<p>It’s totally doable. Learning resources and your profs. are so accessible that you should be able to do well. Many people here get high gpas as pre-meds. Many freshmen in particular get 3.5+ first year and then it increases depending on the major (like biology), where many upperlevel courses grade at least slightly easier. Your goal is to defy the norm and get the GPA and do well on the MCAT. You’ll need to retain the information and not just get an A-/A in the course. My friends who did well say that general chem, orgo., and biochem were the best prep. for certain sections. Physics wasn’t bad, and bio 141 (bio 142 is relatively irrelevant to premeds) was kind of useless. I’d imagine bio was useless because it was one of those courses that is very strenuous and many simply try to get past it. It is generally much tougher than 142. They are trying out the problem based learning stuff more since they revamped the bio series here (my friends in class of 2010-2011 came in before that). This may provide greater success. Point is, if you put the effort in, you can do this. Choose the right courses, and also, don’t stress too much. Try to sleep, and follow the “work harder, play hard” rule and you should be fine. Get involved in an extracurricular that means a lot to you. It need not be medical related (you want some medical-related/science oriented experiences, but don’t let it dominate too much of your resume/app. For top schools, you’ll want to stand out. Do something different, or go bigger than shadowing or research). Follow the suggested study habits placed on the syllabus if you don’t have much experience with a particular course topic. And again, do not be ashamed to use learning resources such as a specialist or e-pass tutor. Attend SI if you are struggling with more problem based courses. </p>
<p>By the way, I am not pre-med, I’m just a science major interested in a pharmacology graduate program. My opinion is based upon the patterns I see amongst my peers and friends. Some who did very well. I have one going to Harvard in the fall. And I know one that should be able to matriculate at a top school (he is a rising senior and will apply next year) b/c he has a high GPA and MCATs. He wants to stay and attend Emory, primarily because of the curriculum and the fact that he likes Atlanta. I’m sure he’ll make it. I also know two people that got into Duke full ride. The most recent graduates have done extremely well. Hopefully the next graduating classes can show them up ;). And hopefully you’ll strongly consider becoming a part of one of those.</p>