Most Annoying Post Ever

[acretinmelon]

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Hi all! I am a freshman at the University of Vermont and I just found this forum.

It is my understanding after doing a little bit of research that medical school admissions are very competative (that's probably an understatement!) but I was wondering if any of you could pass on a bit of advice. I am definitely not the #1 candidate as I am not at HYP, don't play sports, and have only okay grades. My first semester GPA was a 3.39 and now I'm taking calculus and I'll be lucky to even pass it.

Anyway I guess I have two questions:
1. Given the above, is there any hope for me?
2. What do you wish you had done/known as a freshman?

Thanks all!

 

[FLY]

"and now I'm taking calculus and I'll be lucky to even pass it."

with that attitude, I would say Med School is not for you.

 

[fonzy]

A doctor is supposed to make sound decisions. Sometimes such decisions make a difference between life and death.

 

[tryingagain]

Yes, there is hope for you. I was in a similar situation my freshman year.

I wish I had known how important studying is. Its sometimes not enough to just cram the week before an exam. For your harder classes you really should study every day.

Also, I was never one to talk to the professor that much after class. I think this is important also as it lets them know who you are. If you are bordering on a grade at the end you may get the nod just because they know you and know you attend every day.

Hope that helps.

 

[indianboy]

"and now I'm taking calculus and I'll be lucky to even pass it."

with that attitude, I would say Med School is not for you.

Tool

A doctor is supposed to make sound decisions. Sometimes such decisions make a difference between life and death.

Toolbox.

You guys should get together, seems like a perfect fit.



acretinmelon,
You will be fine as long as you push it for a 3.5 or higher in the next few years. As has been expounded on elsewhere, trends are significant and can aid (or sink) you application. Get more involved in interesting things - it's still early, no excuses. If you are struggling, get academic help.

Hope that Helps

P 'Odelay' ShankOut

 

[Woots32]

Originally posted by FLY
"and now I'm taking calculus and I'll be lucky to even pass it."

with that attitude, I would say Med School is not for you.

I failed my Calc final my freshman year, and got a C+ for the course. I also got a 3.8 GPA, a 37 MCAT and 5 acceptances. So y'know, med school may be for him yet. 😛

acretinmelon - definately don't give up. While I haven't been to med school yet, from everything I've heard calculus has next to nothing to do with what you'll learn in med school. Try and tough it out, and see if you can get a tutor if you need extra help. Just hang in there, and don't get discouraged. 🙂

 

[Ramoray]

Originally posted by Woots32
I failed my Calc final my freshman year, and got a C+ for the course. I also got a 3.8 GPA, a 37 MCAT and 5 acceptances. So y'know, med school may be for him yet. 😛

acretinmelon - definately don't give up. While I haven't been to med school yet, from everything I've heard calculus has next to nothing to do with what you'll learn in med school. Try and tough it out, and see if you can get a tutor if you need extra help. Just hang in there, and don't get discouraged. 🙂

You have been cleaning up too much dog ****- to know what ur talkign bout

 

[FLY]

Originally posted by FLY
"and now I'm taking calculus and I'll be lucky to even pass it."

with that attitude, I would say Med School is not for you.

Seems some people has to be breast fed their answers.

But the point is this: Med school admission is EXTREMELY hard and the admission process is HELLish.

But, have people done it? Yeah.
But the question here is can YOU do it? Yeah.

Anyone can do it. The people that do get into medschool do work hard (or they worked hard earlier in their academic life and they just chill and rack in their A+'s).

From looking at People who have gotten in, most of them had the "I CAN DO IT" attitude, and the people who don't get in are the ones thinking "I must be lucky to get an B". And, here you are, thinking that you will be lucky even to pass a Calculus class.?

How can you think like that considering that you will work hard (what it takes to get a good grade), and you will be lucky to pass the class?

Anyone who is willing to work hard are the ones who get into med school. They work hard to get a good grade and here you are GETTING LUCKY JUST TO PASS A CLASS.

It shows WEAKNESS and WEAK people don't get into Med School.

Nothing is a weakness, even Calculus if you want it bad enough and will WORK hard at it. No one is born with calculus in their head, they WORK for it.

 

[indianboy]

Perhaps you're confused - the cheerleading team started tryouts in early october. Good luck with them!

Hope that Helps

P 'Rah Rah Endyourself' ShankOut

 

[Adcadet]

man, there are a ton of negative comments here! Or maybe they're just inside jokes that I'm missing.

Anyway, some advice for a freshman:

1. Get involved in a few quality extra-curricular activities (ECs). I don't think doing a dozen things poorly is a good idea - instead, go for a few. And make sure one of them gives you clinical experience.

2. Do research if you want/can. But if you do, make sure to understand everything you're doing. And try to get published, although understanding your stuff is more important.

3. Stragegize your classes. Take profs who are more likely to give you an A. Arrange your class schedule so you don't get killed. And take classes that you have to take but will most likely not do well in early - for me this was calc, as it seems it is with you. That way you can take classes you're better at later on, and give the appearance of an upward trend.

4. Have as much of a life as you can. I had a little too much of a life as an undergrad, and didn't get in the first time. Speaking of which...

