low GPA from first year

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Actually, It's not just low. It's pretty horrendous. People looking at this will say:</p>

<p>"Were you mentally ill your first year?" and
"Medical school is not an option at this point."</p>

<p>And they're right. I screwed up big time, and I've had a year to think about it. A part of me is glad that if this were to happen, I'm glad I got the wake-up call now rather than two years down the road. (Just not this big.)</p>

<p>That being said, I finished my first year at UPenn CAS with a cumulative GPA of 0.99.
Any criticism is welcome. But even more welcome is a realistic approach to how I can rise from this downfall. The reason I'm posting this on a Pre-Med topic is because deep down this is still the career I chose with my heart. I've always liked feeling that I was helping someone with my talent, and I feel like certain events in my life are directing me in this direction. </p>

<p>BUT, I know that even with the next three years, it's going to be hard if not impossible to recover enough to apply for Med school. My goal is to have a realistic approach throughout the next three years and see what other options there are for me, and if things look brighter after three years, go post-bac or stay for a fifth year. I've just started looking into forums here and have sticky-noted a lot of good advices I already found here.</p>

<p>I'm here because it's time for me to write the 'return from dropped' explaining reflections and future plans. I've finished the reflections, I need to figure out what to do from here.
The biggest reason of my failure was that I simply didn't do the work and didn't study until the night before the final exam. This was the result:</p>

<p>F in HONORS CHM1, CHM1 LAB, WORLD MUSIC, & Biological Basis of Behavior.
D in MULTI-CALC, INTRO TO PSYCH, CHM2 LAB
C in GEN CHM2, WRITING SEMINAR,
and a B in Spanish.</p>

<p>Once you've recovered from the shock.. Here are my specific questions:</p>

<p>*Is taking science courses and pre-med reqs in the Fall a bad move? Because this is what I was planning on. I somehow feel like I really should.</p>

<p>*What options are there for me if I want to Revisit the Pre-med path down the road?</p>

<p>*Is there any logic to trying intro Biology, another science course, in the Fall, or list that in my future plan?</p>

<p>*What are some smart schedules of classes (once I return) that can 1). Raise GPA 2). Provide balance in the course load?</p>

<p>*Any additional advice on writing return letters to the school.
How</a> to Write a Readmittance Letter to a College | eHow.com</p>

<p>Thanks for the input everyone. I really appreciate it.</p>

2

<p>Hmmm. This is a hard GPA to come back from. A friend of mine did the same thing his first year, and spent the next three years bringing his GPA up to a 3.3. He eventually did matriculate at a low-mid tier state school (after being pulled from the waitlist). He was a Bosnian refugee though, and had an interesting backstory to compensate for his low GPA (coupled with a strong MCAT and high honors thesis to boot). Anyways, you will need to get straight As from here on out. Even if you were to get a 4.0 every semester until graduation, you’d finish with a 3.25, which most medical schools will pass over. Of course, coming from Penn, they might take a look if you have a great MCAT (my SO had a 3.3 from Williams, but with a 41 MCAT got into our top 10 med school). Of course, don’t bank on a 41, especially as it seems you struggled with your science classes freshman year.</p>

<p>My recommendation is forget science this year. Take easier classes that will help you transition into the work/study required to make top grades at your school. Perhaps forgetting pre-med and science for now (the next three years) would be a wise move. Then you can revisit science during a post-bacc. You can’t risk failing any more science classes if your dream is medicine.</p>

3

<p>I’m quite curious on how you got into UPenn and got a 0.99 GPA. I’m not trying to derail your situation at all. I’m just curious. Did you go to a very easy high school and wasn’t used to the rigor and work of a top notch University? </p>

<p>The simple answer to your question: No it’s not over for you. There have been instances where people who have gotten F’s still matriculate into a med school. The thing is to recover from this.</p>

<p>I recommend you RETAKE those low grade classes. Are you on academic probation or are you even enrolled at that school anymore? If not, retake them. You might be in UG for a bit longer than other premeds.</p>

