To start off, I have a sGPA and cumulative GPA of less than a 3.3 and I'm a junior. It's not that I'm doing poor in all of my class. It's because I performed poorly during my first quarter in freshman year and some random classes I decided to take throughout the years. I kind of regret taking those classes, but not really. Consequently, I am unable to get most of the extracurriculars that require competitive GPAs, or search for competitive research opportunities..Reading some of the members stats on SDN has given me motivation to never give up. But I'm feeling so down right now.. my GPA is low and I probably need to do a post-bacc, my extracurriculars are extremely lacking as I have 0 hours clinical and non-clinical volunteering hours (basically need to start from scratch), and I can't get the research positions I want. Honestly, I feel like crap and this is the lowest of the low for me... I wish I could go back to square one and restart everything, but I know that's not possible.. I feel so lost..
I'm a failure..
- Thread starter qwe7791
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2011
- Messages
- 3,578
- Reaction score
- 548
Sounds like you need to take a a year or two off of school after graduation. Do some ECs during the time off and come back for a postbac.
Everything will work out. It just may take a little longer for you.
Everything will work out. It just may take a little longer for you.
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2012
- Messages
- 760
- Reaction score
- 514
Relax friend, you will be fine! It sounds like you're not that bad off, may want to take a 1 year post bacc and do well in your future classes.
Shadowing is easy to get, just start emailing physicians until one agrees. If your college has a prehealth advising office ask if they have a book of physicians you can shadow. Also, join a club and do some volunteering, you might meet some great people and have a lot of fun!
If you can get that GPA above 3.5 and get some shadowing/volunteering you can achieve all your goals. There's certainly no reason to give up now!
Shadowing is easy to get, just start emailing physicians until one agrees. If your college has a prehealth advising office ask if they have a book of physicians you can shadow. Also, join a club and do some volunteering, you might meet some great people and have a lot of fun!
If you can get that GPA above 3.5 and get some shadowing/volunteering you can achieve all your goals. There's certainly no reason to give up now!
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2011
- Messages
- 4,963
- Reaction score
- 2,959
Just pick yourself up and do your very best. What else can you do?
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2012
- Messages
- 5,456
- Reaction score
- 4,227
OP I remember your post a long time ago about feeling a superiority complex amongst your peers. I don't understand why you would post about something like that in the past and now post something like this?
Well anyway, my ugGPA is worse than yours (partially due to family problems and bad study habits) and I am trying my best to turn that around. You have to think about your accomplishments in life and power through this moment. Based on your response, you know what you need to do. Turn yourself around and go and do it.
There have been people with worse stats than yours that got into medical school. So it will be hard but it is still possible. Best of luck to you.
Well anyway, my ugGPA is worse than yours (partially due to family problems and bad study habits) and I am trying my best to turn that around. You have to think about your accomplishments in life and power through this moment. Based on your response, you know what you need to do. Turn yourself around and go and do it.
There have been people with worse stats than yours that got into medical school. So it will be hard but it is still possible. Best of luck to you.
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2010
- Messages
- 410
- Reaction score
- 0
+1
You already know what you have to do. You just have to push through the low and try to turn yourself around. It's hard but not impossible. We are all here to support one another as much as we can (even tough it may not seem like it sometime).
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2009
- Messages
- 328
- Reaction score
- 7
I was looking at some of your old posts and I guess this situation your in now is a good way to "tone down your ego"
Realize that your road to being a physician is going to take a little longer but will be just as fufilling in the end. Do your post-bac, work on EC's, try to get clinical experience and you should be golden.
Realize that your road to being a physician is going to take a little longer but will be just as fufilling in the end. Do your post-bac, work on EC's, try to get clinical experience and you should be golden.
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2012
- Messages
- 27
- Reaction score
- 0
It is certainly normal to have days like that, perhaps it's human nature to have doubts about whether you can become a physician. Not everyone can become a doctor, I've come to the conclusion that it's just the way life is sometimes, but it is most certainly not possible if you keep working at it.
