Applying later in the cycle???

[deleted244469]

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OK, so you may have seen my thread about my chemistry professor being terrible. Well, it's not getting any better, unfortunately and I cannot teach this stuff to myself 🙁 (I have tried). I am considering dropping the course (No Withdrawl "W" or anything on my transcript, I just lose the money I paid for it) and taking it with a teacher who knows what they are doing in the fall. The problem with this is that it would push me back a bit, and my schedule would look like this:

Fall:
Gen Chem II
Physics

Spring
Orgo I
Physics II

Summer Session: (Approx. Ending May 24th-25th)
Orgo II

The OTHER problem is fitting the MCAT into this situation. I suppose I could just get the MCAT study materials (Exam Krackers, etc) and study along with my Orgo/Physics courses in the spring/summer. I just don't know what to do! I don't want to wait ANOTHER year to apply either (I'm 24 y/o). But it's not worth it to get a crappy grade in this Chemistry class, right (and not grasp the knowledge necessary for the MCAT)? I am VERY FRUSTRATED.

The schools I'd ideally like to apply to are: Touro-NY, NYIT-COM, CCOM, NECOM, PCOM
-Kovy71

 

[radian313]

OK, so you may have seen my thread about my chemistry professor being terrible. Well, it's not getting any better, unfortunately and I cannot teach this stuff to myself 🙁 (I have tried). I am considering dropping the course (No Withdrawl "W" or anything on my transcript, I just lose the money I paid for it) and taking it with a teacher who knows what they are doing in the fall. The problem with this is that it would push me back a bit, and my schedule would look like this:

Fall:
Gen Chem II
Physics

Spring
Orgo I
Physics II

Summer Session: (Approx. Ending May 24th-25th)
Orgo II

The OTHER problem is fitting the MCAT into this situation. I suppose I could just get the MCAT study materials (Exam Krackers, etc) and study along with my Orgo/Physics courses in the spring/summer. I just don't know what to do! I don't want to wait ANOTHER year to apply either (I'm 24 y/o). But it's not worth it to get a crappy grade in this Chemistry class, right (and not grasp the knowledge necessary for the MCAT)? I am VERY FRUSTRATED.

The schools I'd ideally like to apply to are: Touro-NY, NYIT-COM, CCOM, NECOM, PCOM
-Kovy71

First off, please calm down, getting frustrated, anxious is not going to help you let alone are not good traits to have as a future physician, I am sure you are well aware of this. Secondly, it may be the teacher, or may not, I am not sure, I am not there, but really take this chance to understand if it may be a learning issue. If it is, now is the time to go to your learning center in UG.

As far as timeline, do you intend to ONLY apply DO? If so, understand the DO cycle is much much longer, people have applied as late as Feb and have gotten success, but that said, dont bank on this. Id say if you want to take your MCAT August of next year (3 months is plenty of prep time) you will be ok.

Also, dont just treat UG pre-req work as just getting a "good grade", its crazy to what extent students go to just get the grade, but end up with a 26-27 MCAT just because they didnt understand the material. What I am trying to say is, if you have the chance to pace yourself by taking these courses which are MCAT appropriate, then you should really see to it to understand and treat this time as "prep" for MCAT.

Please consider that the MCAT is changing, so if you dont have Biochem, that is something to also consider, as I understand that is also coming up in the 2015 MCAT.

You are only 24, very young, you are agile, dont rush to medical school. Avg. matriculation age is 26 yo.

So lets recap.

1. Please calm down
2. Decide what route you want to proceed DO or MD
3. Build up your ECs if you havent in the mean time
4. If you want to go DO, consider getting DO shadowing hours
5. Really understand the material in relation to the MCAT
6. Take the MCAT when you are ready, not when you think you want to be ready

Good luck.

 

[deleted244469]

First off, please calm down, getting frustrated, anxious is not going to help you let alone are not good traits to have as a future physician, I am sure you are well aware of this. Secondly, it may be the teacher, or may not, I am not sure, I am not there, but really take this chance to understand if it may be a learning issue. If it is, now is the time to go to your learning center in UG.

As far as timeline, do you intend to ONLY apply DO? If so, understand the DO cycle is much much longer, people have applied as late as Feb and have gotten success, but that said, dont bank on this. Id say if you want to take your MCAT August of next year (3 months is plenty of prep time) you will be ok.

Also, dont just treat UG pre-req work as just getting a "good grade", its crazy to what extent students go to just get the grade, but end up with a 26-27 MCAT just because they didnt understand the material. What I am trying to say is, if you have the chance to pace yourself by taking these courses which are MCAT appropriate, then you should really see to it to understand and treat this time as "prep" for MCAT.

