I’m in a pickle, could use some advice!

[joshualander]

So with Covid, things are interesting. I took a semester off during Covid because of some personal stuff but upon returning last fall things were different for sure. I didn’t take any sciences this past fall but taking orgo II, biochem, microbio and a writing this course this semester in combination with 3 hrs a day of mcat six days a week is killing me! Not to mention, my biochem professor has made things particularly challenging having removed a major portion of the class due to time constraints. We are not covering protein metabolism and a few other related protein concepts which is stupid in my opinion. I’m not sure how it is with other universities right now but mine has made things difficult for sure. My question is this, how do I convey this difficult scenario to adcoms?

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[deleted1097413]

Just work hard and do your best. Whatever your workload is now it will be worse year 1 of podiatry school

 

[joshualander]

Just work hard and do your best. Whatever your workload is now it will be worse year 1 of podiatry school

Im not worried about the workload but more of my Professor not teaching a critical component of the class. This means on top of all this, I’m essentially teaching myself a portion of biochem. Is this something that should be referenced to adcoms in application statements/interviews?

 

[deleted1097413]

Im not worried about the workload but more of my Professor not teaching a critical component of the class. This means on top of all this, I’m essentially teaching myself a portion of biochem. Is this something that should be referenced to adcoms in application statements/interviews?

No. it kind of sounds like you're making an excuse for doing poorly. contact your professor directly with your complaints and don't address your failures on someone else, always accept blame for your own shortcomings in interviews.

 

[joshualander]

No. it kind of sounds like you're making an excuse for doing poorly. contact your professor directly with your complaints and don't address your failures on someone else, always accept blame for your own shortcomings in interviews.

Not doing poorly, never said I was. Doing really well despite this professor actually which is surprising. Was just curious as to a hypothetical situation if my mcat was low or class grade was low could I state that I did the best I could with the lack of a full course? I’ll accept a poor grade if I get one which hopefully won’t happen.

 

[deleted1097413]

Not doing poorly, never said I was. Doing really well despite this professor actually which is surprising. Was just curious as to a hypothetical situation if my mcat was low or class grade was low could I state that I did the best I could with the lack of a full course? I’ll accept a poor grade if I get one which hopefully won’t happen.

Yeah you could just mention covid made things more difficult I suppose. But if your grades are good this isn’t an issue, and doesn’t even matter.

 

[joshualander]

Yeah you could just mention covid made things more difficult I suppose. But if your grades are good this isn’t an issue, and doesn’t even matter.

Okay, that’s good. I guess I should have posted this question a little more clearly from the start. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Tabasco9]

Not doing poorly, never said I was. Doing really well despite this professor actually which is surprising. Was just curious as to a hypothetical situation if my mcat was low or class grade was low could I state that I did the best I could with the lack of a full course? I’ll accept a poor grade if I get one which hopefully won’t happen.

No, it’s still your responsibility to learn the material and score well on the MCAT. Keep doing well in the course and keep working hard on MCAT prep.

I wouldn’t take the MCAT if you aren’t happy with your scores. The application cycle timeline for Podiatry is very forgiving. Take your time and do well the first time.

Like what was already said above, if you receive a poor grade you should never place blame on anyone but yourself. Placing blame on your professor/missing course info will be a red flag to admissions.

Keep grinding man.

 

[deleted1066189]

This means on top of all this, I’m essentially teaching myself a portion of biochem.

not a big deal, just go over some of the high yield basics.
my biochem class never even went over the krebs cycle or ETC

to be honest, I would fully focus on finishing strong your last semester right now and take the mcat over the summer. the podiatry cycle starts late and runs late...I got interview invites to the smaller schools in mid-february without ever getting my mcat score screened (not bragging, just sharing an anecdote)

again, you definitely shouldn't be studying 3 hours a night for the mcat with this many upper level science courses, and your GPA on the line

 

[joshualander]

No, it’s still your responsibility to learn the material and score well on the MCAT. Keep doing well in the course and keep working hard on MCAT prep.

I wouldn’t take the MCAT if you aren’t happy with your scores. The application cycle timeline for Podiatry is very forgiving. Take your time and do well the first time.

Like what was already said above, if you receive a poor grade you should never place blame on anyone but yourself. Placing blame on your professor/missing course info will be a red flag to admissions.

Keep grinding man.

My mcat is scheduled for June 30th, I think I’m okay for now time wise. I’ll see how I feel in another month. If I feel as though I’m not where I should be, I’ll bump it.
Good to know the timeline is a bit forgiving!
Thanks for the advice!

 

[joshualander]

not a big deal, just go over some of the high yield basics.
my biochem class never even went over the krebs cycle or ETC

to be honest, I would fully focus on finishing strong your last semester right now and take the mcat over the summer. the podiatry cycle starts late and runs late...I got interview invites to the smaller schools in mid-february without ever getting my mcat score screened (not bragging, just sharing an anecdote)

again, you definitely shouldn't be studying 3 hours a night for the mcat with this many upper level science courses, and your GPA on the line

Yeah, you’re definitely right! My mcat is June 30th so even if I cut it back a bit I’m sure I’ll be okay. My GPA isn’t the greatest so I was hoping to apply day 1 of the cycle this year to have a better chance but I will bump the test back if I feel I need to. I’ve just been putting in a ton of hours because my diagnostic was god awful when I took it late last year. Not really because of content but more of handling the complexity of certain passages.

 

[iridocyclitiss]

I don't think it will matter either way. At my school I felt like my undergrad biochem helped me the first exam, but after that the material was all new to me. Keep doing well and pass biochem with flying colors!