The average med school freshman age is 23. 😀
The average med school freshman age is 23. 😀
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2011
- Messages
- 3,578
- Reaction score
- 548
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2009
- Messages
- 9,746
- Reaction score
- 1,670
how do you as a junior not have a single volunteering hour? seems to me you were never seriously interested in medicine to start with.
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2011
- Messages
- 282
- Reaction score
- 167
OP,
Stop.
If your potential extracurricular activities require a high GPA, you're doing it wrong. Volunteer at a summer camp. Go to the information desk at a hospital and ask if you can push wheelchairs. Go to a nursing home and ask if you can play checkers with the elderly folks. Call up your doctor and ask if you can hang out in the office for a few half-days. Play a club sport every other Wednesday. Extracurricular and volunteer activities should be things you LIKE to do. After all, you're not getting paid- don't waste a second trying to get into non-paid activities someone doesn't think you're good enough for. Research is a different story, depending on your school. But let's face it, if you're just trying to get in somewhere, research is not a must. I got multiple acceptances without it, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
Keep a journal to write down all the things you've done that could possibly be construed as relevant to your application. You might be surprised how much you've done. Don't get down on yourself.
Stop.
If your potential extracurricular activities require a high GPA, you're doing it wrong. Volunteer at a summer camp. Go to the information desk at a hospital and ask if you can push wheelchairs. Go to a nursing home and ask if you can play checkers with the elderly folks. Call up your doctor and ask if you can hang out in the office for a few half-days. Play a club sport every other Wednesday. Extracurricular and volunteer activities should be things you LIKE to do. After all, you're not getting paid- don't waste a second trying to get into non-paid activities someone doesn't think you're good enough for. Research is a different story, depending on your school. But let's face it, if you're just trying to get in somewhere, research is not a must. I got multiple acceptances without it, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
Keep a journal to write down all the things you've done that could possibly be construed as relevant to your application. You might be surprised how much you've done. Don't get down on yourself.
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2011
- Messages
- 1,071
- Reaction score
- 94
Well that's nice of you to say >.<
OP, all that matters right now is that you find a way to get back up, and you can do it! Regarding post-baccs and SMPs, your stats are probably high enough to get into some that have high rates of matriculation to med school (Georgetown, Tufts, etc). And research is common but not a requirement. Have you looked into maybe doing a senior thesis? That would count!
Also, click on the link in my signature. I find it cheerful and motivating 😀
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2011
- Messages
- 598
- Reaction score
- 9
Did you finish all your science courses already? I'm currently considered a junior, but i JUST touched the prereqs on my required sciences courses, because I took a bunch of unneeded classes during my first 2 years.
Who knows, you can probably salvage yourself up if you make 4.0's from here on out.
Who knows, you can probably salvage yourself up if you make 4.0's from here on out.
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2012
- Messages
- 86
- Reaction score
- 0
Not everyone knows they want to go into medicine when they start college? And its never really too late to start? Guess I forgot how SDN has future physicians coming out of the womb
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2011
- Messages
- 126
- Reaction score
- 1
I am in the same road you except that I'm doing something about it. I am taking year round classes no breaks.
12 credits winter break
18 credits summer break
12 credits winter break
18 credits summer break
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Messages
- 102
- Reaction score
- 1
I did the same thing, my GPA would be a 3.5 but my first year of college I had no plan of doing anything with my life but being a rockstar so I got straight F's and D's, so 30 or so credit hours later I sit at a 2.717 hoping I can get it past 3.0 and get some frikkin scholarships so don't feel so down.
4
487806
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2012
- Messages
- 33
- Reaction score
- 3
anything is possible if you are willing to keep working for it....the next few years are going to be critical. Do the shadowing and volunteering. take some post bacc work or do a master's in an area of your interest. Get some clinical paid employment if you can. Keep focused and stay busy...you'll get there.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2009
- Messages
- 484
- Reaction score
- 6
You need to try your hardest to pull up your grades, but considering that you are a junior you do have the time to pull them into med school range. Remember that half the class has below the average GPA. Try to do well on the MCAT etc.
