School Part
Last semester my instructor had a certain way of doing exams for O-chem I. He would curve appropriately, etc and we knew where we stood.
Something happened and this semester (OchemII), the curves got weird. The exams changed almost completely and half the material wasn't from the book we got so we couldn't find practice problems. I did test at the class average and thought, "If I get a C, this will be my FIRST C, but that's fine. Stuff happens."
Many students complained of not knowing if they should drop because we didn't know the official curve. I didn't hear these complaints last semester.
I'm not sure WHAT happened, but the curves weren't fixed. I went from a B midterm to a D final. I don't even have any C's! I knew the material better than 90% of my workshop Ochem II class. Thus I suspect only a handful even passed.
I'm just finishing junior year and am planning to take a 5th year anyway to get anatomy, biochem, etc classes that I couldn't get earlier. I also want to pick up a 3rd language fluently.
I came from having a 4.0 from my CC to now a 3.7 because of that D. My school has retakes, but I know med schools dont "see" that. Oddly enough I have only gotten B's (and a D) in the Uni prereqs, all the other Uni classes and labs have A's (Except Ochem II lab, its a B).
Are med schools going to be mad if I have a rough time ONLY in one or two prereqs?
Gen chem I & II plus labs, A
Ochem I Lab A
Ochem II lab, Ochem II B, Assuming a B in physics I
Weird new computer bio lab for majors, B
Calc I B
Bio I B
Rest are A's here.
1) I find it rather peculiar that I ace (10+) the MCAT examcrackers material but have had a hard time. Could these just be the only hard, weed-out classes?
2) How will this downward trend look? I have no W's and only these B's plus a Calc I B. I can't afford a grad student $30/hr tutor like 75% of campus. I also had 11 hours of labs this semester.
Emotional Part
I have no family to support me financial AT ALL, in fact my scholarships are keeping me and my husband alive. We are below the poverty level at this point. (He's Elem Ed major). All the people that raised me are dead, so I can't turn to anyone if I am upset. Easy humanities major husband just doesn't understand what I go through, but he tries.
And with 23 hrs of class, so many lab reports, 20 hrs of physics lecture h/w a week, worried we wouldn't have enough money to live, non-trad responsibilities, I could not SLEEP. I didn't even have a chance at going to get help because office hours were when I would try and sacrifice study time for sleep, or to do adult errands, etc. I know if I could have gotten some sleep I would have had a better chance at a B.
So will the med schools be mad? I know once I'm out of prereqs I'm in the clear. I have Bio II this summer (advisor says its the easier half), the Physics II and Ochem II again in Fall. Mcat in Spring.
At worst I expect a 3.7 at the end of all this. Optimistically a 3.8 cumulative GPA.
Your thoughts?
(Sorry for the wall of text.
)
Last semester my instructor had a certain way of doing exams for O-chem I. He would curve appropriately, etc and we knew where we stood.
Something happened and this semester (OchemII), the curves got weird. The exams changed almost completely and half the material wasn't from the book we got so we couldn't find practice problems. I did test at the class average and thought, "If I get a C, this will be my FIRST C, but that's fine. Stuff happens."
Many students complained of not knowing if they should drop because we didn't know the official curve. I didn't hear these complaints last semester.
I'm not sure WHAT happened, but the curves weren't fixed. I went from a B midterm to a D final. I don't even have any C's! I knew the material better than 90% of my workshop Ochem II class. Thus I suspect only a handful even passed.
I'm just finishing junior year and am planning to take a 5th year anyway to get anatomy, biochem, etc classes that I couldn't get earlier. I also want to pick up a 3rd language fluently.
I came from having a 4.0 from my CC to now a 3.7 because of that D. My school has retakes, but I know med schools dont "see" that. Oddly enough I have only gotten B's (and a D) in the Uni prereqs, all the other Uni classes and labs have A's (Except Ochem II lab, its a B).
Are med schools going to be mad if I have a rough time ONLY in one or two prereqs?
Gen chem I & II plus labs, A
Ochem I Lab A
Ochem II lab, Ochem II B, Assuming a B in physics I
Weird new computer bio lab for majors, B
Calc I B
Bio I B
Rest are A's here.
1) I find it rather peculiar that I ace (10+) the MCAT examcrackers material but have had a hard time. Could these just be the only hard, weed-out classes?
2) How will this downward trend look? I have no W's and only these B's plus a Calc I B. I can't afford a grad student $30/hr tutor like 75% of campus. I also had 11 hours of labs this semester.
Emotional Part
I have no family to support me financial AT ALL, in fact my scholarships are keeping me and my husband alive. We are below the poverty level at this point. (He's Elem Ed major). All the people that raised me are dead, so I can't turn to anyone if I am upset. Easy humanities major husband just doesn't understand what I go through, but he tries.
And with 23 hrs of class, so many lab reports, 20 hrs of physics lecture h/w a week, worried we wouldn't have enough money to live, non-trad responsibilities, I could not SLEEP. I didn't even have a chance at going to get help because office hours were when I would try and sacrifice study time for sleep, or to do adult errands, etc. I know if I could have gotten some sleep I would have had a better chance at a B.
So will the med schools be mad? I know once I'm out of prereqs I'm in the clear. I have Bio II this summer (advisor says its the easier half), the Physics II and Ochem II again in Fall. Mcat in Spring.
At worst I expect a 3.7 at the end of all this. Optimistically a 3.8 cumulative GPA.
Your thoughts?
(Sorry for the wall of text.
)
