<p>Okay so here is my situation. I am a junior at a university. I started at a community college and received 3 associates degrees in two years averaging 21 credit hours per semester and wound up with a 4.00 GPA. This confidence boost led me to believe I could handle 17 credit hours of upper level science classes as a transfer to my university. I am in thermodynamics, calculus 3, cell biology, anatomy, and physics. Obviously I did not think this through because I have absolutely no life and hardly any time to actually study for tests because I have so much homework. So it looks like I may get As in all my classes except 2 Bs in thermo and calculus. I am definitely cutting back next semester. My question is will this look bad to a medical school admissions. I have read that if the trending grades roll over to a university it will not look bad but if I don’t do as well it can put into question if the community college was challenging.</p>
<p>I know ECs are important so I have been volunteering for hospice, humane society, a tutoring organization, and meals on wheels. I am now at 260 hours of community service. I have my emt license which I plan on getting the job next semester and I have shadowed 150 hours in the operating room. I have received various awards for voluntary work and I will be doing a research program over the summer. I am doing everything I possibly can to pump up my resume but now my grades are beginning to worry me.</p>
<p>I would drop a class but a withdraw would look like a failing grade on a transcript and trust me if I had more time I would be getting straight As. </p>
<p>". I am in thermodynamics, calculus 3, cell biology, anatomy, and physics. "
-Way, way, way TOO MUCH. You should have consulted somebody before, but it is too late now. As a rule, you should have 2 difficult classes and the balance of easy classes. But even that maybe way too much combining thermodynamics with any other difficult classes. I am not sure why are you taking this class, but I beleive that class like this should be combined only with easy classes.<br>
I also did not see Med. Research in your ECs. Maybe I missed it. But you should intern in Med. Research lab while in UG(some do it during summer, but it is very hard to get into summer programs, while it is easy to get position at your college).
And having life in UG is extremely important while in UG also. You got to meet different people with different set of interests, learn how to connect to them, grow personaly, develop your “human” skills as much as you could. Some are not paying attention to this very important side of UG years.
As a general rule which may go up every year thoug, college GPA = 3.6+ is OK.
I do not know if you are planning a gep year. then it should be spent on Research. The reason why I asked is because junior usually prepare for MCAT. Some are taking longer, others shorter, depending on your schedule. Normally those who are not planning on gap year, take MCAT sometime in May of Junior year and apply right after they get a score. Usually everything that is part of your application (LOR’s,…etc,.all that pre-med commitee has to do) is done by that time.<br>
Best wishes! </p>
<p>I agree with M2CK wholeheartedly. There is probably enough time left in this semester to salvage some of your grades. You are at the point of needing to do damage control with what has already occurred. You should postpone all of those activities and give yourself time to focus on school until you are confident in your academics. With your track record of volunteering, shadowing, and awards there’s no doubt that it will be easy for you to pick these activities back up once you have your head above water as far as school goes. </p>
<p>You should definitely take advantage of office hours, discussion sections, tutoring, student services, whatever. If you’re having trouble in a class, ask your TA if it would be OK to attend an additional discussion section to reinforce the material again. (This is essentially no extra work for the TA but shows that you are serious about wanting to improve.) Don’t skip class. Study hard for quizzes. Take notes during lecture so you actually pay attention. Sit in the front of the room and ask questions. Don’t go out on week nights. Hang out with people who care about school so you don’t feel lame about focusing and studying so much–and so you have friends! These are habits–off the top of my head–that successful students employ. You probably already do some of these–see how many more you can pick up!</p>
<p>After all, the adcomms won’t get to learn about all those wonderful accomplishments if your application gets tossed (should you end up with lackluster grades) before your foot gets in the door. </p>