Is there still hope? Need some encouragement and advice

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Freshy

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Hey everyone, so this is my first post to this website and I am very excited to hear so feedback.
I'm currently at a CC. Initially, I just began by taking courses like psychology, philosophy, and all the other ones IGETC recommends to take. I wasn't sure what I wanted with my career whatsoever. I didn't have any motivation, thus, performing poorly with C's and a few B's. Mostly C's and some D's.
I then decided that I wanted to do food-science and nutrition and stumbling upon a chemistry course, I loved it. I've grown up around many doctors so I know how intense it is to become a doctor; nevertheless, even with my poor standing I knew I wanted to be a doctor after performing really well in both chemistry and biology. I continued to take courses like Microbiology, Anatomy and physiology. My GPA trend was extremely high, it went from an average of a 2.0 to a 3.9. Overall, it is still low (2.42) however, I still have about 30-40 units or so before I transfer, and then many more pre-med reqs that I will take at the 4 year I transfer to.

I already started studying for the MCAT and am sure I can perform will and have decided I would do whatever it takes to be a doctor. I'm just not sure if transferring with roughly a ~3.1 ish, and then graduating undergrad with about a 3.7-3.8 is good enough due to my low GPA in CC.

I do plan to take most of my pre-med reqs in the 4 year college. Also, all the classes I got C's on where classes such as French, Music, Psychology, non that are science. If those who have a success story or have been there can share what they did and how they did it, that would be great!

I am also a firm Christian, so if you have anything spiritual from that end, please share. Thank you!

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Work hard. Although getting pretty much perfect grades for the rest of college is a very tall order.
But through God, all things are possible.
 
Do well at the 4 year. Take the MCAT. You're pretty far away from applying so its hard to give any real advice or encouragement.

But depending where you are in ~2 years, DO schools allow for grade replacement - you can retake a course and they take your new score in it. Otherwise and SMP or Post-bacc may be an option to demonstrate that you actually can handle curriculum
 
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Do well at the 4 year. Take the MCAT. You're pretty far away from applying so its hard to give any real advice or encouragement.

But depending where you are in ~2 years, DO schools allow for grade replacement - you can retake a course and they take your new score in it. Otherwise and SMP or Post-bacc may be an option to demonstrate that you actually can handle curriculum
 
My advice: grades are not all. You have come to the spontaneous conclusion that you are interested in being a doctor, but that alone will not get you into medical school. On top of making stellar grades from here on out (read: do not have to be perfect, but high performance) you need to also mature your motivation to become a physician. This means getting out there and shadowing, volunteering your time helping those in need, developing leadership skills, and all around following your passions.

Medical school admissions is a marathon, and all throughout the journey you are meant to come to a firm answer to the question: "Why medicine?" And no, it can't just be that you want to help people. As for your faith, it will not help you directly. However, if your beliefs make you strong, hold on to them. There will be times that this process will break you down. All in all, you've got a fine start, just keep developing.
 
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Pros
- bad grades were non science
- happened early on
- trending upward
- transferring to 4-year, so your new institutional GPA can be much higher/better reflect your progress, and won't shut you out from GPA-related honors groups/awards
- still plenty of time to bring up your cGPA

Cons
- bad grades are bad grades
- need high grades from here on to make up for it/be competitive.

You may want to consider waiting to apply until the end of your senior year (and taking a gap year) if your GPA doesn't come up quickly enough. You may be asked about those grades if/when you end up interviewing, but as long as you stay strong from here on you can still make yourself competitive.
 
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Work hard. Although getting pretty much perfect grades for the rest of college is a very tall order.
But through God, all things are possible.
I'm definitely planning to to work hard. I'm not naive or ignorant to the difficulty of this! Amen!
 
Pros
- bad grades were non science
- happened early on
- trending upward
- transferring to 4-year, so your new institutional GPA can be much higher/better reflect your progress, and won't shut you out from GPA-related honors groups/awards
- still plenty of time to bring up your cGPA

Cons
- bad grades are bad grades
- need high grades from here on to make up for it/be competitive.

You may want to consider waiting to apply until the end of your senior year (and taking a gap year) if your GPA doesn't come up quickly enough. You may be asked about those grades if/when you end up interviewing, but as long as you stay strong from here on you can still make yourself competitive.
I'm not planning to apply to medical school for a while. I'm applying to transfer soon. But that is a great way to look at it! Thanks!
 
My advice: grades are not all. You have come to the spontaneous conclusion that you are interested in being a doctor, but that alone will not get you into medical school. On top of making stellar grades from here on out (read: do not have to be perfect, but high performance) you need to also mature your motivation to become a physician. This means getting out there and shadowing, volunteering your time helping those in need, developing leadership skills, and all around following your passions.

Medical school admissions is a marathon, and all throughout the journey you are meant to come to a firm answer to the question: "Why medicine?" And no, it can't just be that you want to help people. As for your faith, it will not help you directly. However, if your beliefs make you strong, hold on to them. There will be times that this process will break you down. All in all, you've got a fine start, just keep developing.
Thank you! I have definitely matured in my motivation and will start volunteering at a hospital soon along with shadowing a PA. I also volunteer plenty of hours at my church. I know I still have a long run and am excited for this journey.
 
Shadow docs unless you think you want to be a PA. You also have to do much more than shadowing and volunteering in a hospital. Spend some time reading threads in the WAMC forum and see what kind of ECs others have!
 
I'm not planning to apply to medical school for a while. I'm applying to transfer soon. But that is a great way to look at it! Thanks!

When you transfer, you'll likely have enough transfer credits to put you into the junior class. Whether or not you intend to graduate with that class is up to you, but the traditional course is to apply between your junior and senior year so I just wanted to make sure you understood that if you are trying to do a traditional app, your GPA will not be 3.7-3.8 as you stated.
 
When you transfer, you'll likely have enough transfer credits to put you into the junior class. Whether or not you intend to graduate with that class is up to you, but the traditional course is to apply between your junior and senior year so I just wanted to make sure you understood that if you are trying to do a traditional app, your GPA will not be 3.7-3.8 as you stated.
I see what you're saying. I am not planning to apply junior year I'm also not planning to graduate with that class. Because along with my major courses that I have to take, I will be taking most of my pre-med courses there. I still have to take plenty of classes. I also meant that I will be at a 3.7-3.8 from my 4 year college, not overall.
 
I see what you're saying. I am not planning to apply junior year I'm also not planning to graduate with that class. Because along with my major courses that I have to take, I will be taking most of my pre-med courses there. I still have to take plenty of classes. I also meant that I will be at a 3.7-3.8 from my 4 year college, not overall.

Ah, if that's what you meant... why not aim for a 4.0? Study your butt off and make it happen! :)
 
Hah I just wanted to be realistic, but I definitely am aiming for a 4.0.
 
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