Should I Stick With My Dream Major? Or Is It Time To Face Reality….?

Well, my story is that I am currently a junior at a small private school in Western PA (Westminster) :slight_smile:
I am a current biology major…which is my dream, as one day I aspire to become a Genetic Counselor and Researcher.
But, my GPA currently resides at a 2.0… and credit wise, I’m still a sophomore with around 4 classes that will need to be retaken due to low grades (D’s and an F). And, I’m worried that it’s all too late for me to fix things and follow my dream…. does anyone else ever have this feeling? I just don’t know where to go at this point… :confused:

Why is your GPA a 2.0?

Is it that the material is hopelessly over your head? Have you been giving it your all, getting tutored, taking every avenue available to pull up your grades and get a handle on the material?

Or has schoolwork been more of an afterthought? An “oh, crap, I have a paper due tomorrow” kind of thing?

If it’s honestly the first, then perhaps you’re over your head academically and should rethink your major. If it’s the second, then it doesn’t matter what your major is until you choose to get more serious about the primary reason you’re in school.

Have a chat with your parents, talk about what you plan to do to turn this around.

I think you need to talk with your academic adviser and possibly come to a hard decision. Acceptance to graduate programs such as Genetic Counseling is extremely competitive and with a 2.0 GPA I don;t think you would qualify. And your course work is only going to become more demanding. Sometimes what we want to do just isn’t what we are skilled at. I wanted to be a Marine Biologist but after I failed Biology my first semester it was a huge wake up call. Visit your adviser and your career center. They can help you find a major/career that not only suits your interests but your skills as well.

I agree with the above - you really need to examine why you have a 2.0. If it is because the material is difficult and you cannot do the kind of work that a biology major requires, then maybe you do need to switch majors.* But if it’s because you haven’t been focused and putting your all into studying and achieving, then perhaps it’s simply that you need to be more focused.

*You don’t need to give up your dream though. You don’t have to have majored in biology in order to get an MS in genetic counseling. I did a bit of poking around, and most genetic counseling master’s programs only require about 3 courses in biology (plus ~3 courses in chemistry, depending on the program). All of the programs require a semester of genetics, which usually functionally requires you to take the introductory biology sequence (some programs explicitly require you to take one year of intro bio, but since you have to take it to take genetics anyway, a lot of programs don’t have this spelled out). Most programs also require a semester of biochemistry, which usually has a two semesters of chemistry as a prerequisite.

But other than that, it’s much akin to medical school: major in anything you like as long as you have the prerequisites. A lot of genetic counseling MS students were psychology majors, since that’s a big part of the field too.