<p>I'm so sad right now. I finished my first year of college with a 4.0 GPA, and that was including engineering physics and math, and chemistry, so I was feeling pretty confident in my chances of eventually getting into medical school. But this year is going HORRIBLY. I am getting a B in ochem (which I understand), and I have basically dug myself into a hole where it will be almost impossible for me to get an A in biology (like I would have to get above a 95 on the next exam and final, and I got a C+ on the first exam and a B on the second so that's unlikely). Now I will probably get a 3.66 GPA this semester. I know that isn't terrible, and my cumulative will still be a 3.83 which is okay I guess, but it looks horrible when compared to my 4.0.
I really don't know what's going on with biology. I absolutely love the subject, I go to class every day and pay attention and take notes, I read the book, I studied hard for the second exam, I saw tutors, and I still continue to do poorly. This is so frustrating. I have done well in other science classes that are known to be much more difficult than intro bio, so I know I'm not stupid and I know I know how to study effectively.
So basically I'm sitting in my room sobbing right now and trying to work up the courage to email my advisor to talk about alternate career paths. It's so hard for me to admit that I might not be smart enough for medical school. I want it so badly, and I have worked so hard to try and do well. I really feel like a failure of a human being.
I guess I just needed to vent my feelings, and some encouragement or success stories to cheer me up would be nice. But please be honest with me, I won't get offended if you tell me I have zero chance of getting in.</p>
<p>Take a breath. With a cumulative gpa of 3.8 with two and a half years left, it’s wayyy too early to be counting yourself out of med school. You need to be realistic and realize that college is not like HS, very few students keep 4.0s. </p>
<p>You need to continue to try and figure out where the disconnect is occurring in your current classes so that you can get the best grades possible at this point in time. Are you taking a heavier than usual courseload? Working?</p>
<p>You don’t need to talk to your advisor about changing career paths, you need to calm down and take a look at some AAMC gpa/MCAT data:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/85992/bymcatscoresandgpas.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/85992/bymcatscoresandgpas.html</a></p>
<p>Everyone has a tough semester or two along the way, give yourself a break.</p>
<p>I’m definitely not giving up on biology, I am going to meet with the professor within the next week and see if he has any advice on how to improve at this point.</p>
<p>I am working and taking classes for the first time, but I love my job (I am a math TA), and I don’t want to have to give it up. I also do a lot of volunteering (both clinical and non-clinical), so I am a relatively busy person, but I am also taking two humanities classes and two labs that are relatively easy so I feel like I have plenty of time to focus on my more difficult science classes.</p>
<p>I know I am probably way overreacting but still, I feel horrible right now.</p>
<p>OP,
You might be the person who have an easy time with math/physics type of material and not so with orgo / bio (conceptual vs memory). There are some who have it both and they are very lucky. Then there are you (and me), who have a great grasp of concepts and logical thinking but have hard time memorizing. Med. School is extremely challenging academically for absolutely everybody…and the academic material is exceedingly memory based with exception of a bit of physics in study of lung and heart and a bit of Gen. Chem in study of kidneys. It looks as though that your brain is more wired to be an engineer than an MD. I know exactly what you are going thru. I cannot memorize anything, I never could. My salvation is IT, no memory is required, pure logic. Ultimately, it is your decision. We all going thru adjustments thruout our lives, we learn about our abilities and consider them. There is nothing wrong with this process. I myself have changed my profession after graduating and actually working for over 10 years. My job did not make me happy, I alwasy felt out of place, not good thing to feel. Unfortunately I have discovered that even engineering was not for me. So I went back to school and swithced to CS and have been very happy since then. I would warn everybody to think hard about your future. Respect your own abilities, opinions and feelings in regard to various proffessions. Take advice from others with great caution. My engineer father’s desire for me to be an engineer simply did not work for me.
