bye bye ivy leagues? wrote:
I'm a freshman in college and got a 3.34 GPA for my first quarter... I'm pretty paranoid now. I'm a chemistry major (possibly a minor or double major in math) and am keeping my options open but I want to go to a top 10 grad school (or possibly med school). I thought I did better in my classes than that. Luckily I'm starting research next quarter and should have some solid research as well as teacher recs and that sort of thing. I know this GPA isn't great (also I go to a big state school)... do I still have hope to redeem myself if I can get all As/A-s in the future?
Perfect grades aren't the only thing that gets you in a great school. Sure, they help, but, you have to have some depth and breadth. Just work harder, don't slack and focus on one semester at a time. Get out of the class room. Do internships. Write papers. Get published. Do original research. Look. If you found the cure for cancer, people wouldn't care if you had a 0.0 GPA. Numbers are just a measure of the man. Don't get hung up on them. Focus on learning, not just passing tests. In the end, if your passion is learning, not just getting good grades, in 10 years, it won't matter.