Really Messed Up and Need Some Advice!!

[firenation1254]

Hi, I know there's probably tons of these stories out-there but it would be helpful if I got some advice. So long story short, when I was inn High School I wanted to be an anesthesiologist, that was my goal. However, I really got into app development and programming so when it came time to pick a major I picked Computer Engineering and abandoned my medical ambitions. Now I'm a sophomore in college and last semester I realized I didn't want to do this anymore, I hated the electrical engineering aspect of my major and even tho I was a decent programmer, the coding courses were really challenging for me. Due to me being a little over ambitious I took a heavy Engineering course load last semester and it sunk my GPA. 1st semester I had a 3.9, 2nd semester a 3.5, 3rd semester a 2.49. I ended up failing 2 courses, getting a D and C in my other courses, I've never failed anything before, I was a straight A student in HS, I really didn't know what to do with myself after I seen what my GPA had become and I became really depressed and took on a lot of stress. The one course that I was really good at however was chemistry. In high school, I loved chemistry it was my favorite class, and now I'm sitting here with my medical school ambitions coming back to me. I realize now I was meant to be a Doctor, but I fear it's too late. I'm in my fourth semester now, I really want to switch majors but I have no clue to what, I know that majors don't matter for medical school but I really want to choose something that will be a good backup if my medical school plans don't work. I am really into business and I was thinking economics, but I don't really think that is employable nowadays. One of my biggest fears is ending up in a cubicle working a 9-5, not that there's anything wrong with that it's just I don't see myself doing that. My biggest concern now is medical school, when I was in high school my dream was Harvard Med, I'm usually a very positive person but seeing my GPA like this I fear that crimson dream is over. Is medical school even a possibility now? I'm retaking one math course I failed, I know that med schools include the failed grade in there calculations but I don't know where this leaves me. I was awarded a fellowship at the end of my 2nd semester and I am currently in a lab working that's working on medical devices, I don't see how that helps my case much tho. I guess my questions here are, are my med-school dreams gone now due to my current GPA, I realized I really do want to pursue medicine after making a horrible decision and choosing comp eng. as my major. And, what are good majors I can switch too that provide good fall back in the case I don't make it to med-school(I'm interested in physics, chemistry, biology, and economics but I fear the first two will be difficult to try and improve my GPA) and thirdly, is it too late to even pursue medical school? I'm in my fourth semester right now, I'll be a junior next semester. The only med-school pre reqs I've taken are Chem 1, Calc 1, and Physics 1. All advice is welcome. Thank You.

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[LizzyM]

To graduate, you are going to need to have taken at least 123 credits (minimum of 120 plus the 3 credit course you flunked). That's a total possible grade points of 452 (4*123). If you flunk a 3 credit class you've missed out on 12 of those 452 grade points. That drops your GPA by graduation by 0.026 points. That's the difference between a 3.779 and 3.753. In other words, it is not a big deal. That said, you can't afford to lose any more grade points. You had a good start and that will hold you over. The GPA is looked at by year, not by semester and you can do well in this current semester and buffer the ugliness of the fall semester.

Why Harvard Med? The prestige? The recognition of being at the #1 school? Those are not good reasons to apply to a specific medical school.

Have you shadowed any doctors? On what do you base a decision to become a physician? That should be high on your "to do" list right now before you sink anymore time into this plan.

Talk to your career services people at your school. What are the hot fields right now that are not desk-bound? Would you be interested in a wet lab in industry? Drug or device development? Quality control /product safety?

In terms of majors, take a look at the required courses for each major and see what gets your juices flowing and excites you. That might be the best fit.

Don't throw in the towel yet!

 

[firenation1254]

To graduate, you are going to need to have taken at least 123 credits (minimum of 120 plus the 3 credit course you flunked). That's a total possible grade points of 452 (4*123). If you flunk a 3 credit class you've missed out on 12 of those 452 grade points. That drops your GPA by graduation by 0.026 points. That's the difference between a 3.779 and 3.753. In other words, it is not a big deal. That said, you can't afford to lose any more grade points. You had a good start and that will hold you over. The GPA is looked at by year, not by semester and you can do well in this current semester and buffer the ugliness of the fall semester.

Why Harvard Med? The prestige? The recognition of being at the #1 school? Those are not good reasons to apply to a specific medical school.

Have you shadowed any doctors? On what do you base a decision to become a physician? That should be high on your "to do" list right now before you sink anymore time into this plan.

Talk to your career services people at your school. What are the hot fields right now that are not desk-bound? Would you be interested in a wet lab in industry? Drug or device development? Quality control /product safety?

In terms of majors, take a look at the required courses for each major and see what gets your juices flowing and excites you. That might be the best fit.

Don't throw in the towel yet!

Thank You for replying! I have shadowed Doctors before(2 of my cousins are doctors) so I've been introduced to the medical field for quite sometime now. I guess the real reason I want to be a doctor is 1) to help people and 2) it's an exciting career. As I said I really don't like the office job vibes, it's just not who I am. My ultimate goal would be to start my own business, thats been the dream for me(the plan in HS was to enroll in a MD/MBA combined program so I can fulfill the business goals I have). You asked why Harvard Med, well being totally honest prestige was one thing, but more importantly is the research thats being conducted there, being that they get so much endowment there at the forefront of developing medical breakthroughs and I'd very much like to be apart of that, and Harvard Med is one of the schools that offer the MD/MBA program that I wished to join.

