Is it worth it to keep up pre-med?

[SCPardee]

I'm a freshman at USC and I just got my grades back... not too happy with them. I got A's in my honors humanities courses but big, fat C's in genchem and bio. Honestly I just didn't take premed very seriously early in the semester. By the time I decided I wanted to do it for sure, I was a little late in the uptake for those science classes.

What should I do from this point on? My goal is still med school, and I'll do anything it takes to get in.

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[Political]

I'm a freshman at USC

Take it easy bro, you still have 3.5 years + summer and winter classes to boost your grades. Stay a premed, just work harder kays?

 

[ILikeDrugs]

If I had to give some pre-med advice the summer before their first semester, I would say to take the pre-reqs starting in the second or third semester, so that they could adjust to the amount of studying that college actually requires. However, this is too late for you. Just do better next semester now that you know how much you actually need to study in order to Ace those classes. You might either need to dedicate more time to studying, or if you are already putting in 20 hours a week, you may need to develop better studying habits. USC is rich. They should have resources to help you with the latter. You still have about 100+ units to go to raise your GPA. It will increase easily with As. It doesn't start to become difficult to increase until you've taken about 80+ units.

 

[surub]

Calm down it's your freshman year.... you have so much more time to make up. Buckle down and start studying, there is still time. Calm down, enjoy your break.

Best of luck to you!

 

[SCPardee]

I will definitely study harder from this point on. I guess the question I'm getting at is: do I still have a chance at getting into A med school? Remember, two C's... pretty ugly.

 

[deleted307836]

I will definitely study harder from this point on. I guess the question I'm getting at is: do I still have a chance at getting into A med school? Remember, two C's... pretty ugly.

Could you possibly retake the courses in the future? Retaking them and doing well would help a lot.

 

[kexy]

hey,
i go to USC too! fight on! the #1 thing you can do is go to SI, every week. seriously, it's a life saver! also, know that it gets better.. bio 220 is, imho, easier than bio 120, and a lot more interesting.

it sounds like you're in thematic option (so am I) so i know you have the brains to do it. honestly, lots of people eff up freshman year; it's where you go from here that counts. i didn't take pre med seriously freshman year either. it just seemed like med school was really far away, and, being in TO, i was overconfident about my abilities compared to the rest of the students at USC. BIG mistake. being smart doesn't mean you don't need to study.
what you should do from here is fix your study habits, ASAP. pulling off a's next semester is crucial, because a sharp upward trend is very impressive. my best advice to you is this, it's what got me through orgo this semester.

-treat school like a job, 9 to 5 or 10 to 6 or whatever hours work for you. focus on school and nothing else during those hours, M-F.
-NEVER bring a laptop to class; it's a huge distraction and your science lectures will probably be online anyway.
-try to schedule long breaks between classes (ie a class at 10 am and the next one at 3 pm). then, avoid going home between classes and carry a bio/chem book with you. if you're not carrying around your laptop, you'll pretty much having nothing else to do but study.
-if you study before, between, and directly after classes, you'll almost never have to study nights or weekends, except right before an exam.

that's just what works for me. let me know if you have any questions about anything else!

 

[kexy]

I will definitely study harder from this point on. I guess the question I'm getting at is: do I still have a chance at getting into A med school? Remember, two C's... pretty ugly.

if it will make you feel better, check out this thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=354113&highlight=worst+grade+you+ever+got

you'll see a ton of med students with c's, d's and even f's. you can DEFINITELY still get into med school with 2 c's...just make sure these are the last ones!

 

[SCPardee]

CityLights, I'm not sure about retaking classes. That's something I'd have to ask about, but it does sound like a good idea.

Kexy, OMG thank you, that was amazing advice! I guess the major thing is for me to fix those study habits. Is there anything I should be doing outside of coursework and SI that might help me? EC's?

 

[boko]

you def still have a chance..its only your first semester...def retake those courses! you must take it seriously tho! you dont want to miss out on your dream job. Good Luck

 

[SCPardee]

Thank you all for your replies! I will take your advice to heart this next semester, and Merry Christmas!

I've been reading on a lot of threads that people will take an extra year to boost GPAs and such; given my situation now, and assuming I earn good grades from now on, does it seem like I would have to take that extra year?

 

[dbeast]

Thank you all for your replies! I will take your advice to heart this next semester, and Merry Christmas!

I've been reading on a lot of threads that people will take an extra year to boost GPAs and such; given my situation now, and assuming I earn good grades from now on, does it seem like I would have to take that extra year?

Merry Christmas Pardee! I broke the elevator in your building once... Ah the good old days.

