How bad is my situation

[Clotho]

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I am a BME and finished my freshman year with a 3.33 GPA. My grades consisted mostly of A-s and B+ but brought down by a C- in my second semester bio class and b- in physics II. I'm really disappointed in myself I just had a bad time taking tests and studying but I intend on working on it and amending my approach to classes. Should I start getting worried whether medical school is a possibility? I currently do volunteering and research (actually staying over the summer to continue working in the research group). I figure with better efforts, the best I can realistically hope for by the end of junior year is a high 3.6, low 3.7 GPA , would that put me at a distinct disadvantage?

Also, I know it's very hard but has anyone here actually managed straight A's after a mediocre freshman year? What did you do differently?

Thanks, Clotho

 

[loltopsy]

You hear stories about it all the time. Learn how to study effectively. It's not really about being smart, its about studying smart and not being lazy.

 

[Thinks]

Not a huge problem if you can turn it around in Sophmore and Junior year. If you can shoot up to 3.6-3.8 by Junior-Senior year, that's brilliant. That makes you pretty competitive. Do the math and see how many A's you need to pull up your GPA and get cracking. And No a 3.3 in Freshman year is not the end. This is just your Freshman year. If you can show an upward trend, you can assure people that you grew, learnt, and can handle med school.

Ofcourse, don't forget the MCAT. And keep up the ECs.

 

[Urnathok]

That's absolutely fine. Don't sweat it. Pick up some ECs along the way.

 

[rueby25]

I am a BME and finished my freshman year with a 3.33 GPA. My grades consisted mostly of A-s and B+ but brought down by a C- in my second semester bio class and b- in physics II. I'm really disappointed in myself I just had a bad time taking tests and studying but I intend on working on it and amending my approach to classes. Should I start getting worried whether medical school is a possibility? I currently do volunteering and research (actually staying over the summer to continue working in the research group). I figure with better efforts, the best I can realistically hope for by the end of junior year is a high 3.6, low 3.7 GPA , would that put me at a distinct disadvantage?

Also, I know it's very hard but has anyone here actually managed straight A's after a mediocre freshman year? What did you do differently?

Thanks, Clotho

Can definitely rebound from this with hard work and some changes in study habits. The bigger issue here might be MCAT later since you struggled the most with 2 core sciences...

 

[deleted393595]

I am a BME and finished my freshman year with a 3.33 GPA. My grades consisted mostly of A-s and B+ but brought down by a C- in my second semester bio class and b- in physics II. I'm really disappointed in myself I just had a bad time taking tests and studying but I intend on working on it and amending my approach to classes. Should I start getting worried whether medical school is a possibility? I currently do volunteering and research (actually staying over the summer to continue working in the research group). I figure with better efforts, the best I can realistically hope for by the end of junior year is a high 3.6, low 3.7 GPA , would that put me at a distinct disadvantage?

Also, I know it's very hard but has anyone here actually managed straight A's after a mediocre freshman year? What did you do differently?

Thanks, Clotho

I'm going to take a different approach here and be the devil's advocate here - Like you, I'm also kinda sorta going the BME route (The key words here are "kinda sorta" since my degree is a lot more focused than a typical BME degree). I've also gotten straight A's since my freshman year while doing EC's.

The bolded is an "easy subject" and the analytical requirement in it is one of the foundations to engineering (Especially if your Physics II class was a Calc based E&M class). If you're having trouble in those, I'd seriously reconsider BME if I were you since you have no excuse to not have gotten at least A- in it.

To me at least, B- in physics demonstrates a lack of analytical skills and the C- in basic Bio 2 shows a further lack of memorization skills. And things are going to get a lot harder for you from here. I don't know how your school does it, but I think that you'd at least be expected to take additional classes in Calc III, Linear Algebra and Differential Equations which all require analytical skills. And don't forget your additional engineering classes. This is why I think that getting a 3.6-3.7 for you is going to be a very hard thing to achieve, if not impossible. A 3.0 or lower could be a very distinct and likely possibility.

You said that you had a "bad time" taking tests, but what does that mean? Are you planning on taking corrective action and how are you going to do so?

Sorry for being so harsh on you and I hope that my advise helps.

 

[verynice]

I am a BME and finished my freshman year with a 3.33 GPA. My grades consisted mostly of A-s and B+ but brought down by a C- in my second semester bio class and b- in physics II. I'm really disappointed in myself I just had a bad time taking tests and studying but I intend on working on it and amending my approach to classes. Should I start getting worried whether medical school is a possibility? I currently do volunteering and research (actually staying over the summer to continue working in the research group). I figure with better efforts, the best I can realistically hope for by the end of junior year is a high 3.6, low 3.7 GPA , would that put me at a distinct disadvantage?

Also, I know it's very hard but has anyone here actually managed straight A's after a mediocre freshman year? What did you do differently?

Thanks, Clotho

I came out of my freshman year with a 3.1 and around 40 credits. I was in your situation except a little worse. That summer I made a promise to myself that I would make nothing less than an A any future class. Unfortunately, I ran into a few A-'s but for the most part, I kept my promise and ended up with a 3.674 cGPA and 3.624 sGPA.

In order for me to pull that off, I had to change my study habits completely. Instead of studying the night before tests, I started studying for a couple of hours each day for a week leading up to the test and that helped me a lot. Also, whenever I learned a new process/concept, I would research and dig into it until I understood more than the teacher required for us to know. This not only gave me a better framework with which to understand the topic, but also allowed me learn the material on a more intimate level resulting in points on the tests.

I would not give up your dreams yet. I went from fear of losing scholarships to graduating with honors and it is certainly doable in your case.

