Messed Up Horribly 2nd Semester

[j851]

Hi all.. I’m a Pre-Med (duh), just finished my first year at VCU. I still want to apply to Medical school, but my grades my first year weren’t so hot. The first semester didn’t hurt too bad, it was a 3.0. But the second semester, my grades dropped hard. I went to a 2.3. Ouch, right? The thing is, I went through the most unbelievable amount of stress (which, to me, is usually nothing), and the most unexpected problems, both medically with me, and with my family. Do you all think I still have a shot? I know for a fact that I can get straight 4.0s the next two years (Trust me. I can.). And I only took 28 credits in the past two semesters, and I plan on taking 16 every next semester (including next summer).

AdmissionAdvisors, help me..[]

Jae.

[y82benji]

Well, I’m not one of the admission advisers, but I went through the whole process (successfully) so I can offer you some hope. First some calculations…

14 * 3.0 = 42
14 * 2.3 = 32.2
64 (4 semesters) * 4.0 = 256
Total: 92 credits, 330.2 points, 3.59 GPA

That just happens to be the average GPA of students admitted to medical school.
Average in 16 summer credits (4.0 GPA) and that’s an overall GPA of 3.65.

They’re also smart enough to know that you are more your junior grades than you are your freshman grades, so going two years with all A’s puts you above that 3.59 GPA.

As for the 2.3… medical school is supposedly quite stressful – will that 2.3 indicate how you operate under stress? You may need to explain why that semester’s stress was different. A good way to do this without saying a word is to keep yourself involved in extracurricular, research, and volunteer activities while earning that 4.0 for the next two years.

Also remember that strong MCAT scores help to make up for weak grades in some classes. If you got Cs in general chem and general bio but you get 11+ in physical and biological sciences on the MCATs that’ll say quite clearly that those Cs were really just 2-3 years ago.

Your application is a lot more than just one year! Hope I helped!

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