Recovering from a bad undergrad semester

[billiken]

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Freshman year was tough.
I live alone with my mom and she has been sick her entire life. However, my mom got very sick fall semester.
The worst I'd ever seen her. I tried to balance going to school full time, working 2 part time jobs to be able to put food on the table, and taking care of my mom. I became depressed and constantly distracted. I ended up on probation due to my failing grades.
I came back spring semester (still working 2 jobs but mom was doing better) and worked my a** off to get all A's. Now that fall semester is starting up again I'm repeating the same courses I had originally failed in hopes of boosting my gpa. My biggest worry is that this will negatively impact my application to med school. Thoughts??

 

[Jlaw]

A bad semester, year, or even 4 years can be recovered if you have a story. Address it up front, be honest, and show that you can do better. If you are only a sophomore you have a long way to go before you even need to think about this. Focus on school and not med school, but always put your family first, your mom is more important than med school.

 

[GreenDuck12]

It won't kill your chances. Retake the classes to show growth and maturity. Explain the rough term on your AMCAS application (admissions officers understand family illness and supporting a family) continue to do well in your classes (and have some fun) prepare like crazy for the MCAT and you'll be fine.

One of my former students that I worked with in college had similar circumstances, ended up earning a very competitive cumulative gpa with a lot of research (published 3x) and scored a 37 on the MCAT. He had no trouble getting into medical school. Best of luck to you and your family!

Freshman year was tough.
I live alone with my mom and she has been sick her entire life. However, my mom got very sick fall semester.
The worst I'd ever seen her. I tried to balance going to school full time, working 2 part time jobs to be able to put food on the table, and taking care of my mom. I became depressed and constantly distracted. I ended up on probation due to my failing grades.
I came back spring semester (still working 2 jobs but mom was doing better) and worked my a** off to get all A's. Now that fall semester is starting up again I'm repeating the same courses I had originally failed in hopes of boosting my gpa. My biggest worry is that this will negatively impact my application to med school. Thoughts??

 

[Dr_OneDay]

You're on the right path. Stick to the retakes and add in some science courses that you are genuinely interested to boost the BCPM GPA.

I'm recovering from a bad senior year, with financial troubles and also a mom who was in the ICU the night before my final exams. My GPA dropped about 0.2 points, so I am planning on retaking courses by DIY post bacc (about 30 red its of A grades will be needed to repair my GPA)