<p>I'm a biochem and music double major freshman on the pre-med track at University of Virginia. I got a C in calc 2 this semester, and probably a low B in Chemistry lab. I was taking 19 credits while doing research in the med school. all my classes are the accelerated/honor classes.</p>
<p>I am not sure if I'm happy at UVA. I don't think I would have decided to go there if I can do it again. the only reason I pick UVA over Harvard (I got into Harvard) was because of the cost since I'm in state for UVA.</p>
<p>I have been thinking about transferring for a while now, it is my goal to try to transfer to Cornell, Hopkins or Harvard. Now that I got some horrible grades, is it still possible to transfer? or should I just stay and try to make the most out of UVA?</p>
<p>I don't have anything against UVA, it is one of the best schools in the world. It just doesn't feel quite right being there.</p>
<p>It will be hard to transfer to those schools with the poor grades you had in the first semester. It sounds to me like you tried to do to much and just couldn’t handle 19 credits AND research. That could have a lot to do with why you feel uncomfortable at UVA. Why don’t you give it at least a full year and cut back on your ambitious schedule. As a Biochem major and pre-med, you will have to take Organic Chemistry soon and that will be challenging. Plus, continuing in music is also a big drain on your time. Take the holiday break to think carefully about what is most important to you and focus on those activities, studies. </p>
<p>For example, research is not necessarily vital for a pre-med and having two so disparate majors makes it really tough to excel in both.</p>
<p>I will definitely see how next semester goes. As it turned out I got a 3.0 this semester with two Cs… worse than I thought…but thank you so much for answering! </p>
<p>As far as finding out what’s important, what kind of things should I focus on? In other words, how do I rule something out? I have the tendency to look at all of them as equally important tasks, which is why I couldn’t stop myself from severely overloading.</p>
<p>Taking 19 units, including labs, first sem of fr year is the definition of overloading. It’s much more important to take less credits and get better grades–short term for transferring and long term for med school admissions.</p>
<p>Ditto everything xray said about orgo, research, music and double majors. Take a look at some of the threads on the Resource sticky thread at the top of the Premed Topics forum; you definitely need to prioritize right now if you want to be competitive for med school in a few years.</p>
<p>@entomom has pointed you to some good resources. What you have to decide is whether medical school is really your top goal. If it is, then you will want to reduce the total hours you are taking and prioritize classes over research. Your research mentor will undrestand.</p>
<p>thank you all so much!
So what I have to do now is to prioritize my classes, try to get good grades next semester, and not take too many credits.
Other than these, is ther anything else I need to focus on? short term for transferring and long term for medical school? I did read through many of those posts on the pre-med threads, they are really helpful. really grateful for all the help!</p>