Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Low first year marks.


Guest LifeSci05

Recommended Posts

Guest LifeSci05

Hi everyone,

I really appreciate and thank you in advance for any advice that you may have.

 

 

I just finished my first year of Life Science at Queen's, and I recently saw my average for the year. It is less than stellar.

 

Specificially, it's 63.2% .

 

I know what went wrong and why I received such low marks this year, and I am determined not to let this happen again. I know I'll bring my marks up, but obviously I'm very, very worried -- it keeps me up at night -- about admission into medical schools when I apply in a couple of years.

 

I know UofT doesn't look at marks from one's worst undergrad year, but I haven't noticed such information on the websites of other medical schools. I keep thinking that I'll never get in with the marks that I have.

 

To be honest (and wistful), I've dreamt about attending UofT's medical school for the past seven years. I know that the cut off GPA for UofT is fairly high (3.7 or 3.8 minimum, but more like 3.9 to get somewhat noticed), and if, for some reason, I don't end up getting that GPA, I must think of other medical schools.

 

Because I don't know how other schools feel/look at one's worst (or first) year, I don't know what to do. I'll certainly do my best from now on, but...I know I've shot myself in the foot with this past year.

 

 

Because I've always wanted to be a doctor (and a writer), and I've disappointed myself with this past year, I feel like the scum of the earth.

 

 

Thanks for reading. Just lamenting about this makes me feel a tiny bit better.

 

 

-aliengirl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest queenzer

hi, LifeSci05, I was LifeSci01... Anyway, I think if your desire to become a doctor is strong, you can turn things around and get better next year.

 

When I was in second year, I heard some rumours floating around that some people who felt they didn't do so well actually dropped out and applied to another school as a first year. I wonder if that actually works? The idea was that come OMSAS time just report the second school.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest mying

Western and Queen's also make allowances for ignoring a year's marks. Western only looks at your best year and your final year. I forget what Queen's does but I figure it must be something because I got accepted despite an unacceptable first year average. :)

 

OMSAS requires that you report all the schools you went to. First year is first year is first year. Sorry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Metoo

Hey Life sci just wondering what caused the low marks. It sounds like you have targeted the exact reason for your poor performance. For me the courses were just really hard.....and you?

 

 

BTW dont worry about a lousy first year, you can bounce back, except for Mac all other schools dont consider your first year if its your worst and you complete a four year degree.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest TimmyMax

Hey LifeSci,

 

Your 1st year marks sound pretty much the same as mine and I managed to turn things around nicely. The important thing is to take a long hard look at what you did this past year (that resulted in a sub-par performance) and how you can improve. I found that by changing my study habits (read learning how to study effectively), I was able to boost my marks significantly in the years to come.

The important thing, as the song goes, is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and then...er...I can't remember the rest, but you get the idea. Keep your head up there, bud, because there are better days ahead! :)

 

Best of luck!

Timmy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest U of O med

First year undergrad... I wouldn't go back for all the tea in China!!!

 

It's true that most schools look at the last 3 years or so of study, or some other weighting. I think the really import issue here is the actual undergrad program! Just because you want to be a doctor doesn't mean you have to be a biochemist. I've realized this the hard way, having gone that route and now seeing that the poeple in my class that have psych or other social science degrees are just as good as the rest of us "life sciencers". If you're not a big fan of biochem or some other wacko discipline, then change! All you need is the prerequisites. Better you get in, than you know the molecular formula of ... whatever and not get in... right??!! Specifically at U of O, the first bloc in year 1 is a review of a biology degree (approximately), so you'll see the stuff anyway.

 

Hang in there, it only gets easier after the 1st year!

 

Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest LifeSci05

Thank you very much for your support and advice. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Sometimes I just feel so lost...it's wonderful to know that this message board is available for us to share our stories and experiences.

 

 

To Metoo, there are several factors that caused my low marks. Some are personal reasons but others are procrastination, roomate conflicts/frustration, and...the two biggest reasons: lack of motivation (which is due to an accumulation of other factors), and frequent questioning of whether or not I had chosen the right university to attend or not.

