<p>I just finished my first year of college at Michigan State University. I want to be a doctor, Im not looking for what are my chances or anything, I am just wondering if I am counting myself out a little soon. My first and second semester grades turned out as follows (we are on a number system at msu):</p>
<p>1st Semester:
Astronomy 101 (elective- 1 credit)- 3.5
General Chemistry 141 (4 credits)- 4.0
Integrated Social Sciences 215 (4 credits)- 4.0 (plus award for highest grade in class out of 300)
General Chemistry Lab 161 (1 credit)- 4.0
Business Calculus 124 (3 credits)- 3.5</p>
<h2>Writing Evolution of American Thought (4 credits)- 3.5</h2>
<p>Extracurricular Activities
-50+ Hours shadowing a neurologist
-After school tutoring of elementary school kids
These are my most significant outside of school I didnt want to get too involved during my freshman year. As you can see my grades dropped a bit second semester this is my main concern. I like to think its not terrible as it could have been much worse I won't bother you with excuses. One other thing to note I am a member of the Honors College at MSU, and I am not picky at all regarding the medical school. I plan to get my grades back up as I won't have to deal with microeconomics, inorganic chem. and the writing course I had to take which ate up quite a bit of study time. So I am basically working damage control wondering how much this 2nd semester will set me back. Thank You for your help.</p>
<p>also I just wanted to share I suffer from a bit of an anxiety disorder and have some trouble with stress. so forgive me if this message is a little premature</p>
<p>john, the first question you need to address is how AMCAS will recalculate your GPA. A quick google shows MSU uses a funky GPA system which treats A-/B+ the same (a 3.5). Somebody knows this answer but I couldn’t find it in the few minutes I tried. Does the transcript say A-? If so, I believe it will be treated as a 3.7. B+? You get a 3.3. Big difference since you already have 4 of them.</p>
<p>As to your post #2, that’s actually the first thing you need to address. The process is long, arduous, complicated, and stressful. Med school and residency could be worse. Practice? Well…I think you see where I’m going. Ask for help now. There are resources that can help you live a happy, balanced, fulfilled life.</p>
<p>You need to find activity that relaxes you. Everybody is stressed out, the successful ones allow themselves down time. It could be music, exercise, whatever, it is different from person to person. D. has minor in Music and also is in sorority. Both of them have been very beneficial by her own admission. It is important not to neglect your individual needs.</p>
<p>Have to agree here…and it continues to be long after the admission letter comes…</p>
<p>My son who normally never gets stressed about anything has been a different person the last few weeks as he was preparing for the Step 1 which he is taking right now as I type this. I’ve never seen him seem as stressed as he has been in the last week or so when thinking how the outcome of this one test can impact the next 20-25 years of his life. That said, he called this morning surprised that he had managed to get a full eight hours sleep, had had breakfast and was sitting in the parking garage at the test center. He sounded like he had his old swagger back and was feeling pretty good about things…so we’re all keeping everything that we can crossed and waiting for his call this afternoon. ;)</p>
<p>my first semester gpa is a 3.8 and my second semester is a 3.2. As for the grades what i posted is exactly what is on my transcript we do not receive letter grades. and please don’t get hung up on my anxiety i am being treated for it and have it fairly well under control. I just worry about my future I can handle the stresses of school well. I simply asked is my gpa still in decent shape. Don’t judge my anxiety because you don’t how severe it is. It seems you all are focusing on my anxiety disorder, don’t. My cumulative is like a 3.54.</p>
<p>clearly, you aren’t spending enough time studying. you probably aren’t spending the 6 hours/night that is required for a pre-med student. i don’t think theres any excuse for not getting a 4 in calculus. if you spend enough time practicing then you would have had a 4. you wouldn’t be stressed out if you spent enough time studying. you’re definately not out of the running, but you could have done better. </p>
<p>to clarify, i’m assuming you’re smart enough to understand this material and just not spending enough time on it.</p>
<p>I really hope you aren’t being serious here with regard to studying six hours a night for pre med…perhaps that is what you need and maybe the OP needs more time as well but it is certainly not a requirement for success in pre med for everyone…</p>
<p>John, maybe you are not understanding. Your school may say you have a 3.54, your transcript may say 3.54, you may believe you have a 3.54 but the only thing that counts is how AMCAS recalculates the GPA. AMCAS doesn’t give a doodle how your school does it.</p>
<p>Jeez. I hope you’re being sarcastic…or something else where you don’t seriously mean what you say. A lot of the time, issues with studying at the college level have to do with efficiency of study time rather than amount of study time.</p>
<p>And I want to know where the heck you get a number like 6 hours/night and why you think it’s “required”. I don’t study that much. I promise.</p>
<p>ok so I am not going to go through and recalculate my gpa according to AMCAS standards because first off I think itll just freak me out even more about where I stand and second I think thatd be a little premature. I think you all will agree when I say the requirements are steep to be competitive for medical school. Now what I am gathering from these responses for the most part is I still need to get my gpa up a bit which I already knew. I want it around a 3.7 by the end of my sophomore year. I certainly don’t think my gpa is terrible considering the average freshman gpa, at least MSU, is around a 2.7. Although I do realize the difference that comes into play when one is considering medical school. Now the statement about me not studying hard enough I resent and take offense to that. That statement is complete speculation on the posters part you have no idea of my work ethic. I studied hard my first year of school and made my academics my top priority. Now im not saying that is all i did and i admit especially second semester i could have spent more time studying rather than socializing. But that doesn’t negate the effort and hard work I put into my academics throughout the year. </p>
<p>So the message i am receiving is get my gpa up a bit more, preferably around a 3.7. And I am asking if you agree with work a bit harder next school year, relax, and try to avoid getting too stressed. I am assuming my gpa is not in terrible shape considering the lack of attention or that there isnt much you can tell me about it based on what i have said.</p>
<p>Now I am wondering if you have any advice on dealing with stress, feeling overwhelmed, and obsessing over a bad test or paper grade and things like that. What I mean is when I get a bad grade back in a class I obsess about it for days and sometimes that leads to me feeling overwhelmed. I see a psychiatrist at home during summer and over breaks but unfortunately do to my health insurance i cannot talk to anyone up at school who is of any real help, the student service center offers counseling which i tried before and it was terrible. so thats about haha i know its a lot and i apologize. thank you for help</p>