I REALLY need some advice going forward

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Boy do I got a crazy story for you.
As usual I’m one of those kids that did pretty good in high school. I had a chance to go to UM Ann Arbor or get a full ride to UM-Dearborn. I’m not floating in money so i chose the scholarship to UMD. In high school I used to have incredibly low self esteem, confidence, etc, but I still did well even though I was never proud of myself for anything I did. I was incredibly stressed all the time and just not right in the head. In any case, I just saw that my life would suck just from a mental POV, but that being a surgeon could be the only thing that made me happy since I could directly impact someone’s life
First year of college, when I looked on this website, I saw how difficult it apparently was to be a succesful premed. Senior year I didn’t finish so hot GPA wise so you can already tell this was demoralizing to me. In any case I picked myself up and got a 4.0 my very first semester in college. This was probably the happiest moment of my life and when I got that 4.0 I got out of my mental slump/ depression and I actually felt confident in myself. I had also started lifting weights and actually wrote my own autobiography during winter break. I also started to volunteer 4 hours a week at a local hospital and joined a club at school where we raise scholarship money for orphans.
Second semester freshman year I got a 3.85-I got 2 A-s. That was fine to me I guess, mostly because my GPA was still like a 3.94 cumulative. Over the summer I also took Calc 1 and got an A, ending the year off with a 3.94.

Now this is where the nightmare starts. This semester I took Orgo, Biostatistics, Calc II, and Physics I. It sounds like an intimidating schedule, and believe me it was at times. I lost a lot of motivation to try as hard. I was doing fine in the semester until around the middle- my grades started to slightly drop then. During the last 2 weeks, it was complete chaos, I was bombing tests left and right. I wasn’t studying AS much as I did last year, but its not like I was walking in blind to tests. I ended up doing poorly on my biostats final, calc final, as well as my physics final. I think since I wasn’t depressed or moody anymore I didn’t feel an extreme urgency to study like crazy for these tests. I am waiting on my final Orgo grade still but here are my grades right now
Orgo: B? hopefully
Bstats:B
Calc II: C
Physics :B+
These Grades are HORRIBLE. I mean this has to easily be the most difficult moment I have had in my life just because the consequences are so severe. The classes were tough, and I didn’t have the easiest teachers. I usually get lucky on tests (things I guess on are right or i can figure out concepts while taking the tests) but not this semester it seemed. I tried really hard to be confident and unstressed but towards the end of the semester I started to get incredibly stressed. Right now I feel just really confused and unsure moving on.

This GPA is something like from a 2.9-3.2. What I am very concerned about here is if I can still pursue being a pre-med. I’ve done shadowing and even some elementary research from high school to the point where I can say that yes, I have an idea about how being a surgeon/ health professional lifestyle is. I just can’t wrap my head around the fact I ended last year with a 3.94 and now I’m sitting here with this horrible GPA. Should I still just believe in myself and continue on my path to pre-medicine? Do I still have a good chance if I just keep trying on my GPA and the rest of my resume? I’m not sitting here all sad about this, I am just unsure now what path I can take. Believe me, I will learn my lessons and prevent this from happening again.
I just really need some clarification, because I do not know what to do from this point on.

Thanks so much,
you really don’t know how much you are helping me fellow students/ parents.

2

Here’s what struck me the most from your post: “being a surgeon could be the only thing that made me happy since I could directly impact someone’s life.”

There are so very many ways of impacting others without doing so in an OR. I would like to believe I do so every day as a teacher, and that my sister does so, believe it or not, as her work on the computers with the local hospital system. My mom did so for years in her volunteer work with her church.

Please, don’t tie your self esteem into what you do-- it’s far more important to look at who you are.

Now, as to what you actually asked: i think that’s a better question to ask someone at your school-- your academic adviser or someone similar.

And what if they say it’s not high enough? Do you continue with something in the medical field? I have no idea of the academic requirements here, so I’m just throwing stuff out. Would nursing be a better fit, and more appropriate? (Talk about impacting people’s lives, the nurses are the lifeblood of any hospital.) Would it be better to shoot for a career as a PA? Something else in medicine?

And what if medicine isn’t for you? What other areas should you explore?

You’e, what, 19 or 20 years old? Please don’t tie your self worth into the numbers on a test, or your choice of major.

3

All of my mental issues are gone-they have been resolved for a while. I am just wondering If i should just look into doing something else. It just is strange to do so, considering I’ve been thinking about doing medicine since I was in the 10th grade.

4

You’re going to get plenty of opinions, so here goes:

  1. Being a pre-med is tough, but that’s got to be among the toughest collection of courses to take in the same semester. Why? Was this recommended by the school’s pre-med advisor? Seems to be a lot tougher than it needed to be.
  2. It’s always recommended to have a back-up plan in case you change your mind or applying to med school doesn’t work out. It’s a bit early, but do you have one?
  3. As noted above, it’s way too early to decide that being a surgeon is the only thing in life to make you happy. First, finish undergrad, then go to medical school-where you’ll be exposed to numerous other medical specialties. Then, you apply for residency. All of that is years from now.
  4. Based on what you’ve written, these grades will not end your medical school dreams. BUT it does seem like a tremendously difficult set of classes-are you doing the same thing next semester?

