Freshman yr

[bluefire185]

I'm a freshman at a good university, and I want to go to a medical school. It looks like I'm ending my first year with GPA of ~3.66 (3.57 last semester and possibly 3.74 this semester with very high As in all my classes but chemistry). While my overall GPA is pretty good for freshman year, my BCMP is much much lower: 3.47. How bad is this?

Also, another question: I got a B+ in chemistry last semester, and I THINK I'm going to get a B this semester. How will medical schools view the downtrend in chemistry grades?

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[baylormed]

I'm a freshman at a good university, and I want to go to a medical school. It looks like I'm ending my first year with GPA of ~3.66 (3.57 last semester and possibly 3.74 this semester with very high As in all my classes but chemistry). While my overall GPA is pretty good for freshman year, my BCMP is much much lower: 3.47. How bad is this?

Also, another question: I got a B+ in chemistry last semester, and I THINK I'm going to get a B this semester. How will medical schools view the downtrend in chemistry grades?

B's are fine, as long as they aren't more numerous than your A's.

I can assure you that no one is ever going to ask you why in the world you got a B in Chem II and a B+ in Chem I.

Your BCMP is not low at all. However, as in everything regarding admissions, higher is always better, so just focus on increasing your gpa as much as you can and on studying for the MCAT (practice, practice, practice) when the time comes.

 

[Janny]

If you bring your science grades up in sophmore,junior,senior years they won't care about a slight downstep in gen chem I to II. They tend to look at the OVERALL trend in your transcript and final GPA's rather than specific course grades.

 

[HumbleMD]

A "downtrend" isn't as miniscule as a B+ to B drop. Whenever people talk about a positive "upward trend" they more mean going from straigh C's to straight A's, so don't be worry.

Obviously As are better than Bs, but what can you do. Your GPA is still in okay shape, and a strong MCAT score will set you up well. Although, I do wonder what your idea of a "good" University is (and wonder why a "high" A would make any difference to anyone ever).

So, keep up the good work, study hard, and see how things are junior year when you have an MCAT score in hand.

 

[EBI831]

3.47 isn't a bad BCMP but to play the devil and talk of my experience it is considerably lower than most matriculants applying to the top medical schools. don't stress, however, freshman year is a time to adjust to college and a 3.7ish is still an A- GPA congrats. just make sure it stays that way for the next 3 years. hahahaha.

 

[variablistic]

I think I ended my freshman year with a 3.45... I now have a 3.7 and that was with an extra slip sophomore year.

Since you don't have that many credits, it will be relatively easy to bring the GPA up. It's a lot easier to fix now than it will be in 2 years.

 

[bluefire185]

I appreciate your advices. I still have Biology, Physics, Orgo, and their labs to improve (hopefully) my BCMP. Still new to medical school admissions, I'm wondering what's the average BCMP for top medical schools?

 

[Tired]

A "downtrend" isn't as miniscule as a B+ to B drop. Whenever people talk about a positive "upward trend" they more mean going from straigh C's to straight A's, so don't be worry.

Go Upward Trend!!!

I swear, when I finally get banned I'm going to resurrect as UpwardTrend.

 

[HumbleMD]

Go Upward Trend!!!

I swear, when I finally get banned I'm going to resurrect as UpwardTrend.

I'm waiting to get banned so I can come back as "RockTheMCAT"

2.0 GPA? It's okay, ROCK THE MCAT!!!11!!!

I always think the whole upward trend thing was a little over-referenced as well. A 3.9 is stil better than a 3.3, no matter the trend.

 

[Tired]

I'm waiting to get banned so I can come back as "RockTheMCAT"

2.0 GPA? It's okay, ROCK THE MCAT!!!11!!!

I always think the whole upward trend thing was a little over-referenced as well. A 3.9 is stil better than a 3.3, no matter the trend.

Agreed.

Yes, in the event of a low GPA, raising it is a good idea. And as you mention, a lower GPA can be mitigated by a great MCAT score.

The problem of course, is that so many posters treat these two catch phrases as though they are the first person to develop this strategy.

Newbie: "My GPA is low, I'm worried about getting into med school."
Regular User: "It's okay, just ROCK THE MCAT!!!!!!!!!"
Newbie: "Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Good thing I posted here, otherwise I would have just gotten a regular score like 30! Now that I know better, I'll try to get a higher score!"

As though getting a high MCAT or completely reversing poor academic performance is simply a matter of recognizing its importance.

Seriously, I'm going to see if I can include a chapter on this in the next version of "The Secret".

 

[Vano]

I haven't read the whole thread so I don't know what people advised you. Here's my humble opinion--stop worrying about things your freshman yr, just spend more time doing school work and less time on SDN forums, strive for good results in all your coursework and don't forget extracurriculars, and you would be fine. As far as down trend, I had the same thing for both Gen.chem and Orgo: A 1sem and B+ 2nd semester, however my overall and BCPM GPA kept rising over the years I think that's a more important trend.