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evennotodd said:
Hello all,
I am currently taking biochem and it's looking like I'll get a B (or potentially lower depending on how the rest of the semester goes (for reference the highest grade in the class is a 56% (that's all the points we've had so far so 56 basically equals 100%) and mine is around a 43%). I just transferred into a T25 undergrad that is notorious for having ridiculously hard STEM classes. At my previous institution (T70 state school) I got a B+ in Orgo 1, B- in Orgo 2, and B+ in Orgo lab. With the exception of those and calc 1 (A-) and calc 2 (B) both dual credit in HS, my grades are all As. My overall gpa is a 3.81 and my sGPA is 3.66. The orgo and biochem sequence really has me questioning whether I'm cut out for medicine (although I like bio, psych, and pretty much everything else (not excited or anticipating good things for physics though).

I am debating dropping biochem and just trying again next semester (I feel like I might be able to get an A if I work my ass off like I'll have to do to save myself now anyways, but really not sure what to do). I’m planning on taking a gap year anyway so I would have time to retake it before the MCAT. Should I drop it, how would a W (my first ever) look (compared to whatever), and what would give me the best shot at medical schools (have I shot myself in the foot with MD, especially with T20 (not a dealbreaker, just curious)?

Also any study/other tips for biochem (especially metabolism) are much appreciated!

Thanks for any insight/help you’re able to provide with all this/my decision!
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Let me put it simply: I got a B+ (or a B, I forget which to this point) in Biochem, as well as B- in OChem1 and a few other pretty meh grades here and there in STEM Classes. Both my overall and sGPA were lower than yours and I'm now an MS1. So even if you go through and get a B you will be okay. Your chance at med school, or a T20 med school in general, will not be destroyed by this class, and if you take more upper division science courses you can boost this GPA higher.

That being said, a W is not the end of the world either, and if you genuinely feel that your grade could slip to a C or worse I'd take the W and give it another go next semester. B's are not bad but C's do invite some questions and def put a dent in GPA. W's are not the end of the world if used sparingly.

My best tips for metabolism as is the case with any premedical situation is this: don't just memorize, understand. A great example of this you may/will see if looking at the action of insulin on metabolism. You need not memorize every little detail for every individual metabolite; instead, ask yourself, what is the net role of insulin (hint: to store away your excess glucose). So with that in mind you can then think about pathways in the general (you would expect a net increase in fatty acid synthesis, glycogenesis, and glycolysis at the expense of lipolysis, glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis, etc.) and then you can reason out to more nitty gritty details (i.e. PFK-1, Krebs cycle intermediates, etc.). Highly recommend drawing out pathway maps (as best you can) to visualize this
 
I generally would not drop a course where you expect to get at least a B. While of course an A "looks" better than a B, there is a very real cost in terms of time that it would take for you to repeat the entire course next semester. Most of the time, that is time that could be better spent elsewhere.
 
Chiming in that I also would agree that dropping with a B is not what I would consider a good move.

It also seems in line with your OChem grades? Have there been significant changes in how much time you're spending / how you're studying that would make you expect the grade to be significantly higher than the pre-requisite courses? In other words, I'm not sure what the potential benefit is likely to be taking it in the future, or how likely a higher-than-B grade is. So you'd be dropping with a "fine" grade and incurring the extra cost with a potential for marginal improvement.
 
It sounds like you transferred from a program that didn't help you with your chemistry coursework to another that also doesn't.

You are doing fine with your B, but you must find a more rewarding or effective strategy to get A's. No more excuses. No withdrawals because you're afraid of getting a B. Go to office hours. Ask the TA's. Find additional tools to understand the material better.
 
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