Need advice

[Kingmal]

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Okay, so here's my situation.

I'm from rural eastern Kentucky, born and raised. My father and my grandfather are both physicians, and I was born into a wealthy and intelligent family. Did great in high school, was valedictorian, never really had to try or study at school (I know this sounds really familiar). Fast forward to now. I'm entering my senior year in college, with a cumulative 3.2 GPA. I go to a very prestigious university in New York City, (not Columbia), and my science grades are a bit crap. Here's where I stand so far.

General Chemistry I: A-
General Chemistry II: B
Biology I: B
Biology II: B
Gen. Physics I: C
Gen. Physics II: C
Calc 1: C+

I'm taking organic now, and no promises on what my grade will be. I can work with the gen chem and the bio scores, but the physics grades have got to be improved, and I'm taking calc II next year to get a better grade to cover up that calc I score.

Here's the issue: I've not been totally lazy in college, but I haven't worked near as hard as I should have. The other thing is, I've never been happy at the school I'm at. My nearest family member is 800 miles away, my school doesn't have any support structure whatsoever for undergraduates, and we're all treated like customers instead of students. Classes are way too huge, can't get to know any of my professors, and meeting with them is laughable. I had one professor, non-science, who couldn't even have office hours because the university kicked him out of his office because he was in the last year of his contract. It's that bad.

I've been completely out of my despth up here, it's safe to say. I want to apply in-state, to University of Kentucky and University of Louisville, and am considering re-taking physics at UK and maybe another higher level science course. The university I attend now has a very good reputation for pre-meds, and has a notoriously hard program. What can I do to maximize my chances? Is going and retaking physics and maybe taking molecular and cellular biology whilst studying for my MCAT (haven't taken it yet) a good plan? If not, what would my best plan of attack be? Thanks for any insight.

 

[Catalystik]

Okay, so here's my situation.

I'm from rural eastern Kentucky, born and raised. My father and my grandfather are both physicians, and I was born into a wealthy and intelligent family. Did great in high school, was valedictorian, never really had to try or study at school (I know this sounds really familiar). Fast forward to now. I'm entering my senior year in college, with a cumulative 3.2 GPA. I go to a very prestigious university in New York City, (not Columbia), and my science grades are a bit crap. Here's where I stand so far.

General Chemistry I: A-
General Chemistry II: B
Biology I: B
Biology II: B
Gen. Physics I: C
Gen. Physics II: C
Calc 1: C+

I'm taking organic now, and no promises on what my grade will be. I can work with the gen chem and the bio scores, but the physics grades have got to be improved, and I'm taking calc II next year to get a better grade to cover up that calc I score.

Here's the issue: I've not been totally lazy in college, but I haven't worked near as hard as I should have. The other thing is, I've never been happy at the school I'm at. My nearest family member is 800 miles away, my school doesn't have any support structure whatsoever for undergraduates, and we're all treated like customers instead of students. Classes are way too huge, can't get to know any of my professors, and meeting with them is laughable. I had one professor, non-science, who couldn't even have office hours because the university kicked him out of his office because he was in the last year of his contract. It's that bad.

I've been completely out of my despth up here, it's safe to say. I want to apply in-state, to University of Kentucky and University of Louisville, and am considering re-taking physics at UK and maybe another higher level science course. The university I attend now has a very good reputation for pre-meds, and has a notoriously hard program. What can I do to maximize my chances? Is going and retaking physics and maybe taking molecular and cellular biology whilst studying for my MCAT (haven't taken it yet) a good plan? If not, what would my best plan of attack be? Thanks for any insight.

Your "very prestigious university" isn't doing you any favors at all, is it?

You'e unhappy being far from home. Your grades are on a downward slide. Are you (and your family) so prestige driven that a transfer back to a school near home is impossible?

With straight As for the next year, your cGPA would be ~3.4. With an additional year, it could go to 3.5. This is far short of the median for those accepted to allopathic med schools of 3.67, but slightly exceeds the average for matriculating DO students of 3.47. Still, a steep upward grade trend for 1.5-2 years may be enough to convince adcomms that you have what it takes, if you have a strong MCAT score.

If your grades aren't as perfect as needed, an SMP remains an option. Getting high grades in this type of program could override your undergrad performance.

And we won't get into the state of your ECs, as great grades need to be your priority for awhile.

 

[Kingmal]

Your "very prestigious university" isn't doing you any favors at all, is it?

You'e unhappy being far from home. Your grades are on a downward slide. Are you (and your family) so prestige driven that a transfer back to a school near home is impossible?

With straight As for the next year, your cGPA would be ~3.4. With an additional year, it could go to 3.5. This is far short of the median for those accepted to allopathic med schools of 3.67, but slightly exceeds the average for matriculating DO students of 3.47. Still, a steep upward grade trend for 1.5-2 years may be enough to convince adcomms that you have what it takes, if you have a strong MCAT score.

If your grades aren't as perfect as needed, an SMP remains an option. Getting high grades in this type of program could override your undergrad performance.

And we won't get into the state of your ECs, as great grades need to be your priority for awhile.

It's more of me than my family, I guess. I didn't want to admit that the experiment moving to the east had failed. My family really isn't prestige driven, it's more me. If anything, it would make my family happier if I were closer to home. I'm already a senior here though, so I was just thinking of sticking it out until graduation and then seeing where my chips are at. Any advice on SMP programs to look into? Or what the admissions requirements are for them?

 

[Kingmal]

Also, I'm a non-science major. Will this hurt my chances of getting into an SMP, or make it more difficult? Thanks again.

 

[Catalystik]

Any advice on SMP programs to look into? Or what the admissions requirements are for them?

See the Postbaccalaureate Programs Forum, especially Dr Midlife's sticky.

 

[Catalystik]

Also, I'm a non-science major. Will this hurt my chances of getting into an SMP, or make it more difficult? Thanks again.

You need to have shown some recent capability in the sciences (so they know you have the potential to succeed)and have an MCAT score of at least 30 for most of them. This is not my forte, so I can only make a generalization.