Freshman Year Pre-Med, did terrible, do I still have a chance?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hey so this is my first time posting on CC simply because I am completely down and don’t know what to do with myself.

I go to a top 14 (US News Rankings) institution as a premed. However, once I have gotten to college, absolutely nothing has gone right for me. I have always had really high aspirations for top 40 type medical schools but here are my grades that I have gotten in freshman year:

1st sem:
Sociology - B-
Writing - B
Calc 1 - B-
Chem - C-

2nd sem:
Calc 2: D-
Programming: C-
Physics 1: C (estimate)
Chem 2: B (estimate)

I have good EC’s and research so far.

My gpa I think will come out to around 2.3 or 2.4 by the end of this year. First semester I had a very rough transition to this school, which is over 12 hours from my home and I simply couldn’t find the maturity and independence needed to succeed in this type of competitive atmosphere. I went home over winter break and talked to my parents about the situation and felt like I could come back and suddenly fix everything, so I overloaded on 5 STEM classes. Needless to say, that was a completely terrible decision, as I have studied and studied and studied and still haven’t been able to do well in any of my classes. I don’t understand this, because I study more than almost everybody I have seen here, yet they all still manage to do better than me in everything.

This has taken an immense toll on me mentally, as all I have ever wanted to do is go to a good medical school and become a doctor, however I really don’t think I can see that happening anymore after how much I have messed up my undergraduate career. At this point, I am just really depressed and don’t feel like I am worth all the money that my parents have been paying. I feel like I have completely and utterly let them down and I don’t know how I can fix that.

Looking towards the future, I am planning on going biomed engineering and continuing to take premed classes at least for the next semester to see if I can do better. (I am choosing this route because if I have another terrible semester, then at least I will be able to get an engineering degree and have a good job. It is also one of the only majors that requires a lot of credit hours that would help pull my gpa) However, my chances of med school look bleak, as my calculations show me that I would basically need all A’s/A-'s for the rest of my undergraduate career to pull to a 3.6/3.7, which I really can’t see happening at the state I am in right now. I used to have some confidence in my abilities, but I feel no self respect anymore, I think I am just the biggest loser here.

I am just looking for advice at this point on what I can do to fix my situation, and whether I still have any chance of a good medical school. I am an Asian male so I definitely don’t have that going for me either, especially since there are so many that are completely perfect up to this point.

I am taking two stem classes at my home institute, which is a very good public school, over the summer, hoping that I can learn effective ways to do well in classes and try to carry that over to next year. My only glimmer of hope is that this works and I am able to raise my grades, however after studying this much and still doing terribly, I just don’t know anymore.

All that I do know is that I want to go to a good medical school and I am willing to do what it takes if that is still possible.

2

Unless you have a complete turn around next semester I can’t comment your prospect to get into a med school (md or do). The trend you are heading I am not sure if PA is possible.

The best advice I can give you is to have a plan B or C. Otoh, pres bush was at the bottom of the class from Yale, I guess any thing can happen even to a complete academic failure. It is not the end of the world if you cannot go to a med school.

3

“overloaded with 5 STEM classes” - only saw 4 classes listed for 2nd sem, what class did you drop?

Did you talk to your college pre-med advisor with your class list? How did you do in AP science classes/SAT2 subject tests (ie, how strong is your STEM background)?

4

Med schools break down GPAs in different ways. One way is by looking at science courses taken, specifically bio, chem, physics, math (BCPM) courses, and then calculating a science GPA, or sGPA by year and cumulatively. I plugged your 5 science course earned/estimated grades into a GPA calculator. Assuming science courses were/are 4 unit courses, your sGPA will be 2.08 at the end of the year. Not counting any retakes of courses, I then assumed you would take two science courses each semester in the next 3 years and used a grade of A for each course. Your sGPA would rise to 3.13. Assuming the two summer courses you’re planning are taking are 4 unit BCPM courses and you get As, your sGPA would rise to 3.26. Although med schools would see and like your upward trend, a 3.13 (or 3.26) sGPA would not be competitive for med schools. Take a look below at sGPAs for recent applicants/matriculants. What do you think about your chances? (I don’t need an answer). I’m not saying impossible, but you would have a lot of ifs (eg if I got straight As, if I got a monster MCAT, if…….) in front of you. Good luck.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/factstablea16.pdf

5

Always doubt the point of majoring in Biomed engineering as a plan B for pre-med - one will get hit twice in grades/GPA (1) engineering course rigor (2) pre-med course competitiveness. As others said before, BME major needs a master degree to find a job. Personally I’d think take some programming courses and get some summer IT internship will be a much better plan B for an IT job if pre-med is not working out.

