Wanting to be a Radiologist, had a few F's but retaking the classes

[RadMD1day]

I went through a divorce in the Fall of 2004. I really screwed up my GPA. I made about 3 F's and 1 D and 4 W's and had a 2.3 GPA.
I started back in the Fall of 2006 after I got my life together. Right now my GPA is approx. a 2.7. I have taken 2 of the classes and made B's in them, but still lack a couple more. I am scared to death!
How is this going to affect my chances to UAB (University of Alabama in Birmingham)? Do I have a chance? What should I do?

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[spicedmanna]

I went through a divorce in the Fall of 2004. I really screwed up my GPA. I made about 3 F's and 1 D and 4 W's and had a 2.3 GPA.
I started back in the Fall of 2006 after I got my life together. Right now my GPA is approx. a 2.7. I have taken 2 of the classes and made B's in them, but still lack a couple more. I am scared to death!
How is this going to affect my chances to UAB (University of Alabama in Birmingham)? Do I have a chance? What should I do?

Well, truth be told, it doesn't look good; you have a few F's under your belt and your GPA is considerably below average for a matriculant. That's all real bad news. The good news is you are on the upswing and you have a good reason for your poor performance; schools do take into account the difficulties you've faced and also your improvement. I rarely tell people they don't have a chance; I think you can create a chance for yourself. However, I think you have much work ahead of you (depending on how many credit hours you already have taken) before applying. From now on, aim for as many A's as possible, especially in the classes in which you failed; take advanced classes and rock them. Find out where the problems are in your study habits and change them. Take a fulltime course load, if possible. Repeat until your BCPM and overall GPA are as high as you can get it within a reasonable time frame. Of course, get nothing lower than a B, but really, shoot for the A as much as possible. Study hard for the MCAT and rock it hardcore.

You have some work ahead of you; do your absolute best to rock everything. Don't worry so much about what specialty you want; that comes later, and it's a whole other ball game. First, get into medical school and make sure you have the soundest premedical foundation.

Good Luck.

 

[Law2Doc]

First, get into medical school

Absolutely no point worrying about a specialty at this juncture. Just do what you need to to get into school and you can see what options you have ahead of you from there. And you will surely change your interest in specialties at least once between now and when you pick one -- almost everybody does. And once you are in med school you start anew in terms of grades, etc, and your early year grades will not be nearly as important as your board scores, etc.

 

[Beau Geste]

Yep. I agree with Law2Doc. Continue to work hard on retaking the classes you bombed and doing well in the ones you need. And be sure to apply to a LOT of med schools, both DO and MD.

 

[RadMD1day]

I am taking my prereq's at a community college and then going to a 4 yr to finish up my Bio major. Do they seperate the the prereq's then tally up the science GPA. I have seen others post something like this so I am just wondering.
I hate to be so ignorant about this, but gotta find out somehow! lol
Thanks for the input and support!

 

[Beau Geste]

I am taking my prereq's at a community college and then going to a 4 yr to finish up my Bio major. Do they seperate the the prereq's then tally up the science GPA. I have seen others post something like this so I am just wondering.
I hate to be so ignorant about this, but gotta find out somehow! lol
Thanks for the input and support!

They look at gpa like this:

1. total (cumulative) gpa
2. BCPM gpa (Bio, chem, physics, math)
3. all other non-BCPM gpa
4. grad gpa

some also look at your last 90 hours of work as well.

 

[Beau Geste]

Also, and anyone please correct me if this has changed, but doesn't AACOMAS consider the highest grade if there is a retake involved? I should probably look that up myself.

 

[RadMD1day]

Wow, that was fast! I am really getting addicted to this site! You guys have given me so many more answers than my premed advisor (who obviously does not give a crap). He could care less about taking time to answer anything!
You guys are great!

 

[Beau Geste]

Wow, that was fast! I am really getting addicted to this site! You guys have given me so many more answers than my premed advisor (who obviously does not give a crap). He could care less about taking time to answer anything!
You guys are great!

I just happen to be on the same time as you and school doesn't start back up for a week.

Be careful with SDN - time really can get away with you!