Hang in there. SC's basic sciences are notoriously difficult. Upper div gets better and there's no shame in taking an extra year. A post in another thread said something along the lines that he's never met a current med student who regretted taking extra time but he's met several who have regretted going straight from undergrad to med school.

 

[kexy]

SC, you can pretty easily calculate your projected GPA to see if you'd want an extra year or not. just add up your GPA points. so, say you're applying after junior year, taking 16 units a semester. you have 80 more units, so if you're planning on an a- average (3.7 points) just multiply 80 * 3.7, then multiply the number of units you took this semester * this semester's gpa (for example, a 3.0 on 16 units), and add those two numbers together, divide by total number of units (96) and see if you like that number. if not, plan on more semesters, summer classes, or pulling higher than an a- average. i think the example i just gave gives like a 3.6.

as for EC's, there are 2 great pre med organizations at usc. one you're not allowed to do until next year, but it's called THV:
http://college.usc.edu/trojan-health-volunteers/

another you could start next semester, i think it's probably the single best thing on my application. it's called CHIP (community health involvement project) and it involves actually going out into the ghetto and performing blood pressure/blood glucose screenings. so it's community service and clinical experience all at once, and it's a pretty fun time.
http://chipcommunity.org/

let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[tallandshort]

I agree with kexy, plenty of current med students have a couple of bad grades (Cs or lower) on their transcripts. As long as you make sure it's just a couple and not a trend there's no reason to panic. Focus on improving your study habits and you still have plenty of time to pull together a good application. I would not however recommend retaking these classes unless a medical school you are planning on applying to requires it (for example if a school requires Bs or better in pre-reqs). This is not very common though and as a freshman you probably wouldn't have any idea what schools you would apply to yet. The bottom line is that even if you retake these classes it will not erase your Cs or keep them from being factored into your GPA. Medical schools will still see them no matter what so it's really a waste of time (for allopathic schools at least, DO is another story). If you feel you need to prove that you've mastered these subjects despite the Cs on your transcript, do so by doing well on those sections when you take your MCAT. Good luck!

 

[jm192]

A bad first semester, or bad first year won't kill you. Especially if you show a strong upward trend. They definitely take notice of how you've improved going forward.

I didn't take college seriously at all first semester, got a C in a 5 hour math class, and that turned me serious. I imroved alot, and got in, the C wasn't even mentioned.

 

[SCPardee]

I agree with kexy, plenty of current med students have a couple of bad grades (Cs or lower) on their transcripts. As long as you make sure it's just a couple and not a trend there's no reason to panic. Focus on improving your study habits and you still have plenty of time to pull together a good application. I would not however recommend retaking these classes unless a medical school you are planning on applying to requires it (for example if a school requires Bs or better in pre-reqs). This is not very common though and as a freshman you probably wouldn't have any idea what schools you would apply to yet. The bottom line is that even if you retake these classes it will not erase your Cs or keep them from being factored into your GPA. Medical schools will still see them no matter what so it's really a waste of time (for allopathic schools at least, DO is another story). If you feel you need to prove that you've mastered these subjects despite the Cs on your transcript, do so by doing well on those sections when you take your MCAT. Good luck!

First of all I want to thank everyone here! You have been SO helpful and I definitely feel less lost about this whole premed business.

Okay I'm definitely not planning on bombing anything else, and it's really encouraging to know that I still have a fighting chance.

I've heard horror stories about ochem though... does anyone have advice for how to approach it?

 

[Geneticist]

There's a ton of info about o-chem scattered throughout this forum. It's best to use the search function for that one.

 

[BigEast55]

I got a C in General Biology 2 and I got into a (pretty great) medical school straight out of undergrad, sometimes it takes a good kick in the butt.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

I'm a freshman at USC and I just got my grades back... not too happy with them. I got A's in my honors humanities courses but big, fat C's in genchem and bio. Honestly I just didn't take premed very seriously early in the semester. By the time I decided I wanted to do it for sure, I was a little late in the uptake for those science classes.

What should I do from this point on? My goal is still med school, and I'll do anything it takes to get in.

Keep taking the standard pre-reqs, but study harder/smarter. Really crush those classes. If necessary, eventually take a few extra upper division science courses to raise the BPCM GPA/prove you can hack it. If necessary, do a post-bacc. No need to give up.

 

[juliedi]

hey,
i go to USC too! fight on! the #1 thing you can do is go to SI, every week. seriously, it's a life saver! also, know that it gets better.. bio 220 is, imho, easier than bio 120, and a lot more interesting.

hey OP, I went to USC too, and I agree with this in bold. Enjoy the holidays and good luck next semester.