Game over or press continue?

[Qmoney19]

You guys I just decided to take the medicine route this year after already switching from a two different majors. With the credits I have I am technically a 21 year old sophomore in undergrad. With all that major switching I have a ton of useless courses that I've gotten average grades in due to my lack of direction. My overall GPA is 2.75......and I barely made it out of Intro BIO with a B. Alright you guys I still have to take the Chems,Physics,Orgo's, and the Math requirements for Pre-Med....with average study skills. I know this is my dream and I already have excellent EC's. Plus I work at my local hospital transporting patients (some great shadowing done). I'm the first person in my entire family to go to college (minority student) and must admit that I had no type of direction. If I worked hard do you guys think its possible to raise my GPA up to something competitive or is that just damn low? I feel like I'm starting over as a freshman but has to dig out of this hole.

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[dzukunft]

It all has to do with how many GPA points and credit hours you have already amassed. The more you have, the harder it is going to be to turn the ship around (e.g. raise your GPA). I've been told you need a minimum science GPA of 3.0 and an overall 3.5 to be competitive, along with a 30+ on the MCAT. That would put you in good range. With that said, if you really have a ton of credits, you're going to have to take a lot of classes and get A's. Search the web; there are some advanced GPA calculators that can tell you - based on your GPA points and credit hours attempted - how many credit hours you need to take (at 4.0 work) to get to your target GPA.

If you're struggling to get out of Bio I with a B, that is not a good sign. If you have average study skills, that is not good. However, these are areas in which you can improve...if you want it bad enough. Don't mean to sound callous, but you really need to ask yourself, "Why medicine? Why now?" I am a firm believer that anyone can do what they want as long as they have the aptitude, desire and dedication. If you aren't absolutely positive medicine is what you want, figure that out first. If you're sure, then go for it. Don't ever put yourself in a position of wondering if you could have done something great...but never dared. That would be truly tragic!

Congrats on being the first in your family to pursue higher education!

P.S. There are a lot of people on SDN that were or are in your boat. It can be done, as the numerous success stories attest. Don't give up.

 

[Hard24Get]

First of all, congrats on being the first in your family to go to college! This is a huge step forward (I am also a minority and will be the first MD). I have some advice for you, my friend:

1) I agree with dzukunft that you need to be SURE a career in medicine is really what you want this time - don't just nod and insist that it is because you've been wrong before and this is a long road. Go to career counseling at your school, maybe take a career aptitude test (usually free for undergrads). Visit the for an overview of medicine and browse the job descriptions of various medical specialties. Also, check out less positive threads in the General Residency Forum, like, "If you could do it over, would you?"


2) Either way, you even admit yourself that you need some help with your study skills. Your school should have a tutoring mechanism, be it a center or just office hours you can utilize. Check out some study skill tips, like those that can be found on this website (actually how I studied through college). Also, make sure biology, etc, is of interest to you and you just need problems memorizing vs not being so into it. If you are a social person, consider studying in groups. My favorite way to learn was to put together lectures for my group and review pathways together.

3) As dzukunft mentioned, go back and calculate how many credits you need to get up to a 3.5 GPA. Be realistic and know straight As are unlikely (but should be strove for) and that you may have to go so far as to declare a double major and earn yourself an extra year that way to improve your GPA. It goes without saying you should use ALL the study skills above and gained from tutors during science classes, and break speed records getting to office hours if you start to struggle.

4) Depending on your reading/writing skills, it would not be too early to start getting in the habit of reading from a newspaper or Newsweek in the morning. You will need great reading and comp skills in medical school, and the vocab section is one of the most important sections of the MCAT.

5) Transporting patients is cool, but exposure to more nitty-gritty would be better. Consider volunteering in ICU once a week helping to change bedpans and bathe patients. Because at the end of the day, medicine is just that nasty (but worth it).

6) DON'T listen to some of the CRACKHEADS on SDN that will try to tell you a minority can get into medical school with mediocre grades and a lame MCAT score. It just isn't true and even if it was you wouldn't want to go out like that. Do your very best, and hold your head up with pride. This may mean saving to take an MCAT prep course like Kaplan the year before you apply (the cost can be thousands, or you can use cheaper stuff like Qbank)

7) How may hours are you working? Re-evaluate how much this is cutting into your study time, and consider whether you need to take out more loans and work less. Also, if your thread title is any indication of the amount of time you spend playing video games, you need to decide if you are willing to cut down on the joystick time to accomplish your dream.

