Low first year GPA during pandemic online semesters

[medhopeful02]

I just wanted to ask if you all think a few bad grades due to online semesters during the pandemic are going to be a big problem when applying to med schools?

 

I started my first year in September 2020, and I missed out on taking some grade 12 prerequisites due to the shift to online. That combined with me being bad at learning online, technology issues, midterms crashing, a strike, and just the overall online learning experience, my first year GPA is quite low. 

My grades started to go up in the winter semester and are still going up as I figure out how to navigate online learning, and the pandemic in general, so I am confident that I can do much better next year even if we stay online.

 

I am really hoping to apply in third year and am just wondering if my first year GPA during the pandemic will plague my application a lot, or if maybe med schools will be understanding? 

[amiralangs]

2 hours ago, medhopeful02 said:

I just wanted to ask if you all think a few bad grades due to online semesters during the pandemic are going to be a big problem when applying to med schools?

 

I started my first year in September 2020, and I missed out on taking some grade 12 prerequisites due to the shift to online. That combined with me being bad at learning online, technology issues, midterms crashing, a strike, and just the overall online learning experience, my first year GPA is quite low. 

My grades started to go up in the winter semester and are still going up as I figure out how to navigate online learning, and the pandemic in general, so I am confident that I can do much better next year even if we stay online.

 

I am really hoping to apply in third year and am just wondering if my first year GPA during the pandemic will plague my application a lot, or if maybe med schools will be understanding? 

I think that would largely depend on the schools you are applying to. I don't think they will be understanding to you specifically given your reasoning, but some medical schools will drop your lowest year if you apply in/after your 4th year. I'm sure the grade inflation will be crazy for future applicants due to online courses.

You're still pretty early in your journey, so please try your best to get good grades, a good mcat score, and get involved to strengthen/expand your extracurriculars. Stay strong!