re-starting pre-med sophomore spring???

[iammultitudes]

Hi friends!

So I'm a sophomore majoring in Comparative Literature major at an Ivy League. My background: I had come into college thinking perhaps I'd do Comp Lit and pre-med, but I took the req classes for Bio 2 quarters of gen chem and 1 quarter of o-chem and did poorly (B-, C+, PASS--I ended up changing the grading basis, respectively) and swore off medicine for good--or so I thought.

But now in my Comp Lit major--I love reading/writing--but I wonder what's the point, how can this have real-life application and I find myself drawn back to medicine...so I have a few questions, which boil down to if I'd make a viable med school applicant...am I too late? How should I make myself more competitive, on track? Would Ivy's and top 10 be out of the question (I swear I'm not a troll--it's just that's where it seems all my pre-med friends have their eyes set on)

Other things about me:
1) I'm lower income so I've been working two on-campus jobs (though not research related)
2) I've always been interested in the arts so I think my ECs are alright: I'm the editor-in-chief for my school's literary magazine. This summer I got a grant from the school to work on a podcast. I've won several writing contests (mostly in high school, but some are more current).
3) I have a 3.7 GPA (due to my grades in chem, an A- in stats, an A- in calculus, I also took a CS class for pass)

Thanks so much,
mildly panicked

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[efle]

Why did you take OChem pass/fail? Isn't that something you have to switch to within the first couple weeks of class (as in, you put Pass/Fail before even taking the first test?) What's your overall BCPM-only GPA?

You should very much still be able to do pre-med. Retake Ochem for a grade and finish out the other prereqs for grades, then take the MCAT. You'll have some great interesting ECs, but make sure you also spend some time volunteering and getting clinical exposure. Some sort of research experience is expected/typical to be competitive for top 10s too.

 

[md-2020]

Your overall GPA is still pretty good, and I'm guessing science GPA isn't too bad (A-'s in calc and stats probably helps) but you don't have much in terms of medically relevant ECs/research/experiences (shadowing, etc) which you'll need to start. Then, of course the MCAT. I'd say you're okay to resume pre-med, and probably likely to end up at a med school (depending on how the rest of those pre-reqs, ECs, and MCAT go), but Top 10s aren't what you should be focused on right now.

Given your lack of relevant ECs a gap year also might be worthy of consideration.

Edit: Also, what are your exact grades in bio 1+2, chem 1+2, and orgo 1? You listed 3 grades (B-, C+, pass) for 5 classes?

 

[iammultitudes]

Why did you take OChem pass/fail? Isn't that something you have to switch to within the first couple weeks of class (as in, you put Pass/Fail before even taking the first test?) What's your overall BCPM-only GPA?

You should very much still be able to do pre-med. Retake Ochem for a grade and finish out the other prereqs for grades, then take the MCAT. You'll have some great interesting ECs, but make sure you also spend some time volunteering and getting clinical exposure. Some sort of research experience is expected/typical to be competitive for top 10s too.

Thanks so much for your response! My school actually lets you change the grading basis after the midterm, so when I took Ochem, I did awful on the midterm and there'd be no way for me to get a decent grade so I decided to change it to pass/fail. I think if I calculated my BCPM GPA correctly, I have a 3.0.

 

[iammultitudes]

Your overall GPA is still pretty good, and I'm guessing science GPA isn't too bad (A-'s in calc and stats probably helps) but you don't have much in terms of medically relevant ECs/research/experiences (shadowing, etc) which you'll need to start. Then, of course the MCAT. I'd say you're okay to resume pre-med, and probably likely to end up at a med school (depending on how the rest of those pre-reqs, ECs, and MCAT go), but Top 10s aren't what you should be focused on right now.

Given your lack of relevant ECs a gap year also might be worthy of consideration.

Edit: Also, what are your exact grades in bio 1+2, chem 1+2, and orgo 1? You listed 3 grades (B-, C+, pass) for 5 classes?

Hi, thanks so much for your response and perspective. I really appreciate it. My apologies for not being more clear. I haven't taken bio yet. At my school, to take bio, you have to have fulfilled the chem prereqs first (gen chem 1+2, ochem 1) before taking bio (usually during sophomore year). Based on my performance in those classes, I thought I wasn't cut out for pre-med, so I didn't continue to take bio this year (my sophomore year).

So for my pre-med classes I have taken: Stats A-, Calc A-, Gen Chem 1 B-, Gen Chem 2 C+, OChem 1 Pass

 

[efle]

Well you have a pretty clear next step to take: repeat Ochem 1 for a grade this fall and do well. Identify what gave you trouble when you first took it