First post for me, so hello everyone! TL;DR is last 4 paragraphs, which isn't a TL;DR at all really.
To start I'd just like to clarify that I had no idea what to name this, or even what to search for to answer questions; so forgive me if I missed something.
Let's begin.
My first quarter of college (R.I.T.) I was an I.T. student, I then transferred into medical informatics (add I.T. & Pre-med = medical informatics) and I've loved it ever since. I've always wanted to be a doctor but I never truly considered it because I was afraid of getting out of college with a biology degree and not being accepted into med school and having no where to turn except being a lab tech. Medical informatics alleviated that stress because it gives me an outlet if things turn sour.
** R.I.T. is in the process of converting from quarters to semesters. I've never had a semester experience so if the GPA or whatever else doesn't seem correct this could be why. A quarter at RIT is 10 weeks of class, 1 week of exams and 1 week of break before the next quarter begins. There's a 2 week winter break between weeks 4 and 5 of the winter quarter.
Everything was fine and dandy the first year, I ended up with a 3.85 (was mostly I.T./Medical Informatics courses, Calc A was only science) . Then this past year came along and wrecked me.
The beginning of the fall quarter was going great, Biology and Chemistry and Calc B were running smoothly for me and I was confident. But, about 3-4 weeks in I ran into some MAJOR relationship issues. Unfortunately, I wasn't as resilient as I should have been and it seriously affected my grades. I came out of that quarter with a 3.470 with B's in bio/lab, calc B, and chem lab (woohoo, A in chem I).
I got things together for the winter quarter; really decided that I was going to get things done and this was going to be my rebound quarter. Looking back on it, I was an idiot, but regardless, here goes: I took on 20 credits (total of 5 classes & 2 labs) because 2 of the classes I didn't think would be that bad. Well, the issues persisted, and to top it off I picked up a second job because I needed the money. I ended up working ~30 hours a week, and taking 20 credit hours along with the quarter having a 2 week break right in the center of everything. It didn't turn out so well; it was the first quarter since going to college that I didn't get any A's, I missed Dean's List, and I got my first(only) C (in Calc C, how convenient). I got all B's in Bio/Lab, Chem/lab, and 2 computer courses.
Spring quarter comes along, I get my hopes up again. I stopped my 2nd job so I'm only working 10 hrs a week, I'm still taking 20 credits because one class I know is easy and it's a requirement for a double major that I want (because of transfers from HS/summer courses I've got a free year of fin. aid, might as well get something out of it yeah? ). I really try to pull myself together but relationship issues persist (I know at this point it would've been a good move to ditch the relationship, but to anyone who has been in a long term relationship it's difficult to just throw it away, I had to try.) but fortunately they only persisted a short while, we (finally) sought help and it honestly made a huge difference. Anyway, Finally saw A's again in 2 of my computer courses. Still got B's in Bio/lab & Chem/lab. Ended up with a 3.42 that quarter, which left me with a cumulative of 3.52.
So I'm writing this now because I'm getting really stressed about med school, my chances, and everything else. I still have 2 years of college left to go, I've only got to take OChem & Physics to be done with my pre-reqs for the MCAT so I'm finishing those up this coming year and aiming for the MCAT next summer.
I KNOW I could have pulled A's in Bio lecture if I would've just studied for ~30 minutes, I got 86's (surprisingly I almost always got an exact 86 on all 10 exams through the year) with only taking notes and finishing homework/quizzes (mastering bio), and I KNOW I could've got A's in my last 2 chem classes if I would've gone to class and done the homework, I almost always got >95s on exams when I went to class, and did the homework. I just ran out of steam/motivation I guess. I really hit a wall mentally, emotionally, and physically. I LOVE chemistry and biology because they're so interesting but I just couldn't get the energy to do even the simplest of things.
I guess the TL;DR of all of this is: I have a year to really smash the MCAT exam preparations, I can't afford specialized test-prep though (woohoo khan & wiki-premed!). I really feel like a failure and I feel like I let myself down with my grades this past year because I know I could've done better and there's no real way to justify the poor performances beyond relationship troubles, financial troubles, and simply doing too much at once and I feel those justifications won't really hold up when it comes to my GPAs (sci/non-sci/etc.) will they?
Where do I turn? What should I do next to solidify my chances of getting into med school? I guess those are really what I'm getting at. I just don't feel confident in my performances on my pre-reqs and I really don't feel that they're an accurate description of my abilities as a student. Should I just give 'er all I've got on the MCAT and hope for the best?
