My chances of getting into a Medical School

Hello,

I am a current first-year undergraduate student at Columbia University in New York. I am on the pre-medical track. However, I had a rough first semester (fall semester). Here were the classes I took, and my grades in them:

General Physics I: C
Intensive General Chemistry: B-
Literature Humanities: B
University Writing: B
Calculus I: A-
Principles of Economics: Pass

Though I had excellent time management skills in high school and graduated at the top of my class, I goofed off in the first semester of college. I’ve always wanted to get into a top-tier medical school (Top 20 or 25 in the Nation), but I am very very worried because of my first semester grades in freshman year. Do I still have any chance (into these top-tier schools, or even any Medical School in general)? Any advice would be tremendously appreciated. Thank you very much.

Have you had success this current semester? One bad semester is not going to destroy your plans but that means no more “goofing off” and a nice string of 4.0 semesters. Top 20 also means you probably should be looking into doing research along with all the other expected pre-med ECs.

If you continue your present trend then any med school is out of reach. Time to shape up. Also, do not take P/F classes even in electives.

I missed that!
OP, while there is nothing inherently wrong with taking purely elective classes P/F (I did that during my application cycle year) you missed an opportunity to add an A to your transcript. You need all the additional As you can muster.

I was looking at student profiles on SDN, there is a Columbia graduate with 3.0 GPA, he did not get any interview with ANY US medical schools, including the DO schools. His only option is get in the Postbacc and do GPA repair or Caribbean.

How come a course in Economics became pass/fail. Who are the students taking it and why? To me its just throw money out of the window.

If it’s any consolation S ended first year in college with GPAs below 3.2. He is currently second year resident. You’ve dug a hole. You need to stop digging. Every grade below an A will make it increasingly difficult, eventually impossible, for you to get into any US med school. I’m not telling you anything others above haven’t stated. Your focus needs to be on earning As. Hopefully current semester is going well. You’ll probably have to hold off applying until after you graduate so that you can take as many courses as possible, earning As along the way. Unfortunately this might mean you’ll have to reduce the time spent in ECs which will tend to weaken your app which won’t be fatal, it just means that you may have to apply very broadly if the time comes. Good luck.

<<<
Hello,

I am a current first-year undergraduate student at Columbia University in New York. I am on the pre-medical track. However, I had a rough first semester (fall semester). Here were the classes I took, and my grades in them:

General Physics I: C
Intensive General Chemistry: B-
Literature Humanities: B
University Writing: B
Calculus I: A-
Principles of Economics: Pass

Though I had excellent time management skills in high school and graduated at the top of my class, I goofed off in the first semester of college. I’ve always wanted to get into a top-tier medical school (Top 20 or 25 in the Nation), but I am very very worried because of my first semester grades in freshman year. Do I still have any chance (into these top-tier schools, or even any Medical School in general)? Any advice would be tremendously appreciated. Thank you very much.


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was looking at student profiles on SDN, there is a Columbia graduate with 3.0 GPA, he did not get any interview with ANY US medical schools, including the DO schools. His only option is get in the Postbacc and do GPA repair or Caribbean. <<

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When my son was in the app process, I also would look at the student profiles on SDN. Yes, there are ivy premed students with not-med-school-worthy-stats, even tho some like to say that some/most/all ivies give out mostly A’s and few lower grades. That may be so for certain classes/majors, but I still think that the ivies do weed their premeds.

You have to calculate your chances. Your goal for college GPA is 3.7.

Here’s the data you are looking for:

https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html