kb: advice

[Jim Henderson]

This is my first time posting here, so let me go ahead and say great site!!
Now, I'm a pre-medical student at the University of Mississippi. I transfered to the U of
M from a local community college, and Up until this last year, my grades have been
impeccable. I went through a very rough first year at Ole Miss, and now I have to take
a couple of classes over.

What I would like to ask is how much will this hurt my chances of getting into a medical
or even an osteopathic school? How do admission committees look at classes that were
"re-taken"? We do have a policy at Ole Miss called a "forgiveness policy" where we can
re-take a class and have the only the higest grade count in our GPA. Without these
two classes, my GPA would be around a 3.5.

Thanks for any advise you can give me!

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[drhenderson]

I assume the grades you dropped will be on your transcripts, even though they won't count in your total average.
The admissions committees will see the grades and this will hurt some. How bad? Depends on exactly what those grades are... you didn't say.

If you show that your other grades are good and repeat the classes you did terrible in and get A's, this should help.

As long as the rest of your credentials are good, you have solid letters of recommendation, and do well on the MCAT, you shouldn't be out of the running for a spot, but I suggest applying to many medical schools, both allopathic and osteopathic.

The main reason admissions committees are so stringent is not to just be strict, but to be careful not to let people in who are not going to be able to make it through. The financial and social consequences of not making it through medical school are difficult. So you want to show the comittees you are capable of handling their curriculum.

Good luck this year and with your quest!

Jim Henderson, MD of Medicalstudent.net