<p>My friend did really badly first semester (we're both freshmen). He had a lot of family problems and couldn't concentrate/study (his parents were getting a divorce). He is a straight-A student, but this semester he ended up with a 2.3. Which is really bad, considering he wants to go to medical school. He says that he knows he can get at least a 3.5.</p>
<p>He got a C in the first part of Chem, and he's wondering if he should re-take the class. C is passing for our school, but he doesn't want it to look bad on his transcript. I think my school takes both grades and averages them into one grade, but I'm not sure.</p>
<p>Opinions?</p>
<p>Here are his grades for the first semester:</p>
<p>Chem I - C
Calc I - B-
Sociology - B
Another Sociology elective - C
GPA = 2.3</p>
<p>He’s a really smart kid. Like I said, straight A’s through high school. Has he ruined his chances to get into any med school?</p>
<p>I’m gonna tell you what my pre-med advisor told me when I was freaking out over my first, and so far only (knock on wood) C. I went to him borderline hysterical thinking my chances at med school were ruined. </p>
<p>The first thing he told me was that adcom members aren’t robots. They understand that the first year studying at a university level is often times dramatically different from what a student is accustomed to and that it takes some time to get used to it. He said that 1 even 2 C’s won’t destroy a person’s chances of getting into med school. Particularly if they occur during the 1st semester of freshman year. The problem would come if the C’s continued to occur and there was no improvement. Adcoms like to see positve trends. I’ll use an example he gave me. </p>
<p>Jill and Bob both have a 3.6 GPA, both equally competitive students. Similar MCAT scores, similar extracurriculars. But the adcom is more likely to admit Jill. Why? Well, when they reviewed each students transcripts they noticed that Bob started out strong his freshman year, straight A’s for both semesters but as time went on his grades began to drop. Sophomore year he had some B’s and a C or 2 and so on down the line. Negative trend. However, when they looked at Jill’s transcript they noticed that she got off to a rough start her freshman year, a couple of C’s some B’s and and A or 2. In her sophmore year she did considerably better, almost all A’s with a couple of B’s thrown in there and so on and so on all the way through graduation. Positive trend.</p>
<p>So what’s the big lesson from the example? Positive trends good, negative trends bad. As long as his future coursework improves, as in no more C’s, then there’s no reason his GPA should keep him out of med school. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thanks so much! I just forwarded all that to him. It all sounds really helpful, so thank you again!</p>