- Joined
- Jun 7, 2018
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Hello,
So I'm currently having a mental breakdown because I think I majorly screwed up my chances for med school. I graduated with a BA in Biochemistry and BS in Molecular & Cellular Biology. I graduated early, in 3 years instead of 4 (most people advised me to graduate rather than stay.) My cumulative GPA is 3.49 and my BCPM GPA is 3.36. I'm so disappointed and frustrated with myself because I let myself slip in my last semester and missed the cum laude and honors accreditation by dropping 0.01 points in my GPA. I wrote an honors thesis for the honors college at my school, which I thought would be a good addition to my app but now all my work for it is gone. I will be taking a gap year to gain more clinical experience/shadowing. I will also apply to work at a hospital to gain more clinical experience, as a rehab assistant.
For my GPA, I feel like it could be attributed to many reasons. The number one main reason is that I should have worked harder. I'm hesitant to say this, but looking back, I think I had a lot of depressive episodes where I just felt demotivated and horrible, and let my grades slip as a result. I don't think the admissions board will accept this, which is understandable, but I truly think this did play a big part. Especially after my low score on the MCAT, I just felt inferior to everyone. Another reason is that my grandma's health has been declining with dementia and I took a couple short trips to see her. My father was also unemployed for a large part of my undergraduate years (I live at home), and the financial instability further contributed to my stress.
For more background info:
I live in Arizona
I took the MCAT once and my score was 503. Again, I'm angry with myself for this score. However, I only ran through a full practice one time, and an advisor told me that if I was able to get that score by practicing only once, I had a high probability of scoring higher with more practice exams. I plan on focusing and working hard to hopefully compensate somewhat for my GPA when I retake it this summer.
I have 2.5 years of research (I started the second semester of my freshman year and continued on to graduation). I will be listed as a primary author in a soon to be published paper. But because I did a lot of work for research, I feel like I didn't balance it well with my academics.
I was in the biochem club, pre-health club, biochem ambassador and mentor program at my school. I mentored new freshman and met with them monthly to provide advice.
I have 100 hours of clinical volunteer experience, as well as more social work volunteer experience (I counseled young children going through traumatic/emotional times after the loss of a loved one).
I'm planning on a volunteer abroad experience in Peru, where I will be shadowing a doctor. Plus it's been something I've always wanted to do. I will also be shadowing a pathologist.
Please let me know of any recommendations or if you think I still have the chance to turn my app around into a good one. Thank you!
So I'm currently having a mental breakdown because I think I majorly screwed up my chances for med school. I graduated with a BA in Biochemistry and BS in Molecular & Cellular Biology. I graduated early, in 3 years instead of 4 (most people advised me to graduate rather than stay.) My cumulative GPA is 3.49 and my BCPM GPA is 3.36. I'm so disappointed and frustrated with myself because I let myself slip in my last semester and missed the cum laude and honors accreditation by dropping 0.01 points in my GPA. I wrote an honors thesis for the honors college at my school, which I thought would be a good addition to my app but now all my work for it is gone. I will be taking a gap year to gain more clinical experience/shadowing. I will also apply to work at a hospital to gain more clinical experience, as a rehab assistant.
For my GPA, I feel like it could be attributed to many reasons. The number one main reason is that I should have worked harder. I'm hesitant to say this, but looking back, I think I had a lot of depressive episodes where I just felt demotivated and horrible, and let my grades slip as a result. I don't think the admissions board will accept this, which is understandable, but I truly think this did play a big part. Especially after my low score on the MCAT, I just felt inferior to everyone. Another reason is that my grandma's health has been declining with dementia and I took a couple short trips to see her. My father was also unemployed for a large part of my undergraduate years (I live at home), and the financial instability further contributed to my stress.
For more background info:
I live in Arizona
I took the MCAT once and my score was 503. Again, I'm angry with myself for this score. However, I only ran through a full practice one time, and an advisor told me that if I was able to get that score by practicing only once, I had a high probability of scoring higher with more practice exams. I plan on focusing and working hard to hopefully compensate somewhat for my GPA when I retake it this summer.
I have 2.5 years of research (I started the second semester of my freshman year and continued on to graduation). I will be listed as a primary author in a soon to be published paper. But because I did a lot of work for research, I feel like I didn't balance it well with my academics.
I was in the biochem club, pre-health club, biochem ambassador and mentor program at my school. I mentored new freshman and met with them monthly to provide advice.
I have 100 hours of clinical volunteer experience, as well as more social work volunteer experience (I counseled young children going through traumatic/emotional times after the loss of a loved one).
I'm planning on a volunteer abroad experience in Peru, where I will be shadowing a doctor. Plus it's been something I've always wanted to do. I will also be shadowing a pathologist.
Please let me know of any recommendations or if you think I still have the chance to turn my app around into a good one. Thank you!
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