Am I Still *screwed*? Lol.

[xkazzike]

Ok so Im in 2nd year in uni, Honours Bio Bsc. I fucked up really hard in first year due to many issues,

 

Since this isn't a blog for me to vent, Im just gunna show u the marks, and we can go from there.

 

 

1st year marks

 

Bio: 3.9

Chem:3.9

Computerscience:4.0

Math:3.9

Physics:3.3

 

 

 

Psychology:3.7

Physics:3.9

Chem:2.7

Bio:2.7

Math:2

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the marks in bold, are the marks I f***** up truly in. Assuming I maintain a 3.9 gpa this year minimum, how bad is my first year? Should I retake Math as an extra precaution?

[lauder123]

No you are not . Some schools will drop your lowest year or lowest grades if you continue taking a FULL course load. There is also space on some medical school applications that allow you to explain why you did so poorly (legit and honest reasons of course).

[MathToMed]

There's no reason to retake math unless it's a prerequisite for upper level courses you want to take (ie. you really want to learn the content). Your original math mark will still be on your transcript.

 

Just want to also point out that you should realistically assess whether or not a 3.9 average is realistic for you. It's not impossible, certainly, but the majority of your courses are 3.9's as it is...for every 3.7, you need 2 4.0's to balance it out at 3.9, for every 3.3, you need 6 4.0's, etc.

Be cautious of the mathematics here. If you do maintain a 3.9, I think you'd have respectable chances at getting in, regardless of your "poor" (not really, but by med school standards) performance in those 3 courses. Just make sure you don't neglect the other parts of your application (volunteering, ECs, research, employment opportunities, etc).

[ArchEnemy]

Regarding the retaking of courses, different schools have different policies about this. They may average the two, or perhaps even disregard the 2nd attempt entirely. 

 

Many people do not do well in first year, and yet are still able to make it in by the end of 4th year. Just continue to work hard.

PS. I understand that grades can be very frustrating, but please refrain from using vulgarities.

[xkazzike]

Thank you guys, you have all been  informative, and sorry for the vulgarity ArchEnemy, I refreshed the page and noticed a lot of *changes* to my post. Wont happen again!

 

In regards to the advice listed, I guess I have to just continue to work hard (in all strands, not just academics), and not dwell over first year marks...

[DDS_hopeful]

Honestly, you'll be fine. I didn't do well in first year either, but I got accepted to Western dent because I did well in my 2nd, 3rd and 4th years (even though they only looked at my best two). Also, U of T will drop that year if you decide to apply in 4th year. You definitely have the potential to do really well, as indicated by some of your high marks. Hopefully the "many issues" you mentioned are resolved, and you can now focus on school. It's also important to have a healthy balance of work and play. I know that's an expression that gets thrown around a lot, but you can't just plug away at the books all the time. You'll burn out. If you have a healthy balance, this will be reflected in your marks.

[hopeful42]

While life balance is good, I wouldn't invest much energy in the 

 

There's no reason to retake math unless it's a prerequisite for upper level courses you want to take (ie. you really want to learn the content). Your original math mark will still be on your transcript.

 

Just want to also point out that you should realistically assess whether or not a 3.9 average is realistic for you. It's not impossible, certainly, but the majority of your courses are 3.9's as it is...for every 3.7, you need 2 4.0's to balance it out at 3.9, for every 3.3, you need 6 4.0's, etc.

Be cautious of the mathematics here. If you do maintain a 3.9, I think you'd have respectable chances at getting in, regardless of your "poor" (not really, but by med school standards) performance in those 3 courses. Just make sure you don't neglect the other parts of your application (volunteering, ECs, research, employment opportunities, etc).

While you should definitely have life balance, focus your work energy on the gPA and not at all on the volunteering, etc listed above - they won't really count for much at all in the dent application (very unlike med school) while the gpa is the key - Western's acceptance average gpa for dents has in some years been higher than that of meds - GPA  is key.