<p>I am a current first year at UCSD, and I just declared my major to Environmental Systems/Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution. Basically, environmental science with an emphasis of biology.</p>
<p>I am thinking of med school, but I'm not doing so well my freshmen year... We are currently in our 2nd quarter, spring quarter</p>
<p>1ST QUARTER
BILD 3 (Gen. Bio): C
CHEM 6A (Gen. Chem): B+
MATH 10A: A-
KOREAN 1: A
DOC 1 (Writing Class): B-</p>
<p>2ND QUARTER (what I think I'll get...)
BILD 1 (Gen. Bio cont.): C
CHEM 6B (Gen. Chem cont.): A
MATH 10B: A
THEATRE 1: A
DOC 2 (Writing Class): A</p>
<p>My current overall GPA (so 1st quarter only) is 3.18...Just the two Cs (the first one last quarter and the one I'm expecting this quarter) has just messed me up really badly...</p>
<p>But, are these grades really bad so far? I mean, I know, they're horrible, but will it affect my chances a lot in applying med school? And also, I'm doing A LOT of extracurriculars on the side (research at a hospital, working, student government, clubs, church activities), but I'm just so frustrated at the moment... </p>
<p>Just keep in mind that GPA is much, much, much…MORE important than EC’s. If you cannot keep up, drop some EC’s. Academics will get harder. Higher levels of Bio that are not pre-reqs but strongly advised for MCAT are very challenging. Your first year looks like relatively easy classes. Your goal from now on is perfect 4.0. Keep in mind that many applicants will have overall 4.0 or very close to that. Unless you are URM (from what I see, you are not, most likely you are ORM), they will be ahead of you in admission process. I have no intention to scare you or depress you. Just make reasonable adjustments to your schedule with more time for academics. I woud keep Research and job and seriously reconsider the rest.</p>
<p>It is still early in your college career. I would say that you still have some hope (though not in a very good shape.)</p>
<p>It is often the case that premeds have the lowest GPA in the first, say, 1.5 years. If your GPA is not good enough, you may want to take a gap year so that the 4th year GPA will be included.</p>
<p>
The dean of a top-25 med school once told the freshmen at a college: Do not involve too much in ECs in the first year or so unless you are very sure that your academic capability is well above the average of the pool of premeds at your school (say, your SAT is 2350 and with more than 10 AP 5s and you do not go to a top 10 college where a majority of premeds from a competitive public high schools have these credentials … In DS’s suite freshman year, every kid had been ranked 1st or 2nd when graduated from their high school. One rank-one kid from a slightly less competitive high school was even struggling in many classes (more Bs than As) - both in some prereq classes and in some core education classes. He probably only had 5 AP 5s unlike others who had like 10 AP 5s.)</p>
<p>As DS’s music teacher once said: Anybody with a pulse can volunteer as many hours as he wants but not anybody can win a competition at the state level. It is the academic accomplishment that makes or breaks your premed career, especially in the early college years.</p>
<p>Another anecdotal example, a few years ago, a student who had got into ucsf told me that her ECs were still quite weak when she was a sophomore – reason? She went to a very competitive colllege (Cal) and majored in a competitive major (which is evidenced by the fact that she scored 15s (or 15 and 14?) on two science-related sections in MCAT.) When you went to a very competive college (depending on your academic preparation in high school), your strategy needs to be different.</p>
<p>Sometimes I feel that a student had better go a a college where (s)he is among the top 10-15 percents of the premed pool there, so that (s)he may have some “breathing room” to do ECs on the side which (s)he has to do sometime in college (not necessarilty starting from the first semester/quarter though.)</p>
<p>
Be prepared to apply to med schools out of California if you are an ORM. There are so many ORM applicants in California such that a slight blemish (e.g., lower GPA) in your application could ruin your chance for any med school in that state. I know of an applicant from an ivy with 3.95/40 who barely got into a single UC medical school because he only had 2-3 research experience but no puplication. (Maybe too academic/nerdy but unable to demonstrate his “big heart” aspect of application.)</p>
<p>ECs will not overcome a lowish GPA since many med schools use filters to do a first round of elimination…and one of those filters is GPA. So, you could have amazing ECs, but you could be eliminated right off the bat because of GPA.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP, mcat2, and mom2collegekids-thanks so much for your advice/input! Yes, I am definitely cutting many of my ECs this coming quarter and next year. I really need to focus, and with two Cs already, I know I have to work my butt off this next quarter! </p>
<p>As for ECs, the only reason I did so many was because I was never social in high school and really wanted to change that when I entered college-away from home, a fresh start. But now that I know my limits, I intend to only the most important ones, the ones I truly enjoy and will benefit me, and keep to my studies intently! </p>
<p>And, sorry, it’s because I’m still a first-year, but what is ORM and URM? And what is a DS? And is it any different if I try to apply to a medical school outside the country? I am particularly interested in South Korea and Spain at the moment. Is it harder for a student to get accepted into a foreign medical school?</p>
