I just finished up my first semester of college at a small private university, and I received a 3.7, all As except for a B- that I received in a class that was absolutely horrible (but I’m just going to try to let it go, I was the only freshman and some of the juniors already got together and complained to the department head about the class, that’s taught by an adjunct professor).
Had it not been for that B-, I would’ve had a GPA of ~3.93 or so, and I’m totally bummed out about that. I worked extremely hard this semester to get the best grades I possibly could only to fall short I received three 100’s (4.0s) in my psych, bio, and transitions course, but you wouldn’t know by looking at just my GPA. I picked up a school leadership program and an officer position on the activities board, so I was always striving to balance my time and get my work done.
I’m a psychology major in the honors program and I’ll be adding a neuroscience minor next semester. I’m at the very least going to graduate school, if not medical school (I’m interested in psychiatry and clinical psychology).
I’m just curious- is this a mediocre start to freshman year? I tend to be hard on myself so I’m pretty disappointed because if it weren’t for that class, I would’ve done really well. Say my GPA stays around 3.7/3.8 for the rest of my years here- is that even good enough for grad or med school? I don’t have any siblings or older friends so I’m a little uninformed on everything. I have aspirations for a prestigious grad school (hopefully at least- I have legacy at some awesome schools like Brown, Harvard (completely unrealistic, I know), Georgetown, UNC Chapel Hill, etc.) but I’m afraid I’ll fall very short.
Why do you seem to think an A- average is bad? For ANY semester? If you really think this way, I suggest talking to a professional about this, because that is unhealthy thinking and will only harm you later.
And no, this gpa would be fine for med and grad schools, assuming everything else is also up to snuff.
For med school, I believe a 3.5+ overall AND in the med school requirements should be the goal… at least that’s how it was explained at my school. Grad schools don’t just look at GPA, they look at the whole transcript, so they’ll see what the A’s and B’s were. It’s not a mediocre start; its a very strong start. But don’t expect not to get another class that’s “absolutely horrible”-- it happens.
@AwesomeAxolotl You’re right I definitely don’t think it’s bad for anyone else, I’d be super proud of any of my friends who had a 3.7, but for some reason it really bothers me personally just because I know I could’ve done better, and for what I want to do in the future I was really going for the best of the best so that I’d hopefully have an easier time with the grad or med school admissions process. I guess I still have 3 years to try and improve though! I’m just hoping it doesn’t get tons harder. Thanks!
@a20171 Thank you! And you’re right about he horrible class thing, but at least from now on I know that I should really take into consideration what people tell me about a professor/class, especially if they’re as adamant as they were about this one, lol.
I received three 100’s (4.0s) in my psych, bio, and transitions course, but you wouldn’t know by looking at just my GPA. I picked up a school leadership program and an officer position on the activities board, so I was always striving to balance my time and get my work done.