Hello. I am a first year student at UC Riverside. My first quarter grades were not good at all. These were my grades:
Fall Quarter)
Calculus 1: B-
Chemistry 1: C
Chem. Lab: B-
Biology Lab: C+
Also beforehand I took Philosophy at a CC and got an A+. My school had the option of taking bio lab before bio lecture.
This quarter I have the following classes:
Winter Quarter)
Chemistry 2
Chem. Lab
Calculus 2
English
I am not where I should be in chemistry. I don’t think I am going to do much better this quarter in my chem. class.
Also, my school has a no retake policy for any classes that you pass. I was considering retaking my chem. series if it would help at a local CC, even though it is on a semester system. Are my chances too low at this point? Is there any advice you could give? Thank you in advance.
Yes, med school is out for you. You need to be in the top 10-20% of every class and have no grades below a B.
Look into other subjects. Or, if you like health sciences, look at PA, Occupational Therapy, etc.
Umm… I don’t know what point your GPA has to reach before it’s no longer salvageable, but if it’s only your first year, I don’t think you need to give up at this point. What you do need to do is maximize your GPA for the rest of your college career. You really need to figure out what you’re doing wrong that is leading to these poor grades and correct it. Starting now. You need to go to office hours, drop a course or quit an EC, whatever it takes to get yourself back on track.
And then if your GPA still too low by the time you’re thinking of applying, consider taking a gap year or a few to do a post-bac (although I’m not exactly sure how those work, and whether you can retake premed courses you’ve already taken) or getting a Master’s / do a special Master’s program. The only thing about this is that you need to have yourself together academically or else you won’t get the boost that you want. Other things you could do are apply DO or go international.
OP needs a GPA of 3.5+ to apply to med school. S/he would need a 4.5 to just make up for this quarter, which is impossible. Op in fact has said s/he was not doing well, which we can assume means more grades below a B. With a first year GPA at 2.5 and the problems it implies when the difficult classes come along (because the first year classes are foundational classes, the really tough ones come later on), it’s impossible for OP to get back on track.
It’s better to realize that now and switch to a more doable major.
It’s indeed possible to do a postbacc for med school if one majors in Humanities or social science with grades in the A- range (Philosophy, Foreign Language, Economics… tend to yield good results).
OP: can you drop Chem?
Can you get a tutor for Calculus? A good grade in calculus + good grades in statistics + a strong humanities major would position you well for a postbacc premed program.
These are intro level classes and you are struggling. What do you think is going to happen once you take organic chemistry and other more demanding classes?
Med schools will see all your classes even the ones you retake. Med school is incredibly difficult to get into and you will have a tough time.