junior; low gpa; what the hell should i do?

[eyeluveyez]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi 🙂 everyone,
Ok right now I'm currently a junior, transferred from a two-year community college ->(has anyone been accepted to optometry school coming from a former student at CC?) just curious (Is opt. schools very strict on that?). And I've recently transferred to an univeristy, so it was a big transition which my grades completely drop and i was so terrified and shocked in my first semester,coming from the dean's list and president's list to a GPA which I don't think you can graduate with, but then this semester I did okay, its just really hard to adjust to large classes from smaller classes which professors put more time and effort into helping their students. MY GPA as of right now is 2.33 cGPA 🙁 taking summer classes to bring it up somehow. And Im planning on graduating 2012, what are ways i can bring my gpa (should I retake some classes?) My first semester, there was an error on my transcripts, and I register for the wrong class thinking I had to take it and it was lower division non-science class (world history) received a D, will they trip over non-science courses? I haven't taken the OAT as yet, I'm still studying for it (planning on taking it sometime in Aug)..I have some questions..

Are all opt. schools opens every Fall? no Spring?

When is the earliest I should apply for early-acceptance?

If you were in my shoes, would you apply for next fall 2012 for opt. school or would you wait til you have a decent GPA?

And as for experience, I have none so far 😱 i know! please please, what should I do? volunteer? internships? work?

In your opinion, what opt. school is the easiest to get into?

Thanks and good luck to you all 😀

 

[Laurac]

It's humbling toGo from being a community college GOD, a university teachers pet and barely getting thru professional school. But remember... In optometry school, the more easy it is to get in, the higher the tuition. Unless you have a nice trust fund to pay the bills, go into a profession you enjoy that pays decent. I am kicking myself for not joining the military 18 years ago, with prior service I would be retired by now with a big fat pension and an ocean view house in Costa Rica. The problem with opto schools is that a lot of the profs have inferiority complexes about not getting into medical school and are much quicker to expel students, than a medical school would be. Another thing UCB used to do (mite still) is they would pick among the worst qualified affirmative applicants, torture them for a few years,humiliate and fail them out. it was brutal. One young black man was on the "6 year plan". They went out of their way to screw him. Unless you are asian or white, dont even think of applying to UCB. According to scso, every year kids turn their nose down at scso (called "suck-oh at UCB") deciding to go to the more prestigious and cheaper UCB. By first and second year, scso is being inundated with UCB students begging to transfer. No luck there. To be honest, if you don't have the grades to get in, you don't have the grades to get thru. Good patient skills do not replace clinical reasoning and aptitude. This is a really scary economy, no way to know which way things will go. Everyone wants good,cheap health care...and that is coming out of your pocket. Grade school teachers in my state get paid more than us. And the only program easier to get thru that teaching is social work. An MS or PhD in social work or education pays really well, great benefits and lots of time off. And of all the gre scores, they consistently have the lowest. You just have to real high tolerance for BS. Do something you enjoy,that has benefits, job security and self respect. Don't do it because your parents want to have bragging rights.

 

[KHE]

Hi 🙂 everyone,
Ok right now I'm currently a junior, transferred from a two-year community college ->(has anyone been accepted to optometry school coming from a former student at CC?) just curious (Is opt. schools very strict on that?). And I've recently transferred to an univeristy, so it was a big transition which my grades completely drop and i was so terrified and shocked in my first semester,coming from the dean's list and president's list to a GPA which I don't think you can graduate with, but then this semester I did okay, its just really hard to adjust to large classes from smaller classes which professors put more time and effort into helping their students. MY GPA as of right now is 2.33 cGPA 🙁 taking summer classes to bring it up somehow. And Im planning on graduating 2012, what are ways i can bring my gpa (should I retake some classes?) My first semester, there was an error on my transcripts, and I register for the wrong class thinking I had to take it and it was lower division non-science class (world history) received a D, will they trip over non-science courses? I haven't taken the OAT as yet, I'm still studying for it (planning on taking it sometime in Aug)..I have some questions..

Are all opt. schools opens every Fall? no Spring?

When is the earliest I should apply for early-acceptance?

If you were in my shoes, would you apply for next fall 2012 for opt. school or would you wait til you have a decent GPA?

And as for experience, I have none so far 😱 i know! please please, what should I do? volunteer? internships? work?

In your opinion, what opt. school is the easiest to get into?

Thanks and good luck to you all 😀

What you need to do is concentrate on your GPA and forget about the OAT, volunteering etc. etc. for a little while. There will be plenty of time to worry about that. For now, concentrate and studying and working as hard as you can in your remaining classes. The greatest OAT in the universe and volunteer work isn't going to overcome a 2.33.