<p>Definitely assess your study habits. If you aren’t doing the work, then that’s a huge problem. Med school is definitely a huge step up from UG. If the work is daunting now, you won’t survive med school. Even a person with the BEST time management skills will seldom find a lot of free time. Find out why you’re not doing the work. Laziness? Family hardships? Try to resolve that problem first.</p>

4

<p>@AceAites,
It’s hard for me to fully understand what was going inside my mind last year and even harder to have someone understand it.
Until High school, I was a top 5% student at a school in Fairfax county. Our school was average, but I had a 4.2 or 4.3, I can’t remember, and got straight A’s. SAT and EC was all fine.
I just lost it in college. The independence came at a huge cost for me.
When I realized I was in big trouble, I was emotionally stifling myself and wasn’t getting as much help as I needed. I got counseling towards the end, but I should have reached out earlier. I mentioned this in my return letter.</p>

<p>My college advisor actually told me not to retake the classes, but she could’ve meant just this immediate semester since they’re all science courses. I have been dropped from the rolls and am currently at home.
Have you any tips for when you lose the motivation to study? That happened to me often last year, and instead of tightening myself back up, I just let it happen.</p>

5

<p>@cadriethiel
Thanks, I’m glad it turned out well for your friend. I wish I had a unique story, but I unfortunately don’t. Came here when I was 11, and I’m Asian. I’m being realistic though, and I seriously doubt that I can pull off an all-time 4.0. I’m not good with the GPA calculation, but what if i get a single or two B?</p>

<p>Btw-- could you also show me how you calculated the GPA without knowing the exact course credits?</p>

6

<p>@Mjle06: If you want good study habits, try writing everything out or have some sort of list. I have an iPhone app where you can write stuff on it and once you’re done with it, you can virtually “check” it off. This keeps track of my numerous tasks and sort of motivates me to do it because I want to empty my list before it gets too full, like Tetris!</p>

<p>But really, just find a comfortable place to study and pull out your books and do your work. Just keep in mind your goals for the future. </p>

<p>Here’s a good work habit trick: </p>

<p>Pretend that, in the future, you have messed up so badly that you will never go anywhere. You were screaming at the skies, begging for a chance at redemption. Suddenly, the gods of Med School admissions granted your wish and thrusted you into the past where you are now here with your book in front of you. NOW is your chance to redeem yourself.</p>

<p>Try to get tutoring for subjects you don’t understand. Yes, your counselor is correct to not retake the courses immediately. I should have mentioned that. Try and solve the issues you had with school first. Take easier classes that you enjoy. Remember those days when you were getting those straight A’s and SAT’s. THAT’S the kind of work ethic you want.</p>

<p>I wish you the best of luck.</p>

7

<p>@AceAites
That’s actually a really good way to both reflect and motivate yourself! I found myself getting excited reading it the first time. Thank you, I’ll definitely be using that.</p>

8

<p>Any purpose of this thread? Any at all?</p>

9

<p>Well what do you mean exactly MiamiDAP? I posted this to get some help. It has a purpose for me.</p>

10

<p>Returning to Penn to take “easy courses” is a waste of your parent’s money. You don’t need reflections or groveling (in a letter), you need to demonstrate ability to perform at the next level.</p>

<p>If I were you, I’d meet with a Penn advisor and suggest the possibility of transferring back in, after a year of taking classes at home, either at a juco or perhaps George Mason, and receiving all As. You need to demonstrate that your party days are over.</p>

<p>To stay on the pre-health track, you definitely should repeat the premed prereqs. While allopathic med schools will not replace grades, osteopathic med schools will. Moreover, you will need to basic science foundation to take the mcat/dat, etc.</p>

11

<p>One of my friends had a similar situation, i believe he had a 1.4 gpa his first year of college. What he did was re-apply as a freshmen at a different university and his gpa restarted, he then got no lower then a 3.8 the rest of the time he was in college and ended up getting into MIT for a graduate program. The finicial aid office is the only office that would know if you attended a school previously but it is againist the law for them to communicate between the departments, so admissions would never know. So that .99 would never show up on your transcripts.</p>