 

I became bummed out most of the time, unfortunately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest TimmyMax

Hey LifeSci05,

 

Man, your situation bears an uncanny resemblance to mine while I was in 1st year Life Sci @ Queen's! I can totally relate to the setting you have outlined- the frustrating situation, combined with procrastination and a general lack of motivation made for a lethal cycle of despair and crappy marks for me. The only difference is that I had no vision of meds back then- I was more concerned with just trying to survive w/o any failures! Fortunately for me, I didn't have the roommate problems that you did- I was lucky enough to live alone in Year 1- so unfortunately I can't offer any insight there. The best advice I can give is to take a long, hard look at your situation and take whatever measures you can to rectify it. I'm of the opinion that you can't do well in school w/o a stable, supportive home environment, so I'd take care of your living arrangements first and foremost for next year if possible. Then, and then, when you have a solid base to stand on, you can bear down and work hard towards getting the marks that will hopefully unlock the gates to the promised land (meds)! :)

 

Best of luck with your quest!

 

Timmy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Antieli

Hi

I just completed my first year with a GPA of 3.9

I had 5 marks that were over 90's.

 

My problem is my biology mark (term2). It was in the high 60's. My term 1 biology mark was an 80%.

It is a prerequisite for Med. School.

 

Now, the term 2 mark is horrible. Should I retake the biology course, or just leave it be and focus on the upper year courses?

My goal is Med. School.

I have had tremendous amounts of volunteer experience as well.

 

Do I remotely stand a chance, or will they try to disqualify me based up that one low mark?

I am stressing out a lot because of that mark.

 

Please any information would be very helpful.

 

Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest princejr13

Antieli,

 

For the most part, a single mark has never made or broke an applican't chance of acceptance to medical school, especially in a half course. You have a first year GPA of 3.9, which is excellent! Don't worry. Get the same GPA next year and you're bound to get interviews almost everywhere you apply provided that your EC's are exellent as well. May I just ask which university are you attending, not that it makes a difference to medical schools.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Liana

Definitely don't retake it. If you have that one isolated poor mark, I imagine it's due to a poorly designed course more than it is due to your own efforts.

 

I'm not sure what region of the country you're in, but in Ontario, most schools will look at your GPA as a product of all of your years of study, or your best few years. They don't care what your marks in isolated courses are, as long as you have completed those courses. I imagine most other provinces use the same approach; I know certain schools out west will even drop some of your lower marks in calculating the GPA, if they're not one of the required courses. I'm not totally sure if first year bio is considered a required course; in Ontario at least, most schools only require you to have completed "a year of biological sciences", and don't care which year this actually is.

 

Your GPA is great as it is; don't bother worrying about the lower marks here and there. I imagine if you go back and do that course again, you may succumb to whatever downfalls led you to getting that lower mark this time, and it won't help your GPA anymore than it does now. Even if a university did look at isolated marks, I'm sure it would be of little concern if you did poorly in first year bio, since it's generally acknowledged that that course teaches you little more than an intro to everything. As long as you are able to show that you can improve yourself by doing well in upper year bio classes, no one would ever be able to hold that course against you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Blue

Hi,

 

While everyone seems to be on this topic of first year marks. I was hoping someone can also havhelp me out with one little worry. Like the LifeSci05 my first year marks is expected to be somewhere around the 60+% as well. But my biggest worry have to do with how med school might look a failed course. Although I did fairly well during my term test for math, the final exam was quite difficult and I'm not sure as to how well I did. If however, I did fail this course, I will be required to retake the course in order to continue on to second year. At UfT this would mean that my gpa for the course be counted twice, once as zero and the second time with the mark achieved in summer school. Does anyone know how med school will look at this? Any info you have will be appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest LifeSci05

Blue, if your first year ends up having your worst overall average, don't worry about UofT because they won't look at it at all.

