.7 and my science gpa is much much less.

I'm 80% sure I want to major in a science and not engineering so that my gpa will be helped. But 20% of me feels like engineering would be good.

Any advice on what to do now? I'm mainly going to look at DO schools, but also at a few MD schools. However, I don't want to spend too much time working on getting into medical school if I can't get in.

I'm thining of retaking some classes, but some I don't want to because I feel that I know the material and I don't want to spend so much money just to get a better grade. But some I will retake. Would it be ok to retake them at a CC if it's a pretty good one?

Next semester I am going to take 2 sciences and just one lab in addition to a few humanities classes.


I did a few small ECs in freshman year:
1. Religious group
2. Fundraising group for a social service project in Latin America
3. About 25 hours of volunteering

Any advice on ECs for sophomore year?

I'm pretty sure I want to be a doctor. I'm pretty passionate about science and helping people. I can't really see myself in other careers.

Any advice or commentary on my situation? Thanks in advance.

 

[Stratego]

I think you should major in whatever you enjoy, as you're most likely to maintain a high GPA then. And right now, GPA is your first priority. Don't get distracted by ECs until you've figured out what you're doing wrong when you study.

If you can get a 4.0 next year, your GPA would go to 3.35. In two years you'll be at 3.56. In three years, 3.67, making you competitive for both allo and DO schools. If you retake low grades, DO schools will replace a bad grade with the most recent, improving your GPA more quickly, instead of averaging them in as allo schools will.

If you feel you have the time next year, why not volunteer in a clinical environment to gain both clinical experience and do community service with a single activity?

 

[Beta Cell]

There's an article on the SDN website about taking classes at community colleges, consult that. Your GPA is pretty low for MD schools right now, I don't know what could make up for that if your GPA continues like that. If you step up to a 4.0 for sophomore and junior years, your GPA becomes roughly a 3.6 GPA by the time of applications. A 3.6 is competitive for medical school admissions, but if you have D's in the core prerequisite classes (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, etc), I would recommend retaking them.

 

[highroller24]

First of all, this is only your freshmen year so I would try not to be so hard on yourself. Starting to rebuild your GPA from a 2.7 is not the end of the world. I started from a 2.2 and in one semester I got it up to a 2.7. If you work hard next year, I'm sure you could move into the 3.0's. One of my doctor's used to work at an admissions office and told me that most medical schools tend to not pay that much attention to your freshmen year AS LONG as you do good from here on out and display an upward trend in your GPA. I think you still have a chance at MD schools if you work hard and retake the courses you got anything less than a B- in.

 

[Beta Cell]

First of all, this is only your freshmen year so I would try not to be so hard on yourself. Starting to rebuild your GPA from a 2.7 is not the end of the world. I started from a 2.2 and in one semester I got it up to a 2.7. If you work hard next year, I'm sure you could move into the 3.0's. One of my doctor's used to work at an admissions office and told me that most medical schools tend to not pay that much attention to your freshmen year AS LONG as you do good from here on out and display an upward trend in your GPA. I think you still have a chance at MD schools if you work hard and retake the courses you got anything less than a B- in.

I've never heard of a school ignoring 1/3 of the grades they have of your academic record. They might take first semester of freshman year a little more lightly, but I doubt they just ignore it.

 

[highroller24]

I never said they would ignore it either, I said that if a significant upward trend is achieved they will not zero in on the freshmen year. I think it's highly unlikely that any medical school is looking for perfection. Maybe a poor academic freshmen year is not acceptable at all if you were applying to Johns Hopkins but come on, nobody is perfect and I guarantee you there are a significant amount of people who screwed up sometime during their undergrad career and still got into an allopathic school. The ones who don't seem to be the ones that wind up at the best medical schools...and more power to them. And it wouldn't be 1/3 it would be 1/4.

 

[Emmet2301]

In most of my science classes I got Cs so I dont know if I should retake them.

I would rather retake them at a CC, but mainly because it would be much much cheaper for me.

I feel really disheartened about this. I see that other people took easier and better courseloads and are doing better. I regret being so rushed into taking so many science classes. Also, I wish I had a better study method.

Anyone have advice or encouragement for another 3 years of hard work in college?

 

[dpitt]

Hey, I have the same problem. my cumulative GPA for my freshman year was about a 2.9...I know I want to be a doctor, but I am very worried about this grade? Any suggestions on me having a chance? I know I can do better and I plan on it, but Id like to know if there is a legitamate chance and what I'd need to do my sophomore year to improve? Thanks and really would appreciate anyone responding.

 

[zayka]

Try to do your best to improve. That's all you can really do, right? Work hard. You can do it!

Also, there's a top-tier medical school in Canada (I think it's Queens University) that doesn't look at your first-year GPA, so if you don't mind going north of the border for 4 years it could be an option. However, they do have MCAT cut-offs of 10/10/10/R and you will need a killer GPA for your next 2 years (i.e., above 3.9). I don't think getting a US residency after would be any problem.

Anyways, try to major in something you're really interested in and I'm sure you can boost it up!

 

[DaTruMD]

You have plenty of time.