Course selection for a 5th year

[blue pill]

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I am a Canadian 'pre-pharm' student going back for a 5th year to boost my GPA and get any prereqs I'm missing for Canadian pharmacy schools.

The following is my 'guaranteed' schedule for this coming year thus far (meaning I've decided to enlist in them for certain):

• Orgo I (retaking) + lab
• Orgo II + lab
• Physical Chemistry (toned down version for biology-oriented students)
• English (course yet undecided, but will be a full year course)

For purposes of both boosting my GPA and showing adcoms that I do in fact 'know my stuff', despite my previously low grades, should I also retake the following?:

• 2nd year Prokaryotes / Microbio + lab (retaking)
• 3rd year Developmental Biology (retaking)

The microbio course would be taken for purposes of schools that also consider courses that are requirements for their own progams, such as UBC. The developmental biology course would be a bit of a wildcard, taken just for the 'I know my stuff' reason, though I'm not sure how much they care about dev. bio in particular. Perhaps retaking a 2nd year cell bio course would be better?

Note that if I were to take all the above listed courses, it would still be 1.5 credits away from a full course load. Even so, do you think I could still pull a solid GPA (80%+ in all courses)? Keep in mind I have already taken Orgo I as well as Development Biology (the material with which I was very comfortable with when I took it 2 years ago, despite the extremely low mark I achieved).

 

[omnione]

What were your grades from the first round?

 

[aboveliquidice]

I am a Canadian 'pre-pharm' student going back for a 5th year to boost my GPA and get any prereqs I'm missing for Canadian pharmacy schools.

The following is my 'guaranteed' schedule for this coming year thus far (meaning I've decided to enlist in them for certain):

• Orgo I (retaking) + lab
• Orgo II + lab
• Physical Chemistry (toned down version for biology-oriented students)
• English (course yet undecided, but will be a full year course)

For purposes of both boosting my GPA and showing adcoms that I do in fact 'know my stuff', despite my previously low grades, should I also retake the following?:

• 2nd year Prokaryotes / Microbio + lab (retaking)
• 3rd year Developmental Biology (retaking)

The microbio course would be taken for purposes of schools that also consider courses that are requirements for their own progams, such as UBC. The developmental biology course would be a bit of a wildcard, taken just for the 'I know my stuff' reason, though I'm not sure how much they care about dev. bio in particular. Perhaps retaking a 2nd year cell bio course would be better?

Note that if I were to take all the above listed courses, it would still be 1.5 credits away from a full course load. Even so, do you think I could still pull a solid GPA (80%+ in all courses)? Keep in mind I have already taken Orgo I as well as Development Biology (the material with which I was very comfortable with when I took it 2 years ago, despite the extremely low mark I achieved).

Take all of the Retakes... Aside from that - fill your schedule with easy courses. You said you are a fifth year student - Do you already have your BS? If not, make sure the classes you are taking now will also be getting you closer to your degree (as this is becoming a major deciding point in apps).

~above~

 

[blue pill]

What were your grades from the first round?

Orgo I - [low 70s]
Microbio - [low 70s]
Dev. Bio - [high 60s]

Since my last post, I'm very much not wanting to retake the microbio course, simply because it's a poorly structured and taught course at my institution (in my opinion and the opinion of others). In other words, I could end up doing poorly or not significantly any better than my first attempt, which wouldn't look good on a transcript.

There is a much easier microbio course I could take, and given my background in the more difficult material, I would likely do well in it. However, I have a feeling adcoms would not look favourably upon me me taking an 'easier' version of microbio following a mediocre first-run at a harder one.

So as it stands, I'm thinking of skipping out on retaking any microbios altogether.

 

[omnione]

Orgo I - [low 70s]
Microbio - [low 70s]
Dev. Bio - [high 60s]

Since my last post, I'm very much not wanting to retake the microbio course, simply because it's a poorly structured and taught course at my institution (in my opinion and the opinion of others). In other words, I could end up doing poorly or not significantly any better than my first attempt, which wouldn't look good on a transcript.

There is a much easier microbio course I could take, and given my background in the more difficult material, I would likely do well in it. However, I have a feeling adcoms would not look favourably upon me me taking an 'easier' version of microbio following a mediocre first-run at a harder one.

So as it stands, I'm thinking of skipping out on retaking any microbios altogether.

Though it's always better to think positive, maybe you shouldn't retake that microbio if you don't fee up to getting a great grade.