Failing hard and fast isn't necessarily fun. You may find that your first few college tests don't go nearly as well as they used to in high school, and that club that you were confident you were going to get into sends you a dreadful rejection email. However, the beginning of college is the best time to learn how to cope with failure! It's a part of life, and learning how to deal with rejection, failure, and shattered expectations is crucial when going into medicine. Resilience is an important quality of any physician!
However, there are ways to optimize the start of college to avoid failures later on! With courses moving so quickly, figuring out early on the best (and worst) ways to learn course material can help you so much in the long run.
It can be really nerve-racking to go to office hours at first. You may not have questions to ask and could be afraid of embarrassing yourself if you do have a question you want to ask. However, going to office hours can be incredibly helpful! Even if you don't have any questions to ask, it is extremely beneficial to listen to questions that other students have because it can challenge you to see the material from multiple angles. Plus, if you have your own questions, you can get a personalized answer!
Also, office hours are an opportunity to get to know your professors, especially if you are the only one who is at office hours that week (such as times when there aren't any major tests coming up). This is important if you want to get a letter of recommendation and want to forge those connections with professors early on.
Everyone studies differently. Some people can cram the night before and ace the test, while some people need a few weeks to digest and practice the material to do well. Some people like to make flashcards, while others may like to make long, color-coded study guides. Whichever one of these people you are - do what works for you, regardless of what works for your friends and peers.
Here are just a few examples of study strategies that could work for you:
Make flashcards on Quizlet or Anki
Handwrite or type up a study guide
Design your own practice test questions and answer them
Synthesize the material the best you can, and ask questions during office hours
Read all of the Powerpoint slides multiple times and summarize important points
Teach another student the material
Apply the concepts to real-world problems
Many people struggle in their first few quarters of college. Whether it is the difficulty adjustment to living away from home or the fast-paced nature of college courses compared to high school classes, it is easy to fall behind. That being said, most admissions committees will not hold this against you if you can demonstrate that you are able to improve later on. This is a common piece of advice, so if you did struggle early on, don’t worry!
Additionally, if you have some extenuating circumstances during your time in college that resulted in lower than usual grades, you will have an opportunity to explain this in your applications later on, so don’t fret!
Overall, your application will be looked at holistically. Your academic record is not the only thing that will be factored into deciding if you get into a certain medical school, so occasionally getting bad grades will not disqualify you from receiving an offer of admission. Just focus on improving over time to the best of your abilities!
Many people struggle during college for a number of reasons, and often times, even if your grades improve by the end of college, you may feel that your GPA is too low to apply to medical school. This is a very common thing, so don't worry if this is the case!
For students that want to improve their application before applying to medical school, you can complete a post-bacc program after graduating from college. These programs help students strengthen their academic skills, retake the necessary prerequisite courses, and prepare for the MCAT® exam. Typically, they accept applications in the spring for fall admission.
Some schools, such as the University of California schools, also offer special post-bacc programs for students that come from disadvantaged backgrounds.