 

To find out about other med schools, I recommend checking out their websites to see what they say about repeating a course or the worst year.

 

Hope that helps, though I only know a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest champ

Dear Blue, LifeSci05,

 

As a mature applicant (29 yr old) to UT meds this year I know all to well about the poor 1st year grades. My average was about 65% in first year but steadily rose by the end of fourth year. While one course will not kill you, a poor year will. While UT will drop your lowest year...you must ensure to take a full course load, otherwise you are stuck with the poor year for their calculation.

 

Having completed first year, your best best is to recongnise where you went wrong (eg focus, other distractions, commuting) and rectifiy next year. 2 poor years will make it even more of an uphill battle into meds. Also, to improve your chances for good grades, try and take courses you are sure to enjoy or are interested in. Not doing so may mean dropping it later on and losing your full course laod status. Finally, try and cultivate other aspects of your life that may help you later down the line (eg Research). For me the only reason that I was even offered an interview was becasue of my research background.

 

 

I wish you luck and hope you have a 180 degree turnaround next year.

 

champ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest UWOMED2005

Unfortunately, most med schools don't count summer courses for GPA at all. If you did fail a course, it will count as a zero to your GPA. . . which can be quite damaging to the overall GPA for that year.

 

On the bright side. . . as has been pointed out repeatedly in this thread, many schools have formulae to get rid of one bad year. This is especially true for 1st yeas. Just make sure you maintain the rest of your GPAs over the 3.7 (3.8+ for U of T and U of O) range and you should be fine.

 

To Antielli: Med schools look at your OVERALL gpa for the year. They're not that concerned about marks in particular courses - even prerequisites (careful - that depends on the school though!). If you did have a 3.9 GPA including that bio mark, don't worry! That's a pretty outstanding GPA for applying to meds (usually > 3.7 can suffice, though higher is better and it's possible to get in with a lower gpa depending on where you're applying and the circumstances. . .)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Antieli

I just want to say thank you to all those who replied to my message.

Your advice and comments were extremely helpful.

 

Good luck to all the Pre Med students out there.

 

Don't give up.

 

Thanks again everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Blue

Hi everyone,

 

Thank you for your helpful comments and advice. I hope that all will go well in the next year too.

On a small note to "frivolous". I apologize, I hope I did not come off trying to blame professor Lam. He is a great instructor and my unfortunate circumstances had nothing to do with him. However, you do not really know the situation at hand, so please don't go off titling someone as "incompetent". That is a very arrogant remark to make.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 17 years later...

Hi all, 

I just finished my first term of second year. For background my gpa last year was terrible at around 62%. This year was going well and I got above 85 on all my exams until finals season came around and I messed it up. My average for the term looks to be around 75% but I’m confident I can do better next term. 
 

all I want to do is go to medical school but I’m worried that now I won’t be able to due to my bad performance in my second year. Is there anything I can do to recover? My dream was to go to UBC medicine and I know it is less competitive than U of T med. 

can I please get some advice and guidance as I am extremely worried and stressed out. 
 

Thank you

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Guys,

You all seem extremely helpful so hopefully I can get some inputs on my situation as well. 

I did terribly in my first year as well and had an average of 62.6%. I also failed 2 classes. It was an exceptionally terrible year for me and I went through the lowest times I have ever been through. Following that, I significantly improved my marks second year in my first term and my lowest grade all term was an 85 on a midterm, finals came around and I guess I wasn't prepared for them to be so close to each other so I did terribly on 3/5. Now my average for this term is sitting around 70%. I am hoping to have a better second term since I am going to prepare for the final weeks in advance (hopefully :( ) 


But my question was, do you think Med school in Canada is still a possibility for me? Since I didn't do well in my second year first term as well? Will it help if I go hard next term and just bring up my over GPA? 


Please let me know, and I really appreciate the responses and help! Also, if you have any advice on how to manage studying for back to back finals that would be extremely helpful! 

