Need some advice and help please!

[Coolkid317]

Hello Community,

I'm a new user to this forum and has some questions. A friend suggested this website so I figured I would give it a shot. I'll do my best to condense the story of my academic career. I graduated from HS in 2007. Aimed for medical school. Well let's just say I had no idea what the hell I was doing and ran into college without a plan and ended up failing out.
I took the following classes my first 2 years.

Molecular Bio - F then D then C after 3rd repeat
Plant Bio - F, D then C after 3rd repeat
Basic Chemistry F then C after 2nd repeat
General Chem - F, then D then C after 3rd repeat
Microbio - C+
Intro to Algebra - F
Got A's and B's in my Gen ed's like english, speech etc.

Basically I didn't know how to study or what I was doing. I had no direction or advice or just sort of ran off in any direction in semester lead on by the advice or other students or advisers. Basically it all crashed and burned as you can assume by now. My GPA was less than a 3.0 around 2.3 which was beyond horrible. Got put on probation and had to leave the university for a semester. I ended up convincing myself that only people with elon musk's IQ can pass orgo, calc, biochem etc and I was just a stupid person i guess. Things were bad at home which didn't help and it was the perfect storm that all ended in a massive failure.

I spent some time shadowing a few docs, 2 urgent care centers, 2 cardio-thoracic surgeons, got to see a few open hearts etc, spent time aboard working in poor hospitals in india.

Basically I decided I failed, college is not for me, the pre-med dream is 10000% dead basically and no-med on earth would touch an idiot like me.

Fast forward 4 yrs ish. I'm working a job, not too bad pay but not going anywhere. During my time off I read a few book's, The universe in a nutshell, a brief history of time, the man who knew infinity and a beautiful mind. I guess I was inspired by these people who came from humble starts to become something bigger than anyone imagined.

I changed my Major to Chemical Engineering and I'm currently in my 3rd year. I decided to drop pre-med for years until about a week ago I wanted to know if theres still a chance! Here is my current academic history since re-enrolling in college :

Molecular Bio + Lab - B+
Plant Bio + Lab - B
Gen Chem + Lab - B
Gen Chem 2 + Lab - A
Organic Chemistry 1 + Lab - A-
Organic Chemistry 2 + Lab - A (perfect score on each exam)
Physical Chemistry 1 - A ( Perfect score on each exam)
Physical Chemistry 2 - A ( Also perfect score on each exam)
Microbiology + Lab - B
Algebra - A
Trig - A
Calc 1, 2, 3 - A's and B's
Diffy Eq and Linear Alg - A-
Stats - A-
Engineering Physics 1 - B+
Engineering Physics 2 - A (perfect score on each exam)
Material Science Engineering - A
Intro to Programming - A
Biochemistry 1 - A

I volunteer as a tutor for the past 3 years giving students free tutoring for math, chem, and orgo.
I research part time in engineering chemistry

Still have another 2 years to ago......Basically I guess I never thought I could get this far.....5 years ago I assumed I was not smart enough to pass basic college algebra. I gave up on pre-med for years but until a week ago I guess I asked myself is it still possible ? will my past failures damn me forever or is it worth giving it a shot ? take the mcat and give it a shot ?

Be honest. Feel free to say HELL NO lol or hey give it a shot or maybe if anyone has been in my shoes also ?

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[precisiongraphic]

Hello Community,

I'm a new user to this forum and has some questions. A friend suggested this website so I figured I would give it a shot. I'll do my best to condense the story of my academic career. I graduated from HS in 2007. Aimed for medical school. Well let's just say I had no idea what the hell I was doing and ran into college without a plan and ended up failing out.
I took the following classes my first 2 years.

Molecular Bio - F then D then C after 3rd repeat
Plant Bio - F, D then C after 3rd repeat
Basic Chemistry F then C after 2nd repeat
General Chem - F, then D then C after 3rd repeat
Microbio - C+
Intro to Algebra - F
Got A's and B's in my Gen ed's like english, speech etc.

Basically I didn't know how to study or what I was doing. I had no direction or advice or just sort of ran off in any direction in semester lead on by the advice or other students or advisers. Basically it all crashed and burned as you can assume by now. My GPA was less than a 3.0 around 2.3 which was beyond horrible. Got put on probation and had to leave the university for a semester. I ended up convincing myself that only people with elon musk's IQ can pass orgo, calc, biochem etc and I was just a stupid person i guess. Things were bad at home which didn't help and it was the perfect storm that all ended in a massive failure.

I spent some time shadowing a few docs, 2 urgent care centers, 2 cardio-thoracic surgeons, got to see a few open hearts etc, spent time aboard working in poor hospitals in india.

Basically I decided I failed, college is not for me, the pre-med dream is 10000% dead basically and no-med on earth would touch an idiot like me.

Fast forward 4 yrs ish. I'm working a job, not too bad pay but not going anywhere. During my time off I read a few book's, The universe in a nutshell, a brief history of time, the man who knew infinity and a beautiful mind. I guess I was inspired by these people who came from humble starts to become something bigger than anyone imagined.

