Hello I am a freshmen who just completed her first semester of college and received a 3.432 gpa. I’m pre-med so obviously this semester was not the outcome I had hoped. First semester is an adjustment and a learning process, so I wanted to compile what I learned this semester with feedback from you guys. General advice for my med school application? Tips for what I should do this summer? Thanks!
It’s too soon to start garnering tips for a med school application. You need to be closer to the actual application and have a MCAT score first.
Your first semester GPA isn’t what you’d hoped but isn’t awful either. Figure out what went wrong this semester and fix it for next semester. It often takes a while to figure how to study in college because it requires a very different approach/skill set than high school did.
As for this summer
---you can do something fun because this is the last summer you won't be committed to doing something medicine- or work-related
--get a job working the public (like wait staff, retail or counter sales, lifeguard, camp counselor, etc ) to help work on the people skills you'll need as a doctor.
-- get a job to earn some money to help pay for your MCAT prep material and your application cycle (You'll need around $5000-$10000, maybe more depending on where you live and the cost of travel from that area.)
--volunteer with a community service program
--volunteer at a hospital, free clinic, nursing home, rehab hospital, group home for the physically or mentally disabled
--do some physician shadowing
--find a paid or volunteer lab research position
--a combination of some or all of the aboveAgreeing 100% with advice above. Adding that S finished first year with GPAs below 3.2 and is a resident (although in interest in full disclosure he did have to wait and apply at end of senior year as opposed to more “traditional” applicant who may apply at end of junior year). Take a deep breathe. Although your 3.42 GPA is not what you hoped for, you’re fine. With so many semesters in front of you, you are certainly in a position where you, with hopefully your adjustment period in the rear view mirror, can readily move your overall GPA up to a more competitive level. Good luck.
The most important tip to entering freshman is to not over-load yourself academically. To those who didn’t follow that advice and who suffered lower grades as a result, the recommendation for second semester recovery is - the same, but more so.
Too many pre-meds underestimate the workload that first semester and end up not being able to devote sufficient time to those tough intro classes. A one unit lab can be as much work as a full course in any other subject. If you are sick for a week, you may fall irrevocably behind if you are spread thin to begin with. And frankly, first semester is a time of big adjustments so it’s hard to focus on academics as you would in subsequent semesters.
The second piece of advice is that studying for college level science courses is not like your high school classes. My S described AP Bio as memorize and regurgitate - which is why he disliked it so. In college, it was a different story and required different skills. Make sure you read the chapter before class, use the prof’s office hours, read the same chapter in another text book if your book isn’t sufficiently clear, study with students who are doing well in the subject, over-prepare for the exam…
If you can make the mid-course correction for next semester, you’ll be okay.
Lol I got a 2.7 my first year, raised my gpa to a 3.5 and I got accepted to 5 schools. You will be fine.
Relax. Try to take the focus off GPA.