 

Thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Sciencestudent2019 said:

Hi Guys,

You all seem extremely helpful so hopefully I can get some inputs on my situation as well. 

I did terribly in my first year as well and had an average of 62.6%. I also failed 2 classes. It was an exceptionally terrible year for me and I went through the lowest times I have ever been through. Following that, I significantly improved my marks second year in my first term and my lowest grade all term was an 85 on a midterm, finals came around and I guess I wasn't prepared for them to be so close to each other so I did terribly on 3/5. Now my average for this term is sitting around 70%. I am hoping to have a better second term since I am going to prepare for the final weeks in advance (hopefully :( ) 


But my question was, do you think Med school in Canada is still a possibility for me? Since I didn't do well in my second year first term as well? Will it help if I go hard next term and just bring up my over GPA? 


Please let me know, and I really appreciate the responses and help! Also, if you have any advice on how to manage studying for back to back finals that would be extremely helpful! 

 

Thank you!

what Province are you in? Western only looks at your best 2 years and it only needs to be above the 3.7 cut-off for your file to be considered - given that these 2 years are full course load and that the course levels are appropriate for the year you are in. Ottawa only looks at the most recent 3 full-time years with the latter years counting more. Queen's looks at your most recent years only. And since you're only in your second year, there is still time for you to redeem your GPAs and the past 2 years might not even be counted in. But you really do have to be very good for the remaining two years.

Now, for UofT, have you been doing all your coursework at full courseload i.e. at least 28 out of 30 (or whatever is equivalent at your school)?

Depending on your MCAT (especially with the CARS section), your options are still wide open. Take your MCAT after this year and see how you go. But not all schools consider cumulative GPA so you still have a great chance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have a couple of schools left, Sciencestudent (presuming you're BC ip from your talk of UBC and %s, which I know is a stretch). 

UBC: You need to get above 75% to get considered. However, your GPA is half your pre-interview score, so if your ECs are average you still need in the 80s, or some rural luck, to be considered. If you're not IP you need to meet a 85% threshold, and more like the 90s to be competitive. UBC does give weighting to remove your first year, but you need to apply after finishing your degree. 

Alberta schools. Likely out if you're not IP. If you are IP they give you a single dropped year, so you really need to recover in the winter semester. 

Saskatchewan/Manitoba. If you're IP you may have a chance, Manitoba has a great drops scheme, but if you're OOP you're likely out. 

Western: Best 2 years, must be over 3.7. Calculate your OMSAS gpa and see, you may have a shot at a 4th year application. The bad news? You need to do well on CARS. 

Queens. You can compensate with a high MCAT, they also look at your two most recent years, so pick it up in 2nd/3rd/4th. 

Toronto. A great drops scheme, but a sky high average GPA. Not to be harsh or anything, but your current degree GPA may not be salvageable here. Calculate it, and what you'd need to do to get to a 3.9ish OMSAS gpa and decide for yourself. 

McMaster. No drops and OMSAS calculations, you're likely out. 

Ottawa. A bit of a special case. If you do well in your later years you could overcome it, but you need a 3.85 minimum. 

Dalhousie. Another 2 year school, but OOP competition is fierce. 

So to summarize the common theme, the game is not over, but your back is on the 1 yard line. You need to do well next semester/all remaining years or decide if doing a second degree is worth it. Dont let that stress you out, all you need to do is figure out how to study differently (reach out to your schools support system) and recover next year. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, MedicineLCS said:

Alberta schools. Likely out if you're not IP. If you are IP they give you a single dropped year, so you really need to recover in the winter semester. 

Queens. You can compensate with a high MCAT, they also look at your two most recent years, so pick it up in 2nd/3rd/4th. 

Alberta drops a year for OOP students as well, not just IP.

Queen's sets a GPA cut-off (best of cumulative or recent 2-year) first, then a MCAT cut-off for the remaining applicants. This is for interview selection. Whether the MCAT compensates for a low GPA for final selection is only known to admissions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...