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Tomi
Student
Pocatello, Idaho
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What grade averages do I need
When I attend college and decide my major what grade averages do I need to he able to become a pediatrician? Study habits? #pediatrics #college #pediatrician #medicine #grades #healthcare
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Richard A.
physician
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Richard’s Answer
You will need to get good grades in college in order to apply for medical school. At the medical school I attended, the average GPA is reported to be 3.85, so even one or two B's can hurt your chances of acceptance.
Treat school like a job. Get up early, get to work and when your work is done at the end of the day, you can spend time on social life or organizations.
Go to class. Plan to spend 2-3 hours studying for every hour of lecture. Attend your professor's office hours and any TA review sessions. If there is a test bank, use that as a study tool to understand what your professor wants you to focus on for the test.
Treat school like a job. Get up early, get to work and when your work is done at the end of the day, you can spend time on social life or organizations.
Go to class. Plan to spend 2-3 hours studying for every hour of lecture. Attend your professor's office hours and any TA review sessions. If there is a test bank, use that as a study tool to understand what your professor wants you to focus on for the test.
Sheila Jordan
Lead Network Proj/Prog Manager
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Atlanta, Georgia
Updated
Sheila’s Answer
Hello Tomi: The grade point average you will need to maintain is 3.6 or higher. As for your study habits you may want to find out your style and method of studying. Do you study best alone, in a group setting, visually, audibly, virtual, YouTube, etc. Once you determine your style of studying then you want to make sure you take good notes; whether you write it down, use your phone, voice record, etc. Ask questions to your Professors to ensure your understanding. When you have free time between classes you could go over your notes. Once you have uninterrupted time this is when you focus and really study in greater depth. I researched and found a link to some information you might find useful on your path to become a Pediatrician.
https://careerswiki.com/how-to-become-a-pediatrician/Step_1_High_School_Preparation
Good Luck to You!
Yasemin G.
Aspiring physician
635
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Yasemin’s Answer
Hi Tomi! Great question, so to be a pediatrician you need to go to medical school. That being said the grades you should work for in your classes and do well in them is for medical school applications. There are premed classes such as biology, inorganic and organic chemistry, physics, English, math (calculus, biostats), etc. that you are required to take in addition with some recommended ones. Your premed adviser should have a nice list in their office for the classes to take. Applying to medical school and getting accepted is competitive, doable but definitely requires work so be sure to keep your GPA a 3.7+, so mostly A's. To be honest I think by being disciplined and working hard it is attainable; some study habits are:
Be sure to go to class and interact with the material. When you go to class you allow yourself to commit and be responsible over your schoolwork. Sometimes missing class can make you not prioritize the assignments and you can fall behind. So try to attend every lecture!
-When attending lectures make sure to either record them or take good notes. I didn't record my lectures but my good friend did in Biochem and she would listen to them before exams. I liked taking notes though and highlighting which helped me a lot. However, sometimes my friend would tell me an important thing that our professor said from the lecture in her recordings and that would help me on exam day. So, it can go either way or both!
-Read! Basically for most if not all classes you will purchase some reading material, whether it's a textbook or pdf file so it's important to read whatever material you have. Lectures and exams are based off of readings for the most part and sometimes the textbook can help when a professor's explanations or lectures can seem confusing. I use to read before going to class and would take my own notes, then in class I would compare my notes with the lecture and make additions to them if needed.
-Set up a study group if you can! In Biochemistry a few of my friends would meet up and study together, we would go over notes, quiz each other and even offer different perspectives based on lectures. Sometimes one friend can understand a topic better and clarify it for exams.
-Make sure you have time to study, the main thing about forming good study habits is giving time to them. So it's important to give yourself time every day to study for class whether you read, take notes, listen to the lectures, or solve problems. Whatever it is, you need to commit a good number of hours per week to each class.
-Tutoring. There are tutoring services free of charge for students based on a number of subjects so be sure to use them. Also professors sometimes offer study hours before exam days where students meet up and go over topics and ask questions, if there is one be sure to attend.
