<p>My freshman year has been really rough. Three deaths in the family: aunt, uncle, and grandfather. It's been really hard to cope with and my grades have suffered because of it. I got a C- in PreCalc, a C+ in Calc and a C+ in Gen Chem 1. I feel so devastated and I know that I know Chem well. So far my GPA is an embarassing 2.61. Do I have time to redeem myself or am I pretty much doomed?</p>
<p>I am sorry to hear you had such a difficult year and I am sorry for your losses.</p>
<p>You are not doomed, but you have put yourself in a very bad place and it may prove extremely difficult to improve your GPA enough to be competitive for medical school.</p>
<p>You cannot have another C in any science or math class. Another C will be fatal. In fact, even Bs may be fatal to your aspirations. </p>
<p>You need to spend some time this summer and figure out why you had such a difficult time with your science and math classes. Was it just the distraction of grief? Or were there other reasons why you did so poorly? Bad study habits? Poor preparation? Difficulty grasping concepts? Difficulty applying concepts?</p>
<p>If you can figure out why, then you can take steps to improve your performance next year.</p>
<p>You are 4 feet down a 6 foot hole with that 2.61. Don’t go any deeper. Must have been a number of non-A’s in there, too, along with the C’s mentioned. 3 C’s are forgivable if you are making A’s and A-'s in almost everything else. (If you had been making A’s, your GPA would have been around a 3.35, even with the 3 C’s assuming a 32 hour freshman year).</p>
<p>Competitive med school applicants make A’s and A-'s with regularity. </p>
<p>At this point you are in gap year territory. IOW, you’ll need your senior year grades to help pull up your freshman grades. </p>
<p>The bigger point is you need to re-focus and learn to cope when horrible things happen. Bad things are likely to happen at other points in your life and you will have to learn to compartmentalize. If you need to take a break before starting back to get your feet back under you, do it. You can’t risk another poor showing. All 3 of those C’s will go into your BMCP (whatever the acronym is, I can’t ever seem to remember). </p>
<p>Assuming for argument sake that you have two straight years of 4.0. That’s gets your cumulative to a 3.5. With a perfect 4.0 every course, every semester. That makes you a below average applicant with an upward trend. After 3 straight years of 4.0? A 3.65 is as high as it will be. </p>
<p>To be realistic, it’s unlikely to be that …but do what you can (it will help you no matter what you do) and senior year, make your call as to whether or not you’d be a competitive applicant to a US allopathic medical school. </p>
<p>But right now, I’d say you have a hard row to hoe. Can you do it? All you can do is try your hardest. Good luck. People have done it. Will it be you? You are in more control of that than anybody else is.</p>
<p>Check this calc
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1145919-screw-up-freshman-year-gpa-any-chance-medical-school.html#2[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1145919-screw-up-freshman-year-gpa-any-chance-medical-school.html#2</a></p>
<p>With 2.85 in Frosh and perfect the rest, the gpa is just barely accepatable. another strategy is plan on 5-yr BS degree. The last two years can push up your gpa well. but either way, you will be at a better place when you graduate. You will be a competitive grad school applicant at the very least.</p>
<p>I understand. I will try my best to achieve 4.0 each semester. In order to increase my science GPA, it is advisable that I take more science classes after my pre-reqs to help my GPA? I’m very scared.</p>
<p>I have another question: What is the average GPA for a premedical student?</p>
<p>Your sGPA is crucial. Right now your sGPA is a very low 2.1. Even if you get all As in the rest of pre reqs, your sGPA will still be low (around 3.2) for med school. You will need to have at least 3 or more additional science/math courses with As to raise it to be in the 3.5 range–which is minimum needed to even hope to be successful in medical school admissions.</p>
<p>According to 2010 AMCAS data, the average matriculant (those who were accepted) had a GPA 3.66. The average accepted GPA has been rising steadily over the past 5 years. I don’t see any reason to think that trend will reverse itself anytime soon.</p>