How bad is a Freshman year D?

[PCxX]

I'm not personally in this situation, but I have a friend who is going for medical school who is a Biology major (going the typical route) who took an intro-Econ class as an elective during the summer at a CC.

Being summer, he apparently didn't focus on his studies and pulled a D. He's pretty nervous about it and is afraid that it might destroy his chances at a decent medical school.

If somebody gets a D in a non-premed required course and retakes it (and gets an A), is that D still going to hold somebody back provided it's the only D the student gets (say the overall GPA ends up being a 3.55 or something)?

I would like to encourage him but I'm not really too familiar with how things like this work.

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[Catalystik]

People even get Fs and still manage to get enough As to make their overall application compeititve. Getting a D, especailly during freshman year, is forgiveable, but one still needs to redeem it. If the overall GPA at application time is mildly subpar, like a 3.55, it can be compensated for by a slightly higher MCAT score, like a 32+. So go ahead and encourage your friend.

 

[PCxX]

People even get Fs and still manage to get enough As to make their overall application compeititve. Getting a D, especailly during freshman year, is forgiveable, but one still needs to redeem it. If the overall GPA at application time is mildly subpar, like a 3.55, it can be compensated for by a slightly higher MCAT score, like a 32+. So go ahead and encourage your friend.

I'll be sure to do that.

Also, just out of curiosity for myself, I hear that if you bomb a pre-req class, that you should retake it. What if it's a D or F in a non-pre req class, should that be retaken as well?

 

[Catalystik]

It's not as essential, but it looks better if you do retake it.

 

[bravofleet4]

if we're talking about now and your friend is still a freshmen, then tell him not to worry about it until later. There's a lot of other things he should be working on. A D in a non-prerequisite class isn't a very high priority because it can be re-taken at any time. If he does retake it, do it during the summer at the very same CC.