Worried

[EntityMed92]

I'm not a horrible student. I go the extra mile to get good grades and I keep up with my work. However, I let myself go during my freshman and sophomore years in high school. I won't discuss details, but my life was horrid due to some events that took place. I had no control over them. Anyone who has been in my position would understand.

I made a comeback during my junior year and my GPA went up to a 2.98 unweighted. It still sucks, but it'll grow more when I finish my senior year. I got a 24 on the ACT (first time taking it; taking it a second time in September). I am the captain on the debate team, I am a member of the international club, and I am joining Scholar's Bowl this year. I am also a junior volunteer at a local hospital.

I am moving back to Illinois after I graduate, since I miss being close to my family and I miss living there. I have a couple of colleges (state schools) picked out, but I'm scared of being denied by all of those colleges. I also heard that medical schools look at the college you attend and it can hurt your chances of being accepted into a med school. Obviously I won't be accepted by any Ivy League school and I'm not financially blessed.

Am I completely screwed?

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[adeline]

Don't worry about which ugrad you go to, worry about how well you do there.

Can you get IL residency?

 

[EntityMed92]

Yeah, I can get it.

 

[EyEnStein 07]

your definately not screwed. I have read here (SDN) countless times of kids who didnt give 2 craps in highschool...turned themselves around and banged out 3.5+ GPA's in college.

Medical schools is one type of "graduate schools" that DO NOT care about where you went to undergrad. If you were going into any other profession/masters programs...yes where you went UG might have an effect on grad school.

All medical schools care about is your GPA, MCAT, how much dedication you put into your Extra Curriculars such as Volunteering/research/shadowing...and you should be good.

Honestly....if they dont care about majors i dont get why they would care about what school you went to...

After all at the end of the day...a 3.8 GPA and a 35 MCAT will get you into medical school (assuming everything essays, interviews, ec's are good) whether you are a physics major at MIT or an art history major at your state school. (not to say theirs anything wrong with art history...just saying that the art history major program at a regular state school is probably not as difficult as a physics major at MIT..hopefully you understand the point im trying to make)

 

[adeline]

Even more reason to go to a statie! Good 'n' cheap!

 

[DonkeyD]

What are you worried about again? I had almost exactly the same high school GPA, went to a state school for undergrad, and my grades are better in med school than in high school.

As Walter Sobchak said..."nothing is f***ed here dude"

 

[forreal1]

that sucks about the whole horrid events, but its a good thing as well. You can now make your essays more personal by taking about these events and how you overcame them, if thats the case. Also talk to your guidance counselor, he or she is going to write your recommendation(important). Talk to the counselor about those event if possible, and just be friends and ask questions about your worries about colleges and what not, because if you get a personal rec from a counselor, it shows the college that the counselor who sees probably 100 or so more kids, knows you better than the other kids. I did this and I got amazing recs from my counselor. Like I seriously wrote him a short version of my life, and he was pretty amazed and I would always just drop in every now and then to just ask him about his kids and stuff. We became pretty good friends and I think that helped a little more for me getting into my school.


Hope this helps, and have fun senior year!

 

[EntityMed92]

Thank you for all of the replies. I am feeling more optimistic now.

I have another question. I was thinking about going to a community college for a year before transferring to a public university. What classes should I take at the CC?

 

[adeline]

Basic english.
First math course.
Start a language.
Basic bio.

 

[tennisball80]

Now, it's time to think solutions.

#1 Take basic classes
#2 Listen well in classes. Do all of the your homework. Study for tests. Don't look at hot chicks or chat with your friends.
#3 Have confidence in yourself. Don't give up just because you got a C.
#4 Do well on these classes and step up.

 

[Vicviper]

Yes, as others have said, high school has essentially no direct impact on if your health professions admissions (dental, med, pharm, opt, whatever). I didn't really try in high school and never took SAT's because I always intended to start at the CC my mom was a professor at. Once I got there, I did the best I could, mostly A's, a C here and there, two D's during a particularly difficult personal time, I transferred to my university, did well in my upper division classes, kicked butt on the DAT, and got into some amazing dental schools, including an Ivy league school.

So at this point, even if you don't get into your dream university straight out of high school, it's really not a big deal in the long run - and who knows, you very well may be accepted to a great school off the bat, but it really doesn't matter.

And if you go to a CC, just do your general ed, and any low level pre-reqs you need to in order to transfer (often bio and gchem), and do your best, that's really all that counts.

Good luck, and don't stress, you'll get there if you put the dedication and hard work into it.

 

[fMRI]

Your high school performance (and extracurricular activities) are as important to admission to med school as your kindergarten performance was a contributing factor to get into college.



In other words: figure out *why* your grades don't match your effort (study skills, etc.) and enjoy that you have a fresh start!

 

[EMS5]

Yeah. I'll echo what everyone else said. High school doesn't matter. AMCAS doesn't ask for your high school transcripts. They want to know how you performed in college.

 

[DaTruMD]

If you have trouble in hs college is gonna be a b****. Of course, I'm assuming you didn't go to a hard HS.

