Messed up freshman year

[Ladynerd]

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I'm about to be a college sophomore, and my first year wasn't nearly as productive as it should have been. I ended up with a 3.5 GPA both semesters and very little extracurricular activity. Hopefully, I should be able to pick up my GPA, but I feel overwhelmed when it comes to EC's/research/volunteering. I have no idea where to start. I want to apply for an REU for the summers of 2016 and 2017, and I might be able to shadow a doctor this summer, but other than that, I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to be doing? What's everyone else doing? I'm so confused.

 

[AvacadosAtLaw]

The first thing you need to do is take a deep breath and calm down. You just finished your freshman year, you're doing fine. Your GPA is perfectly ok and you have plenty of time to improve it. While it would have been nice if you had already started some extracurriculars, many students are in a similar situation and don't do much their first year. Its a good idea to try and start shadowing this summer and maybe start looking around for some clinical volunteering. I personally wasn't able to find a doctor that would let me shadow him until I made some connections when I started volunteering at a hospice. The important thing is you have in no way screwed up, just get ready to start looking for some things to do next semester.

 

[belle88]

I agree, you still have plenty of time to get everything together. I would say focus on your grades first. As for extracurriculars, there's no problem with starting those this next year or so; pick things that you are genuinely interested in. If you do really well in a particular class and like the subject, most professors have their own research so ask them if you can volunteer- this will also help with getting good letters of recommendation. Just take one step at a time, and sometimes one thing will lead to another.

 

[deleted480308]

3.5 is not disastrous.....keep getting good grades, volunteer a few hours a week, shadow a doc or two for 20-40hrs each, don't get arrested, don't an institutional action, get a good mcat......you're in med school

 

[bengirlxD]

Take it slow and steady but plan ahead. I just finished my first year of college too and what I have done is just started testing the waters in shadowing over the summer. You also might want to start finding a place to get your clinical hours as well. Just contact the local hospice or hospital and ask if you can volunteer on the weekends for a couple of hours. After a couple of weeks the hours really do add up. Slow and steady but with preparation wins the race. I am kinda like you too where I try to overwhelm myself but I found out that having people around to tell me to take it easy is always nice.

 

[md-2020]

I'm about to be a college sophomore, and my first year wasn't nearly as productive as it should have been. I ended up with a 3.5 GPA both semesters and very little extracurricular activity. Hopefully, I should be able to pick up my GPA, but I feel overwhelmed when it comes to EC's/research/volunteering. I have no idea where to start. I want to apply for an REU for the summers of 2016 and 2017, and I might be able to shadow a doctor this summer, but other than that, I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to be doing? What's everyone else doing? I'm so confused.

I got a 3.5 cGPA and 3.0sGPA my first year. Ended up 3.7/3.5 and great MCAT. Don't stress needlessly.