HELP!!! Will this ruin my chances of getting in to med school?

[ILuvMedicine]

Ok, so I just took the MCAT on Sept. 12, and ever since then I've lost all motivation, drive, and focus for school. After missing a couple of tests for two of my classes, I decided to drop them, both of which are non-science and non-pre-requisites for med school. So instead of being enrolled in 4 classes (13 credit hours) as a full-time student, I'm currently only taking 2 classes (7 credit hours) as a part-time student. The classes I dropped are Nature of Mathematics and Management Info Systems (MIS), and the ones I decided to keep are Anatomy and Spanish I.

So my question is: Would it look bad to the admissions board committee if I have two W's in one semester along with the fact that I'm not enrolled with enough credit hours to be considered full time? I also forgot to mention that I have two other W's (one for English Literature I in the summer quarter of 2007 and another one for another MIS class in the fall semester of that same year) for a total of 4 W's on my transcript. I'm a Bio major with a minor in Management Info Systems, so dropping that MIS class means I would also have to drop my MIS minor, so now I'm just a plain old Bio major. As of right now, my cGPA is 3.75 and sGPA is 3.56.

Am I screwed? Does this mean I can't pursue medicine anymore? Right now all I can do is panic....

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[loveoforganic]

Yes it looks bad, no you're not screwed. I suggest becoming motivated again!

 

[ILuvMedicine]

Oh yeah, one more thing I forgot to include, I made a C in Organic Chem II. But I made straight A's my freshman year, a couple of B's my sophomore year, and was able to pull off straight A's again my junior year. So how would my transcript be viewed as, overall?

I'm currently a senior and will be graduating in May 2011, and I plan on applying for the 2011 cycle.

Thanks, any help or input would be appreciated.

 

[Spiker]

Not if you get a 36+ on the MCAT...I would say that you should take some filler classes to make sure you are full time at least (volley ball...instruments?)

 

[ILuvMedicine]

Yes it looks bad, no you're not screwed. I suggest becoming motivated again!

Do u mind elaborating a little bit more on that , please. I don't think I've heard of anyone in this situation before.

 

[ILuvMedicine]

Not if you get a 36+ on the MCAT...I would say that you should take some filler classes to make sure you are full time at least (volley ball...instruments?)

The problem is, it's already way past the deadline to add classes, so I'm pretty much stuck with only 2 classes this semester. Ah, I feel so hopeless right now

 

[utah3219]

.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I mean, it doesn't look good. A couple of W's never hurt anyone, but 4 is getting up there, and your GPA already isn't great. I think you need to definitely get A's in all of those classes you've got left this semester, use that free time to get some really great volunteer experience (there's no reason for you not to be volunteering like 20 hrs/week if you only have 2 classes), and then take a relatively hard semester in the spring and do very well, and hope you got at least low-mid 30s on the MCAT; I won't go quite as far as saying you need a 36+, because if the rest of your app is good, those W's by themselves won't doom you.

Moving to What are my Chances.

 

[loveoforganic]

Do u mind elaborating a little bit more on that , please. I don't think I've heard of anyone in this situation before.

I mean it certainly doesn't look good, at all. You WILL be expected to provide a good excuse for why you have those W's. However, you will not be automatically screened everywhere due to those W's, however. I'm not sure your "I just lost motivation after the MCAT" is really going to cut it though - you'd think it would take more than that to do what you did (unless you feel you completely bombed it or something? Still not an entirely appropriate response, but more understandable). I'd take a breather and try to evaluate what exactly happened that lead to this occurring.

 

[aggie08]

The problem is, it's already way past the deadline to add classes, so I'm pretty much stuck with only 2 classes this semester. Ah, I feel so hopeless right now

Then you need to get a job, do some research or up your volunteering. Don't sit around for an entire semester, someone is bound to ask you what you did all semester if you get interviews.

 

[bellakk]

I'm confused. How is a 3.75/3.5 gpa bad? So what if you have some W's and dont have a minor? You are allowed to need a break after studying for the mcat. Unless you will only be happy going to Johns Hopkins Medicine, I think you'll be fine. Just make sure you do really well in the classes you are still taking and again in the spring.

 

[ILuvMedicine]

I'm confused. How is a 3.75/3.5 gpa bad? So what if you have some W's and dont have a minor? You are allowed to need a break after studying for the mcat. Unless you will only be happy going to Johns Hopkins Medicine, I think you'll be fine. Just make sure you do really well in the classes you are still taking and again in the spring.

Thanks, it seems like right now, you're the only one giving me hope, and nooooo, I do not plan to go to any of the top 20 schools. Just any MD, not DO, school would be fine.

 

[ziggydoc]

you need to pace yourself and not burn out like you did with the MCAT and school work. Since both your GPA and the MCAT score are very important. So, plan ahead, take some other classes so you can be a full time student ( A lot of schools ask if you have any gaps in undergrad education, and being a part time student instead of full prob. fits into that). Also, if you have managed to pull off good grades in the past, I don't understand how you lost so much motivation that you missed exams in two classes.

 

[bamagurl14]

Then you need to get a job, do some research or up your volunteering. Don't sit around for an entire semester, someone is bound to ask you what you did all semester if you get interviews.

I second this.