How detrimental is a bad first semester?

[kangarooo]

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Hi everyone,

My name is Jake. I'm a first year student and have had a pretty rough semester... as in really bad. First off let me say I wasn't partying or getting in trouble. I have no IAs or citations or anything. I didn't know how hard college was going to be and didn't put in the effort that I should have. I'm not going to make up some excuse about "my dog died" or any of that... It was just a bad semester and I wish I could go back to the beginning and start over. My grades are pretty awful.

Chemistry - D
Biology - B
Calculus - B-
Piano - C+ (Piano isn't for me I guess)

I know many of you will post saying that "well if you haven't been able to do well so far what makes you think you can do better?", but I don't want that to be the emphasis of this thread. I have talked to my parents and my counselor and my therapist about that. So, assuming I can do much better, how bad will this semester hurt my chances of getting accepted to medical school some day?

I really want to become a physician. It's a long story but I used to want to go into law enforcement. I started volunteering with my local ambulance service because it was the only public safety thing I could do at my age (17 at the time). After going to the emergency room many times and taking an EMT class I became interested. I shadowed some doctors and volunteered in the hospital. Over the past year or so it has really become a passion for me, the most serious I've ever been about a career.

 

[Pierre Escargot]

Assuming you can do much better, you will be fine, I would think. Strong upward trends are a good way to mitigate the damage that has been done, and I think I've read that admissions committees place more weight on later years, so freshman year will not mean as much as sophomore, etc. But you really need to get to work and make sure that you get this thing turned around. Seeing as it's only one semester, I definitely think you can turn it around if you put in the work.

To those with more experience: please feel free to correct me on this.

 

[kangarooo]

Okay thank you!

I'm very motivated and I'm even planning to hire a chem tutor who I will meet with twice per week. My vacation is going to be spent mostly prepping for next semester.

 

[dr.0ne]

I think you should be fine provided that you nail the rest of your semesters.

As you start this long road, realize that your GPA and MCAT will be your two keys to get you a foot in the door. Without them, nothing short of spectacular ECs will get you an interview invite anywhere.

I suggest you find how to study properly, don't take a heavy schedule until you learn this skill.

 

[Ruby109]

All is not lost. I got a 2.75 my first semester of college. I then proceeded to crush the rest of my college life and graduate with a 3.6 and just got accepted into school this week. ADCOMS get that you're a freshman and screwing up is a possibility, now you just have to work really hard to prove that you are a lot more than one semester! Good luck!

 

[butternutsquash]

You should be fine. The most important thing is to learn from your mistakes and find a way to improve your grades starting next semester