I screwed up, now onto recovery

[ohlawdhecomin]

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I screwed up BIG time in my first 2 years of college. I told myself everything was fine, that I'd improve, but my grades are all over the place. I started with a 3.19 first semester, then 3.4, then 3.2, then with this semester, I'm looking at a 2.4. I gave myself 1 more chance by fall 2020 to get top tier grades, otherwise I'd drop pre-med. I don't know where to start improving ,or where to go to get any volunteering done as the pandemic has closed most opportunities in my area.

Am I a lost cause?

 

[Wolvvs]

Did you take any of your prerequisites yet (Bio, Chem, Physics, Orgo, Biochem)? What grades did you get in them if so?

 

[DrAveryMD]

In addition to an overall GPA, AMCAS breaks down your GPA by year. If you do much better years 3 and 4, it won't go unnoticed. Plus, remember GPA is one part of the equation. There's the MCAT too. There are plenty of people with lowi-sh GPA/high MCAT who make it into med school.

No one is volunteering because the pandemic is affecting ALL premeds equally. Heck, they even took us out of our clerkships in the hospitals.

Breathe in. Breathe out. You'll be okay.

Drop premed only if you don't want to be a doctor anymore, not because of this.

 

[deleted1025690]

100% agree with the above post! Believe it or not my stats were about the same as yours my first 2 years and my upward trend was very gradual. I ended up doing a SMP and taking my time gaining clinical experiences and volunteering. I’m on 2 waitlists right now which of course isn’t as good as an Acceptance but DEFINITELY something I’m very thankful for since I’ve come such a long way. I say all this to say with time and consistent improvement you WILL become a doctor if that’s all you can see yourself doing! The best advice I can offer is to do some volunteering here and there but really focus on your grades first! I was always told that volunteering/clinical opportunities will always be there but you want to secure the grades as soon as you can. Also remember that this is a marathon not a sprint, taking a gap year or 2 if you think it’s needed later on is not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things! Hope this helps!

 

[candbgirl]

It’s great that people are giving you many positive responses but nobody is answering your question. Do you have any idea why your grades are all over the place? Are you having issues grasping the content or are you not studying? Maybe the issue is you are studying wrong-spending lots of time but not getting a big return. Perhaps you should go to the academic resource office (or whatever your school calls it) and ask for help. Maybe they can help you figure out what you are doing and help you get on track. Don’t wait for another semester. Make an appointment as soon as your school opens up so you can hit the ground running at the start of next semester. The issue might be easy to fix but you won’t know until you ask. Good luck.

 

[Goro]

I screwed up BIG time in my first 2 years of college. I told myself everything was fine, that I'd improve, but my grades are all over the place. I started with a 3.19 first semester, then 3.4, then 3.2, then with this semester, I'm looking at a 2.4. I gave myself 1 more chance by fall 2020 to get top tier grades, otherwise I'd drop pre-med. I don't know where to start improving ,or where to go to get any volunteering done as the pandemic has closed most opportunities in my area.

Am I a lost cause?

Nope, far from it.

Ace everything from now on

 

[deleted889094]

I did the same. Don't worry about the past, you can't fix it. But you need to turn things around. You won't have a great GPA when you graduate, but you can still get a good MCAT and get into a school. Make sure you know what you've been doing wrong so you can be sure you fix it.

 

[deleted966164]

The one and only thing you have to do though is to figure out what went wrong before...

 

[ohlawdhecomin]

Did you take any of your prerequisites yet (Bio, Chem, Physics, Orgo, Biochem)? What grades did you get in them if so?

I've taken PHysics, Bio, and chem,

A and A- for bio
C and C+ for Physics
and B- and A- for chem

I will be taking o chem next semester though.

 

[ohlawdhecomin]

In addition to an overall GPA, AMCAS breaks down your GPA by year. If you do much better years 3 and 4, it won't go unnoticed. Plus, remember GPA is one part of the equation. There's the MCAT too. There are plenty of people with lowi-sh GPA/high MCAT who make it into med school.

No one is volunteering because the pandemic is affecting ALL premeds equally. Heck, they even took us out of our clerkships in the hospitals.

Breathe in. Breathe out. You'll be okay.

Drop premed only if you don't want to be a doctor anymore, not because of this.

Your words are very good to hear, thank you!

 

[ohlawdhecomin]

It’s great that people are giving you many positive responses but nobody is answering your question. Do you have any idea why your grades are all over the place? Are you having issues grasping the content or are you not studying? Maybe the issue is you are studying wrong-spending lots of time but not getting a big return. Perhaps you should go to the academic resource office (or whatever your school calls it) and ask for help. Maybe they can help you figure out what you are doing and help you get on track. Don’t wait for another semester. Make an appointment as soon as your school opens up so you can hit the ground running at the start of next semester. The issue might be easy to fix but you won’t know until you ask. Good luck.

I think the biggest problem is that I'm not managing my time properly. 2019-2020 was the school year where I tried taking on alot of work and a research lab, but I ended up choking on finals.

 

[candbgirl]

I think the biggest problem is that I'm not managing my time properly. 2019-2020 was the school year where I tried taking on alot of work and a research lab, but I ended up choking on finals.

And maybe the learning resource center could help you manage your time better and help you not to choke.

 

[ohlawdhecomin]

And maybe the learning resource center could help you manage your time better and help you not to choke.

Will do that ASAP! Cheers!

 

[Weirdy]

I think the biggest problem is that I'm not managing my time properly. 2019-2020 was the school year where I tried taking on alot of work and a research lab, but I ended up choking on finals.

Its great that you've been able to do research, but don't let the work hours involved take time away from you preparing for finals.

It is better to get an A or B in a class, then to put "research" on your resume.
If this is not a work-study position, perhaps you can ask your PI for time off during heavy exam weeks.
You've probably already realized that in order for you to perform well during exam weeks, you need dedicated time to focus only on studying. Nothing else.

Hang in there and keep working hard. Figure out what you need in order to do well and don't compromise your time when you find out it works.