Key to pre-med success - never take more than 2 pre-med science courses (with lab) at the same time. Your pre-med advisor should tell you that if you consult them with your class list (or they don’t … if that’s part of their weeding secret).

6

Biomed engineering is not the solution.

Retake Calculus 2 and Physics 1 over the summer at a nearby 4-year college. Aim for A’s.
If the nearby college offers a CS class during ANOTHER session, take it and see if you can get an A.

In the Fall, take:
Statistics, Economics, Physics 2, Biology 1. That’s it. With the labs, it’ll keep you plenty busy (likely to be 14 credits).
You may add one Physical Education class to relieve stress and stay in shape.
That’s it.
If you can get A’s in all of these, persist in premed, aiming for DO schools (you’ll still be a physicien) and apply only during senior year so that your early grades can be diluted.
If not, then you’ll need to switch.
If you got an A in CS over the summer, think of switching to CS.
If you got an A in Economics, think of switch to Economics.

7

There are other drastic measures you can do, if you want to stay on the premed track.

One way of thinking is that the Top University you are attending is too hard for you. It was a mistake. You may transfer to a local or lower ranking 4 year U to complete your degree and make sure you get all As in that school. So the math is:
30 x 2.4+100 x4.0 /130 =3.6(this should be rounded to 3.5 to leave rooms for few A- and B+), you still can get into a DO school with 505-510 MCAT. Pick an easier subject that you are good at, ie, Economics, but do real well in medical school pre-reqs.

Second way of thinking is do what @MYOS1634 recommended, grit your teeth to stay on with the current U and execute plan B if the gpa is not med school worthy in the next semester. One thing it can be sure is that CS program in top schools are very difficult to transfer into with your first year performance. And Calc II is not that easy to get an A in the summer, no matter where you go.

Third way is kind of very remote. That is 5 years or more after you graduate and have been working for a while but still want to pursue medicine, you can do all the pre-reqs again in a post bacc and re-apply as a non-trad with a good grade and MCAT. Read up in sdn and see how did they do it.

8

<<<
Hey so this is my first time posting on CC simply because I am completely down and don’t know what to do with myself.

I go to a top 14 (US News Rankings) institution as a premed. However, once I have gotten to college, absolutely nothing has gone right for me. I have always had really high aspirations for top 40 type medical schools but here are my grades that I have gotten in freshman year:

1st sem:
Sociology - B-
Writing - B
Calc 1 - B-
Chem - C-

2nd sem:
Calc 2: D-
Programming: C-
Physics 1: C (estimate)
Chem 2: B (estimate)

I have good EC’s and research so far.

My gpa I think will come out to around 2.3 or 2.4 by the end of this year. First semester I had a very rough transition to this school, which is over 12 hours from my home and I simply couldn’t find the maturity and independence needed to succeed in this type of competitive atmosphere. I went home over winter break and talked to my parents about the situation and felt like I could come back and suddenly fix everything, so I overloaded on 5 STEM classes. Needless to say, that was a completely terrible decision, as I have studied and studied and studied and still haven’t been able to do well in any of my classes. I don’t understand this, because I study more than almost everybody I have seen here, yet they all still manage to do better than me in everything.

want to go to a good medical school and I am willing to do what it takes if that is still possible.


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This is what often happens when premeds think they need to go to a tippy-top school, and they think they need to go to a top med school. Their classmates are all tippy-top students, and the weeding is going to be tough.

I am so sorry that you’re in this situation. A year ago, some of us would have warned you that this could happen. Likely if you’d gone to your state school, your GPA would not be in such a sad state.

IF YOU STILL REALLY WANT TO GO TO MED SCHOOL…

I wouldn’t go back to that school. You’re going to end up with a GPA that will never be med school worthy.

I think you should transfer to a good school, but one where you can shine. What is your home state?

You may even need a gap year. You need to put space between those bad grades and future top grades.