After saying that, you might give yourself more time, get a feel about upper Bio classes. They are still nowhere near Med. School level, but they might indicate to you is you belong in medicine at all. There is no reason to feel horrible. Cool down, you need to have a plan, you need a cool head to develop a plan of action. List your options, choose one, list the steps to follow the chosen plan and then make sure to evaluate at every step (give yourself a feedback, assess where you are at each point).</p>
<p>Actually, in the past I have been much better at memorizing than logic. I absolutely hated my computer science class, and I hate anything to do with engineering.</p>
<p>A couple of Bs here and there won’t be end of being a premed. Hang in there.</p>
<p>…you just have to give yourself more time…and be cool about it…many are going thru this process, you are not alone. Best wishes!</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>I think maybe a part of the reason is that you just happen to not be able to study as efficiently this semester, because any person may have some “down time” once in a while. If this is the case, you could still improve when you are in a better mode – it is said when a person is over-stressed, his learning capacity may go down.</p>
<p>With this said, any school has its set of difficult premed classes. It is often the case that the INTRO level premed classes could be harder than the advanced level classes. Remember that premed classes are hard mostly because of the students in them and how difficult the professor wants to make it to be, which could be independent of the difficulty level of the presentation. So do not underestimate the challenging aspect of getting good grades in these INTRO classes - a very smart person could occasionally do not do very well there.</p>
<p>When a senior in the biology major, with the accumulated sGPA of 3.9+ under his belt (and also 4.0 in his freshman year) heard that the the class average of a mid term in the INTRO level bio class was 46 out of 100, he made the following comment: I am glad I took it years ago otherwise I do not know how I would fare when the grading is like that. He had taken almost all required bio classes required for a bio major by that time and he still would not underestimate the difficulty of the very INTRO classes.</p>
<p>Another student who eventuly managed to get into Columbia med school had his not so ideal semester when he took orgo I. He had been a gunner all his life. But enough students in his orgo I class happened to outgun him in that orgo classes. What did he do the next semester? I heard he was almost never stopping studying orgo II the next semester and finally scored an A in orgo II. He also would not underestimate the capability of his competitors.</p>
<p>Another point: a person who is good at math, general physics, and general chemistry may not be naturally good at other subjects like bio or orgo. They could be just different kinds of classes and require the different kinds of skills. Fortunately, a premed does not need to be good at everything in order to get into a med school. An average of A- in science GPA (or even a bit lower) is likely still good enough. No need to be a perfectionist – being a perfectionist could lower your chance of doing well enough.</p>
<p>take a chill pill bro</p>
<p>Okay so today is the beginning of fall break. I’m just going to use the next 4 days to relax and get over this. Then I have an appointment to meet with the professor next week and I’m going to form a game plan with him on how to do better. Then I guess I will just study my butt off for bio for the next two months. :P</p>
<p>Reminds me of a girlfriend in college. She thought she wanted to be a doctor. Math - straight A’s. Physics - A’s. Chem - B’s. Bio - C’s and B’s. Now a physics professor at a midwestern college after getting a PhD in Physics at U of Chicago.</p>
<p>
If her UG college was this college, it could explain a lot about what had happened :)</p>
<p>The requirement for being a good PhD-bound student is different from being a good premed. The former can be just good at a few academic subjects only (and very enthusiastic about research and have a track record to demonstrate it) but the latter requires a lot of others, like a big heart, communicational skills, well-roundedness. (although the excellence in academics is still a big part of it.)</p>
<p>Also, being a good student in math and physics does not imply that he is good at biology and/or even chemistry AT THE PREMED LEVEL. This may be a different story at the geaduate school level. I remember DS once told us that his orgo professor said to the students several times that he really could not explain some concepts to the students properly because the students lack background in quantum chemistry – it was as if the professor has no choice but teach a watered-down version because of the lack of solid academic preparation of these premeds. For a solid academic preparation for physics major in the graduate school? A professor at DS’s college suggests his students to take a math class in every semester in college and their preparation is about enough when they go to the graduate school.</p>
<p>Hey, so no one will probably ever see this post, but I really got it together in biology and ended up get 91 on the third test and a 94 on the final, which gave me an A in the course by 1.5 points! Normally I never brag about grades but I’m really proud of myself with this one. I ended up with a 3.8 for the semester (a B in ochem), and my cumulative is now a 3.938, and I am totally okay with that. 
Thanks for the advice, guys.</p>
<p>3.8 is a very good GPA. You were torturing yourself for no reason.</p>
<p>congrats!!!</p>