Terrible First Semester ... Redemption Arc?

[CuriousDO]

Hello!

So I'm a 2nd year D.O. student that is currently at a school that grades on a GPA scale and ranks. Here's my story --

First year:

First Semester: Struggled. Passed all classes with a C. 2.0 GPA.

2nd Semester: 4.0. Got involved in research. (Potential publication coming up this year (2nd author).)

Summer: mentored research + shadowing general surgeon who loved what I brought and said they'd be happy to write a LOR and recommend me to places when I apply for residencies.

2nd year:

First semester: so far, again a 4.0. Still doing research + more volunteer work.

In my first year, I was in the 4th quartile, and due to my terrible start, I don't suppose that's going to change much by the time I apply to residencies. However, I'm wondering how much my 'redemption arc' (perfect grades + research + volunteer work), so to speak, can play into my favor should I keep it up and do well in my clinical rotations. My dream is general surgery, ideally at academic (former D.O.) gen surg programs (ex. PCOM), but I don't really care where tbh.

I'm just worried that being 4th or 3rd quartile when applying to residencies despite keeping up my improvement will hurt me, despite a record that (excluding my first semester) I am quite happy with.

Any input or stories of redemption after a terrible start to med school will be soothing to hear!

Thanks team 🙂

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[NotAProgDirector]

Plenty of people have failed out of an entire semester of medical school and then done fine and matched.

Many schools divide out ranking in preclinical and clinical years. Some do it by year.

I think you're overthinking this. You started with a tough semester. You learned from it and you're doing better now. You passed S1. Get a good score on S2 and I don't think anyone will care.

And auditions, important for DO candidates.

 

[EDThoracotomy]

Glad you improved. Doubt residencies will care either way. Failing a course can be a red flag and being in the top 10 can be a benefit but none of those things will make up for boards failure, poor clinical performance and poor Sub I performance. I'm sure there is some variation by specialty but most individuals I have spoken too have highlighted that preclinical grades do not matter in the grand scheme of things.

Pre-clinical grades are a great indicator of your readiness for boards. More important things on your application when it comes to matching.

 

[CuriousDO]

@NotAProgDirector and @EDThoracotomy thank you so much for your responses! Really helped calm me down. I'll continue to keep working hard and focus on what's in my control. Thanks again, and take care! 🙂

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Try to score 250+ on step 2. At my school at least, surgery director said step 1 is just being replaced by step 2 so try to score high and you’ll get surgery

 

[EDThoracotomy]

Try to score 250+ on step 2. At my school at least, surgery director said step 1 is just being replaced by step 2 so try to score high and you’ll get surgery

This should be stickied. Every PD I've talked too as well as residents etc. have emphasized this.

 

[ortnakas]

I’m can’t give informed intel on surgical specialties so I’ll leave that to the others. As a personal anecdote, I failed a course fall of first year and squeaked by in a few that spring. I did better second year. I did very well on all levels of COMLEX and passed both Step 1 & 2 by a respectable margin. I matched into IM, did well on both ABIM and AOBIM, am a successful attending, and my first year struggles haven’t mattered in years.