 

[Vicviper]

If you have trouble in hs college is gonna be a b****. Of course, I'm assuming you didn't go to a hard HS.

Eh, it depends, I found college easier than my final years of high school. You're really only taking maybe 3-5 classes a semester, and of those, possibly 1-2 4/5 unit science classes that allows you to have a lot of time to focus on those classes in particular. You also don't have easy gimme classes like gen ed taking up a large portion of your time (like APUSH and AP Lit did in high school).

The key thing for college is to be able to manage your time and not to get off track.

 

[DaTruMD]

Eh, it depends, I found college easier than my final years of high school. You're really only taking maybe 3-5 classes a semester, and of those, possibly 1-2 4/5 unit science classes that allows you to have a lot of time to focus on those classes in particular. You also don't have easy gimme classes like gen ed taking up a large portion of your time (like APUSH and AP Lit did in high school).

The key thing for college is to be able to manage your time and not to get off track.

Maybe. But that depends on the standard you want to push yourself to in college. (I want a 4.0 this upcoming year which is def. a lot easier to achieve in HS).

 

[Vicviper]

Maybe. But that depends on the standard you want to push yourself to in college.

Haha, very true, I was always the more laid back easy going type in college, pulled the A's and B's, but heck, I got into some great schools.

 

[AryaStark]

That's such a ridiculously untrue statement. College is a whole different ballgame than high school. In college you actually get to pick your courses and you pick the instructor. You are in control of pretty much every aspect of your education, and that type of control is important. You take a hold of the reins with your education in college. I did ok in high school (4.2 weighted GPA) and never really cared if I got a B instead of an A. However, i felt I was always struggling to stay afloat in high school. I was taking courses that I had very little interest in, so it wasn't easy to get through the work, thus sometimes I got C's or B's. When I got to college,it was so different. I loved the classes I was taking, and when I didn't, I got through them because it was my choice to take it in the first place. In the end, I ended up with a major GPA of 4.0 and a Cum GPA of 3.87. Odds are you will enjoy college more than you enjoy high school school, and because of the freedom in terms of choosing courses, you will most likely be a happier and more intellectually stimulated. And have you ever heard of someone who enjoys what they're studying- failing? No.

If you have trouble in hs college is gonna be a b****. Of course, I'm assuming you didn't go to a hard HS.

 

[CScull]

I'm not a horrible student. I go the extra mile to get good grades and I keep up with my work. However, I let myself go during my freshman and sophomore years in high school. I won't discuss details, but my life was horrid due to some events that took place. I had no control over them. Anyone who has been in my position would understand.

I made a comeback during my junior year and my GPA went up to a 2.98 unweighted. It still sucks, but it'll grow more when I finish my senior year. I got a 24 on the ACT (first time taking it; taking it a second time in September). I am the captain on the debate team, I am a member of the international club, and I am joining Scholar's Bowl this year. I am also a junior volunteer at a local hospital.

I am moving back to Illinois after I graduate, since I miss being close to my family and I miss living there. I have a couple of colleges (state schools) picked out, but I'm scared of being denied by all of those colleges. I also heard that medical schools look at the college you attend and it can hurt your chances of being accepted into a med school. Obviously I won't be accepted by any Ivy League school and I'm not financially blessed.

Am I completely screwed?

I actually think you're much better off than most of us... by having those tough experiences and learning how to cope, you're going to be much stronger than your peers who've always had it easy. The fact that you've improved so much shows that you don't give up and you really care about your future. If by some small chance you don't get accepted to a 4 year university right away, I'm sure you'll be good to transfer from a CC after a year or so. Keep hanging in there, trooper!

 

[Tots]

That's such a ridiculously untrue statement. College is a whole different ballgame than high school. In college you actually get to pick your courses and you pick the instructor. You are in control of pretty much every aspect of your education, and that type of control is important. You take a hold of the reins with your education in college. I did ok in high school (4.2 weighted GPA) and never really cared if I got a B instead of an A. However, i felt I was always struggling to stay afloat in high school. I was taking courses that I had very little interest in, so it wasn't easy to get through the work, thus sometimes I got C's or B's. When I got to college,it was so different. I loved the classes I was taking, and when I didn't, I got through them because it was my choice to take it in the first place. In the end, I ended up with a major GPA of 4.0 and a Cum GPA of 3.87. Odds are you will enjoy college more than you enjoy high school school, and because of the freedom in terms of choosing courses, you will most likely be a happier and more intellectually stimulated. And have you ever heard of someone who enjoys what they're studying- failing? No.

Agree 100%. similar experience

 

[psipsina]

I really didn't expend any effort in high school. I was bored by the classes and had a bunch of bad family stuff going on. I had a hard first semester in college because I had to learn how to study but was able to pull it up after that and got into multiple medschools on my first try. Each step only cares about the last thing you did. If you have to start at a community college and then transfer into a university that can even work for medschool admissions (some won't take premed prereqs from the community colleges tho). If you want it go for it just be prepared to step it up once you start college. And figure out how to cope with outside of school life going wrong because there is less leeway for "screwing up because I had stuff going on" as you progress.