Medical How do I handle a poor grade late in coursework?

[Goro]

I decided to apply to medical school during my senior year of college. As a result I am taking a gap year to finish up prerequisite courses (biochem and physics).

I did well in my coursework during undergrad, which included gen chem and orgo (GPA: 3.9, sGPA: 3.95). Additionally I did well in a number of high level biology and mathematics courses.

Nonetheless, physics has been hitting different for me this summer and am worried that I may end up with a grade as bad as a C. I am confident that I will be able to turn things around to do well on the physics 2 and the MCAT, but I'm not sure how serious of a scar this would be on my application.

Beyond this issue, I feel like I have good clinical experience, oodles of research, and plenty of shadowing.

I know that acceptance committees are more understanding with upward trending GPAs, but how do schools handle applicants who have had poor performance later on?

Usually, not well

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[TheBoneDoctah]

Get that grade up somehow. I don't think it will doom you since you have a strong application and good grades otherwise, but make sure you have an explanation or something to say in an interview if you were to be asked about it.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You already have a very high GPA coming in, so the one C earned during pandemic times may hurt but perhaps not has much as you think. What would your GPA be after taking the hit? (Learning exclusively through an online medium is not effective for every student.)

No bets without an official MCAT.

Online coursework has definitely been difficult in this course, and its taken me a bit to figure out effective ways to study. I hope that schools would be understanding of a lapse in in a single class, and I feel like I have learned what I need to do to improve.

If worst comes to worst, I would end up with a 3.88 cGPA and a 3.86 sGPA. I have performed well in advanced coursework in mathematics from my undergraduate, including real analysis, advanced linear algebra, and abstract algebra. I know I will need to really perform well on the MCAT and am planning to study for ~6 months before taking it in February.

 

[tantacles]

One C usually isn't an issue. Do your best in this course. I don't think you've killed your chances by any means.