Does struggling in genetics class suggest I'm not cut out to be a physician?

[Elizabethx89]

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[LostinLift]

^ TLDR.

If it's important to you, you can put in the time, and you can succeed.

A big part of science classes and medical science is understanding the vocabulary or at least being familiar with all the terms. The key to understanding this and the actual science is repeated exposure. As a non-science major it will be grueling at first and feel overwhelming, but like with many things medically related there is a steep learning curve. Things will start to make sense after a while. You will be fine if you put in the effort to study efficiently and effectively.

 

[lovesfall]

My experience being in med school with a social science major is that some things will be more challenging if it's a weak area in your background, but you'll be able to get by if you're willing to work to catch up. Our class just wrapped up biochem, and it was the thing I was most scared about having to face in med school. You'll probably find that some things come easier and some are tougher. I think it's normal, and as long as you aren't struggling in all your sciences there's no reason to think you can't make it.

 

[Oso]

Elizabeth, you will be ok!

I know plenty of people who struggled in genetics and are now doing well in medical school. Genetics is tricky, especially the first time around. Like you've been doing, I think it will be important to brush up on some genetics/molecular bio principles from your earlier bio classes. For instance, I think doing that will clear up the example with the DNA strands and the phosphates and hydrogen bonds.

Also make sure to talk to your professor outside of class if you need additional help. Almost everyone I know who took genetics studied in groups, so see if you can find another student or two in your class that you can study with! Work hard and don't give up. This class is NOT an indicator of success in medical school. Good luck!

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[DrCharlemagne]

Honestly, I think your performance in genetics is less an indicator of your overall fitness and more an indicator of your distance from the basic material. That, and actually somethings have changed even at the level of introductory biology in the intervening years. Meet with the professor during office hours, arrange for a tutor, and make a serious effort before washing your hands of medicine if this is the only thing holding you back.

 

[Itisneverlupus]

Throughout your prereqs and your medical education (if you decide to pursue it) there will be plenty of topics that you will have to go over multiple times. This is part of the process. Science is not a very trivial thing.

When you take your exams in undergrad, and then your licensing exams medical school, they will not ask you if you struggled in learning the material. Everybody struggles at some point or another. The point is, when you do not know the answer to a specific question, or you do not understand a certain topic, do you know how to find the answers? Can you accept that you are not "perfect"?

Try to understand the vocabulary of your subject, as other posters have said, and that should make an impact on your overall understanding.

 

[Ace-Co-A]

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4) After just one lecture in genetics class, I feel really defeated and like a fraud every time I call myself a pre-med student. The professor might as well have been speaking to us in Chinese.

5) Not sure if this means I'm not cut out to be a physician.

You don't have enough experience to make this condemning an assessment of your candidacy. Even if you don't get - gasp! - an A in genetics, you could still make a fine physician. There is a reason that admissions decisions are not based solely on your performance in one class or one subject field.

Genetics gives a lot of people problems. Stick with it.

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Ace-Co-A]

Thank you for the input everyone! Glad no one has thought it's time for me to drop out of school just yet. lol. I think I'm just so used to academic material coming relatively easily to me or at least seeming somewhat comprehensible the first time I see it that when I see information that literally looks like it's written in a foreign language to me, I assume I'm in over my head and get discouraged. I'll stick with my classes for a while longer and see if concepts begin to become more intuitive to me the more I self-study.