Forum veterans, I'm a new guy here with another cliche posting. I'm at a low point and could use some advice/a reality check/encouragement or whatever you have to offer.
I currently have about 46 out of 120 credits as an undergrad psychobiology major at a decent four year university. I have taken one biology course in which i've gotten a C-
Until recently I really didn't care about college, I was involved in other things and was really in college just to pass. My transcript is a long line of C's.. and i now have a cumulative GPA of about 2.13
I want to get into medical school and i figure that i can change for the better starting now, since I haven't taken many science courses as yet. I will have to work hard since my GPA is already low from just pre req's but my main concern is if i DO significantly improve my grades will a medical school give me problems about not doing well in my first 2 years ? will there be a real issue with the inconsistency?
Also.. with the remaining 80 credits i have left, how likely is it that I will even be able to make a GPA passed 3.0
Thank you
Southfl1212,
You've got a tough road ahead. You can do some basic math to figure out what grades you need to wind up with a 3.0 GPA overall.
(46 credits * 2.0 + 74 credits * X) / 120 = 3.0
Solving for X you get:
92 + 74x = 3.0 * 120
74x = 268
x = 3.62
Assuming I did the math correct - you would need to average 3.62 for the rest of college to wind up with a 3.0 overall. And generally a 3.0 is not going to be enough to get into medical school. If you have a valid reason for your poor grades your first two years, you'd have a better chance. I think getting better grades your last 2 years is better than the other way around, and it would help if your best grades are in your pre-med courses. However, I think most people find the pre-med coursework more challenging to get good grades compared to the non-science coursework.
I don't want to sound overly pessimistic, but it does seem the odds are against you being able to get into medical school. Don't take my word for it though. I would encourage you to talk to your school's pre-med advisor and see what he/she thinks.
that was really helpful thanks.
Why stop at 120 credits? If you take some easy extra classes during a summer or two, you should be able to raise your GPA. Like you, I wasn't concerned about my grades during most of college, and if it wasn't for twelve fun credits of easy-A ceramics classes, I don't think I'd have any chance at all of going to medical school. Building on DrDave's calculations, if you get a 3.62 in your remaining 74 required credits to get a 3.0, then an additional 12 credits you get (12.3 to be exact) at a 4.0 will raise your total GPA to 3.1.
(120 x 3.0 + 12.3 x 4.0) / 132 = 3.1
The college I went to had lots of interesting classes that were only taught during the summer. I always had to work full time so I never got to take them, but there were plenty of art and history classes that I know I would have enjoyed and gotten good grades in. The price of summer classes generally isn't bad either. I'm looking at beginning my premed requirements this summer at either University of Alaska Fairbanks or University of Nevada Reno. Both places give instate tuition rates to all summer students.
Can you take extra classes during the regular school year? An extra three credits of easy classes per semester for four semesters will bump your GPA up another tenth of a point. If you can find some easy science classes like astronomy, take them and they will boost your regular and science GPAs. It will probably also help to look at the requirements for a few medical schools and take some of their recommended classes, like biochemistry and anatomy. Showing that you are serious enough to go beyond the minimum requirements can only help you.