It's over??? BUT I JUST STARTED!!!

[primedgal]

Okay, so here's my story... While I was in highschool I Took community classes... a lot of them, and didn't exactly ace them. And now they've come back to haunt me. I'm only a freshman but I have about 50 semester units completed already!!!!!! and after not doing so hot in freshman year.... now my chances of really boosting up my gpa seem really low:


Total Number of
Credits: 51


Grade Point average : 2.670


Average Total Grade
Points Earned : 136.2200



Am I done? is this it?

Mathmatically speaking, and in general, How much can I improve my gpa in two years? Is it still possible?

when I calculated this, I put that I'd have about 60 more semester units left before applying... and even if I get an A in all of them ( which is unlikely) the highest my gpa will be is a 3.3 HOLY CRAP!!! I'll need to work my *** off and even so the highest i'll get will be less than 3.5.
I feel like it's over already ... But I just started!!!
Please HELP ME.

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[TehDoc]

It's not over. You can always do post-bacc and score high on mcat, but then again you're going to have to work your *** off regardless of anything you do.

 

[CuteElectron]

You know, there are many other great careers out there in the world.

 

[scarletgirl777]

You can use senior year to raise your GPA. You can take a 1 year postbac. Calm down.

 

[primedgal]

please give me some more detailed answers on how I can improve my gpa.

 

[BluePhoenix]

You've still got time to show an increasing trend in your GPA. But you're going to need to show a good amount of improvement. If you didn't do too hot in your community college classes and you haven't done well in your freshman classes either, you're really going to need to step it up and show that you can really do the work...preferably BEFORE your senior year or post-bacc. Mediocre grades all the way through your undergraduate will probably not be overcome by a year of good grades in a post-bacc, especially if you do it immediately following undergrad without taking a year or two off.

If you're truly trying as hard as you can and really struggling, you may need to consider a different career. If you're doing poorly because you're goofing off and having a good time and not studying much, you need to step up and start working hard ASAP. If you can pull off excellent grades for the next three years and get some great ECs and shadowing experience, some schools might be willing to overlook your high school and freshman year and give you a chance. It's all up to you.

 

[GreenShirt]

Depends on the source of the problem. You can do two things:

1) If you're not ready to tackle your pre-reqs and science courses seriously you may want to get your degree in a non-science major in which you can get good grades and then complete a post-bacc when you're ready. The post-bacc is intended for people didn't take the pre-req science courses in UG and are taking them the first time to apply for med school. This way your story is one of someone who matured after college and discovered medicine as their calling. Your essentially postponing pre-med until after college.

2) If you really want to do pre-med in college you will have to show a good upward trend in your GPA, work hard on the non-academic portions of your app and hope to do well on the MCAT. If your record isn't good enough after that, you can turn to other options such as an SMP (where you take graduate medical courses to improve your academic record) after college. However, don't continue down this path unless you're ready for it, because you'll just keep driving your self in to the ground.

Good Luck....it's not over yet, you're still young

 

[135892]

please give me some more detailed answers on how I can improve my gpa.

What I found that works for me is to just take a lot of credits and gets A's in the courses

 

[JaggerPlate]

You have a couple viable options:

1) Time Machine - stop yourself from taking CC courses as a high school student

2) Y2K-type scenario resulting in world-wide computer failure

3) In your interviews, keep insisting, "No, that's supposed to be 3.6. The 2 is a typo."



Good lesson to everyone else though: If your kid is getting C's in community college courses, then they're probably not ready to be taking anything more than their basic high school curriculum.

Whewww ... 1-3 are the funniest things I've read on SDN in a long time.

OP, I had a friend (no this isn't me, it's an actual friend) who did the exact same thing. Her parents were crazy and she started taking CC courses her soph year of high school and got her AA at the same time she graduated high school. She should have applied to colleges as a 'transfer,' but didn't and she already had so many units she had to scramble not to hit unit caps and half the stuff didn't match over ... etc. Long story short, there are definitely things you can do (post bacc), but you should definitely demonstrate the ability to succeed in science classes at a university. Sorry the advice isn't more positive, but it can be done if it's what you want to do.

 

[littlealex]

How did you get killed in community college?

 

[Mobius1985]

please give me some more detailed answers on how I can improve my gpa.

1) Get only As from now on. Maybe plan on a total of 150 semester hours (instead of the usual 120) before accepting an undergrad degree.

2) Retake classes with Cs or below and plan to apply to DO schools which practice grade forgiveness and don't calculate the lower of the grades into the GPA which is considered for admission.

 

[Mandarin142]

I put that I'd have about 60 more semester units left before applying...

Therein lies your answer. You have control over when you apply to medical school. There is no requirement as to how long you wait to apply. I recommend you finish your bachelors degree and approach your courses very seriously. As you are completing your last semester of your degree take a look at where you stand at that point and start preparing to either apply to medical school for the following year or continue taking classes to boost your GPA to a desired level. I decided to stay in college an extra year and pick up a second degree for the very same reasons (high school community college classes that strained my GPA tremendously). In the end, I was able to pull my GPA up to only a 3.60 after taking over 100 credit hours with all A's after those community college days. Hopefully, ADCOMS will take into account that those classes were 5 years ago and that straight-A's for 5 years / 100 credit hours ought to say more than a 3.6 GPA.

 

[TexanGirl]

Even with a low cumulative GPA, a nice upward trend and high MCAT score can make you an attractive candidate. Work on building the points earned from total credit hours (perhaps spend more than 2 years in college before applying?) and getting A's in classes. Rock the MCAT and schools won't have any reason to doubt your academic ability. As it stands now, they do...

