Tips for a first year who did not do so well 1st Semester

Hi I am a first year student. I was doing well my first semester (A - grades) until I started playing video-games. I ended up getting all C’s in my classes for a 2.0 GPA.

My future plans are to go to Med School eventually. But I am considering to re-take the classes that I got a C in this first semester. I have heard however that colleges do not care a lot for re-taken classes. To also recover my cumulative GPA I need to get an A- in Chem 1, A in Rhet, A in Calc, B in Beginning Chinese.

I decided to get a job to help manage my time this semester i’d be working approximate 14 hrs/week.

Any suggestion on what I should do ? (i’ve taken care of the video games btw)

Do not retake any class in which you earned a C or better.

C is the minimum grade accepted by med schools for fulfilling pre-reqs.

Neither allopathic nor osteopathic med schools allow grade replacement. If you do retake, both the original grade and the retake grade will be included in all GPA calculations.

Retaking a class you passed is a risk. Since you’ve seen all the material before, adcomms will expect you to earn As. If you earn anything lower than an A, then it appears you can’t master the material even with multiple attempts. Not what adcomms want to see in an applicant. It’s much better to move on to higher level classes and do well to show your first semester grades were a fluke.

You have 7 more semesters to improve your GPA. Plan on applying to medical school only after your graduate from college to give yourself an extra year to fix your GPA.