Are you getting fabulous aid at this school or are your parents paying?

If leaving isn’t an option, then execute Plan B because I don’t see how you can get a med school worthy GPA at THAT school in an eng’g discipline.

9

I certainly hope that the younger future premeds who are reading this forum, take heed.

Being premed (if absolutely serious about this career path) does NOT mean going to college where competition will be the toughest and where you’re more likely going to end up with a GPA that isn’t med school worthy!

We keep seeing posts from premeds insisting that they want to go to schools with the most rigor, the most challenging curriculum, and where they’ll be surrounded by the cream of the crop students.

What the heck?

Imagine that there are 10 races that you can choose to run in. The fastest 5 runners of each race will get into med school. Why would you choose to race in the ones with the Olympic athletes?

Why not choose to run in the race where there are very good athletic runners, but where most are probably not faster than you. At least then you’d have a better chance of being one of the top 5 in your race. Right?

And, good heavens, forget about focusing on any particular med school. All US med schools are excellent. Do well at one of them, and you’ll get a great residency.

10

Attending a tippy-top undergrad for pre-med may not be the end of world, as long as the students and their parents realize the danger they’re facing and plan accordingly. Unless you’re the 0.001% science genius, you should start your freshman year slowly and carefully, test the water by taking 1 or 2 pre-med science classes to see how you perform, never overload with more than 2 pre-med science classes (with lab) at same time, don’t choose the hardest major (like MIT engineering or Princeton Physics) as your Plan B… you might still have the chance to achieve med school worthy (3.5+) GPA. Of course, 3.9+ GPA is best achieved in lesser schools.

11

<<<
Attending a tippy-top undergrad for pre-med may not be the end of world,
<<<<

Of course not; certainly a good number survive and are admitted. But people need to realize that tippy-top schools WEED just like everyone else. THEY, too, have toooooo many frosh premeds…and they need to get a bunch to move on…even though they all have fabulous stats and could super-shine at another school. There’s the rub.

12

It isn’t too late like others have said, but from here on out you HAVE to perform extremely well. You cannot afford to have any low grades. I agree with mom2collegekids. Just because you’re at a Top #15 school doesn’t mean you HAVE to stay there to get into medical school. Most of the larger institutions, especially Top 20 schools are going to weed you out throughout pre-medical classes. Have you considered a LAC or state school near you? My oldest brother who went to medical school HATED his first university. He transferred after one year from his great Top 20 school and moved to a LAC a few hours away from us and loved it. He said the nurturing environment and how the professors weren’t trying to weed you out helped. Also being with the best of the best is tough. You are a small fish in a big pond again, regardless if you were at the top of your high school class. I suggest you re-evaluate your school choice and also seriously think about if you believe you can turn these bad grades around and perform spectacular from here on out.

13

@MYOS1634 may had a typo, med school won’t take any grades below C-, so you need to retake Cacl II and Chem I, assuming Phy I you got a C as projected. In the retake, if you have anything less than an A, the game probably is over. So think about if you want to stay on premed.

14

@mom2collegekids said “I wouldn’t go back to that school. You’re going to end up with a GPA that will never be med school worthy…You may even need a gap year. You need to put space between those bad grades and future top grades.”

I agree. It seems very likely that you are not going to get pre-med grades at your current school. How did your high school GPA and SAT scores compare with the averages for incoming students at your current university?

15

My daughter will be graduating in a year with a bme degree and has completed her premed requirements. I don’t recommend it for you. I don’t think transferring to the engineering school will be an option for you given your current grades. You may want to consider transferring to another school that is a better match for you and think of a plan b. There are many other options in the healthcare field aside from med school.

16

I think going to a college that has a lesser-known med school might help. Something like University of South Alabama…a very good med school, but not well-known.

Go somewhere that as an undergrad, you can shine, and perhaps you can become “known” to the campus med school. Someplace where the premed advisors might have some influence. I mentioned South because I do think that undergrad has some influence on its med school.

I’m thinking something like this… Take a gap year. During that time do some medically-related ECs, re-read/study the text books in the classes you did poorly. Get yourself up to speed. And then retake the bad grade classes.

You may have wanted a tippy top med school, but that’s probably totally off the table, but that’s not end of a dream. Pull yourself together with a good plan to move forward.