<p>Okay, so completely screwed up my freshman year of college. After doing four years of IB in high school, I thought I'd take it easy and ended up taking it WAAY too easy. I landed on academic probation both semesters. My GPA was abysmal.</p>
<p>After doing the calculations, I believe I can still salvage my GPA. My school's retake policy states that classes taken within the first semester and/or the first 24 credits attempted can be retaken, with the new grade completely replacing the old grade when computing GPA. This semester I am retaking two classes which I bombed first semester (a C and an F), and will do my best to cram in any remaining retakes during the winter and spring terms.</p>
<p>However, I fear it may be too late. Will my terrible performance freshman year prevent me from getting into med school, even if the remaining three years are immaculate and my cumulative GPA ends up being above 3.5+?</p>
<p>Even though your college will replace the new grade with the old grade when calculating GPA, medical schools will see the grades for each and every college course you’ve taken anywhere. I’m not sure if they’ll calculate those grades back into your GPA or stick with the one that the college gives, I think it depends on the medical school. </p>
<p>You need a complete turn around. Academic probation is really bad but if you do well (lets not count on 4.0’s every semester, it won’t happen) but if you manage to get A-'s and A’s and only a minimum number of B+'s in there you definitely have a chance. Take the MCAT when you feel ready and do well on it (30+). When its time for medschool applications explain what happened and how you learned from it. I’m sure you’ll get in somewhere.</p>
<p>You can also consider D.O. schools. D.O.'s do the same job as docs and land the same residencies. D.O. schools are bit more forgiving about retakes than M.D.'s are.</p>
<p>bdm is right. DO schools replace. Allo schools don’t. Your margin of error is effectively gone. Just do the best you can and see where you are after senior year.</p>
<p>2.) Basic math: What’s your GPA now, and how many classes do you have remaining? If your GPA is a 0.5 right now, then yes, you’re pretty much out. If your GPA is a 2.9 right now, then you’ve still got a chance, albeit a slim one.</p>
<p>Thanks for revisiting the thread. In response to your questions…</p>
<p>1) Yes. Although not my first choice… I realize I might no longer have a choice.</p>
<p>2) First semester: GPA was 1.4, 9+3+2 = 14 quality points with 10 attempted credits.
Second semester: GPA was 2.3, 12+6+3 = 21 quality points with 9 attempted credits.
Cumulative GPA was around 1.842 with 19 attempted credits.</p>
<p>I’m about to begin my sophomore year. I’ve done the math, and assuming I take a couple winter term courses and load up classes during the fall/spring terms (meaning around 18 or so credits) then I can effectively raise my GPA to the 3.6-3.7 range by the end of four years. However, that is under the assumption that I get an A in every class. Of course, that might be a little optimistic… the classes that make up my major (Psych) shouldn’t be too difficult, it’s the pre-med requirements, especially the math/science components, where the trouble lies.</p>
<p>When I say 3.6-3.7, I’m talking about the GPA that AMCAS will see. If I retake the classes in which I got below an A (there are five of them, that’s a whole semester’s worth, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to fit them in during summer/winter terms), my university GPA will probably rise to about 3.9 or thereabouts. The reasons for 3.9 instead of 4.0 are: a) there is a 1-credit class which I don’t have the option of retaking, and b) two of the five classes might potentially have been taken past the 24-credit cutoff, in which case the two grades will be averaged instead of the older one being replaced.</p>
<p>I know that I am being really optimistic here, but I am definitely willing to put in the work. I just need to know if that work will pay off.</p>
<p>And in any case, if you’re willing to go for a DO school – which is wise, by the way, since it’s effectively the same thing – then the grade replacement will kick in. Just knock them out of the park over the next year and we’ll see how the math looks.</p>
<p>Basically A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1. Then multiply that by the number of credits, and you’ve got the number of quality points. Then the quality points divided by the number of credit hours attempted is equivalent to the GPA.</p>
<p>So what you’re telling me is, I’m screwed for med school? Even if I work my butt off during the remaining three years?</p>
<p>What about things I do after college? What if I land a position in Peace Corps? Will med schools look favorably on that?</p>
<p>I don’t believe that’s what I said at all. For DO schools, which are medical schools, grade replacement does kick in, effectively erasing the previous failures from your GPA. It doesn’t erase them completely, of course, but it’ll restore your GPA considerably.</p>
<p>Peace Corps is good, but it won’t make up for a massive GPA deficit. Fortunately, at a DO program, you might not have such a large deficit after all.</p>
<p>Give it a year and see how the numbers look.</p>
<p>For allopathic, you’re most likely going to have to do post-bac stuff. For DO, just retake the courses.</p>
<p>If you live in Texas, there’s a Senate bill that erases your first-try GPA (after a certain number of years), but even if you lived in the state, that would have to be a very, very last resort.</p>
<p>Will your college completely replace the grade on your transcript? (such that medical schools won’t see your bad grades at all) If so, then the op may still have a shot at M.D. schools.</p>
<p>No, the bad grade(s) are still visible, they just either don’t figure into GPA calculation at all (if the class was taken within the first 24 credits), or are otherwise averaged with the second grade.</p>
<p>The only chance I have of completely eliminating the grades would be getting them erased due to a documented medical condition… I did have pretty bad social anxiety and AvPD during freshman year, but was never diagnosed. I basically avoided and/or dropped classes that required a lot of talking and were held in bright light, which was almost all of them. Incidentally, the only course I did well in was art, where I was able to find a place in the back of the room, in a dimly-lit area, and avoid conversation with anyone but the TA. </p>
<p>IDK, I’ll talk to a psychiatrist and see what they say…</p>