I did awful my first semester here at UMass Amherst. I had to live at home due to financial issues and my father almost passed away multiple times due to heart problems and I had to miss classes often to see him in the ER.
I know that’s no excuse, but it made it difficult.
My first semester grades: 16 credits
-Natural science: A
-French: A
-Sociology: A-
-Bio: C
-Chem: D+
I did awful in chem and I’m retaking the class so the D+ won’t factor into my GPA but I know med school will definitely see that. Next semester I’m taking Bio 152, Intermediate French, English Writing, Calc 131, and my Chem retake. That’s 19 credits total.
I know I can do well. But I’m scared I ruined my chances. I went to a competitive highschool and despite being from an immigrant family on the poverty line I was able to get a high GPA while taking mostly AP/honors classes. I’m just going through a rough time and I’m even more scared than I was before. Are my chances ruined?
Attaining the desired college GPA of 3.7 or higher to avoid medical schools’ automatic prescreening rejection or downgrading of your application is mainly a matter of counting grade point losses.
For example, if you will take 120 credits of college courses and earn a 4.0, you will earn 480 grade points. If you earn a 3.7, you will earn 444 grade points. This means that you can afford to lose 36 grade points over your 120 credits. For example, a B in a 4 credit course is a loss of 4 grade points ((4.0 - 3.0) * 4 = 4), while a C+ in a 3 credit course is a loss of 5.1 grade points ((4.0 - 2.3) * 3 = 5.1).
Assuming that French is 3 credits, natural science is 1 credit, and the others are 4 credits, you have lost 1.2 grade points for the A- in sociology, 8 grade points for the C in biology, and 10.8 grade points for the D+ in chemistry, for a total of 20 grade points lost. This means that you can only afford to lose about 16 more grade points over the next seven semesters.
But also, you need to earn a 3.7 or higher GPA in biology, chemistry, physics, and math (BCPM) courses. Assuming that these will be about 60 credits of your college courses, you have only 18 grade points to lose. Since you have already lost 18.8 grade points with the C in biology and D+ in chemistry, you need to take substantially more than 60 credits of your college courses in BCPM courses (which likely requires you to major in one of these subjects) and earn A or A+ grades in all of them. Note that medical schools do not do grade replacement when you repeat courses – all grades count.
So your chances for medical school are not completely lost, but they are significantly damaged by the C in biology and D+ in chemistry.
Your C in Bio and D+ in Chem will most certainly will not go away, even if you retake the classes for a higher grade later. The AMCAS system will require you to input these classes twice, with both grades averaged in.
But as pointed out above, you still have a chance to bring your grades up. You might consider taking a semester off and then starting again fresh in the fall.
I really appreciate your comment. I am a biochemistry major so I’m assuming I will take more than 60 credits in BCPM courses throughout college. Are med schools really this calculated on GPAs or can a significant upward trend in grades, a high MCAT & substantial extracurricular service in a hospital/institution/lab make up for two bad grades my first semester of college? Would I also get the opportunity to explain what happened to cause these two grades or will they completely disregard me?
No, but ….
You have to retake the Chem course as most med schools require one to pass premed reqs as an admission req and any grade below a C is a not passing grade in the eyes of (most/all?) med schools. A Chem retake grade of less than an A would be viewed negatively.
A consideration may be to slow down. The med school application process takes a year, meaning if one wanted to start med school in Fall 2019, one should have applied in summer 2018. So if your goal was to graduate in 4 years, then start med school, you will need to apply at end of junior year. Consider waiting to apply until after you graduate and take a gap year. This would allow you more time to repair any GPA damage as you would have senior grades added into mix. It could also help take the pressure off.
Med school GPAs get calculated primarily into two important ways. First is a cumulative GPA, or cGPA for ALL college courses taken during college/hs. A cGPA will also be calculated separately for each year. Secondly, a science GPA, or sGPA. This will include ALL bio, chem, physics, and math courses (BCPM) you’ve taken. Like a cGPA, your sGPA is separately calculated for each year and an overall sGPA is also calculated. One’s sGPA is typically considered to carry more weight. MD schools are probably looking for GPAs around 3.7. Med schools do like upward trends in GPAs.
Med schools get way more applicants than seats available. Some get 10k+ applicants to fill say 200 seats. Med school staffs are also very small. It’s common for med schools to have computers screen applicants GPAs/MCATs before any one even sets eyes on your application. If one doesn’t have GPAs//MCAT med school is looking for, you’ll get screened out and no one will ever read your explanation.
But: my concern would be that you struggled most in the core pre-med classes. By all means, re-take them, but also think about why those were the ones you struggled with.
@marsaferrari Biochemistry is a very tough major. Consider changing into an easier major. It does not matter what you major in for Medical School as long as as you have taken their pre-requisites. Consider DO schools with lower GPA requirements.
FWIW I wouldn’t retake the Bio course as even if you get an A, it would have minimal impact on your sGPA, especially considering you’re a biochem major and will have many opportunities to show med schools in UD biochem courses that you can handle science courses. And like the Chem retake, a grade of less than an A in Bio retake would be viewed negatively.
@marsaferrari You need to get straight A’s from now on if you want to keep alive your chances of medical school. This will be very difficult. You are going to need to be getting 90’s on exams where the class average is less than 50 with the other students in the class (including the ones who are getting 40’s) being very strong, hard working students.
As a dad who has been rushed off to the cardiac lab in an emergency situation (which fortunately worked out well), I will suggest that you need to focus entirely on academics. Do not skip any class for any reason ever unless you are yourself having a heart attack. Do not fall behind in any work ever.