Low Gpa entering Junior year of undergrad

[The_Kingly_One]

Hi I've been reading these forums and idk I just feel sort of hopeless about medical school. Here's my story I am an undergrad psychology major at a private school. I began on the pre law track and my gpa was good (3.7) but then after realizing the job prospects in law were abysmal. I decided to look into the medical field since then I've had 3 bad semesters in a row With a B-/A in gen chem, C in physics, C/B in ochem, B-/A in calculus/stats I have yet to take physics 2 and bio but my overall gpa has gone down to a (3.35) I really just dont know what to do with myself. Everyone keeps telling me to find a backup plan and when I give them one it either isnt stable or doesnt pay enough I just dont know what to do or if I should continue to pursue medicine. Everytime I think about the future I get a rush of anxiety and dont know what happens if I dont get into medical school because my parents who are doctors have been pushing this on me since I was a kid and right now I just dont know if I'm gonna get it done.

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[Deus Ex Medicine]

Lots of stuff going on here. Your grades in pre-med coursework are similar to my own.

Your post screams uncertainty. This is perfectly okay. You need to spend some time seeing if a career in medicine in right for you, first. When you decide, you'll know what to do. Don't do medicine for the money - do it if you a passion to help people and treat patients. A low GPA is going to hurt you whether you do law or medicine, so you need to rectify this asap.

This is what I would recommend: switch to "easy" GE courses for the fall semester and take the minimal course load. This should be manageable and should allow you to raise your GPA. Now, see if you can devote one day a week to volunteering in a clinical setting. You have parents who have doctors - you should be able to shadow them or shadow their colleagues during your free time too.

This is a mental game: try to take the academic stress off of yourself, give yourself time to explore medicine to see if it's right for you. PM me if your still feeling anxious and I'll try to help.

Your goals should be the following: Get A's this semester (1) and get some clinical experience to see if you really want to do medicine (2).

I have a parent who is a doctor who was pushing me to do medicine. I was always interested in it, but it was volunteering, shadowing, and doing research with other physicians that led me to develop the passion to pursue a career as a physician.

You're at a bit of a crossroads right now. Please don't worry too much. I mentor students and would be happy to talk more. You'll be okay. You just need to focus on the most important bits and take the pressure off of yourself. Good luck!

 

[MareNostrummm]

You need to try out new study methods. Look up active learning. Or use anki/quizlet for bio classes.