I changed my Major to Chemical Engineering and I'm currently in my 3rd year. I decided to drop pre-med for years until about a week ago I wanted to know if theres still a chance! Here is my current academic history since re-enrolling in college :

Molecular Bio + Lab - B+
Plant Bio + Lab - B
Gen Chem + Lab - B
Gen Chem 2 + Lab - A
Organic Chemistry 1 + Lab - A-
Organic Chemistry 2 + Lab - A (perfect score on each exam)
Physical Chemistry 1 - A ( Perfect score on each exam)
Physical Chemistry 2 - A ( Also perfect score on each exam)
Microbiology + Lab - B
Algebra - A
Trig - A
Calc 1, 2, 3 - A's and B's
Diffy Eq and Linear Alg - A-
Stats - A-
Engineering Physics 1 - B+
Engineering Physics 2 - A (perfect score on each exam)
Material Science Engineering - A
Intro to Programming - A
Biochemistry 1 - A

I volunteer as a tutor for the past 3 years giving students free tutoring for math, chem, and orgo.
I research part time in engineering chemistry

Still have another 2 years to ago......Basically I guess I never thought I could get this far.....5 years ago I assumed I was not smart enough to pass basic college algebra. I gave up on pre-med for years but until a week ago I guess I asked myself is it still possible ? will my past failures damn me forever or is it worth giving it a shot ? take the mcat and give it a shot ?

Be honest. Feel free to say HELL NO lol or hey give it a shot or maybe if anyone has been in my shoes also ?

How many more credits do you need to graduate? What is your total cGPA and total sGPA to date (there are online calculators that you can use)?

 

[Coolkid317]

How many more credits do you need to graduate? What is your total cGPA and total sGPA to date (there are online calculators that you can use)?

My total total GPA is 3.5 and my science GPA is 3.4. My past GPA's really really pulled me down so it took a LOT to bring it up this far as it is.

I have about 50 credits left to go.

 

[Forever Geebs]

My total total GPA is 3.5 and my science GPA is 3.4. My past GPA's really really pulled me down so it took a LOT to bring it up this far as it is.

I have about 50 credits left to go.

I know many universities will omit scores for repeat courses; however, medical schools do not, so you'll need to include all repeats and grades earned in your calculation. A 3.5 after that much GPA damage is surprising, especially if you have 50 credit hours remaining. I could be wrong, but it's not adding up to me for some reason...

 

[Shotapp]

You need to include all of your course attempts to get your overall cGPA and sGPA. Your numbers aren't accurate.

 

[Coolkid317]

You need to include all of your course attempts to get your overall cGPA and sGPA. Your numbers aren't accurate.

I could have made a mistake. That overall GPA is from my current gpa calc that it shows in my college system. I can do it by hand and check if there's any error. I am including all my failed repeats which are many from my first 3 years at college.

Is there any other advice you have for me besides GPA ? even if I end up with a 3.8 or something will that make a difference given my past or is that completely out ?

 

[shouldigomd]

I was in a similar situation as you (didn't really mature / find my path until later) but I wasn't able to turn things around in college quite like you did. I failed out, went to CC, and then returned to a 4 year followed by some post bacc / work prior to med school. I went the carib route as my MCAT wasn't that great and my last couple years of college were good (3.5 GPA over my last 2 years) but not great.

Not that it matters because you want to do the best you can but your overall GPA doesn't matter all that much at this point. I mean you want to make sure you aren't auto screened out with a very low GPA but your trend is obviously way more important. Admissions is going to look at the night and day change you made more than trying to average it all together. Showing that you are a new person able to handle med school rigors is what they want to see. It appears you have shown that over the last couple years. Couple that with a solid MCAT and I would say you have a decent shot at a US med school. 2 more years of solid work like you have been doing ... I would say you have a very good chance.

In terms of feeling if its possible or not. You have already shown you can do it. I had a mediocre MCAT and a shaky last couple years of college (much better than prior but still not what I wanted) but carib gave me a shot. I had plenty of doubts starting med school but what I did have was motivation / determination. Long story short my board scores are above the 90th percentile and I landed my top choice in residency.

 

[esob]

Use this calculator and include all scores

Calculate Your GPA

basically, add up all the F's you got and put them in one line, etc.

Like others, I am skeptical your GPA is that high after all those failed courses.

 

[Coolkid317]

I was in a similar situation as you (didn't really mature / find my path until later) but I wasn't able to turn things around in college quite like you did. I failed out, went to CC, and then returned to a 4 year followed by some post bacc / work prior to med school. I went the carib route as my MCAT wasn't that great and my last couple years of college were good (3.5 GPA over my last 2 years) but not great.

Not that it matters because you want to do the best you can but your overall GPA doesn't matter all that much at this point. I mean you want to make sure you aren't auto screened out with a very low GPA but your trend is obviously way more important. Admissions is going to look at the night and day change you made more than trying to average it all together. Showing that you are a new person able to handle med school rigors is what they want to see. It appears you have shown that over the last couple years. Couple that with a solid MCAT and I would say you have a decent shot at a US med school. 2 more years of solid work like you have been doing ... I would say you have a very good chance.

In terms of feeling if its possible or not. You have already shown you can do it. I had a mediocre MCAT and a shaky last couple years of college (much better than prior but still not what I wanted) but carib gave me a shot. I had plenty of doubts starting med school but what I did have was motivation / determination. Long story short my board scores are above the 90th percentile and I landed my top choice in residency.

Thank you for sharing! Trust me I didn't really even think of medicine for the past couple of years. But lately since I passed my pre regs anyway I began wondering what if I can still give it one last shot and who knows! Best of luck in your future career ahead! must be an exciting time!

 

[Coolkid317]

Use this calculator and include all scores

Calculate Your GPA

basically, add up all the F's you got and put them in one line, etc.

Like others, I am skeptical your GPA is that high after all those failed courses.

Thank You. I am seeing a difference with this tool. I am going to try to copy my gpa calc my universities uses into here and you all can maybe see whats the problem. I was told by my adviser since I got an after getting an F it will boost me way up which helped me get reinstated back into the college because i had to re-apply into the college of eng. I could be making a mistake. I will copy my grades over if someone can help me from there! thank you!

feel free to share any other tips!