<p>Hi I’m a freshman here at UCLA and I took summer school (sociology, english, and a civic engagement course). I just wanted to get some GEs out of the way and also get a feel for the campus. I got a B in both sociology and english, and a Pass for my civic engagement.</p>
<p>Currently I have a 3.0 GPA, and I know that’s really low for medical school. Did I mess up or am I doing alright for a start? I feel like I know how to study smart after doing summer school… cuz I now see how competitive it can be here.</p>
<p>Frankly,it is, indeed, a bad start. It is; however, what you deserved. Students often over estimate their abilities and have lackluster performances in class. Too bad.</p>
<p>It’s bad, but is it going to kill you? No. The only thing is that you have a lot of pressure one you now to get your GPA back up. Try to keep your science GPA as high as possible and take some easier GE’s next time to bulk up your GPA. It’s going to be competitive so don’t procrastinate and keep up with the work otherwise you will indeed fall behind and may kiss your med school chances good bye. And caveat try not to be so cocky, you are just starting out too and who knows you may have “over estimate[d] [your] abilities” as well</p>
<p>hahaha agreed^ @caveat you haven’t even taken a class here yet so $tfu, you don’t know what it’s like firsthand. congrats, we’re both in UCLA. & try not to overdo it by using words like “frankly” and “indeed” to sound smart.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone else for the feedback! I’ll definitely work harder for the next 4-5 years. I have many more quarters to make up :)</p>
<p>This shouldn’t be too hard. While all the freshman are all out partying, you should do quite the opposite.</p>
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<p>You may have your foot in your mouth in a couple of months…</p>
<p>To the op,</p>
<p>Make sure you know that you truly enjoy chemistry, otherwise if you find out you don’t enjoy it switch to a more employable major. Because right now chemistry and biology are majors that shouldn’t be studied by anyone who are smart enough to study them. Yeah, you might believe that someone is saving you a spot just for you in med school, but you can’t be sure. My point is: be able to adapt and adopt a plan B. But yeah, if you are med school material, you should be able to easily recover from that gpa, so don’t worry too much. Just do your best, and constantly pursue perfection by being competitive with yourself.</p>
<p>You act like he’s doomed. It’s his FIRST quarter. </p>
<p>Focus on your material, don’t get distracted with FB/procrastination. Finish your review first so you have time to go out and do other things besides study. There are so many organizations, restaurants, museums, and other venues near UCLA. </p>
<p>Study hard, but set aside some time for yourself too.</p>
<p>Your dreams are not over yet, but it is indeed a bad start. Sociology and English classes, in general, are considered “easy A’s” (or at least A-). It’s pretty hard to get a B…you should’ve at least been able to get a B+. </p>
<p>I hope you’re absolutely brilliant at science.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you would keep these grades when you could have easily dropped the classes without even a notation on your transcript. Now that that opportunity is gone, you’re just going to have to deal with the GPA until you ace your other classes. Your UCLA pre-med career is definitely not over, but you’re on a short leash in a sense…</p>
<p>^I still don’t understand how people could drop classes, essentially wasting their money and time over a quarter, just because they’re going to get a B rather than an A.</p>
<p>^ I’m not advocating dropping your classes during actual quarters, but this was a summer program meant for ppl who wanted to get AHEAD. Accepting B’s in this situation seems counterintuitive…</p>
<p>overachiever92: In life some things go our way and other times it doesn’t. Getting a B is not the end of the world and it doesn’t kill anyone. Even though you are striving for A’s you are bound to get B’s every now and then. Nobody is perfect. Surely you can agree that a B is better than a B- or a C+. </p>
<p>To the OP: Welcome to UCLA. It is a completely different ballpark and the expectations are extremely different. It is normal to come off to a bad start. You are new and adjusting, so don’t beat yourself about it. Consider your first quarter as a learning experience and try to reflect on what things you would have changed and try to implement it this quarter. Good luck because as a Chem major you are going to be taking weeder classes along with engineers and premeds (chem, physics, and math series), so you are in for the ride of your life.</p>
<p>overachiever is right here. If you are taking summer school before your freshman year it is for the purpose of getting ahead. Obviously you can’t choose your grades, but summer school is unique because you get to choose whether you want to keep your grade or not (before the final obviously). So if you EXPECT to get a bad grade (B range) than it makes sense to drop the class. It is a waste of money but you did learn and got use to the systtem without hurting your gpa. Your gpa is permanent so avoiding any bad grades is optimal if possible.</p>
<p>mobilemayhem you completely missed the point. Yeah things don’t go your way, but the OP here had the choice (whether he knew it or not) to drop the class or get a mediocre/bad grade. Yeah a B doesn’t kill anyone by any means, but neither does herpes. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be avoided if possible.</p>