First Semester disaster

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I am a first generation college freshman who just recieved a gpa of 2.2 and wirh a chem grad of a D. I plan being a biology major and doing pre med but now I am worried that I might not get into a medical school. Since everything is new to me I dont know what my next step should be. What are my chances on getting into medical school. Any experiences like mine would be nice to know.

2

One grade of D first semester isn’t going to shut you out. Just make sure to have an upward trend and you will still have hope.

You will need to repeat that course. Nothing short of an A should be considered acceptable when repeating a course. When you apply to medical school AMCAS will factor in all attempts into your GPA, not just the best or most recent one. Therefore, if you get an A grade for your second attempt, they will count it as a 2.5, not 4.0. Depending on your institution’s policy regarding retakes and GPA, the GPA calculated by your institution may be higher than that calculated by AMCAS.

3

First question:

Why did you get a D?
What was your first test grade? Was it bad? What did change in the way you study?
Did you read the chapters? DO the homework? Talk to the Prof? Form a study group? get a tutor?

Had you taken AP Chem? Honors Chem?

Next: Is Pre-med for you? If you are having trouble with Chem?

You are in college to learn and get a degree. Use every tool the college has to make sure you succeed.

  1. See if there is a program for first generation students. Get a mentor. Use it.

  2. Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester. Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?”

  3. If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.

  4. Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.

  5. Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.

  6. Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)

  7. If things still are not going well, get a tutor.

  8. Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
    Take Chem again…but this time

If you still are trying to do Pre-med, then consider DO schools rather than MD. They do grade replacement (like you will be doing with Chem ) where as MD schools do not.