5. Have a backup plan. Many many people don't get in their first time, so have a good backup plan. Since you're a freshman and interested in pre-med, I'll assume you're taking all the pre-reqs. If you find yourself with a lowish GPA (<3.5) and an interest in a specific area, I'd recommend a 2 year masters program to pull your GPA up. If you need more hard science/more good hard science grades, I'd go for a masters in a hard science. But that's a ways off. I had many pre-med friends in college who applied the summer after their senior year to give them more time to prepare their app while working in some health-related area.

6. Get to know your profs. You'll need letters of recommendations (LORs), and it helps to start getting buddy-buddy sooner rather than later. Perhaps you should take the same prof for multiple classes and think of using him/her for a LOR - but probably only if you did well in those classes.


Hope this helps!

 

[Adcadet]

7. Shadow a doctor. It's always nice to know you want to go into medicine before applying, and it may help convince adcoms, especially if you don't have much clinical experience.

re: EC's above - If I were in your shoes, I'd go for ECs that aren't tied to a college or university, so you can continue them after college if you take a year or two to get in. Plus, this way you can separate yourself from the hoard of regular pre-meds who mainly do on-campus stuff.

 

[bw07]

Get the GPA up early while you can. That and the MCAT are the first things that will be looked at and barring some amazing extracurricular activity, cannot be compensated for. Work hard this semester and pull your cumulative above 3.5. Then start worrying about other activities.

 

[11000]

1

 

[acretinmelon]

To those of you who had nice, supportive things to say, thanks.

To those of you who didn't, thanks. I understand that being a doctor isn't for everyone, but I do think it's for me. If it's not, I'm sure the admissions committees will gleefully let me know as much. Also I don't expect to be making that many life and death decisions as I hope to go into psychiatry, which doesn't have quite as high a mortality rate as some of the other medical professions! 🙂

I am involved in extracurriculars (Community Council, Inter-residence Association, College Republicans, and founding editor in chief of a conservative newspaper) and I'm working as a research assitant for some clinical psychologists who said they'll help me get on my feet with my own research, although I would like to lean more toward biopsychology.

But I think that's a ways off. My primary reason for posting, I guess, is because I feel totally overwhelmed, and I want to know I'm not wasting my time.

Oh, and as for calc--if I didn't think I could do it, I wouldn't have taken it. I just know it's going to be a whole heck of a lot of work, tutoring, and frustration. If it was any ol' calc class I wouldn't be terribly concerned, but it's the hardest Calc I offered at my school and the professor is a no-nonsense sort of guy.

So again, thanks for all your comments. I will consider them further. Best of luck to you all.

 

[LeslieKay]

I have NEVER in my life taken calculus and am now an MSI at a top 50 med school (and doing well). Good Luck!

 

[8744]

It's not that hard to get into medical school. If you look at the statistics, about half of all applicants get accepted, and they have average GPA's not too far from yours (or at least within the standard deviation).

Of course, if you have your heart set on Harvard or Yale I wish you luck. Whatever the case, if you're serious about Medical School, start getting A's and B's in your classes. Maybe major in something "fluffy" so you can devote more attention to your pre-med pre-requisites.

Additionally, if you are not doing well in school, you might consider dropping out for a few years, getting your **** together, and continuing your education with a new, refreshed purpose. (Maybe military service, Peace Corps, EMT, or something like that) There is no harm in starting medical school at, say, 26 as opposed to 22. Trust me.

 

[8744]

Acretinmelon, I note with interest that you are a College Republican in Vermont. This makes you as rare as the proverbial hen's teeth.

I'm an alumni of the University of Vermont, by the way. I moved down to Louisiana because I'm pretty conservative and was fed up with Vermont and it's left-wing politics. I was pretty active in campus politics "back in the day." (Early 1990's)

 

[jennie 21]

1. Adcadet is right: balance your courseload so you aren't taking too many hard courses at once. I broke this rule freshman year, taking calculus, biology, and honors chem together with an EMT course, and I paid for it (B's and B-minuses).
2. Take classes in which you are capable of getting A's. It is better to take a regular-level course and get an A than an honors course and get a B. Adcoms care more about letter grades than what class you took (as long as it's not basketweaving). I am not saying not to challenge yourself, but know your limits and take courses in which you are capable of suceeding with hard work. There's no shame in taking one or two classes just to boost your GPA, but remember that college is a time to grow intellectually and as a person; if you waste your time taking "gut" courses to ensure a high GPA, you'll probably regret it later.
3. JUST DO IT! Just sit your ass down and study. You don't have to like it, but you do have to do it. Figure out how to stop procrastinating, study regularly throughout the semester. 4.You should have a life outside of academics, but figure out how to balance your priorities so your social life and extracurricular commitments don't take too much time that you need away from academics. I learned this one the hard way.
5. Figure out how to study efficiently. Generally, the notes and whatever the professor says in lecture will be more important than the textbook reading. Seek out your TA's and prof; ask them what's most important. Listen in lecture for keywords and cues, e.g. "pay attention to this figure" or "you should know this equation".
6. If you are having trouble, seek help early. This means going to office hours, seeking tutoring, asking other students for help, etc. If your grades are low in all your classes, tackle the problem early and aggressively with whatever resources are available to you. Do not wait until your junior year to seek help, like I did; by then you will have disadvantaged yourself enormously and it may be too late to recover.

I'm sorry this is such a long post. But if it saves one person some of the suffering I went through before I figured this stuff out on my own, it will be worth it.