<p>I really need some advice here. I left high school with a 3.8 GPA and excelled in every science class with a desire to become a doctor. I reached college and in my first year ended up with a 2.4 GPA...major shock to me. But I didn't study, didn't put in effort, and let myself get involved in a serious relationship which kept me from focusing.</p>
<p>I'm now considering transferring back to the university that I originally started at. I have a 3.3 GPA after two years and after the first year completely ditched medical school. Have been jumping around on all these different majors and nothing feels right. </p>
<p>I am realizing more and more that I really do want to be a doctor and have the potential...but is it possible? Will I be considered with graduating in 5 years? If I retake Orgo I and replace the D ( :( ) on my transcript, will I be considered? I just hope I haven't killed my chances completely...</p>
<p>Unfortunately, your grades, and original ones are included even with retakes are heavily counted especially in the sciences pertinent to med school requirements when it comes to med school. You may well have killed your chances. You can talk to advisors at your school and ask what your chances are with what you have right now. I don’t think it looks good at all.</p>
<p>You can look at other health care fields, perhaps take advanced courses as you go into that area and then segue in that way. I’ve known folks who have done that. I did that with law school and it worked, but we are talking about spending 5-10 years getting expertise and further education in a parallel field, excelling in it and then moving over. Not a quick fix.</p>
<p>The upward trend is nice, and it’s great that you have improved your GPA so much in just a year. As far as orgo goes, the D will be included along with the grade you get from retaking it in your AMCAS GPA, regardless of your school’s policy for retaking grades. You’ll have to retake it as I can’t think of a single medical school that accepts a D as passing a prereq class, and I can’t think of a single medical school that doesn’t require orgo.</p>
<p>It doesn’t look good. But that doesn’t mean no one has ever succeeded going to medical school with credentials and a beginning like yours. You say you feel called to medicine and believe you have potential for the field–that’s great–but I think you should definitely explore the field more. Prove to yourself and others that this is the field for you by getting involved with it–shadowing, volunteering, research, etc etc etc. Note that before you delve into the extracurricular side of medicine, it would behoove you to get your grades in order. Or at least, start slow and with limited commitment so you can easily make your grades your priority. Your grades have to be good enough to get your foot in the door–no point (other than the very important one of it being personally rewarding) in doing all the other stuff if your grades preclude you from interviews. From a strictly practical perspective, there are thousands upon thousands of applicants to medical schools; fewer than half of them will be accepted to any single medical school; and your chances of acceptance increase drastically as your grades improve. </p>
<p>If I were in your shoes: focus on school. Sprinkle in some relevant activities. Re-assess regularly.</p>
<p>DO schools actually do allow grade replacement so keep that in mind.</p>
<p>
Before you read any further - I am just a parent of an applicant in this cycle, with no first hand experience of applying to medical schools. If you are still reading - I just don’t see (I am ignoring the D in Orgo) why a GPA of 3.3 at the end of sophomore year, is so terrible that you have to give up. I occasionally read the “low GPA” threads on SDN. When they say low GPA, they are talking <3.0. Infact, if somebody with >= 3.3 GPA characterizes him/herself as a low GPA applicant, they get offended.</p>
<p>If you repeat that Orgo class, pull up your sGPA roughly on par with oGPA, do well in your MCAT and get involved in some ECs, I don’t see why you won’t get in somewhere. Granted, that’s a long list of qualifiers, but that’s the whole point. You still haven’t explored all the things you need to have to get into med schools. Don’t give on the medical profession for a second time without giving it your best shot. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies, I appreciate the advice. I will continue with my current major and do the premed prereqs as well. My university has a minor called Health Professions that is basically just all the preqs. I don’t want to regret not at least trying this. I really feel this is what I’m meant to do. I know I can do well in orgo and anything else I take…just need the composure and work ethic.</p>
<p>Something else…will it hurt me that I may graduate in 5 years rather than 4? </p>
<p>For pre-reqs are there any classes that need to be completed at the time of application for med school? Or can some be in progress?</p>
<p>For pre-reqs–you need to be finished with bio, gen chem, ochem and physics to be able to take (and do well on) the MCAT. If you wil taking the MCAT in 2015 or later, you wil also need stats, biochem, psych and sociology as well.</p>
<p>In general, med schools will not interview you if you have your major pre-reqs (bio, all chem classes, physics) pending.</p>
<p>I don’t have any hard data to back this up but I think it’s better if you graduate in 4 and then apply during a gap year than graduate in 5 with no gap. The closest thing I have to data on this is that at my school I can’t think of anyone who did a 5 year bachelors but there are LOTS of people with gap years.</p>
<p>What are one’s chances if you get a Masters in a different field…is it still possible to apply to medical school?</p>
<p>Yes it’s still possible…but why would you get a masters in an unrelated field? I know your answer is probably to boost your GPA but that won’t be an acceptable answer to med schools.</p>
<p>It’s unclear to me what the OP’s actual GPA is. A 3.3 at the end of sophomore year is bad but not catastrophic. But the original post is a little fuzzy.</p>
<p>Do you mean that you: got a 3.3 GPA in two years, transferred, got a 2.4 GPA in one year, and are considering transferring BACK?</p>
<p>So after my first year I had a 2.4 GPA. Then worked my ass off the next year and after my second semester now I have a 3.3. My first semester was at a 4 year…then I transferred to a CC and have been there for 3 semesters. Now I am transferring to a 4 year…I actually misspoke (was really sleep), it’s not the same 4 year though.</p>
<p>I was just contemplating the Masters but probably wouldn’t do it.</p>
<p>My chances for a DO school?</p>
<p>^^Too soon to tell. Depends on your MCAT.</p>
<p>In order to get a 2.4 as a freshman and then a 3.3 overall at the end of sophomore year, you would have had to achieve a 4.0 as a sophomore AND taken more credits as a sophomore than you did as a freshman, although not that many more. I just wanted to double check that you’ve gotten straight A’s at your CC.</p>
<p>But yes, it depends heavily on your junior/senior year grades as well as your MCAT score.</p>
<p>Yes, in my first year I made a 2.4 on 24 credit hours. Second year I made a 4.0 on 37 credit hours. </p>
<p>I’m transferring in to a Chemical Engineering program w/ bioengineering minor and am told I will need 3 years to graduate from this point.</p>
<p>Do med schools care if you have an excessive amount of credit hours? I have earned about 55 hours right now and need 113 for my major from here which will take me 3 years including summer classes. That’ll be like 50 hours over the typical 120 hr bachelors…I guess it can really help my GPA if I did well.</p>
<p>No they don’t care unless it appears you’re doing so solely for the sake of raising your undergrad GPA. (That’s called ‘gaming the system’. People do it, but it doesn’t thrill the hearts of adcomms everywhere.)</p>
<p>Students in certain majors (neuroscience and other interdisciplinary majors, engineering) and double/triple majors often graduate with a larger than typical number of credits.</p>
<p>Be aware that more credits you have the harder it is to change your GPA. Up or down. Law of diminishing returns.</p>
<p>I just wanted to come back to this thread and thank everyone for the kind words and help. This is the thread that started it all again for me. I’m back on the pre-med track with a science major and am loving all my classes and excelling. I’m taking it semester by semester but I have 2 years to fix up my GPA even more and am yet to take the MCAT.</p>
<p>I appreciate the encouragement in helping me take this leap of faith!</p>