Should I worry about my first semester (freshman year) of college?

[eudaimonia19]

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Hey guys! I am new to writing on these forums but I have become an interested reader for a while. I appreciate your insight into people's situations, and I am hoping to receive insights for my situations as well. I want to start off with my first semester of college. I got cocky and failed 2 courses, Chemistry 1 and Calculus 1. However, I retook them and received a B+ (Chem) and A (Calc). My major is biology. Since then I have increased my overall GPA to a 3.742. I just finished my junior year. Should I be worried about my first semester grades? I have been shadowing my mom who is a dentist for the past 3 months. I am taking my DATs in August. Am I late? Thank you guys!

Do I have a chance at these schools with my GPA? These are the schools that I look forward to applying to:
1. New York University
2. UMDNJ
3. Columbia University
4. Temple University
5. Tufts University
6. Stony Brook
7. Boston University

 

[UCSFx2017]

You're not out of the game. You're still competitive for the moment. August is almost pushing it. Expect a two-week delay for AADSAS to post your scores. Then expect at least an additional week delay for them to change your status from "Incomplete" to "Complete/Under-Review". From then on, it varies with how long it takes schools to review your application and decide whether or not to invite you.

 

[dans105]

Congrats on raising your GPA so much, I know how hard that can be! I failed two courses freshman year, then finished with a 3.6 GPA. I also submitted in August because of a LOR writer that took his time (I'm still very appreciative, of course). I still got accepted to two schools. You've got nothing to worry about.

 

[isittoolate]

Hey guys! I am new to writing on these forums but I have become an interested reader for a while. I appreciate your insight into people's situations, and I am hoping to receive insights for my situations as well. I want to start off with my first semester of college. I got cocky and failed 2 courses, Chemistry 1 and Calculus 1. However, I retook them and received a B+ (Chem) and A (Calc). My major is biology. Since then I have increased my overall GPA to a 3.742. I just finished my junior year. Should I be worried about my first semester grades? I have been shadowing my mom who is a dentist for the past 3 months. I am taking my DATs in August. Am I late? Thank you guys!

Do I have a chance at these schools with my GPA? These are the schools that I look forward to applying to:
1. New York University
2. UMDNJ
3. Columbia University
4. Temple University
5. Tufts University
6. Stony Brook
7. Boston University

Just as a forewarning, AADSAS will not let you replace your two F's with the grades you received after retaking the course. Not sure if you included this in your GPA or not, but they will include those grades 🙁

My first piece of advice is to push up your DAT sooner...I didn't take mine unti late August and I felt like a lot of schools didn't even look at my application. Push up your DAT if you can, realistically it only takes a solid 6 weeks to prepare for the DAT...I'd say you'd be in a much better position if you could take your DAT in mid-July. Like UCSF said, AADSAS takes a while to process everything, so it's better to get everything in ASAP.

 

[jigabodo]

Congrats on your achievements and pulling yourself together after a rocky 1st semester. You definitely have a chance at dental school.

On a side note, it would be fine to shadow your mom. But if you guys have the same last name, I wouldn't get a LOR from her.

 

[clubwestpua]

I am in somewhat smilar situation here.

During my first semester, I got one C+ in bio 1. Also I dropped Calc 3 during the first semester of my sophomore year. Therefore, there were one C+ and a W in my transcript.. However, there was a constant upward trend throughout 4 years. My freshman year, I got 3.6, Sophomore year was 3.7, Junior 3.72 and Senior 3.95.

I studied Biochemistry, my overall GPA was still 3.75 and 3.72 science, and I scored 24 TS and 23AA on DAT. I am now working at NIH as a research fellow and will be getting a LOR from NIDCR director.

Will I have chances at schools that op listed above?? Should I not even apply to top schools like Penn, Columbia, and UCLA due to my freshman and sophomore yrs?

 

[CedarZ4]

I, too, was unfamiliar with the whole college transition, and ended u with a 2.7 my first semester 😳

However, hard work in raising my GPA (like you did) got me into DS and it should not hold you back either. Not to mention, a 3.7 is very competitive in itself.

The thing you should be more concerned about IMO is shadowing your Mom. Having a LOR from your Mom is not the best thing, even worse if it's the dentist LOR.

 

[ckgibbs115]

I am in somewhat smilar situation here.

During my first semester, I got one C+ in bio 1. Also I dropped Calc 3 during the first semester of my sophomore year. Therefore, there were one C+ and a W in my transcript.. However, there was a constant upward trend throughout 4 years. My freshman year, I got 3.6, Sophomore year was 3.7, Junior 3.72 and Senior 3.95.

I studied Biochemistry, my overall GPA was still 3.75 and 3.72 science, and I scored 24 TS and 23AA on DAT. I am now working at NIH as a research fellow and will be getting a LOR from NIDCR director.

Will I have chances at schools that op listed above?? Should I not even apply to top schools like Penn, Columbia, and UCLA due to my freshman and sophomore yrs?

Can't tell if trolling.

 

[clubwestpua]

Can't tell if trolling.

What? I don't get what you mean.. do you mean I don't need to be concerned?

I am currently working as an IRTA fellow at NIH and aim to publish paper as a first author and am also building rapport with NIDCR directors..

 

[KittySquared]

What? I don't get what you mean.. do you mean I don't need to be concerned?

I am currently working as an IRTA fellow at NIH and aim to publish paper as a first author and am also building rapport with NIDCR directors..

Lol, no. He thinks you're stating the obvious. OF COURSE you have a chance. Adcoms won't hold your first year against you much. Your stats are beyond stellar. It's like you're fishing for compliments.