First Year Madness!

[MedicalMan]

Well, my first year didnt go as planned due to certain circumstances in my life. One of my good friends was murdered and my father was diagnosed with MS. So, my grades werent as good as they usually are, I was just wondering if that will affect me in the future when I start applying to medical school, my second year has gone much better, I have since then increased my grades to pretty much a 4.0

[Smurfette]

Hello!

 

I'm really sorry to hear about your first year. Unfortunately, UBC looks at your marks cumulatively, so you will be penalized for your poor marks in first-year. However, if your other years are good, then that should pull you up quite a bit. The actual entering averages in the last couple of years are not that high (compared to most other schools across Canada). If your non-academic achievements are good, then you can still get in.

 

You might wish to consider other schools across Canada as well. There are some schools that will only look at your best two years or your last two years (Queen's and Western). Toronto will take away your worst credits if you have over a full-courseload every year.

 

Good luck!

[Kuantum]

Also, you tend to get room on applications to explain exceptional circumstances for a low average. I would consider your's exceptional. Sorry to hear about your friend and father. I hope you are doing much better now.

[Kiel]

To look on the bright side:), schools like Queens and UWO only look at your two best years for interviews! From what you told us about your second year you seem to have a pretty good shot.

 

Don't lose hope and don't give up.

[Vitum Medicinus]

Having one bad year isn't a big deal. My first year undergraduate was my worst and my situation wasn't nearly as outstanding as yours... medical schools typically allow for a transition year as they understand that university can be a big adjustment from high school. As long as you keep up your marks in the rest of your years, and show that you are able to overcome adversity to achieve your dreams, this will only benefit your application.

[UBCGuy]

I think the things you learn about yourself in first year far make up for the depressed grades. Personally I would not trade the life lessons that I learned for even a 10% jump in my mark, as has become cliche:

 

Books $500

Tuition $5200

Housing $3500

Starbucks $400

Learning to take care of yourself without your parents to fall back on: Priceless

[tigerlily]

Believe me, it is *entirely* possible to recover from bad grades. If you're looking at UBC primarily, keep in mind that they really like the "well-rounded" approach, so it's a good idea to keep those extra-currics high. I had some really horrible grades - I failed Organic Chem (2nd year) and Biochem (took it the first time in fourth year, again a couple of years later on it's own, after gradding). Furthermore, at that time biochem was a full-year course, so it counted as failing two courses. And those were all prereq courses! Unbelievable. I won't go into details on why I failed biochem as I'm still bitter, LOL, but I didn't go into it in my application either. Keep in mind overall GPAs are looked at, so if you feel like taking acting or music or something fun that just might be an easy A+, it couldn't hurt!

But overall, those things are bumps on the road, and they happen. It's still VERY early in your academic career and you've got nothing but time. Have fun and find your niche, and don't do ANYTHING just for the sake of getting in to med school; instead, find a way to make the things you love become selling points for why you should be in med school.

That's what I did, and here I am, slaving away over some massive table with hundreds of microorganisms that I need to know... isn't med school fun?!

Seriously though, it's so worth it - keep your chin up, keep plugging away, and don't stress about it. Good luck!

TL