P.S. Consider Emergency Medicine - the best job in the world (if it suits you)

 

[OncoCaP]

You guys I just decided to take the medicine route this year after already switching from a two different majors. With the credits I have I am technically a 21 year old sophomore in undergrad. With all that major switching I have a ton of useless courses that I've gotten average grades in due to my lack of direction. My overall GPA is 2.75......and I barely made it out of Intro BIO with a B. Alright you guys I still have to take the Chems,Physics,Orgo's, and the Math requirements for Pre-Med....with average study skills. I know this is my dream and I already have excellent EC's. Plus I work at my local hospital transporting patients (some great shadowing done). I'm the first person in my entire family to go to college (minority student) and must admit that I had no type of direction. If I worked hard do you guys think its possible to raise my GPA up to something competitive or is that just damn low? I feel like I'm starting over as a freshman but has to dig out of this hole.

While it's certainly possible to raise your GPA, it might be difficult. Chances are your grades will be similar to your previous grades because motivation / direction is only one of several factors. Study skills are also very important and it takes a while to make the many improvements needed. In your case, I would focus on graduating by the quickest route. Once you have your bachelor's degree, you can raise your GPA by taking Post-Baccalaureate courses if necessary. All the while you can hone your study skills. With your bachelor's degree maybe you could get a job and earn some money as well (always nice) while you apply. Have you ever thought about teaching for a while as you prepare yourself for medical school? There are programs where you can teach for a year or so. You might be that direction for someone else ... the direction that you didn't get.

 

[gman33]

I disagree with the advice of trying to graduate ASAP.
Your main goal should be to try to get an A in every class you take from here on out. While this may not happen, you will need something close to this to raise your GPA. SInce you said you are a sophmore, I assummed you have somewhere around 60 credits under your belt. If you have more, than more classes than just the number to get your degree may be needed.

Look at the number of credits you are taking each semester, in conjunction with your work schedule. Get some help devising a study schedule, but in a lot of cases I think people do poorly because they just don't put in enough time. You can use the old estimate of 3 hrs of study time for every hour of class time. So if you are taking 15 credits, you need 45 hrs a week outside of class to study. Some people can get by with less, some need more. It also depends on the class.

If you can't find this amount of time, then reduce your work schedule or take less credits each semester. I'd rather see you take 12 credits and get all A's then 15 or 18 credits and get B's. With your GPA anything less than an A or A- will not help you get into med school.

 

[Lokhtar]

Yup, continue. Take as many or as few classes you need to get straight As. Get as many of them as you can before graduating, even if it takes an extra couple years.

 

[notdeadyet]

In your case, I would focus on graduating by the quickest route. Once you have your bachelor's degree, you can raise your GPA by taking Post-Baccalaureate courses if necessary. All the while you can hone your study skills. With your bachelor's degree maybe you could get a job and earn some money as well (always nice) while you apply.

Very much disagree with this. Rushing things kills more applications than just about anything.

OP- Take your time. Do whatever you need to do to get good grades and prepare for the MCAT. As Hard24Get mentioned, take out more loans if it means working less. Even take the bare minimum number of classes and one science class at a time if that's what's required for you to pull good grades.

Lots of the 50% of folks who don't get in to medical school are sitting on the bench for the sake of saving a little money on loans or rushing the process. You have a lot of low grades to make up for. It may require a five year degree or even a six year degree. But these are sometimes the sacrifices you need to be willing to make.

 

[Hard24Get]

I disagree with the advice of trying to graduate ASAP.

No offense to OncoCAP, but again, I agree with gman, Lokhtar, and notdeadyet. Here's why:

During my time on the admission committee at my school, I have noted that we are usually presented with the undergrad GPA and postgrad GPA separately - they are not averaged. Though someone with a crappy undergrad GPA can sometimes be redeemed by postbacc grades, many top tier schools ignore the postbacc grades if the undergrad ones are too poor. So again, extend it as much as you can such that your undergrad GPA looks good. You are only in the middle of your second year, this should be doable.

I agree with OncoCAP that it will take time to improve study skills. Consider messing around with your schedule such that you are taking your best subjects next semester while you are getting those skills together.

 

[Qmoney19]

I truly thank you guys for all of your advice. I will look much deeper into making changes in my schedule and using every measure to get my studying skills up to par. Thanks

 

[some_user86]

No offense to OncoCAP, but again, I agree with gman, Lokhtar, and notdeadyet. Here's why:

During my time on the admission committee at my school, I have noted that we are usually presented with the undergrad GPA and postgrad GPA separately - they are not averaged. Though someone with a crappy undergrad GPA can sometimes be redeemed by postbacc grades, many top tier schools ignore the postbacc grades if the undergrad ones are too poor. So again, extend it as much as you can such that your undergrad GPA looks good. You are only in the middle of your second year, this should be doable.

I agree with OncoCAP that it will take time to improve study skills. Consider messing around with your schedule such that you are taking your best subjects next semester while you are getting those skills together.

What is considered too poor?