<p>Going into my first year at college, I drove into pre-medical requirements, taking both biology and inorganic chemistry as well as an english class and Calculus I. The semester blew up in my face with two Ds and a C in the hard sciences and Calculus and a B in the english class. The next semester I thought that I would be able to handle two sciences again having gained experience from the first semester in time management. I added two social sciences classes in areas that I intend to major in. Once again, the sciences destroyed my GPA with another C and a dropped class. </p>
<p>I am not planning to take any sciences this upcoming second year, instead hoping to take a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program. Suppose I bring up my general GPA as well as my scientific GPA, do I really have a chance at making the first massive cut before the interviews given my devastating first year?</p>
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Suppose I bring up my general GPA as well as my scientific GPA, do I really have a chance at making the first massive cut before the interviews given my devastating first year?
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<p>Provided you get your overall and science GPAs up in the 3.5 area, your GPAs won't disqualify you from being a serious contender for admission.</p>
<p>That being said, you need to take a serious look at why you screwed up like this. A post-bacc won't be any help if you screw that up, too. Many people end up doubling up in the sciences at some point in college, and they do it successfully. Why weren't you able to? You need to answer that question. Was it freshman inexperience with college academic standards? Too much goofing off and poor time management? Inappropriate study techniques? If you can't learn anything from your last year, I'd wonder if you'd be able to improve in the future, which is what you desperately need to get into medical school.</p>
<p>You've dug yourself quite a hole. I'm still trying to get past the fact you decided to take not only biology and calculus but orgo as well...all in the 1st semester. But yeah, shades is defs right here. You need to seriously look at what happened and maybe try asking the kids who got A's/B's what they did. Also, is it possible to retake those courses? If so, you could try to get A's and show medical schools that you just had a bad year but you know the material now.</p>
<p>Bio I, General Chemistry I, Calculus I, and some sort of Intro to English course seems like a fairly standard freshman schedule. Where did the OP say they were taking Orgo?</p>
<p>I don't think "normal" is such a narrowly defined schedule. I certainly didn't follow what you've prescribed. The OP's schedule also seems pretty normal to me.</p>
<p>To shades:
Essentially everything you listed as a reason for my poor performance was correct. I was not prepared for the intensity of collegiate academic life. This combined with inexperienced on living on my own and the development of depression led to a bad year in general. </p>
<p>In regards to your question about retaking the classes at my current college, my school has a policy where students are not allowed to repeat a specific class unless the class was failed or dropped. Thus, the biology and first semester of inorganic chemistry, despite being near failure, still count toward this barrier. </p>
<p>To jask:
I have talked to other pre-medical students about their habits. Some responses I received essentially were that they never left their rooms and always had their orgo textbooks open in front of them. The other set of responses I received were simply "This stuff is easy." </p>
<p>My question is...should I retake these sciences that I messed up royally, will these dismal grades still count toward my science GPA? Is there anything I could do to cover them aside for making 4.0s in every pre-med requirement from now on?</p>
<p>No to retake. Yes to still counting. Yes to other things: lots of them. Everything. Extracurriculars, leadership, clinical service, essays, interviews, crushing every course from here on out, taking time off after college, doing more post-bacc coursework, research, community service, academic awards, the whole shebang. Everything from here on out.</p>
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In regards to your question about retaking the classes at my current college, my school has a policy where students are not allowed to repeat a specific class unless the class was failed or dropped. Thus, the biology and first semester of inorganic chemistry, despite being near failure, still count toward this barrier.
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<p>What do you mean? I never said a single thing about retaking any course.</p>
<p>It's probably a good thing that your school doesn't allow it. As BDM explained elsewhere on this board, it's generally not a good idea to retake. However, in your case, you'll have to retake the pre-med reqs that you got a W in.</p>
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Essentially everything you listed as a reason for my poor performance was correct. I was not prepared for the intensity of collegiate academic life. This combined with inexperienced on living on my own and the development of depression led to a bad year in general.
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<p>What are you going to do about all these things? Do you have solutions for them - do you have a plan? If you don't, I'm not sure you'll do any better next year, and you really need to do better.</p>