Thanks for your time.
To start I'd just like to clarify that I had no idea what to name this, or even what to search for to answer questions; so forgive me if I missed something.
Let's begin.
My first quarter of college (R.I.T.) I was an I.T. student, I then transferred into medical informatics (add I.T. & Pre-med = medical informatics) and I've loved it ever since. I've always wanted to be a doctor but I never truly considered it because I was afraid of getting out of college with a biology degree and not being accepted into med school and having no where to turn except being a lab tech. Medical informatics alleviated that stress because it gives me an outlet if things turn sour.
** R.I.T. is in the process of converting from quarters to semesters. I've never had a semester experience so if the GPA or whatever else doesn't seem correct this could be why. A quarter at RIT is 10 weeks of class, 1 week of exams and 1 week of break before the next quarter begins. There's a 2 week winter break between weeks 4 and 5 of the winter quarter.
Everything was fine and dandy the first year, I ended up with a 3.85 (was mostly I.T./Medical Informatics courses, Calc A was only science) . Then this past year came along and wrecked me.
The beginning of the fall quarter was going great, Biology and Chemistry and Calc B were running smoothly for me and I was confident. But, about 3-4 weeks in I ran into some MAJOR relationship issues. Unfortunately, I wasn't as resilient as I should have been and it seriously affected my grades. I came out of that quarter with a 3.470 with B's in bio/lab, calc B, and chem lab (woohoo, A in chem I).
I got things together for the winter quarter; really decided that I was going to get things done and this was going to be my rebound quarter. Looking back on it, I was an idiot, but regardless, here goes: I took on 20 credits (total of 5 classes & 2 labs) because 2 of the classes I didn't think would be that bad. Well, the issues persisted, and to top it off I picked up a second job because I needed the money. I ended up working ~30 hours a week, and taking 20 credit hours along with the quarter having a 2 week break right in the center of everything. It didn't turn out so well; it was the first quarter since going to college that I didn't get any A's, I missed Dean's List, and I got my first(only) C (in Calc C, how convenient). I got all B's in Bio/Lab, Chem/lab, and 2 computer courses.
Spring quarter comes along, I get my hopes up again. I stopped my 2nd job so I'm only working 10 hrs a week, I'm still taking 20 credits because one class I know is easy and it's a requirement for a double major that I want (because of transfers from HS/summer courses I've got a free year of fin. aid, might as well get something out of it yeah? ). I really try to pull myself together but relationship issues persist (I know at this point it would've been a good move to ditch the relationship, but to anyone who has been in a long term relationship it's difficult to just throw it away, I had to try.) but fortunately they only persisted a short while, we (finally) sought help and it honestly made a huge difference. Anyway, Finally saw A's again in 2 of my computer courses. Still got B's in Bio/lab & Chem/lab. Ended up with a 3.42 that quarter, which left me with a cumulative of 3.52.
So I'm writing this now because I'm getting really stressed about med school, my chances, and everything else. I still have 2 years of college left to go, I've only got to take OChem & Physics to be done with my pre-reqs for the MCAT so I'm finishing those up this coming year and aiming for the MCAT next summer.
I KNOW I could have pulled A's in Bio lecture if I would've just studied for ~30 minutes, I got 86's (surprisingly I almost always got an exact 86 on all 10 exams through the year) with only taking notes and finishing homework/quizzes (mastering bio), and I KNOW I could've got A's in my last 2 chem classes if I would've gone to class and done the homework, I almost always got >95s on exams when I went to class, and did the homework. I just ran out of steam/motivation I guess. I really hit a wall mentally, emotionally, and physically. I LOVE chemistry and biology because they're so interesting but I just couldn't get the energy to do even the simplest of things.
I guess the TL;DR of all of this is: I have a year to really smash the MCAT exam preparations, I can't afford specialized test-prep though (woohoo khan & wiki-premed!). I really feel like a failure and I feel like I let myself down with my grades this past year because I know I could've done better and there's no real way to justify the poor performances beyond relationship troubles, financial troubles, and simply doing too much at once and I feel those justifications won't really hold up when it comes to my GPAs (sci/non-sci/etc.) will they?
Where do I turn? What should I do next to solidify my chances of getting into med school? I guess those are really what I'm getting at. I just don't feel confident in my performances on my pre-reqs and I really don't feel that they're an accurate description of my abilities as a student. Should I just give 'er all I've got on the MCAT and hope for the best?
Thanks for your time.
