Pre-requisite advice....oh ochem...

[Artemis611]

Hello! So I was wondering if anyone had some advice an O-chem situation I am having. I got a B+ in Organic chemistry 1 (and some vet schools only ask for 1 semester of o-chem I think?) but in O-chem 2, I got a D-. There were many factors such as medical illness, working 20 hours a week, plus taking all of my core classes in one semester and lets just say, I think I had way too much on my plate. I wanted to apply for 2016 admission, but I am not sure I can retake o-chem 2 before the application deadline. Other than that I have around a 3.3 cumulative gpa, 3.1 science gpa, will be taking the GRE over the summer so I do not have that score yet, 2000 hours of vet experience, around 2000 of experience of animal experience, and have 1000+ research experience and will be submitting my findings in hopes of getting published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. I would hate for my o-chem 2 D- and pretty much that whole semester to ruin my application. So I guess my question is, can I just apply to vet schools that only have the prerequisites of 1 semester of ochem? Or do you think some vet schools will still look at my application and I could retake o-chem 2 before the spring of 2016 to fulfill the prerequisites? Any advice would be helpful!

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[Fly Racing]

You can certainly apply to schools that don't require the second semester, but it will still be pulling down your GPA, sGPA, and cGPA quite a bit. Some schools also put all sciences into your sGPA, not just the prerequisite sciences, so if the 3.1 is without the D, you may be in trouble there. Getting that grade replaced or averaged (depending on the school) will be in your favor. If at all possible, I'd be finding a summer Ochem 2 you can take. You may have to go out of state for the class or for the lab portion (Oregon state I think does this). My undergrad offered one over 8 weeks and I know many people preferred it for one reason or another (only class, smaller class, less time to forget things, but harder if you don't keep up).

Another thought, when you need to complete retakes depends on the school. My instate required retakes done by fall semester, but another school I applied to required them done before applications since they offered interviews starting in the fall.

 

[Artemis611]

You can certainly apply to schools that don't require the second semester, but it will still be pulling down your GPA, sGPA, and cGPA quite a bit. Some schools also put all sciences into your sGPA, not just the prerequisite sciences, so if the 3.1 is without the D, you may be in trouble there. Getting that grade replaced or averaged (depending on the school) will be in your favor. If at all possible, I'd be finding a summer Ochem 2 you can take. You may have to go out of state for the class or for the lab portion (Oregon state I think does this). My undergrad offered one over 8 weeks and I know many people preferred it for one reason or another (only class, smaller class, less time to forget things, but harder if you don't keep up).

Another thought, when you need to complete retakes depends on the school. My instate required retakes done by fall semester, but another school I applied to required them done before applications since they offered interviews starting in the fall.

Thanks for the advice! I am having trouble finding if certain vet schools will average or replace the grade in their own gpa calculation. Would I be able to find if they average or replace grades on the prerequisite page and admission requirement page?

 

[BirdsinMyHouse]

If possible re-take the course and do better. Not only will some schools replace old grades, doing better the second time around will show that it was extenuating circumstances preventing you from doing well the first time. Unfortunately, while your other stats are good, the grades in prerequisite courses are important and you don't want that D- to tank your chances. Not sure if it would, honestly, but if it were me, I wouldn't want to take the risk.

EDIT: Ohio State replaces courses

 

[LetItSnow]

Thanks for the advice! I am having trouble finding if certain vet schools will average or replace the grade in their own gpa calculation. Would I be able to find if they average or replace grades on the prerequisite page and admission requirement page?

If you can't, I would call their admissions people and ask directly. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Artemis611]

Thanks for the advice everyone! It really helped me and made me feel a little better . I will go check on the schools that I want to apply for and see if they replace grades in their calculations.