Hi, so I’m a college freshmen and I’ve just finished my first semester of college at the University of Texas at Austin. I’m undeclared major right now, but I have a few majors in mind.
Anywhoo, I had a really bad first semester
General history B
Pre calc D
Philosophy D
Biology 2 D
It’d a low GPA I know, but at this point, is pre med even a chance? One of the majors i’m thinking of is economics, and sometimes the idea of dropping pre med and going with eco is very appealing to me. Any insight?
At this point…you need to figure out WHY your grades landed you on academic probation. Get that resolved.
Certainly, you can and probably will get a college degree. Concentrate less on your major and concentrate more on what you need to do to get higher grades. Do you need tutorial services? Get them. Do you need to go to office hours? Go. Do you have difficulty with time management? Get help. Is the content too hard? Get help.
You say you have “diagnosed your issues”. But that’s not as important as having a plan for fixing those issues.
Things are not all lost. You’ve only completed 1 semester out of 4 years worth of classes. Lets hypothetically assume you’ve fixed things and will get a 4.0 for each semester of college going forward. This would leave you with a graduation GPA of about 3.7.
So all is not lost. Main goal for you is to figure out what happened. Fix the problem, and show that you can recover from poor freshman mistakes.
Hey, I’m ask again offer more info since my last Q didn’t get many answers
To start: I’m an undeclared student at the U of Texas at Austin. I’ve just completed my first semester of college and I’m on winter break as I’m typing this. I’m officially pre med rn, but I did bad this semester. I have a 1.6 cumulative GPA
My schedule this pass semester
Philosophy C-
Pre calc D+
History C
Intro to Bio 2 C-
I Q dropped my chem class earlier because I wasn’t gonna pass it 2 exams in
I feel so dumb, but I don’t discuss why I did so bad, I’ve already diagnosed the issues.
But at this point; I’ve kinda lost all hope for medical school. I’ve been thinking economics transfer for a great time this semester and I been planning out how I could do the needed pre reqs for transfer. Obvs, the GPA is an issue and i’m for sure gonna be put on probation. At this point; at this point I’m thinking of fixing next semester’s schedule by dropping the pre med classes and taking required core classes, but ones that are known to be GPA boosters. So, despite me wanting to go into economics; is pre med still an option? I’m feeling so sad rn, on Christmas of all days of the year, and I need some insight
From your grades, it apprears that you might have the best chances at a history major, although college history classes are a completely different animal from high school history classes.
If you are intent on continuing in pre-med and at this point I don’t think you should given your grades in math and science classes, use all the available resources at your disposal. Office hours, tutorials, the student resource center-all of them are a good place to start. Some professors post old midterms for practice on their websites. Form a study group or join one.
You are at risk of being dropped from your university because of poor grades.
Your priorities are in the wrong place. You are focusing on the wrong goal of changing majors. The business school may not accept your request to transfer majors.
I agree with everyone else who has told you to focus on improving your study habits.
You won’t remain at your university, nor be able to transfer anywhere else, with these kinds of grades and poor study habits.
Since you figured what went wrong, split a page into two columns; in the left hand column, write down each precise issue, and opposite it in the right hand column how you’re going to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Retake Precalculus. Go to tutoring EVERY day as well as office hours each week. It may feel like overkill but your goal must be an A, otherwise Economics is not possible either.
I would suggest also taking English Composition(RHE 306), Macroeconomics (ECO 304L), and Am/TX Government (Gov 310 or 312 L or P). Those would be complementary, with skills or content learned in one helping for the other.
Some of your classes appear to be weed-out classes. Unfortunately it turns out you were the weed. It happens. All is not lost, though. Focus on getting your GPA back into respectable territory so you can at least preserve your enrollment. Select classes carefully. Get help from your TAs. Set an appointment with hour adviser to figure out a path forward. Good luck.
And an Economics major will need Calculus as well. Doing poorly in Trig/Precalculus does not bode well for Calculus.
Another suggestion might be for you to take a leave of absence from UT and trying to get better grades in general education classes at a community college to boost your GPA and get the units transferred over.
wrt needing calculus:
Very true, that’s why I said OP had to retake Precalculus. A D doesn’t qualify students for calculus, a C is required but… a C in precalc is not enough to do well in calc, they’d need a B or A to *take Calculus AND get the required grade to be allowed to proceed to an economics major. *
As suggested transfer to a less competitive school and get a decent GPA first. A community college may be a good place to explore easier majors in a less stressed environment. You have to get good grades in Bio,Chem, Org Chem, Physics and Cal to do well in medical school if you get admitted in the future.