What was the reason for your poor performance though? Was it a lack of effort, being unprepared for the rigor of college, or a combination of both?

 

[tiedyeddog]

You have a couple viable options:

1) Time Machine - stop yourself from taking CC courses as a high school student

2) Y2K-type scenario resulting in world-wide computer failure

3) In your interviews, keep insisting, "No, that's supposed to be 3.6. The 2 is a typo."



Good lesson to everyone else though: If your kid is getting C's in community college courses, then they're probably not ready to be taking anything more than their basic high school curriculum.

This is awesome. I praise you. (OP. You did bad in high school, ok... But then you followed up and did equal that your freshman year? Maybe you should look at a different career. Or come back two years from now and post about how hard you've been trying and people might give you some credit.)

 

[Perrotfish]

Okay, so here's my story... While I was in highschool I Took community classes... a lot of them, and didn't exactly ace them. And now they've come back to haunt me. I'm only a freshman but I have about 50 semester units completed already!!!!!! and after not doing so hot in freshman year.... now my chances of really boosting up my gpa seem really low:


Total Number of
Credits: 51


Grade Point average : 2.670


Average Total Grade
Points Earned : 136.2200



Am I done? is this it?

Mathmatically speaking, and in general, How much can I improve my gpa in two years? Is it still possible?

when I calculated this, I put that I'd have about 60 more semester units left before applying... and even if I get an A in all of them ( which is unlikely) the highest my gpa will be is a 3.3 HOLY CRAP!!! I'll need to work my *** off and even so the highest i'll get will be less than 3.5.
I feel like it's over already ... But I just started!!!
Please HELP ME.

OP, go to the Post-bac forum, and read through the low GPA thread. If you get good grades from this point fowards, there are several programs that can help you get into medical school only a year late, worst case scenario. Your MCAT is also going to be a large equalizer here. Also look into DO schools, a 3.3 (theoretical) and a high MCAT, while significantly lower than their mean, isn't completely out of the competitive range.

However that's not going to help if your grades in college are as bad as your grades in HS.

 

[Insulinshock]

Don't listen to what anybody else says, your life is basically over. I would suggest dropping out of college and try your hand in, say, farming?

 

[TehDoc]

Don't listen to what anybody else says, your life is basically over. I would suggest dropping out of college and try your hand in, say, farming?

bingo

 

[metalgearHMN]

You have a couple viable options:

1) Time Machine - stop yourself from taking CC courses as a high school student

2) Y2K-type scenario resulting in world-wide computer failure

3) In your interviews, keep insisting, "No, that's supposed to be 3.6. The 2 is a typo."



Good lesson to everyone else though: If your kid is getting C's in community college courses, then they're probably not ready to be taking anything more than their basic high school curriculum.

What I found that works for me is to just take a lot of credits and gets A's in the courses

How did you get killed in community college?

Don't listen to what anybody else says, your life is basically over. I would suggest dropping out of college and try your hand in, say, farming?

God I LOVE SDN

Seriously consider what these people have said, it should motivate you to do better if nothing else. Plus there is some truth to it


Seriously though, many schools weight your GPA when you apply, like UWSOM (best school ever). Here's the system they use to compute your GPA

What is a weighted GPA?

The undergraduate GPA is weighted to give credit to applicants whose records show improvement as they progress through their undergraduate studies. Only the first three years are included in this calculation as most applicants have just begun their senior year. The weighted GPA is calculated on a standard 4-point scale with 4.00 representing an "A" average.

CUM. FRESHMAN GPA X 1 = A
CUM. SOPHOMORE GPA X 2 = B
CUM. JUNIOR GPA X 3 = C

WEIGHTED GPA = (A+B+C)/6
​

As you can see this will really help you out and I'm sure there are other schools that do this as well

PS - Don't apply to UWSOM

 

[Cegar]

I love UWSOM. All hail UWSOM.

 

[primedgal]

I actually went to pre health advising and they said that med schools would consider two different gpas during the application process. One from community college and one from University. so There would be two cumalative gpas that they would consider, and they would take the University one more seriously. so I hope I still have a chance now

 

[brianmartin]

^^^
They'll still see the overall cumulative GPA, but it will be obvious if you have an upward trend.

Many people start off bad and then get all A's. I'm one of them. Don't think of it as something "really hard" to do. Just try your best and keep the goal in mind. You'd be surprised at how much you can accomplish once you have a clear goal. I went from 2.9 -> 3.7

 

[SoyMilk]

du du dududu, another one bites the dust

 

[bcat85]

du du dududu, another one bites the dust

Ok, so assuming it takes 120 hours to get a degree, if you have a 3.8 for the rest of your time in college, you will finish with about a 3.33, which is good enough to get you in SOMEWHERE if you do well on the MCAT. Good luck

 

[reebs406]

^^^
They'll still see the overall cumulative GPA, but it will be obvious if you have an upward trend.

Many people start off bad and then get all A's. I'm one of them. Don't think of it as something "really hard" to do. Just try your best and keep the goal in mind. You'd be surprised at how much you can accomplish once you have a clear goal. I went from 2.9 -> 3.7

How many years/units did you have to take to get that gpa up?

 

[Perrotfish]

Another important thing to consider here is that DO schools replace your lowest grades. So if you're just willing to retake all of those CC college courses, you're actually no further from medical school than any other freshman.