Please consider that the MCAT is changing, so if you dont have Biochem, that is something to also consider, as I understand that is also coming up in the 2015 MCAT.

You are only 24, very young, you are agile, dont rush to medical school. Avg. matriculation age is 26 yo.

So lets recap.

1. Please calm down
2. Decide what route you want to proceed DO or MD
3. Build up your ECs if you havent in the mean time
4. If you want to go DO, consider getting DO shadowing hours
5. Really understand the material in relation to the MCAT
6. Take the MCAT when you are ready, not when you think you want to be ready

Good luck.

Thanks Radian, I needed that. I'm just frustrated how everything was so well described in my first Gen Chem class (I did very well in this class), to terribly described in Gen Chem II (this teacher is known to not be good, but it was my only choice). Also, I was agreeing with you with regards to "Just getting a "good grade", its crazy to what extent students go to just get the grade." I would rather know the material than just get an A in the class, which is why I was talking about taking it in the fall with a better teacher, who will be able to explain the information in more detail.

Also, to answer your question about DO/MD, I only plan on applying the DO route.

I know 24 is young, but it's tough seeing all of the 21/22 year olds matriculating already!

 

[radian313]

Thanks Radian, I needed that. I'm just frustrated how everything was so well described in my first Gen Chem class (I did very well in this class), to terribly described in Gen Chem II (this teacher is known to not be good, but it was my only choice). Also, I was agreeing with you with regards to "Just getting a "good grade", its crazy to what extent students go to just get the grade." I would rather know the material than just get an A in the class, which is why I was talking about taking it in the fall with a better teacher, who will be able to explain the information in more detail.

Also, to answer your question about DO/MD, I only plan on applying the DO route.

Great. Now you can focus on DO, so you know you need atleast a 3.3 gpa and a 26 MCAT, to be competitive. Now work off of that. Also I suggest, to really watch videos for Gen Chem, whether its Khan Academy or Med Cram on youtube, watching it really helps.

Your goal should be to take the MCAT once and do it right. Taking it over and over again, tells Ad Coms of your inability to self assess yourself and trying to "wing it".

Since you have some time off now, get your EC/Shadowing/LORs out of the way so you can focus on the MCAT next year. Start up a interfolio and keep dumping the letters there. I also say this, since you will ONLY be taking two courses, anything less than a A/B+ without any ECs will tell Ad Coms you cant handle sciences at the half load level. I strongly suggest you get the ECs out of the way.

Trust me I was in your shoes too. I made C's for Gchem 1 and 2......but my last two years were stellar. Im standing at a 3.4 right now, and hopefully a good MCAT, being 28, I can tell you there are a lot of things i wish I could have done differently at 24. One of them was to not rush through undergrad and get to only into a Carib school only to realize it wasnt for me (I had health issues). So here I am backing myself up at 28 years old, ready to rock it once again.

Feel free to message me in private if you'd like to discuss this more.

 

[deleted244469]

Great. Now you can focus on DO, so you know you need atleast a 3.3 gpa and a 26 MCAT, to be competitive. Now work off of that. Also I suggest, to really watch videos for Gen Chem, whether its Khan Academy or Med Cram on youtube, watching it really helps.

Your goal should be to take the MCAT once and do it right. Taking it over and over again, tells Ad Coms of your inability to self assess yourself and trying to "wing it".

Since you have some time off now, get your EC/Shadowing/LORs out of the way so you can focus on the MCAT next year. Start up a interfolio and keep dumping the letters there. I also say this, since you will ONLY be taking two courses, anything less than a A/B+ without any ECs will tell Ad Coms you cant handle sciences at the half load level. I strongly suggest you get the ECs out of the way.

Trust me I was in your shoes too. I made C's for Gchem 1 and 2......but my last two years were stellar. Im standing at a 3.4 right now, and hopefully a good MCAT, being 28, I can tell you there are a lot of things i wish I could have done differently at 24. One of them was to not rush through undergrad and get to only into a Carib school only to realize it wasnt for me (I had health issues). So here I am backing myself up at 28 years old, ready to rock it once again.

Feel free to message me in private if you'd like to discuss this more.

I have a 3.58 cGPA currently, so I'm in good shape so far. I really do appreciate the messages. I will keep in touch.

 

[deleted244469]

Figured I would update this thread. After getting our "study guide" in which a few of the answers on the key were wrong, I decided to drop the course. Passing by the skin of my teeth would not be beneficial, as 1) I wouldn't learn anything, and 2) My (likely) poor grade would have hurt my GPA. I am going to take it in the fall, then take my Orgo classes and hope to apply in the late Summer. Sounds like a plan to me.

 

[Fargofargo]

Ya you definitely want to save your GPA, it goes down really fast, but really hard to recover!..