Help me please !

[pema11]

I am currently a sophomore at an university in California and I want to go to a medical school in California. I made a lot of mistakes in my freshmen year and get really bad grades. I got D in calculus 1 and calculus 2 and I retook the classes and get C+ in both of them. I also got a D in chem 2 and retook it and get a C in it. My freshmen GPA is 2.7. As a sophomore I am working really hard to improve my grade, but when talk to my counselors they told that me I will need at a least GPA of A- or 3.8 average for the rest of my college education in order to get in a medical school. I don't know what to do because this is almost impossible for me I probably get around 3.5 for this quarter. What should I if can't achieve that task.
P.S I come from a disadvantaged background, first generation, and I move to the U.S 6 years ago.

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[tabascosauce]

you can start wanting to go to schools outside of california. you will have to apply broadly

 

[TriagePreMed]

Yeah, anything under a final GPA of 3.4 and consider your application for California done for. Even if you somehow pull a 3.7 final GPA you will be unwise in applying solely to California schools. At this point just try your best. If you can't make that GPA at the end, deal with the consequences then.

By the way, try to get a 4.0 in your OChem classes since you blew chemistry twice (a retake under a "B" is questionable).

EDiT: One last thing, I don't know why you brought up your "disadvantaged" background because it won't help you at all in your day to day classes and California has enough "disadvantaged" kids to be selective. If you're having problems with English and understanding it, you need to address this immediately.

 

[Ewt812]

Getting C's and D's in Chemistry and Math has nothing to do with your disadvantage background. Math requires almost no readings on the test. General Chemistry also doesn't require much of English comprehension. You just need to work harder.

 

[Catalystik]

It's a concern that even retaking the classes you didn't do that well in prerequisite classes. If you don't figure out how to get As very fast, things don't look good for an MD acceptance, though a 3.5 is a step in the right direction.

Keep in mind that DO med schools only count the retake grade when calculating your application GPA, and not the original grade, so that might be another avenue to becoming a physician for you. There are two of them in California.

 

[zebalong]

Do your best and see what happens. By best though i mean every single class put 100% into it, even those BS courses can help you get your gpa up.

Set your sites elsewhere besides Cali because 99% it ain't going to happen unless you are an URM you might be able to get in. I go to a great allo school and we have tons of people here from Cali who didn't get into california schools with >3.7 and mid thirty MCATs with EC's to match. If your lucky and get in then great but don't set yourself on going to school in Cali or you'll be setting yourself up for failure.

I'm not saying this to be mean but let me tell you the painful experience of a close friend of mine. The year i applied there was another person who was doing a post-bac with me and set himself on going only on the west coast ie OHSU, UW or a cali school. He had a 3.75 and a 35 MCAT/had decent research but no pubs and of course volunteer activities.. he got 3 interviews 2 to UC's and USC but in the end didn't get an acceptance. If he applied more broadly he would have definitely probably gotten in somewhere. be smart, get over the "i gotta go to california med school" thing early. There are excellent med schools outside of California that will provide you as much opportunities as going to school at a Cali school.

 

[pema11]

Thank you everyone I guess I have to think about look for school outside of California. However I am still really worry about my grade from a 2.7 to 3.7 is almost impossible.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Thank you everyone I guess I have to think about look for school outside of California. However I am still really worry about my grade from a 2.7 to 3.7 is almost impossible.

No, it's not. You need to spend more time in office hours or with the TA getting help. Whatever problem you have is addressable.

 

[Catalystik]

Get tutoring, form a study group, do every problem at the end of the chapters, even if not assigned. Maybe take smaller credit loads each semester. Drop most of your ECs and put that extra time into your studies. If you want this badly enough, you can make it happen. But it starts with figuring out how to get near-straight As from now on. You're only in your third semester, so there's still time to repair your GPAs.