<p>I am a potential pre-med at Vanderbilt and I have gotten off to a rough start. I estimate that my first semester GPA will be between a 2.5 to 2.8. But some things to consider are that I took a very tough course load of 15 credits (macroeconomics, accelerated calculus II, biology sciences, general chemistry, and the complementary labs for chem and bio), I worked seven hours per week, and I was involved in extracurricular activities for roughly four hours per week. I am very disappointed in my performance. The main reason is that I managed my time very poorly, and it seemed that when I wasn't working or doing extracurricular activities, I was ALWAYS studying, and even then I couldn't get everything done. Does this ruin my chances of getting into the very top medical/graduate schools, or even disqualify me?</p>
<p>Bluntly? Yea, it does. </p>
<p>The top medical schools, on average, admit 1-5% of their applicants. These applicants have, on average, upwards of 3.7s, not to mention hordes of extracurricular activies. Don't feel bummed out though, as many "pre-meds", well, aren't.</p>
<p>You have plenty of time to bring up your GPA. </p>
<p>And now that you have a better idea of what your capacity for academic work is, you can spread out the time-consuming courses so you don't get into "crunch" situations. (As you now know, never take two lab courses in a single semester.) </p>
<p>You want to lay things out so that you have at least one course each semester where you can get an A (A+ if your school awards a 4.3 for that grade) while still leaving enough time to get A or A- on everything else. </p>
<p>Put together a spreadsheet with everything you'll be taking from here on out - that way you can track your grades accurately and know far enough in advance to do something it if you get into a time vs. grade crunch.</p>
<p>Finally, consider taking courses in the summer to bring up your overall GPA from your first semester slip up. Two A's in each of two summers will bring you up to 3.4, and of course you'll be on top of things in the regular Spring/Fall now...</p>
<p>It can be done.</p>
<p>You are fine if you work hard to bring up your GPA. My GPA for my first semester in college was 3.00, now I am about to graduate and it is 3.86. Learn from your mistakes of your first semester. Also, rather than memorizing facts and trying to put everything together, make sure you really learn and understand the material first before you start memorizing trivial facts. Have a passion and interest in whatever you're studying, whether it's economics, calculus, or the life sciences.</p>