-Office hours are also important because if you are confused by a topic or have a question you can see your professor and get extra help you didn't during class. Most professors love seeing their students during office hours because it shows that you care and are committed to the class. Also in the future you may need a reference/recommendation letter from one of the professors and office hours help the professor get to know you better and build a better relationship so they can vouch for your work ethics.
*** as a note if you can't make office hours because of time conflicting with work or another class professors can also set up different time appointments. You can always ask a professor if you can't make it to the original office hours.
-Make sure to have a planner! Every semester I always carried a planner with me because you want to write down what's due and what you need to do in order to complete everything in time. Also use the planner to space out your tasks and studying because you don't want to try to do everything at once. For example if you have a research paper you need to write there are certain things you need to complete before. So one day you can write to check out articles, get your topic approved and then draft a copy before submitting the original thing. The point is a planner helps keep you organized and in check because sometimes there will be a lot to handle at once. Don't worry though if you plan ahead and stay committed you will do fine!
***In addition to a planner make sure to keep the syllabus close by, because it outlines what topics are covered and important dates for exams and projects that make up a huge portion of your grade!
In addition as a last note you can be any major and apply to medical school, it doesn't only have to be science related like biology or chemistry. Just make sure to take the prerequisite courses regardless of what major you decide on!
Best of luck!!
Be sure to go to class and interact with the material. When you go to class you allow yourself to commit and be responsible over your schoolwork. Sometimes missing class can make you not prioritize the assignments and you can fall behind. So try to attend every lecture!
-When attending lectures make sure to either record them or take good notes. I didn't record my lectures but my good friend did in Biochem and she would listen to them before exams. I liked taking notes though and highlighting which helped me a lot. However, sometimes my friend would tell me an important thing that our professor said from the lecture in her recordings and that would help me on exam day. So, it can go either way or both!
-Read! Basically for most if not all classes you will purchase some reading material, whether it's a textbook or pdf file so it's important to read whatever material you have. Lectures and exams are based off of readings for the most part and sometimes the textbook can help when a professor's explanations or lectures can seem confusing. I use to read before going to class and would take my own notes, then in class I would compare my notes with the lecture and make additions to them if needed.
-Set up a study group if you can! In Biochemistry a few of my friends would meet up and study together, we would go over notes, quiz each other and even offer different perspectives based on lectures. Sometimes one friend can understand a topic better and clarify it for exams.
-Make sure you have time to study, the main thing about forming good study habits is giving time to them. So it's important to give yourself time every day to study for class whether you read, take notes, listen to the lectures, or solve problems. Whatever it is, you need to commit a good number of hours per week to each class.
-Tutoring. There are tutoring services free of charge for students based on a number of subjects so be sure to use them. Also professors sometimes offer study hours before exam days where students meet up and go over topics and ask questions, if there is one be sure to attend.
-Office hours are also important because if you are confused by a topic or have a question you can see your professor and get extra help you didn't during class. Most professors love seeing their students during office hours because it shows that you care and are committed to the class. Also in the future you may need a reference/recommendation letter from one of the professors and office hours help the professor get to know you better and build a better relationship so they can vouch for your work ethics.
*** as a note if you can't make office hours because of time conflicting with work or another class professors can also set up different time appointments. You can always ask a professor if you can't make it to the original office hours.
-Make sure to have a planner! Every semester I always carried a planner with me because you want to write down what's due and what you need to do in order to complete everything in time. Also use the planner to space out your tasks and studying because you don't want to try to do everything at once. For example if you have a research paper you need to write there are certain things you need to complete before. So one day you can write to check out articles, get your topic approved and then draft a copy before submitting the original thing. The point is a planner helps keep you organized and in check because sometimes there will be a lot to handle at once. Don't worry though if you plan ahead and stay committed you will do fine!
***In addition to a planner make sure to keep the syllabus close by, because it outlines what topics are covered and important dates for exams and projects that make up a huge portion of your grade!
In addition as a last note you can be any major and apply to medical school, it doesn't only have to be science related like biology or chemistry. Just make sure to take the prerequisite courses regardless of what major you decide on!
Best of luck!!