On the right path? Thanks

<p>Hi all - I just finished my freshman year of undergrad, and I want to know how I'm doing in terms of preparing for medical school and the MS admissions process</p>

<p>High school was a bit of a breeze for me, so I naively walked into my first year at an Ivy League uni and immediately enrolled in the most difficult classes I could find, thinking 'Wheeeeeee I'm so smart I can do anything!'</p>

<p>And then there were parties, hard tests, romance, intrigue, numerous bouts of influenza - you know the drill.
And then, OMG! Bs. wah wah wahhhh
So my GPA from freshman year is 3.5 (I managed to get some As too)</p>

<p>I definitely think I can improve my GPA. First of all, I actually know how to study now (major life habit makeover thereee). And second, because I gave myself such a crazy courseload for my first year, I'm actually set to take equally difficult or easier courseloads for my remaining terms at college.</p>

<p>As for ECs...
-I have 2 summers worth of lab experience at a Stanford Medical school lab, and I have a few close friendships with professors I have worked under there
-I participate in 2 community service clubs at college so far
-While at school, I work a part time on-campus job
-Just got funding for a 2 term lab research project to be done under a professor during sophomore year
-Listed as author on 2 articles going up for review this summer
(Again - I intend to <em>improve</em> myself and my involvement as I mature)</p>

<p>Anyway, any criticism, encouragement, or suggestions would be highly appreciated!!</p>

<p>What did you get A’s in?</p>

<p>What did you get B’s in?</p>

<p>you’re probably still fine…a 3.5 is still good and easy to raise even further.</p>

<p>What courses did you take exactly?</p>

<p>I think you’ll do just fine. Your GPA will improve if for no other reason than the fact upper div classes have more generous curves. Most people’s GPA’s tend to arise as they progress in their college career. Keep up the solid research work.</p>

<p>multivariable calc, 2 terms chemistry w/lab, 2 terms bio w/lab in terms of science
random other courses (Span, hist, etc)</p>

<p>I don’t think any of the courses were too bad - the bad grades came from taking multiple hard-ish science courses my first term and not balancing them with “gut” courses (I took a history class for majors, bleh, bad decision). Also, admittedly, my work ethic was rather poor. Hahah. but it was a great year.</p>

<p>oh and thanks everyone for helping! i’m just beginning to realize how clueless i am about the MS admissions process, so this is me beginning to bridge that knowledge gap lol</p>

<p>Just an FYI, you will probably always take at least two science classes at the same time each semester. That is VERY common for pre-meds.</p>

<p>Couch… what grades did you get for each class?</p>

<p>I agree with the above that taking 2 sciences per semester is not unusual.</p>

<p>What is your major?</p>

<p>*Your GPA will improve if for no other reason than the fact upper div classes have more generous curves. *</p>

<p>Interesting… Is that because the “non-weeder classes” have more generous curves? I can see that. However, do we know if the OP is done with all of his pre-med pre-reqs? He may not have taken OChem and Physics yet. So, it remains to be seen how this year’s GPA ends up.</p>

<p>It’s a combination of both easier grading in upper div courses as well as the students themselves learning how to study. For example, the average freshman year GPA at Cornell is only a 3.0-3.1. Yet, the average GPA across all classes is 3.4. So, you can see that the juniors and seniors are getting grades that are quite high.</p>

<p>at my school, pre-med physics is apparently easy, and upper-level bio classes don’t have a lab (meaning a somewhat less busy schedule), but do have higher medians.</p>

<p>but frankly, the biggest change in my grades I think would come from the fact that coming from a mediocre high school to an Ivy League school is a major academic transition - in high school, I used to study for my final exams for 30 min the night before and get straight As. I never had to actually strain myself academically, even while working 2 part time jobs. And I know that it would have been best if I had learned better study habits in high school instead of messing up and learning from my mistakes in college, but honestly, I just never had the opportunity to truly challenge myself academically until now. I’m thankful for the challenge, and hope that now that I have developed decent study habits, I would be able to improve my performance.</p>

<p>Thanks again for all of your advice :)</p>