<p>Hello, I’m a sophomore now at UA and I have been put on scholarship probation for Fall 2014. I ended up with a 2.6 gpa and to be honest I’m scared to death over the next school year. I’m trying to take “easier” classes but I’m afraid I won’t do well in those either. Last school year I took double sciences and labs both semesters and I really just think it drained me even when I added elective courses like History or Psychology. My study habits were terrible though so I do blame myself…I’m pre-med but I’ve decided to drop my science major but still fulfill the pre-med requirements and major in something else. I know my chances at med school are most likely over but I do know I want to study medicine. Next semester I’ll be taking one science (Organic chem) and the rest of my courses are electives, languages, and math. I guess I’m just really scared that I’ll mess that up. What would your advice be? </p>
<p>Do not take Ochem next semester unless you are sure that you can get a good grade.</p>
<p>Your probation requires that you get a 3.0 next semester, right? </p>
<p>what classes/grades did you take/get last year? </p>
<p>You are going to need to do some serious grade repair, and if you still want to go to med school, you will likely need to do glide year so that senior grades will dilute the C’s. </p>
<p>Are you a boy or girl? What is your home state?</p>
<p>If you got a C in bio, then you are going to have to choose another bio (maybe biochem or cell bio or genetics) to show that you can get a better grade in a higher bio. </p>
<p>what was going on with your study habits?</p>
<p>what other courses are you taking the next two semesters? what is your new major? (I suggest something that will give you a Plan B if premed doesnt work out.</p>
<p>what were your high school stats?</p>
<p>Yes I must get a 3.0.
I took Bio & Chem both semesters-- Bio 1- C, Bio 2- D. Chem 1- D+, Chem 2-D+. Other courses I got C+, B+, C+, P in History, Psychology, Sociology and a seminar class.
Girl, Alabama.
Study habits: I didn’t know how or what to study at times…at times it was like I studied everything except what was on the test…as for my Ds in Chem- the first semester was because I didn’t do well on homework which knocked my grade down badly considering I was making Bs & high Cs on the tests. Second semester–I studied, studied but my professor’s tests were impossible (he had horrible ratings on ratemyprofessor which I didn’t take seriously when signing up for the class) even those who were better at the subject than me got a C in the class. Also I was horrible at asking or using tutoring resources on campus which I regret. I’ve applied to be in the Student Services Program on campus which helps people in my situation.</p>
<p>for the next semesters- Organic Chem both semesters (maybe), Spanish, Comm. Disorders, Math (pre cal), online Human Development. Not 100% on the new major yet but I’m definitely considering a back up plan–I think I may be interested in speech pathology so I’m starting courses on that (comm. disorders.)</p>
<p>High school- straight As, 4.0 gpa, 4.2 (weighted), Honors student, , Mid 20s ACT</p>
<p>I agree with M2CK: Do NOT do Organic Chemistry next year!</p>
<p>What you’re going to want to do is find classes you’re comfortable with, choose your professors carefully, and work on getting your grades back up. There’s no need to rush to get the premed req’s. done.</p>
<p>M2CK mentioned a “glide” year, and perhaps you don’t know what that is. That means you’d take a gap year between college and medical school. So, instead of applying at the end of junior year, you’d apply at the end of senior year . . . so the med school will see (and be able to consider) your senior year grades.</p>
<p>During that “glide” year, you can get a job or, even better, apply to work with [Alabama</a> Impact](<a href=“http://impactalabama.org/][b]Alabama”>http://impactalabama.org/) for a year . . . or even two! Med schools prefer students who have some real world experience - it shows they have the maturity to succeed in medical school.</p>
<p>If you take two years off between college and med school, that gives you an extra year (post grad) to complete the premed requirements, so if you decide you’d rather save Org. Chem. until after you get your degree, you can do that. The important thing is to slow down, get your grades up, and not rush into courses that you know are going to be difficult for you.</p>
<p>I wish you had posted earlier, because we would have told you NOT to take Chem II when you had not learned adequately learned Chem I…(b’s and c’s on tests, and D+ grade)…and premeds cant have Ds…you have to retake anyway.</p>
<p>Ok…harshness alert (sorry)</p>
<p>do not take Ochem. You are not ready for it at all.</p>
<p>Your mid 20s ACT does not bode well for premed. The ACT is a good predictor for the MCAT. rarely have I seen a premed without at least a 28+ ACT go on to med school.</p>
<p>You are a bright young lady, but becoming a MD is unlikely. it appears that you either didnt go to a strong high school or you took easier classes since you are now taking pre-cal, yet you were a 4.0 student.</p>
<p>that doesnt mean that you cant have some career in the medical field. I think speech pathology could be a good path for you. </p>
<p>Your path to becoming a doctor may be as a DO. DO schools allow grade replacement. MD schools do NOT. however, DO schools are crazy expensive.</p>
<p>Your only other hope for MD school is this (which is a risky route because you wont likely get the needed grades)… Retake Chems and get A’s (must be A’s). Do extremely well in the rest of your classes, get both GPAs up to a 3.5+, score at least a 30 on your MCAT (or the equivalent on the new MCAT), and apply to USA which wants more girls.</p>
<p>however, I think this is unlikely. 75% of premeds never make it to med school because the weeding process weeds out students who arent strong enough for the subject matter.</p>
<p>No worries. I understand, I’ve dug a huge hole unfortunately. I’ve heard about post Masters programs for med school…could this be an option? considering I can kick butt on the rest of my courses? I still have Ochem, physics, biochem left…and I’m considering an Anatomy/Physiology course. I just don’t want to give up. And yeah, my high school was crap to be honest, however I did take a chem course at UA and received an A in that prior to my senior year and I also did dual enrollment during my senior year which to be honest saved my GPA to what it is now.</p>
