bad grade

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water4girl

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Hi,
i just recieved my grade from chem 1332 over the summer that i received a C. I am extremely dissappointed in my grade. I don't know what to do. I took that class in 4 weeks. I also found out at the time that my aunt was (is) dying of liver cancer. It was a tough 4 weeks and i could not drop out when i decided that was what i wanted to do. And take the class this semester. Is this grade fatal to my overall gpa. I was told yes.
Thanks
 
Re-take the class. And it isn't the end of your GPA- I got a C in a calc 2 class my freshman year because I had a prof who didn't speak English. My GPA for that semester was a little low (3.3) but I've been fine since then, and my current GPA is slightly under 3.7. But you need to know the material, and that is the main reason I would recommend retaking it.
 
I don't think one C is fatal to your GPA or your chances of getting into a medical school as long as you get mostly A's in everything else. Are you still a freshman or sophomore? I think most adcoms give people the benefit of the doubt for the first few years and let you explain what was going on at the time. I know someone who had a few C's and she still got interviews. Is this class general chemistry or organic or something else? Also, if you're going through a difficult personal time in your life, why not take a semeter off?

Cheer up. It'll all be ok. 🙂
 
i was going through a rough time, not any more. It was regular chem. I knew the material. But now i am afraid should i go ahead with organic chem.
Thanks for the input
 
This advice seems overly pessimistic to me. One C is NOT the end of the world by ANY means! ESPECIALLY early on in college. I wouldn't retake; move on to ochem and rock it. 🙂
 
How were we being pessimistic? We both said it wasn't a big deal. I only suggested re-taking because I was under the impression that material got missed because of the relative's illness.

If you know what you're doing in genchem, by all means keep on truckin' and move on to o-chem.
 
From what I heard from my advisors as a post-bacc student, re-taking a class because of a low grade is frowned upon whereas re-taking a class because its been 10 years since you took it (and you need to re-learn the material) is common and accepted. Hope that helps.
 
hey there....

don't worry about a C on your transcript. I had a C+ on mine freshman year (about a 3.2 for the semester) and bounced back with a huge upward trend and graduated with just under a 3.8. Adcoms should be understanding of your personal situation and how it affected your performance. I didn't have any such situation when I had my C+, and one of my interviewers laughed at me for trying to "explain" it in my interview.

Seriously, don't stress. Just do the best you can from here on out and you'll be fine.
 
A "C" will ruin you if you want to go to a prestigous school such as Columbia, UCSF, HMS, etc...

However, don't worry there is always Finch, and Hahnemann and "off shore" schools. From what I have heard, they will take ANYBODY.

On the downside though, you will have to be top of the class to get a good residency from FINCH.

While an average student from Stanford of Columbia can go wherever they want for residency, due to the name alone.
 
Please disregard the advice from the above poster. He/she is deliberately trying to upset people. Here is what I have to say about that advice:
puke.gif




Don't worry about the C. Just don't make it a habit. And don't bother retaking the class. My advice to you would be to study hard and do well in your classes from now on. Also, if you feel up to it, you should try to take some extra upper level chemistry classes in addition to orgo. If you can get A's in more advanced classes, it often will prove to admissions committees that the C in a freshman level class was not indicative of an inability to grasp the material. Just a suggestion. Good luck. And don't stress it too much..it is far to early in the game for you.
 
umass,
i completely did not mean to criticize your advice at all. 🙂 i just wanted the OP to know that her grade really was ok and that retaking was definately not a necessity and for the love of God it wasnt "fatal" to her GPA! Although I agree with you that if material wasn't learned it's a different story. I guess it hit a little close to home for me since I've been where she is once, twice, three times over and in my first year gen chem I saw SO many people wanting to do medicine switch paths because of a C in the class. I didn't mean to offend you at all though! 🙂
 
Originally posted by crystal18mc
I didn't mean to offend you at all though! 🙂

No offense taken crystal 🙂 . I just wanted to make sure my suggestions were taken the right way. If one person misunderstands, it means others might too (particularly the OP).
 
Are you a freshmen? I'm going to assume that you're a freshmen. If you have a C in your freshmen year, it's not a big deal. If you can show an upper trend (that is, a stellar increasing GPA), then this will look more favorably.

Example: 2.8, 3.5, 3.9, 4.0 is an upper trend

This will look much better in your transcript than say, a 3.0, 3.0, 3.2, 3.2. Adcoms want to see that you actually tried to improve your grades and keep them up.
 
What did I say that could scare anyone. A "C" will for sure screw you if you are looking for top ten schools (unless you are exceptional in other ways which most applicants are not, such as ex-Olympian)

But like I said, there is always Finch.
 
Originally posted by pathstudent
What did I say that could scare anyone. A "C" will for sure screw you if you are looking for top ten schools (unless you are exceptional in other ways which most applicants are not, such as ex-Olympian)

But like I said, there is always Finch.

you are an ass clown🙄
 
Originally posted by pathstudent
What did I say that could scare anyone. A "C" will for sure screw you if you are looking for top ten schools (unless you are exceptional in other ways which most applicants are not, such as ex-Olympian)

But like I said, there is always Finch.

Good lord, I hope the 203 previous posts were a little more useful and positive than the two I just read. Please ignore those comments.

water4girl-

You'll soon find that many SDN'ers have received one or more C's and have still managed to do well and gain acceptance to med school. I think it will help out if you get a higher grade in your next chemistry class to show you're capable of handling the material. That one C is definitely not fatal to your overall GPA.
 
Ok, now I'm curious...I've never been one to need to go to a top school or care about that but i'll ask anyhow.
Do a few bad grades in your freshman year really screw you from a top school? Even with, say, a 3.75 cum GPA, crazy upward trend and high mcat? that can't be, can it?
 
Don't listen to whoever said a C would keep you out of a top ten school...I already posted about how I did and I am at a top ten school....and I am positive there are others like me....it might be difficult with a C but certainly not impossible...

....the key is just to rebound quickly from a bad grade and show them that that isn't the real you. Even with a C it is possible to graduate with a good GPA, and taking more upper level chem classes to "balance out" your performance in this one shows them you are dedicated and that that one grade was a fluke.
 
why would anyone call me an "ass clown"?

Yeah sure if you can get straight A's in every other class in school, you'll be fine, but in general Cs in the most basic of science classes hurt a lot.

I am not an "ASS CLOWN"
 
well, i believe someone called you that hillaroius phrase because you said

"there is always Finch"


the person received a C...it's not a big deal, really, it's not!
as long as they aren't a C student, it will have minimal impact on the person's life
 
well if I guess you can "Cs" in the Med School Prereqs and still go to Stanford, then you can probably get Fs and still go to Finch, Hahnemann, et all....
 
There are no responses because everybody else has weighed in on the topic, and it has been decided that your comments are unhelpful. I think the people who disagreed with you have elected to disregard your further advice on this topic, as I will be doing after this post.

And if I understood your gramatically deficient sentence correctly, you are clearly missing the point of this thread. The question was whether one C in general chemistry would be lethal to the GPA, ruin chances for top schools, etc. The answer is no, it will not. Nobody has claimed that getting multiple C's will get you into a top school, because they clearly will not. Likewise, F's will not get you into any medical school whatsoever. Please try to be more helpful to people asking questions.
 
I knew a guy with a 3.2 science gpa that got into Duke medical school. Plenty of C's in that gpa. Is duke med not top 10? Kill your MCATs and do what everyone else said. Cumulative science gpa is quite important too.

pathstudent is more of a buttpirate than an ass clown... wait why argue when he can be both!
 
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