Making the last 2 years count

[atanner3]

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Hi,

So far I have completed 2 years of undergrad. While my first year was good (a 3.94 cumulative), I was ill for most of my sophomore year, and it had a devastating effect on my grades. Throughout the year I was hospitalized 3 times, had countless tests and doctor appointments. I was having lung troubles, stomach problems, a horrible case of shingles, swine flu, etc.

Moral of the story is that my cumulative is now 3.26 with my BCPM being a 2.85. However, I still have to take both OChems, both Physics, and Calculus along with other upper level science classes I am planning to take such as biochem and microbio. It seems to me that if I perform as well as I know I could do in those classes, my GPA, and especially BCPM could go up.

My ECs aren't great...I'm in the Marching Band at my university which takes up a lot of time. Other than that I have 3 months of volunteering at the local Children's Hospital, I am in the process of getting a job as a CNA so there's that. I start shadowing next week.

I've still got 2 years undergrad left, and would be willing to do a post-bac or SMP. I just hate thinking that i've let one year at age 18 ruin the rest of my life...

So, any words of wisdom or advice?

 

[Catalystik]

You've already proven you're capable of being a high performer. With straight As, in four semesters you can bring your cGPA up to 3.63 and your BCPM (assuming you take twice as many credits as you already have, which you probably will from what you said) to a 3.6. These numbers will put you in a competitive position by the time you graduate. Summer school or an extra year of coursework would cover any blips in the road if you get some A- grades. If you got any prerequisite grades below a C, consider retaking it.

Considering the challenges you faced last year, you've already got a decent start on ECs, considering it should be two years, at least, before you apply. Just don't overload yourself. GPA is your first priority. If adding ECs more slowly to ensure you can get great grades is what your time management skills tell you is the best plan, then don't rush yourself so you can apply at the traditional time. Average age of matriculation is 24 anyway.

BTW, if you get a job as a CNA, you may be better off finding some 2-4 hours/week nonmedical/noncampus community service, as you'll have enough clinical experience through work. And you have plenty of time to get in shadowing. I suggest aiming for 60-80 hours split among 2-3 types of doc, of which one is primary care.

Any plans for research or leadership eventually?

 

[atanner3]

Thanks!

Luckily, I don't have any grades under a C...I just have way too many C's. I only just turned 19, and am a junior so i'm very accepting of having to stay an extra year or doing a SMP to show that I am serious about getting into Med School and that I can handle the work...that my bad year was the exception not the rule.

I have a student leadership position now, being an older member of the marching band. There are 400 members, so the older ones have most of the responsibility in teaching and helping the newbies. I do want to join at least 1 on campus club, but unfortunately being in the band usually conflicts with meeting times and participating fully in them. I have done some one-day volunteering work with my school's Center for Civic Engagement, and could seek their help in finding a way to locate other community service programs that would work with my schedule.

Through my schools Honors College(of which i'm a part) there's a lot of good opportunities for me to find leadership as well as research opportunities if you seek them, it's something i've been looking into.

I do have a lot of confusion about shadowing though. I used to babysit for a family where both parents were doctors, I am planning to shadow both and they have said they could arrange for me to shadow someone in basically any other specialty I might be interested in. The mom is a pediatrician and the dad is a specialist in pulmonology and sleep disorders. I see you said to get around 60-80 hours in, so thanks for that.

Anyway, thank you for all of your help! This is my first day finding SDN and there seems to be such a huge amount of great information on here.

 

[Catalystik]

I do have a lot of confusion about shadowing though. I used to babysit for a family where both parents were doctors, I am planning to shadow both and they have said they could arrange for me to shadow someone in basically any other specialty I might be interested in. The mom is a pediatrician and the dad is a specialist in pulmonology and sleep disorders. I see you said to get around 60-80 hours in, so thanks for that.

If you spent enough time watching both office-based care as well as hospital rounds and some procedures, you'd get a broad base of experience from those two specialties alone. It's great that they offered additional contacts if you want them, though. If you are confused about anything related to shadowing, just ask.

 

[atanner3]

Hi,

Following up from my earlier posts...I kinda just wanted to get an opinion on something. I still have to take a Calculus class, so far all I have is an algebra class. My university offers Calc 1 as a 2-part class, each one worth 3 credits, and then the single semester class for 4 credits.

Would it be in my best interests to take the 2 part class for 6 credits each or the regular class? I'm pretty good at math, and I took AP Calc in high school and got an A. While that was a few years ago, i'm pretty confident I will do well in the college course, so if I were to get in A in both classes that would boost my BCMP gpa. However, i'm afraid they might look at that and use it against me for not taking the regular 1-semester Calc 1 class.

So do you think it would be worth it for the extra bump in GPA or should I just do it the normal way?

Thanks!

 

[NervousandScare]

Trust me, adcoms dont have the time or the drive to meticulously look through the course catalog and say "Oh look, this person chose the easy path and took a divided version of this course to raise his/her G.P.A"- think about it- there are MANY other things they would rather look at/do with their time. In my opinion, since you have shown that you are a really good student in what is arguably the hardest year of college (freshman year, adjustments, etc) you still have much time to lessen the impact of that one bad year. I am in a similar situation, although my freshman year is of concern to me. As far as you are concerned, look into taking summer/winter/spring courses in addition to semester overloads (17/18+ credits) of pure BCPM courses, with a liberal arts course thrown in (for good measure). If you can pull of a 4.0 from now on (No A-'s 🙄) you should be able to raise that sucker up to a 3.8 (assuming you apply a year late, after graduating). I would recommend this. IN the meantime, you could also start getting the required ECs, etc. Good luck.