<p>But, thanks so much! Really really appreciate it!</p>
<p>It’s not particularly difficult for a US student to get accepted into a foreign medical school. There are a number of countries that have med schools with instruction in English. US students can enter a foreign medical school either after undergraduate or directly from high school.</p>
<p>The difficulty is not getting accepted or earning the degree (which is usually not a MD–that’s primarily a US and Canadian degree), but in returning to US and getting a US medical residency. You cannot practice in medicine in the US without passing the USMLE exams and being trained in US medical residency program. Foreign medical graduates (FMG)–US residents who study medicine abroad-- are the last to be placed during residency match. All US med school grads get placed first. Currently less than 1/3 of FMGs are placed into residencies and most of those placements are in undesirable locations and non-competitive specialties. The number of slots available to FMGs will be decreasing as the 14 new US med schools come online over the next 5-8 years.</p>
<p>~~~~~</p>
<p>DS= dear son DD= dear daughter</p>
<p>ORM = over-represented minorities (Asians)
URM = under-represented minorities (African American and Native American)</p>
<h1>You guys seem to offer good advice, so I’d like to ask: should I take 4 classes or do med schools prefer a more rigorous schedule of 5 classes?</h1>
<p>Mango…I don’t think it’s the number of classes, I think it’s the overall load. A student could take four 4-credit classes and that’s a nice full load of 16 credits (semester-wise). I think as long as you’re taking about 15/16 credits each semester, you’d be fine.</p>
<p>=====</p>
<p>Lucky charms…you may need to take some additional BCMP classes to dilute those C’s in your science GPA.</p>
<p>Mango,
It is not how many classes but how many credtis and combo of them. D. was OK with 18 - 19 credits / semester in first 2 years, but she made sure not to take more than 2 very challenging classes with the balance of easy classes. Again, what is challenging and waht is easy is different from person to person. Keep in mind that if you want to be done in 4 years, you will be preping for MCAT in some part of your junior year and going to interviews in senior year. So, last 2 years need to be around 16 credits / semester, no more than 17. But again, it depends how many EC’s you will have during schools year. This is based on my D’s experience. She was done in 4 years, no summer classes, Music minor and practically all EC’s done during schools year, except for few volunteering positions, her summers were R&R with her HS friends. Do not overload, you are a not super-human, eerybody need a break to be more productive when required. D. had to decline few awesome opportunities, academics has always been the most important in her life. It also depends how busy your life was in HS and how much you are used to be on schedule every day before you go to bed. Time organization is key. If one was used to go over test material or other assignement in his head during sport practice, he will do the same walking from class to class or doing something else at college. Not everybody is used to this kind of life. Evaluate what you personally can and cannot do, do not look at others too much, adjust their advice to your own personality / habits, improve your habits if needed.</p>
<p>Thank you MiamiDAP your reply was very helpful. I like to be involved in a lot of EC’s so I’ll have to keep that in mind when choosing my schedule. I think that first semester I’m going to start off with general biology and chemistry plus labs as my more difficult classes (just because I need to really absorb all the information and get As) and then take 2 or 3 easier classes such as English or psychology or history. Does this sound like a smooth transition to college? I don’t want to be overwhelmed and fail.</p>
<p>Many are taking Bio and Gen Chem. first semester, sounds good. English was very easy, but time consuming, too many novels to read, D. is not a big reader (but she is strong and fast writer), but you might enjoy them. Get a feel fo your academics time commitment before you plunge into EC’s. It will be very different from HS.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, what are BCMP classes? and should i take some other gen ed classes to try to bump up my gpa? how are environmental science classes compared to chem and bio? as this is my major, i’m hoping these classes might help bump up my science gpa!</p>
<p>thanks everybody for the input! really appreciate it!</p>
<p>BCMP is your science GPA that includes biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics.</p>
<p>This GPA is as important as your overall GPA (very important).</p>
<p>So basically, taking any classes offered in these departments will boost that GPA. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a general class, it can be any class offered by the biology department, Chrmistry department, etc.</p>
<p>So yes you can take more classes to dilute those C’s.</p>
<p>Many are taking upper Bio classes since the material is in Bio section of MCAT. The first Bio class is useless for MCAT, but it is needed as foundation for other classes and it is Med. School requirment. I can hardly believe that taking upper Bio will help with GPA though as OP has indicated C in Bio in first semesters. However, if you cannot master this type of material than as a warning, Med. School is all this type of material except it is many times harder even for those who had awesome college GPA.
So, to test yourself and to prep. for MCAT I woudl recommend taking several upper Bio classes, like genetics, cell Bio, physiology, anatomy…</p>