Hello,
I am a first year student for the med school game. I went to an academically poor public highschool in a countryside in ontario and the transition from high school to UofT has been rather tumultuous. I have received B- in BIO120H, B+ in MAT135H, C in CHM139H, and currently have 62 in ECO100. I have not been partying or wasting any time. I didn’t even get to explore the city yet and have been stuck in the library every single day studying. I have changed my studying habits twice since I came to UofT and still seems like my habits are not working. I have figured that I will have an “average GPA” to apply to med school only if I take 22.0 credits throughout 4 years and attain 4.0 in every single course until I graduate, which seems highly unlikely based on how I?am performing right now.?Is it possible to repeat first year? Would UofT scrap my past academical history and let me start fresh??Even if I transfer to another university, attaining 4.0 every single semester is the only option to med school now.
I need some advice,
Steve L.
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hello. this is an old question. if you?d like to see why i am answering these BLASTS FROM THE PAST, please go?here! thanks!
aska
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hey there,
i realize that i have already addressed this in my epigraph up there, but i feel the need to say again that while our dear friend steve, who 2-ish years ago was facing quite a conundrum with his first-year marks, has long since decided on a path for his life – whether or not that path led to med school – this is still a pressing issue for a big chunk of first years, every year. so this question isn’t addressed so much to steve as it is to the people steve represents: the questioning, the disilusioned and the panicked.
(this part though is just for steve, in case he’s still reading: hey steve, sorry this question never got answered in time. askastudents are rotated in and out on a yearly-ish basis, and in the process of that switch questions can sometimes get lost or not transferred over. i hope the fact that your question didn’t get answered in time didn’t embitter you against askastudent FOREVER, and that you’ll allow me to use your question as a model for FUTURE STUDENTS).
alright, so, onto the question. the title of this post is left over – if my math is correct – from one or maybe two askastudents ago, but i’ve kept it because i agree with it. and the reason i agree with it is because the faculty of medicine agrees with it – an average GPA of 3.6 required to be eligible for admission to med school, and it is based on all university courses you’ve ever taken ever.
so once you’ve done your first year, it automatically becomes part of your application. it’ll be factored into your application GPA – no scrapping of past history, no negotiations, regardless of redone courses or bad high schools or whatever other reason you can come up with. meaning that, yes, you would essentially have to get 4.0 across the board in the rest of your undergraduate career (not to mention do great on your MCATs and the?non-academic shenanigans?which are part of your application) in order to be eligible and competitive. there’s no way to wipe first year from the record, is what i’m saying.
this means that you – metaphorical steve – have a decision to make. do you want to be a doctor so incredibly badly that you are willing to give it 110% for 3 more years (+4 or however long it takes for you to finish your MD)? if you are, that’s great. if you like anatomy more than sleep, more than socializing, more than TV or leisure reading or drinking or being able to tack on M.D. to the end of your name – if you still like studying bones and shizzle MORE THAN ALL THAT – then i’d say, use the summer to gain some new study skills, regroup, and tackle the 2nd year with your goal in mind.
however, if you want to become a doctor because “the economy is bad” or because “it’s prestigious,” or because “people always said i was smart enough to,” or because “M.D. really does look nice at the end of my name,” then it is not worth the mental wear and tear. the economy is bad for everyone. prestige is about doing your job remarkably, not which job you do. being smart doth not always a high-paying job equate. and Steve M.D. sounds silly as heck, with all respect. so forget those reasons and do what you WANT.
cheers, metaphorical steve, and thanks in advance for all the help you’ve been to other first-years.
aska