A few questions about Orgo, LoR's, and Authorship

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RandomChance

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Hi all,

1.) In my undergrad I unfortunately got a C- in orgo 1 with lab, but received a A- in orgo 2 with lab the following semester. Would this orgo 2 with lab potentially fulfill the minimum "C" grade required in prerequisites for most MD schools? (I know every school is probably different in their policy - just asking generally). I start an SMP in a few months and I wanted to know if I would need to retake Orgo I with lab next summer before applying to med school or during my glide-year before matriculation.

2.) Should I get an LoR from the MD I shadowed 50+ hours? He's willing to write me a very strong LoR (we're very close), but I already have 3 science professor LoR's, my lab's PI's LoR (he's very well-known), and one non-science professor's LoR for school's that require them. I feel like 6 LoR's to have might be over-kill.. how important is it to have an LoR from a shadowed doctor? I know some DO schools require LoR's from shadowed physicians (some require DO letters, some take MD LoR's)

3.) Is authorship in peer-reviewed journals impactful if I am in the middle-to-latter position of the publication? I have been with a HMS lab for the past year and a half and I will leave the lab with 7-8 publications total, but my authorship position is almost always at author 4-6, but they are in respectable journals like Nature and Nature Neuroscience, etc. My highest authorship position is 3rd in a publication in the Anesthesia and Analgesia journal. Will these help my app even though I have no first/second authorships?

Many thanks for any insight!

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Thanks for the reply! So for the schools that require one semester of orgo, I can’t use that second semester that I did well to supersede the first? I had success doing such with applying to SMP’s with that requirement, but medical schools are a different beast all together. I will definitely retake if I need too, but it will be hard if I am working full-time in my glide year and would love to avoid it if it all possible
 
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