12

<p>Nobody can help except you…you know that, hence my question about purpose. There is no other way but to work extremely hard, which you knew in elementary school like everybody else.</p>

13

<p>" So that .99 would never show up on your transcripts. " - even for Med. School application? How the gap is explained? What is shown on application for these years?</p>

14

<p>Transferring to another college would not wipe out your bad grades for purposes of med school. You’d still have to provide the transcripts from the original institution for AMCAS.</p>

<p>The only way you could wipe out your original grades is apply to a new college, pretend that you never went to college before, and then hope no one ever finds out because you could lose everything if they did. It would be unethical/dishonest/risky.</p>

<p>My advice is to stay at your college, take some easier classes to bring your GPA up and then reassess your career goals. There are many healthcare careers besides medicine that can be rewarding if your grades won’t get you into med school.</p>

15

<p>You’re right MiamiDAP… Fear of failure is just a fear of hardwork and all I’ve been doing is trying to avoid the reality so that I could feel better at night. When I posted here I wanted to get suggestions on courses I can take to boost GPA safely, but I see now that that isn’t my immediate concern. I have got to stop making excuses for myself- that’s why i made the same mistakes!</p>

<p>It’s not “If I just apply myself I know I’ll get straight A’s”.
But instead it’s… something else isn’t it?
I have got to get my head out of the gutter.</p>

16

<p>

</p>

<p>Um. Wrong on both counts…</p>

<p>One of things AMCAS does when verifying transcripts is match them (your name, your SSN) against various national databases, including FAFSA. If you’ve ever filled out a FAFSA application or received federal student aid, there’s a record.</p>

<p>And if you’re the rare individual who was full pay and never filed any sort FA application–the potential consequence of academic dishonesty should still deter you. There is no statute of limitations on academic dishonesty. If you are found to have lied on your application (even if it’s by omission), your MD and medical license will be (not may be—WILL BE) permanently revoked. No second chances; no forgiveness.</p>

17

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<p>There is no such law. What you might be referring to is the prohibition about sharing financial need awards among colleges, i.e., to eliminate price competition, but that is all it refers to. There is no prohibition about sharing enrollment data. It happens all the time. Some/much of it is public. Emory and Dartmouth, for example, publish guides for entering Frosh which includes a picture of everyone. Of course the student has to approve publishing his/her name, but once it is published, it becomes part of public information and not subject to privacy laws.</p>

<p>In any event, when you sign up for AMCAS or the LSAT, you agree to give them authority to search high and low for any and all colleges that you might have attended.</p>

18

<p>You my friend are in a pickle. I mean 0.99 in one year is impressively low.</p>

<p>BUT you have only finished 1 year of uni and you do go to UPenn. You CAN recover from this if you show a super strong upward trend and do a post-bac if needed.</p>

19

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<p>A PhD or masters program is much more likely to forgive bad grades along the way, as long as the student can show they have rehabilitated themselves, grad school is not all about the numbers, it is also about the research and the proof that the applicant will be a strong addition to the PIs lab.</p>

<p>Med school will want to see every grade in any college, including classes taken in high school, those grades are used to calculate the AMCAS GPA which may be used by some schools to screen out an applicant before ever reviewing the full application. They have to reduce the thousands of applications somehow. Some schools are definitely more numbers driven and others are more holistic, but don’t even think about not proving the transcript info and maintain awareness that those grades will be a factor in your GPA so you can apply to the right range of schools.</p>

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<p>Hey mjle06 don’t let what some of these people are saying get you down! My roommate and I are currently students at Penn, and we completely understand the intensity and rigor of the courses here! We were touched by your post because it takes someone who attends this school to understand. Don’t let your dreams be crushed! That being said it was a low gpa and hard to come back from but you got in to Penn! You’re smart and you can do it!! It’s mentally tough at times. However we have both taken most of those courses and are both premed. We’ve struggled as well but we found study methods that worked for us. We just wanted to know if you’re still at Penn and how pursuing your dream has been! If you’re here and need advice still we would love to help! Remember you are totally capable!!</p>