So I took a high school dual credit course at Houston Community College (English 1301 and 1302, a semester each). I’m an incoming freshman btw.
I just checked and my grade according to Houston Community College is a 3.5 GPA and now I don’t know if I can somehow ditch this bad score.
So to me, there are a few possibilities:
I can somehow not include credit for this course in my current college and the med schools just don’t bother with it (Best case scenario)
I allow the course to transfer along with the bad grade, and as a result, have a bad freshman starting grade (Worst case scenario)
Nobody actually knows if med schools refer to all college courses someone takes, so it’ll be completely unknown to me if they consider it during the application process (???)
Any input, tips, advice, and experience would be very much appreciated. Thank you!
You will be required to submit transcripts from all college courses you took…IIRC. So this is not a possibility.
A 3.5 grade has to be either a B+ or an A-. Do you remember your course grade? One B+ or A- grade is not going to jettison your medical school chances, in my opinion. A B+ or A- is not a”bad grade”.
AMCAS, TMDSAS and AACOMAS all require that you report every grade for which you have earned college . This includes any dual enrollment classes from high school if those classes generated a college transcript. It doesn’t matter whether you transfer the credit to your undergrad college or not. It still has to be reported. All your grades for every college level course you have ever taken will be used when computing your. GPA and sGPA for medical school admission.
When your application is sent to med schools, your courses and GPA are listed by year in school, with dual enrollment classes included as part of your freshman year grades.
Adcoms see all your grades; how each individual members of the adcoms view any single grade is up to the individual. (Adcoms are not some monolithic, uniform entity. Each adcom is a collection of individuals who have their quirks, preconceptions and ideas about “key” coursework.)
I got 3.0 in one and 4.0 in the other, resulting in 3.5. While I know just looking at it it might not seem a ‘bad grade’, I just hate starting college with that under my belt. Not only that, but I also had something similar happen to me in high school where some my middle school grades ( I moved from another country ) were dragged along and tarnished my high school GPA, seems pretty poetic for it to happen again.
So…you got ONE B and you are worried this is going to make applying to medical school impossible? And you haven’t even started your four year college yet?
There are plenty of medical school students who got one B…or more than one B…and maybe even a C.
There are many aspects of a med school application that can keep you out of med school, but the one B you received is not one of them by itself. You’re stressing out about nothing at this point.
If that B motivates you in your future classes to stay on top of things and give your best effort, consider it a gift. Many students get into freshman year of college without realizing what they need to do - the new freedom is so tantalizing that studying and papers can come “later,” but later rarely means a great effort compared to doing them steadily throughout (while still enjoying some ECs - just budget time factoring in a good bit of studying). Those students can end up with a 3.5 or lower for the semester - not one course with a B.
You’re fine so far. Use it to keep your motivation on track.