I failed my first semester as a biological sciences major. It’s a long story as to why, but it is not because I am academically incapable. I’m very passionate about a medical profession, and am a very hard worker, there was just extremely unfortunate circumstances. I am going back next semester to retake everything I took and am confident I will do well. However I feel no medical school is even going to consider me for an interview due to that horrible first semester. Also I have been in three car accidents, they will see that and assume I am reckless.
If I do well these next four years and have a great resume and MCAT score can this sort of thing be overlooked?
The first I was only 17, and I went to court and adjudication was withheld which means I was not found guilty nor innocent. Because it happened as a minor, it will not appear on my record by the time I apply for med school.
The second I took fault for, I was 18.
The most recent was not my fault, I was rear ended, age 20.
When you apply, you got to report all tickets. D. reported the ticket for the illegal turn. Everybody (almost!) has some tickets. Not sure if 3 tickets will stand out in a negative way.
In regard to being doomed or not we cannot tell because it is not clear what is a paln to turn around from failing to straight A’s. However, if you can accomplish straight As, you should be OK (my guess). In a future, no explanations will save you though if grades are affected in UG. Med. school is different. Med. School will accommodate many circumstances to retains a student, including gap year.
I don’t recall whether my son had to report minor traffic tickets or not. I don’t remember him having to report various minor car accidents (one his fault, the others were the other peoples fault). I don’t remember him reporting any of these things. I would have thought that you only report those that rise to a certain level (felony) like DUI’s.
From the AMCAS application “You must indicate whether you ever been convicted of, or pleaded guilty or no contest to, a Misdemeanor crime, excluding 1) any offense for which you were adjudicated as a juvenile, 2) any convictions which have been expunged or sealed by a court, or 3) any misdemeanor convictions for which any probation has been completed and the case dismissed by the court (in states where applicable).”
^^
From this, it does not sound like you report traffic tickets or car accidents when no crime was involved. Most traffic tickets do not rise to the level of misdemeanors and many accidents don’t either. In many accidents, there isn’t even a cop present to cite anyone, and often no one is cited even when a cop arrives.
Traffic violations are treating differently by different municipalities. In some states a simple traffic ticket (like for speeding) where you pay a fine is reported as a misdemeanor by the city/township/county.
So there’s no consistency in how a traffic accident where the driver is found at fault is recorded. It could be a simply ticket. It could be a serious misdemeanor. It could even be felony. The onus on the individual is find out how the traffic citation was recorded by the local court system and report it on AMCAS if required.
And IWBB is right, many secondaries ask about all traffic violations, misdemeanor and non-parking citations–even if expunged, received while a juvenile or if the perpetrator received an alternative adjudication or sentence diversion . This is because some medical schools have clinical rotations through federally funded hospitals (VA or county hospitals). These hospitals require a deeper level of background check that uses FBI databases.
Its not that these violations will keep one out of med school, but it puts the med school on warning that there may be an issue with getting a clearance for the VA hospital and allows them to prepare for any potential difficulty. In fact, NOT truthfully answering about any past violations on the secondary will cause more trouble than answering truthfully about past issue. (There was a case reported over on SDN where a student had his admission revoked for failing to disclose he was involved in a domestic violence case when he was 15 or 16–even through his case was adjudicated through the juvenile system and his record sealed when he turned 18. His admission was revoked and his appeal denied not because of the incident, but because he failed to disclose it on the secondary and his background check came up flagged.)
None of my son’s secondaries req’d this info, but he only did six apps.
Do any of the schools ask about car accidents when no one was cited?? In all the accidents I’ve been involved with over the last 40 years (only one my fault) only ONE time was anyone cited. That was an accident in Aug, and the other person was charged with leaving the scene, which the judge threw out.
AFAIK, none ask about automobile accidents where no one was cited.
BTW, the driver you mention–in my state/municipality, if s/he was found to cause the accident and was ticketed, by paying the ticket the driver pled guilty to a traffic violation. The driver was probably cited for unsafe driving, following too closely, driving too fast for the road conditions, failing to pay proper attention or something else, but not found guilty of fleeing the scene of an accident (which is more serious and sometimes requires jail time).
Somehow this thread has moved away from big picture of OP’s “I failed my first semester as a biological sciences major” to OP’s driving history, the least, if any, of OP’s problems. Obviously failing your first semester is not good at all. You’ll have to retake all failed courses and all college course grades will be factored into med school GPAs. It will be quite, quite the challenge for you unless you can figure out what went wrong and then correct it. Nobody is going to offer you any kind of realistic answer to your question “If I do well these next four years and have a great resume and MCAT score can this sort of thing be overlooked?” other than maybe. Just too many “ifs” have to happen for you. You’ve got a very big hill to climb. Also consider DO med schools allow for grade replacement where they would see your first semester grades but not count them when determining GPAs. Good luck
Can it be overlooked? Assuming a 0.0 GPA for this semester and 7 semesters of 4.0 with uniform credit hours/semester (obviously a very, very large assumption with 0 evidence at this point to back it up) that’s a cumulative 3.5GPA. It absolutely can be overlooked.
Will it be overlooked? Now you’re entering the territory of no one knows for sure.