 

[nicmc]

Hi 🙂 everyone,
Ok right now I'm currently a junior, transferred from a two-year community college ->(has anyone been accepted to optometry school coming from a former student at CC?) just curious (Is opt. schools very strict on that?). And I've recently transferred to an univeristy, so it was a big transition which my grades completely drop and i was so terrified and shocked in my first semester,coming from the dean's list and president's list to a GPA which I don't think you can graduate with, but then this semester I did okay, its just really hard to adjust to large classes from smaller classes which professors put more time and effort into helping their students. MY GPA as of right now is 2.33 cGPA 🙁 taking summer classes to bring it up somehow. And Im planning on graduating 2012, what are ways i can bring my gpa (should I retake some classes?) My first semester, there was an error on my transcripts, and I register for the wrong class thinking I had to take it and it was lower division non-science class (world history) received a D, will they trip over non-science courses? I haven't taken the OAT as yet, I'm still studying for it (planning on taking it sometime in Aug)..I have some questions..

Are all opt. schools opens every Fall? no Spring?

When is the earliest I should apply for early-acceptance?

If you were in my shoes, would you apply for next fall 2012 for opt. school or would you wait til you have a decent GPA?

And as for experience, I have none so far 😱 i know! please please, what should I do? volunteer? internships? work?

In your opinion, what opt. school is the easiest to get into?

Thanks and good luck to you all 😀

I'm assuming that since your GPA dropped so much, you must have failed several classes. If these classes were pre-reqs for opt school, then retake them. I agree with KHE, don't be focusing on the OAT and extracurriculars for now. Work on getting that GPA up because I seriously doubt you could get into even the easiest opt school with those grades. I also agree with the second poster that if you don't have the grades to get through undergrad, then you should re-evaluate your career choice because school is only going to get harder (much harder than your new undergrad). While I am sure the transition from CC to a university is difficult, you have to take your education into your own hands. You can't expect people to hold your hand to get through classes. Evaluate your study skills or see if tutoring can help you come out with really strong grades for the next several semesters. It is my understanding that opt schools are understanding about having a bad semester if there is a legitimate reason. Do very well the rest of your time in undergrad, retake some classes, and work hard. I would at least work on getting some experience during school breaks as well.

 

[eyeluveyez]

well really, I should've changed my major because as an undergraduate, i am not sure if all university have the same criteria, however how we have to choose our classes and electives is just requires a lot of classes I feel we shouldn't need like for examples I'm really good with human sciences and anatomy but then we're require to take Evolution and Ecology..dealing with plants like when in my life will I need this in optometry. (LOL) I believe there should be two separate biology majors..humans biology and plants biology. Not only my grades drop because of the transition to university but professors plays a role in my grades, obviously, however it really all depends on professor we take, "they can make ya or break ya"..

Thanks for the advice and that's what I'm going to do, work really hard to bring up my grades. 🙂

 

[Shnurek]

I believe there should be two separate biology majors..humans biology and plants biology.

Yea, welcome to the real world and you can major in botany if you want. I don't think most people in the health professions really use organic chemistry either but hey I believe it is more of an intelligence filtering mechanism. Because it is a science but yet it is on the other side of the spectrum from math/physics.

Also to Laurac, you can apply to any school if you are not asian/white. In fact, I think this would be an advantage as schools want to diversify. But in reality Asians are the best test takers with Whites coming in second and schools care way more about the OAT/technical ability than diversification. In case you cared, I am White.

Also, I had a friend that went to Community College of Brooklyn (one of the worst colleges in NYC) and still got into many medical schools. But he also had a 3.8 GPA and a 34 on the MCAT. So no, going to a CC is not a deal breaker.

 

[nicmc]

well really, I should've changed my major because as an undergraduate, i am not sure if all university have the same criteria, however how we have to choose our classes and electives is just requires a lot of classes I feel we shouldn't need like for examples I'm really good with human sciences and anatomy but then we're require to take Evolution and Ecology..dealing with plants like when in my life will I need this in optometry. (LOL) I believe there should be two separate biology majors..humans biology and plants biology. Not only my grades drop because of the transition to university but professors plays a role in my grades, obviously, however it really all depends on professor we take, "they can make ya or break ya"..

Thanks for the advice and that's what I'm going to do, work really hard to bring up my grades. 🙂

Don't make excuses. Everyone has tough professors at some point or another. Everyone has to take useless classes. If I were an optometry school and saw what happened, I would be wondering if you could handle the transition or if you would flunk out. Get your act together and learn how to do well in all the science classes. And I agree with the previous poster, very few science classes in undergrad are ever going to be used by a health professional. They are a filtering mechanism to weed-out the people who don't have what it takes. If you're serious about optometry, get very serious about school and learn to survive the filtering.