<p>Hi everyone, I am new to the form. I recently completed my first semester of college with a 3.2 gpa for 10 credits.( I dropped the other class and got a w on my record. Will having 1 w affect my chances of getting into medical school. Also, is a 3.2 gpa bad for my first semester?</p>
<p>Also, will having 10 credits for my first semester be a problem?</p>
<p>To be honest the fact that you only managed a 3.2 without a full courseload does not bode well. Med schools want to see that students can maintain high GPAs with high levels of course rigor and full courseloads. However, since this is just your first semester, as long as you kick it way into gear for the rest of your college career, you should be fine.</p>
<p>med schools will look at your cum gpa and science gpa, actually the sgpa is more important. So, did you take any Science courses in that 10 credits? and what is the gpa for those? You should be working extra hard for rest of of UG career if the sgpa is below 3.0</p>
<p>I took bio 1 with lab which was 4 credits and got a B+(3.5), and I took psych which was 3 credits and I also got a B+</p>
<p>I started with 14 credits, but I had to drop a class late in the semester to get a job and help pay bills. My family was having issues.</p>
<p>^ Actually AMCAS converts a B+ to 3.3</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/download/181676/data/amcas_grade_conversion_guide.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/181676/data/amcas_grade_conversion_guide.pdf</a></p>
<p>Remember, you need 3.6 to be admitted by an MD school, that is the lowest gpa ANY md school will admit and 3.3 for a DO school.</p>
<p>I understand that but my question is will 1 semester of having 10 credits and a 3.2 make do or md schools decline me. Even if I have very high grades for the rest of college? Thank you for your replys much appreciated</p>
<p>The answer is no, one semester will not stop your dream, but two or more semesters will. And stop saying you have a 3.2, it might be 3.0 by amcas standards.</p>
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<p>This isn’t entirely true. Those are the average GPAs for matriculated students. Adcomms give a bit leniency GPA-wise for students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. (Which is what having to drop classes to work in order to help support the family sounds like.) AAMC has a special initiative to increase enrollment of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. (Disadvantaged includes not only traditionally URM applicants but applicants from economically disadvantaged backgrounds as well.)</p>
<p>@xito96 Your first semester wasn’t ideal, but it won’t prevent you from achieving your goal of medical school. Many students have a rough transition to college. It’s not all that unusual. You do, however, need to try and minimize whatever issues caused you to have to withdraw from classes this semester.</p>
<p>If you are experiencing financial or family difficulties, you might want to go talk with a counselor at your college’s counseling office (to get ideas on how to cope) and with an administrator in Office for Student Affairs (to see if there is any additional financial assistance you might be eligible for). </p>
<p>S ended first year in college with both GPAs below 3.2. He is currently an MD resident. So your situation is not hopeless, but you have dug yourself a hole. Med schools seem to accept that first year college students do struggle, but they do expect to see a strong upward trend. Although you indicate that your first semester grades were due to financial/family issues, med schools will be less forgiving to these issues as time goes on. At this point your goal should be an “A” in every class. Realistically, this goal may not be possible. Keep in mind as you complete more units every grade beneath an “A” makes it harder for you to obtain competitive GPAs. And don’t forget you’ll need to participate in ECs all the while trying to raise your GPAs. </p>
<p>So I’d say slow down. Talk to counselors and or academic advisors. I agree that you need to get your financial/family issues especially if you want to continue down MD (or DO) pathway. Although a “typical” med student may apply to med school after junior year, you may need to complete the full 4 years of college before applying, maybe even some postgrad courses to get you GPAs up to competitive levels for MD schools. Don’t forget DO schools as obtaining competitive GPAs may be a lower hurdle to overcome. Good luck</p>
<p>Thank you so much for taking the time to write that very detailed response </p>
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Absolutely not a true statement, and not just when talking about disadvantaged students like WOWmom describes (although yes, that’s probably the majority of people <3.6 GPAs, the next largest group probably being non trads who took several years off e.g. 3+ before med school). I certainly wouldn’t feel good about applying with a GPA below 3.6 but it’s simply not the case that it’s a hard floor.</p>
<p>@mountsini and everyone </p>
<p>You are right there is no 3.6 floor. My intent was to push op to get a higher Gpa so he will feel good when time comes. </p>