Looking for guidance...

[IshterNorman]

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First time poster here so my apologies if this thread belongs somewhere else or something...

Anyways, I’m currently a second year natural science major attending a public school in California (think UC) with plans to graduate end of spring 2019 (yay for AP credits). My hope is to begin applying to DO/MD programs the start of the following year.

My GPA up until now (first 4 quarters+summer) has been rather unspectacular, hovering at about 3.25 cGPA and about 3.0 sGPA. This most recent quarter is where things take a serious nosedive, weighing in at a 2.3 with core classes like Bio and Ochem and chem lab. This slashes my cGPA to like 3.1 and my sGPA to 2.75. Overall I’m about 50 percent done with all my gpa-influencing units (science and otherwise)

I haven’t taken my MCAT as of yet but with some actual studying I think it could be competitve (I’ve pulled about 500 cold on an untimed practice working from memory of high school physics)

Part of the reason for the low GPA is just me being a stupid student. My midterm scores tend to be high but the parts of the grade that are supposed to bring up the overall grade (homework, participation, busy work) tend to bring me down. This, coupled with a handful of very lazy finals weeks, have left me in this situation. I love the subject matter, even if my grades don’t show it. I just hate jumping through hoops for points. I don’t think any ADCOMs will look upon this favorably, but its the truth. I’m at my happiest self learning, and its one of my several reasons for choosing medicine - being a field that continously advances. I would love nothing more than to get paid to “practice” and consolidate as much of medical knowledge as I can to the benefit of my (future) patients.

EC wise I have some clubs nothing too spectacular there. I intend on volunteering at a free clinic that offers primary care to underserved communities this coming quarter and plan on staying there until graduation. To help pad the GPA I’ll probably grab some research units (2 birds with 1 stone) but I’m very interested in the state of healthcare/policy, access to primary health services and related research (which im doing right now). If theres time in the day I’ll try to rack up some time shadowing (I know DO schools love letters from practicing DOs).

All in all I guess I’m just looking for advice from anyone whos been in a similar funk or a similar situation amd how they may have addressed it. I understand the GPA needs all kinds of work and that I have no real excuse for letting it get this low, even before this quarter. Any advice on steps forward or opinions on how I should address these poor performances come application time would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the wall of text and thanks in advance

 

[curbsideconsult]

I feel this way a lot, but I do the work anyway.

A word of warning: if you don't jump through the hoops now, it's going to be so much harder for you in med school. Believe me. There are tons of bullsh*t things we're required to do to please the LCME gods. A lot of the things are just executed very poorly. An example would be the LCME requirement that students must reflect on service activities. This gets blown way out of proportion and we're required to do reflection papers constantly. However, if you turn these assignments in late or not at all, you will fail the course and it'll be a professionalism violation. I'm sure it's similar at other schools. Another example would be how schools are more or less required to have mental health programming for their students. So the school schedules mandatory mental health classes early in the morning. Just let us sleep!! That'll help our mental health tremendously! Or do something during lunch and provide us food! Anyway, clearly I'm ranting. The point is, you gotta jump through the hoops. Don't depend on how you feel about assignments. Just do them. Like you brush your teeth in the morning. There's no emotional attachment to it, it's just a robotic thing you must do so you do it.

 

[IshterNorman]

Boy...I didn’t realize how much I was hoping that medical school wouldn’t resemble the busy work aspects of undergrad until you put it into words...I can count almost a class every quarter which lost an extra notch or two just off of me refusing to do work I didn’t see the point of (or doing it poorly which is the same thing), and thats gotta change. Thank you for taking the time to respond

 

[KU Brendan]

Boy...I didn’t realize how much I was hoping that medical school wouldn’t resemble the busy work aspects of undergrad until you put it into words...I can count almost a class every quarter which lost an extra notch or two just off of me refusing to do work I didn’t see the point of (or doing it poorly which is the same thing), and thats gotta change. Thank you for taking the time to respond

Not to be a downer, but it doesn't end after med school or residency. Once you get out, you then get to contend with all of the regulatory bodies, hospital policies, EMR and other "paperwork," etc. Some of this is to keep you accredited or to get paid. Plan on jumping through hoops that you don't agree with, don't understand, and have no power over throughout your career. Those

 

[KU Brendan]

Silly thing posted before I was done.

Those who rebel against the system and don't get their charts done or don't click all the boxes in the EHR that the government says you need to end up not doing very well professionally. It's really not that bad...it's best to just do what you have to do and not have a bad attitude about it.