Your input

[riceman04]

I am going to be applying to med school starting in June 2006 (this coming June) and I am getting a little antsy b/c I am worried about my gpa. My overall is only a 3.4 b/c I earned 3 C's during my freshman year...C- in gen chem, C in calc I, and C+ in calc II (I had wayyyyyyyyy too much on my plate...I was team manager of the girls basketball team that year, and thus I had to travel a hell of alot...all that combined with my bad study skills led to a miserable first year). I am sure you can tell that those grades jacked up my science gpa

I retook Gen chem I and earned a B+
retook Calc I: only earned a B ( )

My first semester freshman year GPA was: 2.5
Second semester was: 3.4

After that my gpa remained above 3.7
I am doing well in my postbacc prog now, but these 8 classes that I will have under my belt after this year will barely put a dent in my science gpa.

Do you guys think that my trend will be taken into account? Also do you guys have any other advice for me in terms of applying, personal statement?

I really appreciate your help!

Thanks,

Fellow Pre-med

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[jebus]

You're in Drexel's MSP program, right? How do you like it?
Trends are definitely taken into account. I remember reading a post by LizzyM that said as much. Try to work something quickly into your PS about it ("My academic performance suffered as a freshman because of X, however this setback only pushed me harder to succeed and I redoubled my classrooom efforts and improved while also doing ECs Y & Z," except make it more eloquent) to draw attention to your laudable improvement and upward trend. Or ask an LOR writer to bring it up. The important thing is not to expect them to catch it - you've got to bring up things that you think are important and will help your cause. I suspect the quality of your UG school will also help your case but you won't need to bring it up.
Apply early, man. I'm glad to hear you're thinking about your AMCAS app now. That's the only advice I can give.
You're originally from CA, right? You have my sympathies, man (only about your med school apps, otherwise I'm hella jealous). What about TX? Did you establish TX residency while you were in school? I hope so because that would definitely make your life a lot easier. I'll write more later.

 

[riceman04]

You're in Drexel's MSP program, right? How do you like it?
Trends are definitely taken into account. I remember reading a post by LizzyM that said as much. Try to work something quickly into your PS about it ("My academic performance suffered as a freshman because of X, however this setback only pushed me harder to succeed and I redoubled my classrooom efforts and improved while also doing ECs Y & Z," except make it more eloquent) to draw attention to your laudable improvement and upward trend. Or ask an LOR writer to bring it up. The important thing is not to expect them to catch it - you've got to bring up things that you think are important and will help your cause. I suspect the quality of your UG school will also help your case but you won't need to bring it up.
Apply early, man. I'm glad to hear you're thinking about your AMCAS app now. That's the only advice I can give.
You're originally from CA, right? You have my sympathies, man (only about your med school apps, otherwise I'm hella jealous). What about TX? Did you establish TX residency while you were in school? I hope so because that would definitely make your life a lot easier. I'll write more later.

No I am in the penn special science program.
Unfortunately, I did not establish texas residency...I was being stubborn at the time. Now I am regretting it.
My sister is a Texas res. and she graduated from UTH (she was a tex res at the time of her application too). Since she went to UTH and since my premed advisor kept telling me how much the UTSA adcom members love Rice students, I am going to apply to those two schools and maybe UTMB. Besides that, I am leaving texas alone.

I am not too sure if I am even going to end up applying to any cali schools since I know it will pretty much be a waste.

We will see.

Thanks for the info