I just started doing my pre-req's for med school. This summer I plan to complete the MATH & ENGL courses at a CC and then go to a 4 yr Univ for the science courses. One thing that has started to concern me is that almost 4 - 5 yrs back I did a 'Java Programming' course at a CC. I didn't bother to do well in the course at that time and got an 'F'. How bad am I going to be hurt with this?
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One bad grade.. will it hurt?
Started by rockmed
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Blade28
...or if your GPA is later below average, you can always retake the class as a last resort.
OP don't worry about the one F. Hit it hard now, manage a decent GPA and you should be fine. I had 3 F's my freshman year (didn't withdraw correctly), managed to bounce my GPA back some, and made the rest up in extra curricular's/work exp. You're gonna be just fine.
Seneca, My one F and a combination of B's and C's made it to 2.5 GPA. I'm hitting hard now.. can I ask what was your GPA and if you can recommend the extra curricular's. I'm currently doing hospital volunteer & library volunteer. Anything else I should be doing to cover it up?
GPA was a 2.9 overall, not great, but I was almost 10 years out of school, so I think they put a little more weight on my MCAT, work exp, and EC's. There are numerous threads that have a ton of EC ideas, I would search the system for ideas that will give you more than the normal shadowing, hospital volunteering, etc. I worked as a healthcare consultant for 6 years, so I was around hospitals constantly. I really think that international research/travel/medical missions stand out to ADCOM's, if you have the chance to take part in one of those programs it would certainly broaden your application. The NIH has a lot of great programs, check out this link
http://www.fic.nih.gov/programs/index.htm
I had the opportunity to conduct research in The Dominican Republic through one of their programs, and get published. Mine was more of a long term grant, but I'm sure they have programs that are only a few weeks or so.
I hope thats a bit a start for you, don't hesitate to PM me if you have any other Q's. Good Luck!!
