Question about first semester grades

[dlouis]

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Hello everyone. I'm a junior at New Mexico State University but I actually live in New Jersey (it's a long story). Anyway my first semester at college I went to York College of Pennsylvania and had no idea what i wanted to do with my life and had more important things to do than care about my grades. I think i had a GPA of a 2.8. Anyway, that really scared me and due to certain things I was able to apply and transfer to NMSU. Since then i've been extremely motivated. I have a 3.64 gpa, i'm hoping on an MCAT score around 33-35 (hopefully higher), I am in an extremely competitive reserach program that requires me to write an undergrad thesis paper, hopefully have publications and maybe do a few talks depending on how my research goes. I'm working my butt off and my gpa is going up every semester so i should have above a 3.7 by the time I apply for med school. I'll also be working in the ER this winter break about 30-40 hours a week which i can't wait for.

The one good thing that is going for me grade wise is that at York college i was undeclared and took no science classes. I am now a microbiology major and i might minor in biochem depending on how things turn out.

So yea, my major concern is my first semester grades. I have to send both transcripts when I apply to medical school so will that be a huge problem for me? Thanks so much.

and fyi, my top school is going to be George Washington University. I know i'm pretty competitive with how Ive been doing but my first semester grades are making me nervous about the whole process.

Thanks!!

David

 

[Marjan Islam]

Don't worry about it too much. If you show an upward trend, which seems to be likely, you can easily explain the first semester screw up. Coming back from 2.8 from only one semester is infinitely easier than say, coming back from that after 2 years. You'll be fine, just stay motivated.