<p>OP: Take you time and go back to the beginning, and work on getting good grades. That’s where it all starts.</p>
<p>Lots of people are D.O.'s these days.</p>
<p>I know one of the local neurologists is one.</p>
<p>Also, I recommend taking less classes, as close to the minimum as possible to increase your focus on the core Med School Classes.</p>
<p>Have you considered becoming a nurse practitioner as an oblique route to an MD? After a few years of medicine-related work you could apply from there to med school. The job experience would give you added credibility. I’ve seen someone do this and is now an MD. Side benefit: you will retain a life-long respect for nurses and support staff.</p>
<p>Just a W, I was not failing the class, also I got an A- in a class in Fall '11, sorry.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all the information. I’m definitely going to take all of this information and make a plan for myself. I would love to take less classes, and focus, but I am on a scholarship that requires 28 hours per school year. It’s nice to actually have some background information to move forward with instead of sitting around trying to come up with something from nothing. I may have an “in” with a local doctor this summer, but should I also retake Calculus 2, or just take the D, get my A in BioStats and go from there? I would consider switching my major, but I would have to re-do a bunch of pre-req classes, and I am currently taking Genetics (an upper-level Bio course). If I were to switch I am not sure how well that would work, as I would be trying to cram in a couple extra classes into my schedule.</p>
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<p>Perhaps you misread. No one said to take less classes. What we have said is don’t take them in the summer. (28 semester units/yr is typical for a four-year uni, where the typical graduation requirement is 120. Indeed, one needs to average 30/semester to graduate on time.) So, stop the ECs until you can earn A’s taking a full load during the fall and spring only.</p>
<p>You have to be honest and ask yourself if you have the aptitude or determination to go to medical school. It seems that you are finding intro university courses to be a challenge. There is nothing wrong with that, and perhaps your talents lie elsewhere as other posters have said. I don’t have the aptitude to be a philosopher. There are plenty of opportunities in the medical field that don’t require you to be a doctor, and there are plenty of other careers out there that pay just as much if not more.</p>
<p>*You’re in your sophomore year, correct? That means you still have three semesters (counting this one) to bring up your GPA. That’s a lot of time. Do well in upper-level science classes all three semesters and your overall grade could go up to 3.4 or even more, making you a decent candidate. Your science GPA should also hopefully increase a lot in the process. But you need to be committed to studying hard for these classes and owning them.</p>
<p>Take your MCAT during the late spring of Junior year and if you get a 30+ on it, I say go ahead and start applying to med schools that summer. You have good extracurriculars it looks like, so use those to your advantage. Applying to med school for people with low grades requires three things*</p>
<p>If ths student applies after his junior year, then he’ll only have this semester and two more semesters to bring up his GPA…not likely when he has 3 semesters plus summer sessions of grades that give him a 3.1 GPA. And, he’s already anticipating a B or C in Orgo II this semester. </p>
<p>To have any real chance to improve his GPA he really shouldn’t be applying after his junior year. </p>
<p>The 'negativity" that you’re seeing in this thread is because it’s very unlikely that such a student is magically going to start getting nearly all As in order to boost his prior grades to a needed high GPA.</p>
<p>Many students who do not have a great GPA often spend a some years doing research or earning a Master’s of Public Health or other things, and then apply to med school, which makes their apps much more desireable.</p>
<p>In terms of aptitude for the classes, I didn’t find the intro classes challenging. My freshman year was tough for me to adjust and I had a lot of things going on in my life. I can get the grades. I can do it if I apply myself, I really know I can. I have three more semesters, that is the same amount I have taken already. Right now I am doing very well in my classes (As) so I know if I keep it up I can definitely get my GPA up. I still have one question yet to be answered: should I leave Calculus as a D, or retake it and get a much better grade? Would I like desperate at that point (3rd try) or would it show improvement?</p>
<p>Retake it. You need to know calculus for higher level courses, and IMO, if you get <B in a subject you don’t understand it. As a bonus, if you get an A in the retake it will look good on your transcript!</p>
<p>“can do it if I apply myself” - I am sorry but I am not trying at all to put you down. However, this is NOT the correct approach at all. The only correct approach is “I will apply myself no matter what is going on in my life” - There is no “IF” here whatsoever. This has to be ingraved in your brain, yes, the minute you include “IF”, you will make yourself open to derailing your goal.</p>
<p>I agree 100%. I am completely involved in my classes right now, and I am doing everything I possibly can to improve my grades. Thank you guys for the help, I may switch my major to exercise science, as plant biology and some of the upper level Bio classes are not really something I believe I can do well in, nor am I interested in them.</p>
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<p>Retake but NOT in summer. But just know that anything less than an A in a repeated course will look poorly on your app.</p>
<p>I don’t understand this hatred for summer classes. At my university it is a full 16 week course, with midterms and finals. I can take it in the fall, just wondering why everyone is so against it? Is it because it is only one class, and there is no strength of schedule? I will most likely receive an A, as I got an A on all of my tests last year in Calculus II, I just did very poorly on the final, which I was notified afterwards was changed from 30% to 60% of my grade.</p>
<p>So, re: calc II, I understand that you withdrew from it, and then a few semesters later took it and got a D, and now are wondering if you should give it a third attempt?</p>
