Extremely Stressed Out! Help Me With Some Answers

[dreamseeker]

Hello everyone. 

So I have finished my 4th year of undergrad in bio science, my first 2 years i absolutely failed 90% of my courses due to a lot of family issues and eventually depression. ( I was honour student in high school with %98 on my diploma, volleyball captain of the team, leader of symphonic orchestra and very successful person, so after failing my university classes and family issues I was going through depression) and I was on special probation on second year but then I worked my butt off and I got GPA of 4/4 for the last 2 years and I am studying 1 more year to retake some F courses. However I have lots of volunteering. 2 years in hospital, 4 years of being a club vice-president with over 1000 members and so much more. So what's gonna happen next? should I give up already? is there any school that would just count your last 2 years of full studying and ignore your multiple Fs and Ws? My M-CAT score was pretty high so no problem with that either. Also great reference letters. But I honestly can't even sleep at nights. please answer me if you know anything about this case

[MD2015]

Yes, you have schools with 2 best or 2 last years.

[not my real name]

While it is true that there are schools that look at 2 best / last years, this does not necessarily mean that they don't see (and possibly consider) your entire transcript. To some extent, seeing numerous failed classes might raise a red flag. I'm not sure if anyone here can tell you exactly how they would consider it, but I would be surprised if schools entirely disregarded this.

 

That said, this is only half the story. You have had a really outstanding turnaround. Going from F's and W's to 4.0 is quite impressive and should ideally address concerns about your academic record. You clearly have the capacity and drive to do extremely well. Do not give up! Do the exact same thing in your 5th year, and you will have three perfect years. Stay focussed, take care of yourself, talk to a counselor / psychologist about your stress / sleep issues. Your goal for this year is to build on what you've already accomplished, and you clearly have the capacity.

Queens, Western and Dalhousie all consider 2YGPA. Ottawa will consider your last 3 years. Calgary will disregard your worst year (correct?). U of T will disregard numerous courses, and with 3 solid years you may end up with a very respectable GPA for Toronto. I would encourage you to look into all these policies, and calculate your GPA now (w/ 4 years complete) and next year (w/ 5 years). If you can see on paper how you stand, that might reassure you about your chances. But, no matter what, don't let stress sabotage your last year! Focus. Focus. Focus.

 

If I were in your shoes, I may consider writing a letter of extenuating circumstances for the schools that allow it, to address to the elephant in the room (first 2 years). If you worked with a psychologist, doctor, etc. during that time, perhaps they could attest to the issues going on. That said, I would not personally want to frame it as depression (I am not convinced that all med schools are truly okay with this). I would frame it as situational, which it seems to have been, and highlight how you've overcome these issues. This may not be the best strategy, so feel free to disregard this. Perhaps med schools will see the turnaround and not require any further explanation, perhaps not. 

[Clever]

To be able to give you better advice we would need to know a little bit more about your courses. You mentioned that you failed some courses early on but did very well in your next two years. Were any of the courses you took in your final two years repeats of ones you had failed, or were they options that didn't affect your ability to take higher level courses? If you did retake some there might be a more complicated answer as to how schools will look at your GPA.

[older]

The way you turned it around is impressive. Best of luck.

[dreamseeker]

Thanks everyone, I already feel better now that I've received some responses and mostly have my hope back. I will try to do 4s in my 5th year as well, and really hope they ignore my downtimes somehow after I explain my life situation.