Not able to go to med school

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hello,
I’m a sophomore in community college and I am not doing well so far. I changed my major to biology hoping to transfer and get into pre-med but, my grades aren’t doing well. I’ve been going to tutoring, and even asking after class for help however i’m still lacking.

My g.p.a is a 2.7 which is horrible, I ended my first semester with 2 c’s ( bio 1 and animation), 2 B’s ( English1a and a weight training class) 1 A ( sociology)

Right now i’m taking English1c ( i’m sure I will be able to get an A) Trig ( not doing well as i have an F) Chemistry 40( Not doing good as well i think I have a D)

I really want to became a doctor but, I think I may have to change my major to English as I’m not doing well.

(If you have any tips on studying or getting through these classes, I wold appreciate that)

2

Math is THE basic building block for success in science.

If you are just now taking trig (and apparently not doing so well in it), then you’re way behind in having the necessary foundational math skills needed to be successful in college science classes., esp.in chemistry.

I would suggest dropping chem right now since continuing will hurt your GPA and sGPA.

You may want to consider dropping trig too since it’s clear you’re not going to pass the class.

Can you go to your college’s advising office and get some comprehensive testing for math competencies?

You need to find out what you know and don’t know when it comes to math. You may need to back up and start math at a lower level in order to develop the competencies, knowledge and skill sets required for success in college level math and science. Math is very sequential. If you are missing some more basic skills/knowledge, you won’t be successful as the competencies and knowledge become increasingly complex and difficult.

I will also say there is no easy way to learn math. For a very few lucky individuals, math just ‘clicks’ for them. They can look at problem and “see” in their mind exactly how the problem should be solved. (My husband and one of my daughters is like that.) For the rest of us, learning math requires doing massive amounts of problem sets. You just have to grind through enough problems until you can develop a set of tools that will help you solve unfamiliar problems. (My other D, who like me, is someone who doesn’t find math intuitive, calls this the “spaghetti approach” to problem solving: you throw everything you know at the problem until something sticks to the wall.)

Have you sought out tutoring at your CC’s academic support office? Most CC’s have one and the tutoring is free.

And now for the mandatory PSA–

Not everyone who wants to be doctor has the necessary academic strengths & competencies to become a doctor.

There is no shame in that. The world needs people in all sorts of different careers besides medicine.

So take some time to think about what you want to do–you can start over at a lower level and try to develop the necessary math & science competencies needed to be a successful science student in college; or you can admit science & math just isn’t your strength and find a path that takes you in different direction.

Good luck to you! I hope you find your answers.

3

Med school (MD/DO) isn’t in the cards with C’s in science and F in math.
However there are many jobs in health care go your community college’s career center and as about all of them.
What in the health care system appeals to you?
Could you take units to get your CNA and start getting clinical hours?
Could you also switch to sociology with statistics minor, or women’s studies with a statistics minor, and add a few business classes to work in RH?
Since CC classes are cheap, take as many pre reqs and gen ed as possible in those subjects.
What about public policy?

4

Did your cc have you take a placement test before starting Trig? If not, see if you can take one. (Drop that class BTW.)

The vast majority of problems in higher levels of math (even Calculus) are Algebra problems. If a student never really masters Alg 1 and then Alg 2, the problems won’t go away.

The math part of many human brains develops later in life. This is ok. It’s still in the normal range of the bell curve. You might have been placed into Alg 1 in 8th or 9th grade at school because that’s when most kids can handle it, but if you’re among those whose brains develop more slowly, you probably just did what you could to pass it (usually memorization) rather than understanding it. I’ve seen several adults have to go back to college for X in their career and stress about the math part only to come to me later saying, “How did I not understand this in high school? It’s easy now!” It’s because their brain didn’t develop at the same speed as was expected.

Right now you have to decide if you want to look into something else health related as a career or go back and master the things you weren’t ready for. You don’t have to be right out of college age-wise to get accepted into med school. Many students are older. If you want to try to get there, do the ECs you can throughout the years to show your desire and dedication, drop the courses that are a problem now, and go back to try to establish the academic foundation you either weren’t ready for or didn’t get (some schools aren’t really good at providing a terrific foundation). You probably need “a” job along the way, but that’s quite ok. Med schools don’t frown upon that at all. When you’re academically ready for the more difficult courses, then take them and see how you do. At the end of it all you could have an application that looks very worthy - plus - in getting the ECs along the way you’ll know if this is still the path you want or if something else looks better.