C+ In O-Chem Worth Retaking?

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Did you take Orgo II yet? If you did/do well in Orgo II and received a good scores on the MCAT Bio section, you should be OK. If Orgo II grade was low, you may want to re-take one or the other, or take biochem and do well in it.
 
No,

I haven't taken Organic II yet, I'm taking it this summer. I'm hoping for at least a B (ochem is my worst subject by FAR). Do you think I should wait and see how that grade turns out before I think about retaking?
 
I'd say that if you get an A in orgo II, then you don't need to retake Orgo I.

If you get a B... well, then I'd think about retaking it. But the cavet is that when you retake a class, you really need to show improvement so you'd have to really work towards getting an A.
 
If you do well in Orgo 2 then don't bother. Actually if it is only one of a few low grades then just apply and worry about it if you don't get in.
 
what about a B in ochem 1 and C+ in ochem II ?
 
You should never retake a C in anything. Only retake D's. It is simply a waste of time. Make up for it in other areas.
 
In my opinion, in regard to my to the college I am attending anyway, one has to do well in Orgochem I in order to do well in Orgochem II. Orgochem II requires you to remember all the reactions and the compounds needed to make a certain product. Every exams we took were cummulative, from both Orgochem I and Orgochem II. Plus, Orgochem II's final is a national exam that covers everything. I am not saying that it can't be done but it will be hard. Just a thought. I would retake it during the summer.


A good way to study for orgochem I and II is to make notecards for all the reactions and carry it with you. Glance at them between classes.
 
OSUdoc08 said:
You should never retake a C in anything. Only retake D's. It is simply a waste of time. Make up for it in other areas.

Best advice yet. 👍 Keep in mind that DO schools tend to "look beyond the numbers."
 
PublicHealth said:
Best advice yet. 👍 Keep in mind that DO schools tend to "look beyond the numbers."


I disagree. If you didnt get better than a C than you *probably* don't know it well enough to perform on the MCAT.



Adrian
 
OSUdoc08 said:
You should never retake a C in anything. Only retake D's. It is simply a waste of time. Make up for it in other areas.



At my undergrad school, they will not even allow you to retake a class unless you got below a 2.0(c), so I can't retake classes to up my poor science gpa(2.99)(hence I am doing a post-bac at LECOM just in case I do not get in)
Unless your overall science gpa is lower than the cutoffs (2.7 at many schools I think), I would not retake. Anybody can get an A in a class after having been through it two times, and the adcoms know this. I had a C+ in orgo and I never took it over, and I don't think I would if I could. Of course, I am not accepted nor denied admissions to DO school yet, so I may be wrong, but thats my 2 cents.
 
Actually,

Hey guys, what do you think the screening cutoff for science GPAs are, at most schools anyways? Below what point will they simply not interview you? And yeah, at my campus they don't allow retakes of passing grades either. I'd have to go somewhere else to retake.
 
OSUdoc08 said:
You should never retake a C in anything. Only retake D's. It is simply a waste of time. Make up for it in other areas.

If you don't mind me asking - did you have any Cs when you applied to OSU-COM, and did they mind at all?
 
I would not retake unless I got less than a C. I had plenty of C's on my transcript, and was never asked once on any interview about a specific grade. The admission folks have to sort through thousands of apps, and I highly doubt that they spend a whole lot of time nitpicking through grades individually. I have a feeling that their eyes tend to go very quickly to the bottom of your transcript to see what your GPA is. I would imagine that they would really only look to deeply at your individual grades if you had a low overall GPA. I think I had a C+ and a B in ochem and got in, I would not worry about it.
 
We were not allowed to retake a passing grade at my undergrad either. And, for what it's worth, I got into DO schools (and many years ago, an MD school) with C's in Physics I and II and a retake in Calc II. I also had a C in a graduate level Inorganic Chem class. So...those C's didn't really hurt my application at all. (Mind you, my science GPA was still up around a 3.5)

As far as the MCAT goes.... Prepare the best you can. It's possible that you can learn a lot of the OChem concepts during your prep even if they didn't "click" when you took the class. And Biochem is a good one to take if you have the time or money.

Willow~
 
I had a B in Ochem I and a C+ in Ochem II. My MCAT grade on that section was a 10, and I got into my first choice with no problem at all. They didn't even ask me about the C+, though I was prepared with an answer. Work your tail off in Ochem II. More importantly, do well on the MCAT, and you will do just fine.
 
AspiringDoctor9 said:
If you don't mind me asking - did you have any Cs when you applied to OSU-COM, and did they mind at all?

I had C's in Physics, Gen Chem, Calculus, Spanish, Biostats, Genetics, Gen Chem Lab, and maybe more I just can't remember.....I had a 2.9 science GPA.

They obviously didn't mind, because I was accepted a week after my interview. It's all about making up for it in other areas.
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Also, the comment on how making a C will mean you may do poorly on the MCAT------taking the Princeton review or some other prep class will allow you to prepare for that subject area----retaking the class may not actually teach you anything new, since it is the same curriculum you've already had.
 
I hope you heed the advice given here. There is no reason to retake a class if you got a C. A "C" won't kill you. I know people tend to freak out when they get a C, but I would say the majority of applicants have at least one C. Not all applicants, but a huge amount of them. Things can happen during a semester, you can get sick, you can have a crappy prof, etc.... Don't stress it. Just try to get a B or an A in Organic II and that C won't affect you.

P.S. My undergrad school didn't allow retakes for C's either. Most schools won't.
 
sddoc said:
I had a B in Ochem I and a C+ in Ochem II. My MCAT grade on that section was a 10, and I got into my first choice with no problem at all. They didn't even ask me about the C+, though I was prepared with an answer. Work your tail off in Ochem II. More importantly, do well on the MCAT, and you will do just fine.

I did very, very poorly in ochem, in fact so bad that I had to retake OchemI and OchemIII.


I got a 12 though in the bio section, so go figure.


Adrian
 
MEDIC170 what school do you attend? I am from mich also.
 
sistahnik said:
MEDIC170 what school do you attend? I am from mich also.
I graduated from MSU. I am finishing up some labs post bac there before I go to LECOM post-bac this Fall. How about you?
 
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