Most importantly, ask yourself if medicine is really what you want to do. If the answer is yes, you need to change your mindset. It sounds like you are making excuses -- If you try hard enough to find extracurricular activities, you will. You do not need a high GPA to do research, but you do need to put in the effort to email tons and tons of possible mentors with the knowledge that 99% will turn you down. Keep at it and someone will eventually be willing to use you, even if only for free help. But that may be how you get started. Everyone has to pay their dues. No one gets into medical school by having everything fall in their lap. I definitely emailed hundreds of professors and doctors in undergrad cold trying to find research opportunities. It took a lot of time, but I finally did get it!
IMO, find the passion which will take you through the work. Don't give up. Do not defeat yourself or make excuses. You can do it if you try hard enough!
Most importantly, ask yourself if medicine is really what you want to do. If the answer is yes, you need to change your mindset. It sounds like you are making excuses -- If you try hard enough to find extracurricular activities, you will. You do not need a high GPA to do research, but you do need to put in the effort to email tons and tons of possible mentors with the knowledge that 99% will turn you down. Keep at it and someone will eventually be willing to use you, even if only for free help. But that may be how you get started. Everyone has to pay their dues. No one gets into medical school by having everything fall in their lap. I definitely emailed hundreds of professors and doctors in undergrad cold trying to find research opportunities. It took a lot of time, but I finally did get it!
IMO, find the passion which will take you through the work. Don't give up. Do not defeat yourself or make excuses. You can do it if you try hard enough!
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2011
- Messages
- 1,251
- Reaction score
- 420
If the only seriously bad grades are from your first quarter as a freshman and a handful of other classes, then a few retakes should be enough to bring your GPA up to the point where you're quite competitive for DO schools. This will be especially true if you push yourself to do whatever is necessary to maintain a perfect 4.0 average from now on. Depending on your MCAT score, MD isn't entirely out of the question either. It might take you an extra year of college, but you still have the potential to become a doctor in the end.
Instead of thinking about the big picture, you need to take it one step at a time. Evaluate where you're at, and starting next semester until you graduate work on performing better. You need to answer what you are doing wrong in terms of studying/preparation. If it's just freshman year that's dragging you down, then not as much to worry about. You have 3 more semesters until graduation. Let me do some quick math for you.
Assuming 16 credits/semester:
Now: 3.3 GPA at 80 credits
Next 3 semesters: 3.8 GPA at 48 credits
Total Cumulative at Graduation: 3.49 GPA at 128 credits
You're not really that far out of reach. But one thing I will say is that you shouldn't focus on the grade, but rather learning the material inside and out. If you do this, the good grades will come. Focus on this first and then worry about MCAT, maybe add EC's incremently as you get better academic results, etc.
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2010
- Messages
- 79
- Reaction score
- 0
OP. That line of thinking is pointless and unrealistic. You are not in a bad position. The GPA: considering you've had a strong upward trend counts for a lot. You have time to bring it up, and from the upward trend you mentioned so far, it sounds extremely possible. You could be competitive for DO schools, and even have a shot at MD schools.
There's no use thinking about things you have no control over, like how you could have performed better in the past. You don't need a high GPA to get into a hospital volunteering gig, or in a hospice, or at a summer camp, or tutoring HS kids... the possibilities go on. It's not a super fancy hot shot summer research program, but your extracurriculars are what you make of it.
There's no use thinking about things you have no control over, like how you could have performed better in the past. You don't need a high GPA to get into a hospital volunteering gig, or in a hospice, or at a summer camp, or tutoring HS kids... the possibilities go on. It's not a super fancy hot shot summer research program, but your extracurriculars are what you make of it.
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2008
- Messages
- 353
- Reaction score
- 6
Other people have already offered great advice, so let me just say this: it doesn't get any easier. You can get into medical school. It might seem impossible right now, but you can do it. The hard part will come after, when you realize that everyone at your school is just as smart or smarter than you, you're sacrificing a lot of things in your life just to get through school, and you're accumulating an enormous amount of debt in the process. What really made it worth for it for me was the realization that I absolutely loved working with patients--something that I didn't know before I started medical school despite what I claimed during the application process. If medical school is really what you want to do then go for it. I didn't even finish high school, and I did all my prerequisites at a community college. I still got in. If I can do it, you can.
