<p>I am a freshman in college and I want to apply for medical school. This past semester, I got a few B's in some of my general education classes. These are not pre-med classes, but they will bring down my GPA. I really want to apply for some of the more selective medical schools like Johns Hopkins and Stanford, but will these B's in my freshman year effect my chances too much?</p>
<p>Make an appt w/your college’s pre-med advisor. They never see freshmen because they’re too chicken. You’ll make a great impact. </p>
<p>First, do what @T26E4 says, go see your pre-med advisor. Second, stop worrying about which med school you’re aiming for at this point, instead, concentrate on getting in any medical school, your pre-med advisor will tell you which ones are worth applying to based on your grades and MCATs when it’s time. Obviously the better both of those are, the more prestigious ones you’ll stand a chance of getting in to.</p>
<p>@bluecolormonkey: Welcome to the world of freshman pre-medical students. I suspect your post (more or less) could have been written by thousands of your contemporaries. You certainly should see your pre-med advisor, however, you also should recognize that the attrition rate between the “I want to be a physician” at freshman orientation and the “Admissions Committee at University X’s Medical School congratulates you” is quite substantial. To be candid, you either do the work and attain the grades (and the recommendations, the test scores, and so forth) to be admitted, or you do not. No one suggested it would be easy, right?</p>
<p>D is a freshman pre-med at a Top 20 LAC and is still one after her first semester. I say that with all sincerity, because many of her friends a few weeks ago who were pre-meds no longer declare themselves as such. They’ve taken one or two of the pre-med classes and decided it’s not for them even though they got into a very good school, were very good students, and got very good grades. They’re perfectly capable of doing the work, everyone at the school is, it’s a question of do you want to run the marathon? - because that’s what it is. It’s a long, slow, agonizing, grueling slog for the next 12 years. A huge number of students decide to take another path.</p>
<p>Virtually no one is going to get through this with all A’s, D’s school even told the freshmen that 1st semester grades are often a disaster compared to what they are used to, then you figure out the right balance of work, sleep, and play and things get better. And sleep is a vital component of that, which D has discovered. A few B’s won’t keep you out of med school, this isn’t like the race for the Ivies. But it is notice that you do need to find the right balance, because too many B’s followed by some C’s may start to damage your chances to get in anywhere.</p>
<p>Again, go see your pre-med advisor, because they are the one who will often help you keep your sanity and tell you the best way to get to your goals, as well as honestly tell you when you need to alter those goals, and that includes even making it to med school. Good luck.</p>