Pre-Med student who actually did do terribly first semester...

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
21

<p>“On a more serious note, it is not the end of the world for your chances of becoming a doctor. Think of it as a wake up call - whatever’s been holding you back this semester needs to get gone sometime real soon.”</p>

<p>Very true. I think it’s interesting how people always say “I did horribly this semester, but I’m going to get a 4.0 next semester.” Why didn’t you get it this semester? </p>

<p>I’m far from perfect with my sub 3 GPA, and I’ve told myself I’m going to do better next semester, but I’m not disillusioned by the fact that I very well may not exhibit the level of improvement I need for med school, and as such am preparing to consider other career options. lol.</p>

<p>Nothing wrong with having a goal of doing better, but if it was as easy to do that much better as saying you’re going to, then everyone would have 4.0’s.</p>

22

<p>Not all of you can pull it up so I don’t think it is a helpful statement to say just “pick it up” because most of the time, and according to statistics, most people don’t since it gets harder. You would just have to hope that the students you are competing against also fall under a 3.5 here and there to catch up in the competition.</p>

23

<p>So I find myself in this same sort of situation (1st semester GPA=3.0) and I basically spent a good part of my break reflecting, preparing for next semester and freaking out over my future. Sure, it is bad to have a 3.0, but its even worse to consider yourself totally out of the running for medical school admission. I say this after complaining to my aunt who is a medical researcher at Johns Hopkins.</p>

<p>She emailed a friend of hers at a New york state medical school, who then got in touch with someone in admissions. I was forwarded this chain of emails. Most of this you should know already if you do any type of research regarding med school admission, but I found it somewhat comforting and hope it serves some purpose to anyone else in my position. I’ll summarize what the email said:</p>

<p>The most important thing a med school looks at is your MCAT score…yes,it has a higher weight than your GPA, but not by much.</p>

<p>Cum GPA has the second most weight, but med schools also place a significant amount of weight on the overall trend of your GPA. Basically, the admissions rep in the email said that his committee recognizes that people are human and make mistakes. Whether these mistakes are partying too much, studying too little or studying the wrong way, there is a TINY BIT of room for forgiveness.</p>

<p>He also said that med. schools are often suspicious of transfers (this is news to me) because I was contemplating transferring to an easier school.</p>

<p>Specific to me, he said that he would not sugar coat it…a 3.0 is a poor performance but not unforgivable. He said that I should work to get my 2nd semester GPA in the 3.6 range and while a 4.0 would be ideal, it is not always a realistic goal.</p>

<p>He gently said if I don’t hit 3.5/3.6 after this semester then I should re-evaluate my career goals.</p>

<p>If I do hit it, then I should audit organic chemistry at a community college over the summer and start relaxed preparation for the MCATs.</p>

<p>So basically I get the following from his email…almost every single applicant to med school will have had a better 1st semester than me, but a bad 1st semester doesn’t exactly put me out of the running. However, a bad first year does put one out of the running.</p>

<p>Cheers, happy new year and enjoy whatever is left of your vacation.</p>