<p>My opinion would be heck no, say sayonara to calc and get out of there. You don’t need calc II for med school, you don’t need it for algebra-based physics (assuming your school offers it and it meets the requirements for your major–this was the case for me), you’ve already paid for the stupid class twice, and the likelihood that you’re going to go from withdraw > D > A has to be abysmally small. </p>
<p>If I were in your shoes, I’d take a different math class (eg stats) that’s probably more relevant to med school anyway and avoid calc II or beyond. You need to preserve and raise your GPA, which means you should strive to get nothing but As (not A-s) from here on out. The likelihood of you getting an A in calc II seems small. I’d much rather see your BCMP GPA include a D in calc II and an A in stats than a D in clac II and a B- in calc II retake. (This is assuming stats is in your math dept, and that you’re not taking business stats or something.)</p>
<p>Re: summer classes. While that may well be the case for your school, that’s certainly not the case for the majority of schools. It’s probably a brave move to assume that SOMs will know that your school alone has the rigor of normal AY classes in its summer classes. Additionally, summer should be used for things that you can’t do during the school year (or would have difficulty doing)–things like full-time research or volunteering or clinical involvement. The reason it’s easier to do these during the summer is that 1) you’re not busy with classes and 2) you’re free during normal business hours. A student with relatively weak stats (either GPA or MCAT) will need to have exceptional ECs to make up for it, and it’s just hard to get the level of involvement you need if you’re relying on picking up a few hours here and there during the semester.</p>
<p>To me, the real question is, why do you want so much to be a doctor?</p>
<p>If it is to help people or because you like medical environments, you can consider other ways to work in them. Be aware, though, that DO programs, nursing programs, and physician assistant programs have competitive admissions too.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to sound harsh, but sometimes a fixation on a particular professional field is a sign of immaturity, or a lack of sophistication concerning career possibilities.</p>
<p>Are there other academic subjects that you like and do well in? It looks, to me, like you have more of an aptitude for humanities.</p>
<p>If you still want to go to medical school, you can take prerequisites after college. You can also go to community college after you graduate, and get training for a variety of medical jobs, respiratory therapy, radiology tech., all kinds of things.</p>
<p>I would stop trying to plan the future so much and try to study things you are interested in, and are good at. Any major can end up at med school, anyway. I have read the interesting idea, which I agree with, that overplanning can actually close off opportunities, because you are not open to them.</p>
<p>Does your school have distribution requirements? Why not focus on getting some of those done by taking classes that interest you, so you can explore other fields. Relax and enjoy for a little while (but work hard too!).</p>
<p>I haven’t posted on CC in years - I came to this post in a very random way - but I skimmed it and find some of very positive and very negative opinions. </p>
<p>OP- it’s great that you’re seeking help. That’s a positive thing. One thing to note is who you’re getting advice from. What authority do they have? For example, why “don’t take a summer class”? Because I agree with you “I don’t understand this hatred for summer classes.” </p>
<p>A little background - I graduated from an Ivy undergrad and attend an Ivy medical school - and I still don’t think I’m qualified to say most of what was said on here. My only opinion is get opinions from people who either went through the experience most similar to the one you’re going through and achieved what you want, or ask a medical school admissions committee member (even then, that’s just one opinion on usually a board; but still, it will be more informed than others). CC can provide extraordinary resources to people you’ve never had access to, but can also be a potentially toxic place. </p>
<p>Case in point- summer classes - I’ve found them generally easier, less stressful, and an easy A, like you have probably. But still, that’s without context- your situation may change things. </p>
<p>One of the things that bothered me the most was the “natural ability.” That’s not a healthy mindset (Stanford researcher Clifford Nass has done a lot of work on this). Good luck. Medicine is always a challenging road - but the chance to be responsible for someone’s health is an extraordinary privilege. Other professions in medicine can give you the satisfaction of enhancing the health of others, but none bear the ultimate responsibility of a doctor. And when in doubt, refer to Dr. Osler - the first Professor of Medicine at Hopkins- “Throw away all ambition beyond that of doing the day’s work well. The travelers on the road to success live in the present, heedless of taking thought for the morrow. Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day’s work absorb your entire energies, and satisfy your wildest ambition.”</p>
<p>I’m not 100% set on being a doctor without opening any other options up. I would like to switch to exercise science, since it offers classes I am very interested in (anatomy, physiology, metabolism, etc.) I am also open to things such as P.A. or physical therapy. . Like the first post says, I have little guidance to go on, and don’t really know what my other options are. I would still very much like to go to medical school if I can, but I feel like exercise science open up a lot more fields for me to go into post undergrad. That is what I have decided I may do. Switch over to there where I will actually be interested in the classes I am taking. As a Bio major I would not be taking classes like plant biology, ecology, and conservation biology because I want to, but because I have to. This seems to be the case with many of the other pre-med students I have spoken to (pushing through just to go the traditional route). Being interested in the things I learn will make the path to wherever I end up much more enjoyable. I think after the semester is over, I have some serious reevaluating to do.</p>
<p>nygiants760,
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<p>I agree. You should enjoy whatever path you choose. I think you’re going to do just fine. Good luck.</p>