<p>Everyone has told me to retake except my advisor…she told me to just do better and schools would see a trend, however I do plan to retake next summer.</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>whoever advised you was very wrong and you should contact him/her and say so. seriously. Very bad advice. PM that person’s name to me, PLEASE.</p>
<p>You need to retake before you take Ochem. </p>
<p>If that is what the advisor told you, they are not doing their job. They are just taking up space.</p>
<p>With D’s in chemistry I and II it is going to be difficult to pass organic chem let alone maintain your scholarship, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Since you love the medical field maybe you could go into nursing. I agree with all of the above comments and think you probably need to quit banging your head against the wall and rethink your future plans. I can’t tell you how many times I am at graduation open houses for average students and they are going to be a dentist, physical therapist or whatever else. My girlfriend’s daughter with a 22 on her ACT, who couldn’t get into our State U was going to be a physical therapist. After her first chemistry class at our local community college, future plans were quickly changed. Another child I know was going to be a dentist with a 19 on his ACT. I’ve learned to smile and say “that’s great” when being told graduates future plans. I’ve found that it’s the parents and advisors who give these kids false hopes in what they can accomplish. Parents are often clueless in what it takes to even have a chance of making it in these majors.</p>
<p>UA’s school of nursing is very competitive. You would not be able to do nursing at UA with a 2.6</p>
<p>UA Nursing requires that you have 3.0 min GPA in lower division course work + min 2.75 in all science classes. Nursing is highly competitive. The ave GPA intake for last round at UA was 4.0 (I believe) - someone posted it here on CC earlier in the Spring, because their daughter got in. </p>
<p>Actually, I found it: see page 22, post by Missread - <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1307193-your-bama-brags-don-t-be-shy-p22.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1307193-your-bama-brags-don-t-be-shy-p22.html</a> </p>
<p>The freshman premeds have been getting advice to take Bio 101 and Chem 101 the first semester and Bio102 and Chem 102 their second semester. I truly believe this is too heavy a load for a freshman. Be very careful if you choose to do this. I believe it would be better to catch up on science classes in the summer session. </p>
<p>You might also want to talk to your advisor about taking a Learning/Study skills class. UA has a couple of classes that are designed to teach you how to study. These are easy classes but the skills you get will help you a lot.</p>
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<p>This is actually the typical recommendation and there is a reason for that.</p>
<p>the reasons why;</p>
<p>1) premeds need to demonstrate that they can handle more than one hard subject at a time since med school throws a LOT of info at you at the same time.</p>
<p>2) the traditional route is:</p>
<p>frosh year
bio I and II
chem l and ll
other classes</p>
<p>soph year
ochem I and II
physics I and II
other classes</p>
<p>junior year
upper division classes
prepare for the mcat, which should be taken some time during junior year</p>
<p>submit app to AMCAS at end of junior year</p>
<p>senior year
remainder of upper division classes
interview at med schools</p>
<p>graduate spring</p>
<p>begin med school fall</p>
<p>@whyme1 </p>
<p>med schools NEVER want to see summer classes for the bcmp classes…ever.</p>
<p>Honestly, listen to the advice you are being given. Do not take the organic chemistry class just yet. If I were you I would take a deep breath and take classes this semester that will result in good grades. You do have general education requirements in addition to your new major. Concentrate on that and then make a plan to retake the chem courses before venturing into the O chem. If I were you I would first focus on keeping the scholarship and staying in school. Good luck!</p>
<p>Also- find out about the tutoring and study skills class so that you can provide yourself every bit of help that is available. </p>
<p>What are bcmp classes and what is wrong with taking them at UA in the summer session? Is it really necessary to cram all those classes in in two years? My other child got different advice at a different univ, even being told the average age of applying to med school was over 22. Not trying to be argumentative, just genuine curiosity.</p>
<p>@whyme1 I’m guessing that it is optimal to take the course over a full semester and get an A. Courses at community colleges or those taken over the summer are not viewed quite the same way. </p>
<p>M2CK will hopefully elaborate- she knows her stuff.</p>
<p>bcmp classes…bio, chem, math, and physics.</p>
<p>yes, there are some non-trads pushing the avg applicant age up a bit, but still most applicants are traditional applicants. Non trads are looked at differently. they sometimes dont have the research or shadowing because they have been working/raising families.</p>
<p>the fact that there are some non-trads applying (did some other career first and then applied) doesn’t mean that summer bcmp classes are ok. </p>
<p>summer classes arent considered to be the same, and they are also not being taken with the hardship of a full semester load. if you have to take a summer class, dont take a bcmp…take something else.</p>
<p>again, med schools want to see that you can handle a full plate. that doesn’t mean that all classes should be hard, but if a full-time student cant handle two sciences at the same time then why should the SOM think the student can handle med school???</p>
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<p>If you aren’t planning on a glide year, then it is almost necessary to complete within 4-5 semesters…especially with the new recommendation of biochem.</p>
<p>when students try to spread over six semesters (without a glide year) , then that means taking the MCAT before completing a prereq.</p>
<p>I am talking about traditional applicants. You dont want to look like you can only handle one hard class at a time.</p>
<p>lol…just looked at my son’s frosh schedule…he took Ochem I and Cell Bio (a 3XX course) and OChem II and Genetics…along with eng’g classes and Cal II and III…and got all A’s. (he skipped bio and chem with AP)</p>