Low first year GPA- Trying to decide to take leadership job or not

[HopefulOP]

So Freshman year came to a close and my GPA is MUCH lower than I expected. My science grades, although I would have preferred higher, were good but I often neglected my math classes until it was too late. I got a C+ in pre-calc and a C in Calc. I am regretful of ignoring these courses as it had brought my whole GPA down to a 3.05. I'm mostly done with math, and I have truly learned an unthinkable amount of life lessons and study skills that I plan on implementing next semester. I really want to be a doctor more than anything and from this point forward I WILL work my hardest at everything. I have a few questions though about what I should do next:

I worked at the dining hall at my school about 10 hours a week last year and the management there noticed my work ethic and offered me a great leadership opportunity. I would receive a sizable raise and work about 15 hours a week and I feel as though this would really help me grow as a leader and socially. That being said though, I REALLY need to do well next semester to bring my GPA back up and I'm wondering if you all have any input on that.

I also need to figure out what to do with my math courses. I could either try to retake both or one in the summer next year in which case I would go for an A and ideally boost my GPA substantially OR I could just put it in the past and focus on the future.

I'm also currently getting into volunteering and picking up clinical experience so any input on that too would be very much appreciated.

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[AlphaBeta<3]

So Freshman year came to a close and my GPA is MUCH lower than I expected. My science grades, although I would have preferred higher, were good but I often neglected my math classes until it was too late. I got a C+ in pre-calc and a C in Calc. I am regretful of ignoring these courses as it had brought my whole GPA down to a 3.05. I'm mostly done with math, and I have truly learned an unthinkable amount of life lessons and study skills that I plan on implementing next semester. I really want to be a doctor more than anything and from this point forward I WILL work my hardest at everything. I have a few questions though about what I should do next:

I worked at the dining hall at my school about 10 hours a week last year and the management there noticed my work ethic and offered me a great leadership opportunity. I would receive a sizable raise and work about 15 hours a week and I feel as though this would really help me grow as a leader and socially. That being said though, I REALLY need to do well next semester to bring my GPA back up and I'm wondering if you all have any input on that.

I also need to figure out what to do with my math courses. I could either try to retake both or one in the summer next year in which case I would go for an A and ideally boost my GPA substantially OR I could just put it in the past and focus on the future.

I'm also currently getting into volunteering and picking up clinical experience so any input on that too would be very much appreciated.

I don't want to be mean, but working as head of whatever in a cafeteria isn't really anything at all. You should focus on your GPA, because once you screw it up you're done. And if you were going to risk having it screwed up, it should be for something that actually matters like a scribe job or a research assistant.
Edit: If you retake a class, it gets averaged in on your AMCAS, even if your school does grade replacement. you still have your science classes to do, put it in the past and just focus on those.
If you only got a 3.05 without doing anything but having a part time job, you clearly aren't good at time management and shouldn't try to Work, volunteer, AND get clinical experience. You know that's not gonna end well.

 

[MilaKunisDoe]

It's normal to have a rough start. Figure out why you did poorly and focus on doing better in the future.

 

[HopefulOP]

I really do think it was a time and stress management problem. I simply had too much stuff going on and I think it led to me prioritizing the wrong thing, Often times I would be at work stressing about when I would find time to study and when I was going to find time to sleep with all of my organizations that I was a part of. During finals week, I took a lot of time off work and just pure studied independently and with my study group. Unsurprisingly, my finals grades were so much higher than the supposably easier midterms and I was actually much happier even with all the stress involved with finals. I think I'm just going to not work at all next semester and instead volunteer in my free time so I am able to be flexible around my class schedule. I think I was so focused on being the best at everything that I was instead mediocre at everything that truly matters to me. Besides, this job seemed claustrophobic schedule wise based the way they described it.

Thank you for the feedback. You both kind of echoed my thoughts ever since I got offered the job, I think I just needed to hear it from someone else. My mom was so proud of me getting the job and it kind of skewed my thinking. I guess that is part of the not being completely mature and independent yet.

 

[Petrichor1]

I say this out of experience and out of what I have seen people I personally know:

Quit everything (except clinically related stuff like volunteering at the hospital 2 hours a week). You need to focus on your study ethics. If you so much as want a job, you are welcome to work at a place with a tab bit higher salary as a gap year candidate but let's say you figure yourself out these 4 years and somehow don't need the gap year and go straight into medical school, the money in undergraduate will become irrelevant. I suggest that if this next semester you go to having >3.5 with no distractions and activities, you are welcome to speak with management since you have already formed a relation with them.

You'll get opportunities thrown left and right every year because you are at school and people get to network a lot better but if you are serious about job, you can work yourself to the bone during summers. Even 10 hours away while you could be using that time to get in your focus zone is crucial to your success as a premedical student.

 

[Crayola227]

no offense but I took 12 credits of upper division science and math *and* worked 20 hours a week doing paid research plus another 16 hours of another job on the weekends, and did enough "fluff" ECs for my app while maintaining a very high GPA

basically, the ideal med school candidate can maintain what is an 80 hour study/work week *and* excel for 4 years straight

that's gotta make some sense, right?