How am i doing so far?

[djsbaseball2014]

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Hey all,

So i am a second year Neuroscience major at a UC in California. I just wanted to get an idea of how i am doing so far and what things i should look to add on or improve on. ( My GPA needs some more work but its getting there.)

Fall Quarter:
Chemistry 1A -A
Chemistry 1A Lab- A-
Calculus 9B- A-
English- B-

Winter Quarter:
Chemistry 1B- A
Chemistry 1B Lab- A-
Biology 5A- A
Biology 5A Lab- C
Calculus 9C-C

Spring Quarter:
Chemistry 1C- B+
Chemistry 1C Lab- A-
Biology 5B- C
Physics 2A- A-
Physics 2A Lab- B
Psychology- B+

My cumulative GPA is around a 3.3 right now, so i know that needs to come up and i am working very hard to get that up. I am doing very well on my midterms so far and things are definitely looking good for this quarter.

EC's:
-about 6 months of volunteer experience, obviously going to continue it for the next few years ~100 hours so far
- private tutor for 3+ years
-EMT-Basic certified and CPR certified, planning on taking a trip out of the country to volunteer as an EMT or will work as one in a gap year
-Publicist for the cooking club on campus
-started in a psychology research lab and have accumulated about 20-30 hours so far (been in there for about a month, we owe a year long commitment)
-Shadowed various doctors~40 hours(will shadow more)
Pending EC's:
-orientation leader for incoming freshman, potentially two summers worth of experience
-mini medical school (educate the public on health issues)
-resident advisor for freshman dorms
-schools on wheels (tutor homeless children a few times a week for free)
-pre health advising mentor for pre-medical students at my undergrad
-potential medical internship in ghana for a summer~ 6 week trip
-rosetta stone spanish course
My university medical school is very heavy on community service in underserved communities so if anybody has some good programs please let me know! Thank you guys for your time and i look forward to hearing your feedback on what to improve on! 🙂

 

[Glandzburg]

Your ECs actually look pretty good. I wouldn't worry about adding more while you focus on GPA repair right now.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Honestly, I think you should cut down on your ECs a bit until your GPA goes up and you're making mostly As rather than all these Cs and Bs.

 

[Glandzburg]

Honestly, I think you should cut down on your ECs a bit until your GPA goes up and you're making mostly As rather than all these Cs and Bs.

As a general rule, your GPA is much harder to fix than a lack of ECs. Like WedgeDawg said, consider cutting a few if can't find enough time to keep your GPA up. You'll thank yourself later.

 

[djsbaseball2014]

I agree with both of you, I have a pretty busy load with research and tutoring, but honestly my first round of midterms was very good and i can tell i have made changes from last year. I just lost focus each quarter in one class and it hurt me but now i am trying to grind all of the way through. Also, those potential EC's i listed will mainly occupy my summer schedule. I appreciate the feedback!

 

[Theafoni]

Man, quarter schools suck. Whats the difference between Calc 9b and 9c? or any of those b and c courses?

 

[ConfusedChemist]

More ECs wont keep you out of med school. A GPA that low, will.
Re-prioritizing is in order

 

[djsbaseball2014]

@Theafoni I know :/ quarter system bugs. Calculus 9B was all integral calculus, 9C was series and sequences which is notoriously difficult at our school. It just comes down to how the school splits up the material, for example, Biology 5A covers cell and molecular bio, 5B covers organismal and plants, 5C covers evolution and ecology. My other C in biology 5B was actually an A going into the final! bombed the final due to a lack of studying for the last two weeks of material and it dropped to a C+. @ConfusedChemist I agree, that is why i am focusing more on my classes all the way through and it is paying off for me so far 🙂 Thank you guys

 

[JessebenBenjamin]

Work on your GPA, because once that is broken... it will be really really hard to fix.

 

[first_time_poster]

Stop volunteering so much. No med school will care unless you have the gpa to back it up.

 

[djsbaseball2014]

@first_time_poster i started over the summer and put in a lot of hours..... I volunteer once a week for like 2-4 hours I have everything managed right now, if you read my post you would have noticed that I mentioned my midterm scores were very good for this first round of midterms.

 

[lmn]

Figure out why you weren't succeeding in some of your classes and then make the necessary changes to do well from now on. If it is method of studying, change that method. If you are over-committed and didn't have adequate time to study, cut down some EC's to make enough time to do well. Meet with professors or advisers if you need help figuring out why you struggled and what to do differently.

 

[JessebenBenjamin]

@first_time_poster i started over the summer and put in a lot of hours..... I volunteer once a week for like 2-4 hours I have everything managed right now, if you read my post you would have noticed that I mentioned my midterm scores were very good for this first round of midterms.

It's all about reaching a balance.

 

[djsbaseball2014]

@lmn thank you for the feedback, I think it was just losing focus in a class each each quarter for example, during the winter I got A's in both biology and chemistry but I kinda didn't focus on my math class as much and it hurt me, so I'm challenging myself to stay focused all 10 weeks! Thank you @JessebenBenjamin i have a lot going on this quarter but it forces me to study more when I have time rather than just sitting around in the dorms like last year and it's working out for the better 🙂

 

[first_time_poster]

@first_time_poster i started over the summer and put in a lot of hours..... I volunteer once a week for like 2-4 hours I have everything managed right now, if you read my post you would have noticed that I mentioned my midterm scores were very good for this first round of midterms.

Right. Keep up the good work. It's just that a 3.3 ain't getting you into med school. And even a 3.6 is kind of borderline.

 

[djsbaseball2014]

@first_time_poster i literally just started my second year, I have potentially 2-3 more years of grades to go. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only member on here to have started off slow in their undergrad. There are people who got like 2.3's their first year and still got an MD acceptance, it's not the end of the world and it will get fixed I can assure you 🙂

 

[clippers50fan]

Man, quarter schools suck. Whats the difference between Calc 9b and 9c? or any of those b and c courses?

It's just instead of semester of 1A and 1B, it'll be 1A, 1B, 1C. They both equal year long classes.