I am a pre-med student at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Neuroscience. I transitioned from a small 2-year college to Hopkins this semester. Indeed, it has been a challenging adjusting experience. I am doing well in all my classes, especially Organic Chemistry, except for one class: Statistical Analysis. My advisor recommended me to withdraw from the course to prevent me from earning a low grade that could negatively impact my GPA.
I was wondering how this would affect my admissions to medical school. If I keep my GPA and extracurricular activities, would I still be a competitive applicant? Would they consider the transition period since this is my first semester at Hopkins?
You won’t any special consideration just because you’re transitioning between colleges; you’re expected to perform well at every college you attend. However, one W won’t have a significant negative impact on your application.
@DrRich You have a strong gpa for med schools. Given Statistical Analysis is outside of pre-med science courses, you should be ok as long as the grade doesn’t go below C/C+. Of course, you want to be careful in the future.
@fivesages Thank you so very much. I have talked to my pre-professional advisors here at Hopkins and reached out to med schools asking about the situation. They both agreed that a W would not disqualify me from being a competitive applicant as long as I keep my high standards. I wanted to get a second opinion on the matter.
Also, they mentioned that they would indeed consider the transitions. Although it is true that I am expected to do well in all my courses regardless of the institution.
They will definitely consider the transition. Depending on the caliber of the school you transferred from, they may pay extra attention to your first semester at Hopkins to get a sense as to whether your high performance at your previous school was due to lack of rigor or high achievement.