I messed around for my first few years in college. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do at the time. I took less than full class loads and pretty much surfed more than I studied. My grades were less than stellar and spread across a number of majors. Eventually I dropped out and continued to surf for 5 or 6 months while working as a grocery store checker. I eventually found my way into an apprenticeship under an extremely skilled finish carpenter. I completed my apprenticeship and have been working as a finish carpenter long enough to have saved up an adequate amount to put myself through a full 4 year degree from start to finish without having to work at all. I’ve decided med school is my goal, but with such terrible grades and a large gap in my schoolwork history, is there a snowball’s chance in hell that I can turn myself into an attractive medical school candidate?
Hey,
If you haven’t finished your undergrad degree then I’d say you still have a chance to work towards a solid gpa. I’m not sure if it was this site (maybe one of Dr. Gray’s podcasts) or a different site, but there was someone who had a gpa below 2.0 and eventually did well in post-bacc courses. I don’t have a stellar undergrad gpa but I am hoping my upward trend with post-bacc courses will help my chances. Either way, I think you can always have a chance if you really work hard for it. Don’t give up on your goal just yet!