So you haven’t closed any doors, but take things one step at a time: plan undergrad, and let graduate(medical) school take care of itself.

5

If the only career in medicine you are considering is surgeon…I would very strongly suggest you rethink this. I’m not even talking about your grades or whatever…I’m talking about thinking surgeon is the ONLY way to impact someone’s life.

Conventional wisdom…if you don’t think you would be happy being a primary care doctor…rethink your desire to be a doctor at all.

Every medical school wannabe needs a plan B, C and D. If they only have Plan A Medical School…that is being shortsighted, in my opinion.

Start looking at other health care professions as well. And talk to your advisor in college.

A huge %age of premeds never apply to medical school at all. Of those who do apply, less than 50% get accepted anywhere.

I don’t have the statistics on how many med school grads match or don’t to surgery…but it’s not huge either.

@WayOutWestMom

6

Real quick because I’m on my phone and the plane is boarding.

Per the MSQ, 10-12% of entering med students list surgery as their field of interest (> 2000); there are only 1300 categorical general surgery residency positions available.

Surgery is moderately competitive. And not everyone who wants surgery matches into surgery

7

Thanks for point #4. When I meant that surgery would be the only thing to make me happy, I think I failed to specify that I meant that in high school when I had self esteem issues. I still would like to be a surgeon, but of course there are other things in life that make me happy too. In any case, my courseloads will be lighter in the following semeste (only 2 sciences/pre reqs) per semester. I know I have to take an extremely disciplined approach from here on out and basically kill the MCAT.
I just have two more questions. 1. Should I retake Calc II? I really don’t want to waste time doing so Also, do I basically got to just get 4.0s from here on out?

8

Just wait until your actual grades are in, calculate the GPA, and go from there. Plenty of charts available for current stats regarding GPA and admissions. Keep in mind there are two calculations-overall GPA and science GPA, and there are other requirements-MCAT for example, in addition to shadowing, etc. Plenty of threads here can give you the overview.
So wait until end of the semester when you have your actual grades.

9

Medical schools do NOT allow grade replacement…so if you retake, both of your grades will be reported when you apply to medical school. Even if you get an A in calcII…when that is averaged with a C, it would come up as a B average, right?

You know…”medicine” doesn’t have to be Doctor. You could look into PA programs, become a nurse and pursue an APRN. You could do PT or OT.

Lots of options.

10

Agree with thumper1, do not retake Calc II. You must report all college grades earned (even college courses in hs). Even if you get an A, it would have very little impact on your GPAs. And if you get less than an A, it would be viewed negatively.

It might help you if you have a clearer picture of where you’re at GPA wise. Med school GPAs get calculated primarily into two important ways. First is a cumulative GPA, or cGPA for all courses taken. A cGPA will be calculated separately for each year, and an overall cGPA is also calculated for all courses taken during college/hs. Secondly, a science GPA, or sGPA. This will include all bio, chem, physics, and math courses (BCPM) you’ve taken. Like a cGPA, your sGPA is separately calculated for each year and an overall sGPA is also calculated. One’s sGPA is typically considered to carry more weight.

MD schools are probably looking for GPAs around 3.7, DO schools maybe 3.4-3.5. So what’s your sGPA? What’s your cGPA?

Med schools do like an upward trend, but it appears from your post and the hole you’ve dug yourself, any grade from now on you earn below an A will make it increasing unlikely that you’ll get into an MD school. A DO school might still work. You also do not just have to kill the MCAT, but you have to show evidence via other parts of application (eg ECs) that you have traits med schools like to see in applicants (eg compassion, altruism, leadership, etc). Will you be so consumed with raising your GPAs, killing MCAT, that you won’t have time to meaningfully participate in say ECs. I don’t need an answer, just food for thought.

If you decide to continue, consider that med school application process is a year long process, meaning if you wanted to start right after college, you will have to apply in summer after junior year. So considering where you’re at, you may want to consider slowing down a little and considering waiting to apply until after you graduate in order to give you more time to develop a competitive app .

As to still wanting to be a surgeon, do you know you’re looking at 4 years of med school, 5 years of general surgery residency, more years of fellowship training if you want to specialize (eg cardiothoracic surgery). You will not be paid a surgeon’s salary until you finish your training, and you will have to say bye bye to your 20s, part of your 30s. Still want to be a surgeon? I again don’t need an answer, just food for thought.

11

These grades are not the end of the world. Statistically you need to shoot for a 3.7gpa. Given your strong first year this semester isn’t going to make that gps insurmountable. You did OK. As a premed you need to do great on average each semester. A couple of 3.9 semesters and you are back on track. It is a marathon not a sprint. Try to find joy in your classes and continue to learn about the medical field.

12

I think you need a plan B. Low self esteem and lack of confidence do not make a surgeon, and I think you would be the type of person to have difficulty with medical school where the amount of material and competition will be much greater than UM Dearborn.