i'm new and have some questions

[cherriesandrum]

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also i'm introducing myself.

i'm a rising sophomore at a small LAC. my grades have been pretty ****ty (3.2 first term, 2.8 second term) but from now on i have decided to turn a new leaf! things are optimistic in shiny in this world.

this summer i am doing research for the first time ever at a wet lab. it's pretty cool and my PI said that at the end of the summer, my mentor would let us write the abstract for whatever article they're publishing. with that, i have two questions:

1. is that cool? like, is that a legit thing to be doing?
2. should i be doing something else this summer? with the lab? with my life?

thanks, and i look forward to actually posting on SDN instead of creeping around like i've been doing for the past couple months!

 

[CuttingCorneas]

Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer. Get clinical experience--a lot of it. Shadow some doctors and help out with free clinics. Join clubs, get leadership positions, and boost your ECs. Having a little bit of research isn't going to do much--it takes a lot more work than that.

 

[CodeBlu]

Volunteer. Show commitment to the community. That stuff is super important to adcoms, and you should find some sense of fulfillment from doing it.

 

[cherriesandrum]

should i start doing that this summer? i work pretty much all day M - F in my lab.

 

[CodeBlu]

Find weekend volunteer gigs. But you should also continue doing your lab work if you enjoy it.

And while you're at it... figure out what went wrong GPAwise. Was it a few bad tests? Or did you just not have a work ethic? That's gonna matter come sophomore year. Sophomore year was not fun for me. But it sure woke me up.

 

[aSagacious]

And while you're at it... figure out what went wrong GPAwise. Was it a few bad tests? Or did you just not have a work ethic? That's gonna matter every year (from here onward).

Fixed

 

[CodeBlu]

Fixed

Thanks aSagacious! I'm a little slow in the morning 😀

 

[cherriesandrum]

Find weekend volunteer gigs. But you should also continue doing your lab work if you enjoy it.

And while you're at it... figure out what went wrong GPAwise. Was it a few bad tests? Or did you just not have a work ethic? That's gonna matter come sophomore year. Sophomore year was not fun for me. But it sure woke me up.

first term was lame because i was having a really hard time adjusting to college and stuff. i was very homesick and went home pretty often. second term ... i have no idea. i started off taking six classes along with an EMT class and that went to hell pretty quickly. so after my first midterm grades, i dropped a bunch of classes, keeping pretty much just the premed requirements. i was okay from there but not knowing most of the stuff from the first midterm messed up my final thus messing up my final grade. i know it sucks but like, that's what happened.

why was your sophomore year bad / how'd you rebound?

 

[Aetherius]

I'm guessing youre from REEO? 🙂

 

[cherriesandrum]

I'm guessing youre from REEO? 🙂

?

 

[NewYorker9]

First get your grades up - make sure you're actually learning material, not just scoring well on an exam. I only skimmed previous posts but it looks like you have EMT training? If so continue with that, that's something I never invested the time into but think would be rewarding. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, do what interests you and run with it. Make a long-term commitment to some of your ECs. The wet lab research sounds interesting, if you wouldn't mind posting more info on that I'd definitely love to hear more. Good luck!
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