What class should I retake?

[cookiesncream28]

Hi all, so my final grades came out today and I ended up getting a D on one of my public health classes called Survey of Human Disease. (The class was online but with in person exams) I busted my butt and the best I could do was pull a 69.4 in the class. I asked the professor if it would be possible to round me up, but instead, he bumped me down to a 68. The class average for each exam was always around a 60 and the high would be a 90-94 but he wouldn't curve at all. My school does grade forgiveness, but the catch is, I only get 2. One of them, I will be using for Orgo 2 because I was dumb and decided to take both orgo classes for the first time the previous summer. Got an A- the 1st session, and thought I'd do the same the second session. Completely bombed it because of how rigorous the material was and cramming 5 chapters a week for orgo 2 was too much for me. (I ended up taking a job that session which was also another bad decision but that's another story) I was just wondering if you guys think I should retake the public health class or retake another class I got a C in. (Biochem or Bio 2) I'm not even sure if some public health classes count as a science classes if I do list it on the AAOMCAS? Or if it would be better to retake a class I got a C in for a pre-req and just keep the D. Thanks for your input!

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[kamakazi5]

Assuming you have a reasonable GPA I would just retake the organic 2 class. To my knowledge public health classes do not count as science so it shouldn't bring down your science GPA at all. What is your GPA now?

 

[cookiesncream28]

Hi! Thank you for your reply! I actually have 2 retakes that will completely replace it in my overall gpa. So my overall gpa right now is a 3.40 (because of the 2 low grades). I was going to definitely use it to replace orgo 2, but do you think I should retake that public health class or should I use the second grade forgiveness for a pre-req I got a C in: Biochem/Bio 2? I'm just scared I won't be able to pull an A in that public health class if I were to retake it again since it's only that one professor teaching it but I don't know how adcoms would react to seeing that D.

 

[femmegoblue]

Hi! Thank you for your reply! I actually have 2 retakes that will completely replace it in my overall gpa. So my overall gpa right now is a 3.40 (because of the 2 low grades). I was going to definitely use it to replace orgo 2, but do you think I should retake that public health class or should I use the second grade forgiveness for a pre-req I got a C in: Biochem/Bio 2? I'm just scared I won't be able to pull an A in that public health class if I were to retake it again since it's only that one professor teaching it but I don't know how adcoms would react to seeing that D.

No matter what your University's policy is, AACOMAS allows for grade replacement of whatever you want as long as it's the same class/same credits. So you really don't have to spend so much time deciding "which two" to use your replacement on. Replace Orgo 2, Biochem, AND that D in public health if you want. AACOMAS will replace it even if your University doesn't.

If you aren't confident you can get higher than a D the second time taking your public health class (which TBH you really should be able to), just focus on retaking the two pre-reqs that actually count in your sGPA. The D in a non-science class won't make much of a difference in your med school app in terms of sGPA, and as long as your other more important grades are strong ADCOM's probably won't think twice.

 

[psu228]

Sorry about your situation. Sounds like that class is kinda unfair..

You could retake classes at a CC for the grade replacement. I imagine that wouldn't be part of your school's retake policy.

If for whatever reason that isn't an option I would retake either the Ochem or the biochem class.. Probably would lean towards the biochem since its such a major part of the MCAT now that retaking it would probably help you prepare for that, so you'd be killing two birds with one stone.

Or again, you could retake o chem 2 at a CC.

Don't worry so much about that grade! You'll be fine.