Keep your head up and power through the rest of your classes! 😀

 

[Domino2178]

.

 

[Yorick]

I'm going to take a different approach here and be the devil's advocate here - Like you, I'm also kinda sorta going the BME route (The key words here are "kinda sorta" since my degree is a lot more focused than a typical BME degree). I've also gotten straight A's since my freshman year while doing EC's.

The bolded is an "easy subject" and the analytical requirement in it is one of the foundations to engineering (Especially if your Physics II class was a Calc based E&M class). If you're having trouble in those, I'd seriously reconsider BME if I were you since you have no excuse to not have gotten at least A- in it.

To me at least, B- in physics demonstrates a lack of analytical skills and the C- in basic Bio 2 shows a further lack of memorization skills. And things are going to get a lot harder for you from here. I don't know how your school does it, but I think that you'd at least be expected to take additional classes in Calc III, Linear Algebra and Differential Equations which all require analytical skills. And don't forget your additional engineering classes. This is why I think that getting a 3.6-3.7 for you is going to be a very hard thing to achieve, if not impossible. A 3.0 or lower could be a very distinct and likely possibility.

You said that you had a "bad time" taking tests, but what does that mean? Are you planning on taking corrective action and how are you going to do so?

Sorry for being so harsh on you and I hope that my advise helps.

^^ this

 

[Falconclaw]

I am a BME and finished my freshman year with a 3.33 GPA. My grades consisted mostly of A-s and B+ but brought down by a C- in my second semester bio class and b- in physics II. I'm really disappointed in myself I just had a bad time taking tests and studying but I intend on working on it and amending my approach to classes. Should I start getting worried whether medical school is a possibility? I currently do volunteering and research (actually staying over the summer to continue working in the research group). I figure with better efforts, the best I can realistically hope for by the end of junior year is a high 3.6, low 3.7 GPA , would that put me at a distinct disadvantage?

Also, I know it's very hard but has anyone here actually managed straight A's after a mediocre freshman year? What did you do differently?

Thanks, Clotho

I'm in a similar situation. I used to study Accounting, and my GPA was a 3.85. Now after a semester of science classes, I'm basically certain it'll never again be that high. However, multiple people say that the intro bio courses at my school are actually much harder than the upper level bio courses, so I can still get my sGPA up.

 

[survivordo]

It's possible. Your goal this summer should be to assess your study habits and figure out where you went wrong in these classes. Physics can be hard for some but an entry level bio class really should be a breeze... stay on top of your studies, continue doing ECs and don't panic. You will be alright!

Survivor DO

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I am a BME and finished my freshman year with a 3.33 GPA. My grades consisted mostly of A-s and B+ but brought down by a C- in my second semester bio class and b- in physics II. I'm really disappointed in myself I just had a bad time taking tests and studying but I intend on working on it and amending my approach to classes. Should I start getting worried whether medical school is a possibility? I currently do volunteering and research (actually staying over the summer to continue working in the research group). I figure with better efforts, the best I can realistically hope for by the end of junior year is a high 3.6, low 3.7 GPA , would that put me at a distinct disadvantage?

Also, I know it's very hard but has anyone here actually managed straight A's after a mediocre freshman year? What did you do differently?

Thanks, Clotho

See, I left the BME engineering route because it messed up my grades. You don't just select an engineering degree thinking it'll be a good "back-up" if you don't get into medical school. So may I ask why you're doing engineering?

However, you have many semesters left. You got this! Just think very hard over the summer. I believe you will bounce back just fine.

 

[princessbooty]

I've looked through a lot of people's stats and profiles on mdapplicants and to be quite honest, unless you can work hard to get your cumulative GPA 3.5 or higher by the time of application, you can say goodbye to med school, unless you rock the MCAT and get a 37+.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I've looked through a lot of people's stats and profiles on mdapplicants and to be quite honest, unless you can work hard to get your cumulative GPA 3.5 or higher by the time of application, you can say goodbye to med school, unless you rock the MCAT and get a 37+.

Wow are you joking? This is false. Even though having a 3.5+ dramatically increases one's chances, all hope is not lost.

 

[leon sandcastle]

its fine OP, its better to have this experience now as a freshman than later on. Learn from your mistakes and plan for the next semesters!

 

[LogicofMan]

Don't sweat it, just reassess your study habits, focus on learning how to learn, and beef up the ECs/prepare well for the MCAT and you should be fine. MANY people have a rough start, simply because they're getting used to how rigorous university is compared to high school. A b- in physics isn't that bad of news. You really just need to make sure that you don't overload yourself in the future, focus your efforts on your weaknesses, and ensure that you make a strong case for yourself in other areas. You may need to take an extra year to "distance" yourself from these grades, but this is in no way a deal-breaker. You still have plenty of time to shine!

TL;DR, this should be your to-do list:
-Take more bio (and do well in it) to show that your bio capabilities don't max out at c-
-Brush up on physics, since you'll need it for the MCAT, as well as many of your engineering courses
-Don't overload your schedule in the future, in order to maximize your GPA (even if it takes an extra semester/quarter/year or more)
-Get a fair amount of humanitarian volunteer work in (homeless shelter, needle exchange, food banks, etc.)
-Find research opportunities that will get you a publication. I've talked to adcom members who say that if it isn't published, they couldn't care less about research (sic).
-Give yourself extra time to study for the MCAT, since you will likely need lots of work in bio and phys.
-Keep your chin up; an upward trend is always a good sign to adcoms, and you may need to take an extra year to let your senior year marks show up.

You still have a very good chance of getting in if you really, really want it. It will require lots of hard work and sacrifice (as you should've expected by setting your sights on med school) but you can do it!!