 

[candbgirl]

Well just so you know, applicants with glorious applications are rejected from Harvard every cycle. It’s fine to have goals but it’s also good to be realistic with your goals. And it’s never good to focus on one school only. You have lots of work to do before you can even think about applying. Work hard in your classes, don’t obsess over last semester , learn from your mistakes and move forward. Start building a very competitive application that will show you in the best light. Think seriously about taking a gap year or two and figure out now why you keep doing worse each semester(downward trend). That’s concerning I think. Good luck.

 

[firenation1254]

Well just so you know, applicants with glorious applications are rejected from Harvard every cycle. It’s fine to have goals but it’s also good to be realistic with your goals. And it’s never good to focus on one school only. You have lots of work to do before you can even think about applying. Work hard in your classes, don’t obsess over last semester , learn from your mistakes and move forward. Start building a very competitive application that will show you in the best light. Think seriously about taking a gap year or two and figure out now why you keep doing worse each semester(downward trend). That’s concerning I think. Good luck.

For sure, Harvard is just a goal of mine to make me work harder! I would definitely be applying to a lot more less competitive med schools. As for a gap year, I really don't want to take one for various reasons including financial and time concerns.

 

[LizzyM]

Shadow some people who are not your relatives. Ask your relatives to fix you up with some of their colleagues and spend at least 4 hours at a time in the workplace. Aim for a total of 50 hours with at least some of that being primary care because despite people's wishes, the majority of docs end up in primary care.

Keep in mind that the MD/MBA need not be concurrent. You may get far more out of the networking, etc of the MBA by doing it after residency, perhaps in an executive model program. The industry is changing dramatically and what is true now may not be true 10 years from now when you are entering practice. Also, there is tremendous consolodation of medical practices with very few docs entering solo practice any more. Someone who uses the MD/MBA (and many do not) may be running a multi-million dollar group practice and not a small business. You don't need the MD to run a hospital system and you might be better off getting a business degree as an undergrad, interning and working in a hospital system (people usually start as overnight adminstrators) and then going for the MBA specifically in health management. Granted, that isn't a role that directly helps people (they are helped indirectly through the hands-on care providers) but it is a business job.

If you are going for the "I want to help people" narrative, then you had better be helping people now in your community. Walk the walk. If you aren't spending 8 hours/month doing something to help people in your community, find something you enjoy that helps those who are unable to help themselves in some way.

 

[LizzyM]

I am going to tell you that you are going to need a gap year if for no other reason that you are going to need all 123 credits (or more) of GPA to repair that one semester that was ugly. Better to have seven good semesters to balance it out than to apply with only six semesters of grades after junior year. You could apply too soon and end up with no offers at the end of the cycle (almost 60% get in no where) and be forced to take a gap year and be a reapplicant who has already spent a small fortune and much time and effort for nothing. Don't half-a5s this and end up disappointed.

 

[Goro]

Hi, I know there's probably tons of these stories out-there but it would be helpful if I got some advice. So long story short, when I was inn High School I wanted to be an anesthesiologist, that was my goal. However, I really got into app development and programming so when it came time to pick a major I picked Computer Engineering and abandoned my medical ambitions. Now I'm a sophomore in college and last semester I realized I didn't want to do this anymore, I hated the electrical engineering aspect of my major and even tho I was a decent programmer, the coding courses were really challenging for me. Due to me being a little over ambitious I took a heavy Engineering course load last semester and it sunk my GPA. 1st semester I had a 3.9, 2nd semester a 3.5, 3rd semester a 2.49. I ended up failing 2 courses, getting a D and C in my other courses, I've never failed anything before, I was a straight A student in HS, I really didn't know what to do with myself after I seen what my GPA had become and I became really depressed and took on a lot of stress. The one course that I was really good at however was chemistry. In high school, I loved chemistry it was my favorite class, and now I'm sitting here with my medical school ambitions coming back to me. I realize now I was meant to be a Doctor, but I fear it's too late. I'm in my fourth semester now, I really want to switch majors but I have no clue to what, I know that majors don't matter for medical school but I really want to choose something that will be a good backup if my medical school plans don't work. I am really into business and I was thinking economics, but I don't really think that is employable nowadays. One of my biggest fears is ending up in a cubicle working a 9-5, not that there's anything wrong with that it's just I don't see myself doing that. My biggest concern now is medical school, when I was in high school my dream was Harvard Med, I'm usually a very positive person but seeing my GPA like this I fear that crimson dream is over. Is medical school even a possibility now? I'm retaking one math course I failed, I know that med schools include the failed grade in there calculations but I don't know where this leaves me. I was awarded a fellowship at the end of my 2nd semester and I am currently in a lab working that's working on medical devices, I don't see how that helps my case much tho. I guess my questions here are, are my med-school dreams gone now due to my current GPA, I realized I really do want to pursue medicine after making a horrible decision and choosing comp eng. as my major. And, what are good majors I can switch too that provide good fall back in the case I don't make it to med-school(I'm interested in physics, chemistry, biology, and economics but I fear the first two will be difficult to try and improve my GPA) and thirdly, is it too late to even pursue medical school? I'm in my fourth semester right now, I'll be a junior next semester. The only med-school pre reqs I've taken are Chem 1, Calc 1, and Physics 1. All advice is welcome. Thank You.

Ace everything from now on. Rising GPA trends are always good. But ready this too:
Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention