Dealing with 'weed out' courses

[Wickedgood]

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I'm a 30-year-old sophmore, who am trying to keep from getting shaken when all the 17/18-year old freshmen in my 1st year Biology class are dropping like flies. I'm not doing much better than they are - am I just being hopelessly optimistic, or is sticking with it and rolling with the punches a mark of any successful pre-med (except for those exceptional ones who make all As, all the time)?

First, three things about me:

1st of all - I WAS one of these Bio/Pre-med dropouts over 10 years ago. My then-boyfriend didn't want to wait so many years to start a family, I lost focus and was wicked depressed, switched majors and didn't return the next semester.

2nd of all - after being out of school, 'growing up' a bit, and living in the 'real world' (and finally getting rid of my loser husband) I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to do with my life and what needed to be done in order to get it. My conclusion was obviously medicine, and I'm steadilly working towards my goal. I just don't see how a few low Bs or even a couple of Cs should force me to give this up.

3rd of all - This is pretty much still early in my undergraduate career. I'm a Bio major, so I'm still going to have to take tons more science courses, which should help boister my math/science GPA. My overall GPA is 3.6/3.7ish right now, so wouldn't it be foolhardy to give up the ghost? I understand if my GPA was below 3.0 then I might be delusional, and might want to reconsider the whole medicine thing. Then again, I'm turning 31 on Monday and the very thought that I might be wasting my time just SUCKS.

So anyway, how do you guys deal with the rampant major-changing/course dropping of your peers? Try to ignore it and hope that it doesn't affect the curve? Interpret it as the survival of the fittist? Realize that it will only get worse and try your hardest not to associate with anyone classifying themselves as pre-med? Take into account that people drop/change majors for a variety of reasons, and not to take it personally? Other? 😉

 

[Nasrudin]

I'm a 30-year-old sophmore, who am trying to
2ight be wasting my time just SUCKS....

So anyway, how do you guys deal with the rampant major-changing/course dropping of your peers? Try to ignore it and hope that it doesn't affect the curve? Interpret it as the survival of the fittist? Realize that it will only get worse and try your hardest not to associate with anyone classifying themselves as pre-med? Take into account that people drop/change majors for a variety of reasons, and not to take it personally? Other? 😉

Congratulations on making it back to chase down your dreams. I'm 33 and a 2nd career student.

You just have to lower your bayonet and charge. Get used to people falling all around you. Accept it as part of the landscape. Try not to wast too much time thinking about and keep your eyes straight ahead.

You know just as well as I do that what awaits those who decide school is just not that important to them. Consider this knowlege your secret weapon--while waking up at 6:00 am and opening the library may seem hostile to their sensibilities and a cramp on their video game hobbies you will see it as an opportunity to be there and to do your best.

At first that whole herds of freshman roadkill were being run down right next to me used to frighten me. Now I just give the slighted grin and keep moving.

Good luck.

 

[Zyeist]

I consider it par for the course regardless of whether it is a science class or anything else. People change majors and drop out of classes throughout their college careers before settling down.

Just have to stay focused on what you want to get out of the course and not pay attention to what the rest of the class is up to. Only one letter grade will go on your transcript at the end of the course, and it doesn't care whether 99% of the class dropped. It is however screaming its silly little head off about how YOU did in the course 🙁

 

[scpod]

So anyway, how do you guys deal with the rampant major-changing/course dropping of your peers? Try to ignore it and hope that it doesn't affect the curve? Interpret it as the survival of the fittist? Realize that it will only get worse and try your hardest not to associate with anyone classifying themselves as pre-med? Take into account that people drop/change majors for a variety of reasons, and not to take it personally? Other? 😉

The major thing to do is to forget about everyone else and concentrate on how YOU are doing. The state I'm from uses lottery money to give any highschool student with a B average four years of tuition at a state school. More than 50% of freshman lose their scholarships after the first year, though, because they can't keep a B average. There are two main things that keep them from doing this:

1) Putting in the necessary time to do well. This means scheduled time every day to study for classes-- not just the weekends or the week before a test. You are expected to spend 2 to 3 times the amount of classroom time studying on your own. Most people don't do this. The ones who do spend the time often make A's.

2) Knowing how to study. Don't laugh. Most people don't know how to study effectively. This is something that most people are never taught. There are many different techniques that you can use to improve the quality of your study time, and quality is probably even more imortant than quantity.

If you will forget about what everyone else it doing, put in the necessary time and use that time wisely, then you will do very well in undergrad.

 

[RxnMan]

I'm a 30-year-old sophmore, who am trying to keep from getting shaken when all the 17/18-year old freshmen in my 1st year Biology class are dropping like flies. I'm not doing much better than they are - am I just being hopelessly optimistic, or is sticking with it and rolling with the punches a mark of any successful pre-med (except for those exceptional ones who make all As, all the time)?

First, three things about me:

1st of all - I WAS one of these Bio/Pre-med dropouts over 10 years ago. My then-boyfriend didn't want to wait so many years to start a family, I lost focus and was wicked depressed, switched majors and didn't return the next semester.

2nd of all - after being out of school, 'growing up' a bit, and living in the 'real world' (and finally getting rid of my loser husband) I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to do with my life and what needed to be done in order to get it. My conclusion was obviously medicine, and I'm steadilly working towards my goal. I just don't see how a few low Bs or even a couple of Cs should force me to give this up.

3rd of all - This is pretty much still early in my undergraduate career. I'm a Bio major, so I'm still going to have to take tons more science courses, which should help boister my math/science GPA. My overall GPA is 3.6/3.7ish right now, so wouldn't it be foolhardy to give up the ghost? I understand if my GPA was below 3.0 then I might be delusional, and might want to reconsider the whole medicine thing. Then again, I'm turning 31 on Monday and the very thought that I might be wasting my time just SUCKS.

So anyway, how do you guys deal with the rampant major-changing/course dropping of your peers? Try to ignore it and hope that it doesn't affect the curve? Interpret it as the survival of the fittist? Realize that it will only get worse and try your hardest not to associate with anyone classifying themselves as pre-med? Take into account that people drop/change majors for a variety of reasons, and not to take it personally? Other? 😉

The presidents of my ugrad are famous for saying in their first address to new students "look to your left, look to your right, two of you will be gone before graduation." We had tons of people saying they'd be chemical engineers or whatever, but in the end, >60% washed out. They couldn't hack it or they decided being an engineer wasn't for them. That's their choice, and it doesn't effect yours. Did you make a mistake in choosing medicine? Only when you decide you did.

During ugrad, I knew a couple of guys who came back to college after they served their country (they were ~25-30 y/o). They were good students, like you seem to be, and my buddies and classmates had nothing but respect for them for it. You're doing good, hard work for your dream and risking a lot, and that is awe-inspiring.

 

[ShyRem]

'weed out' courses are designed in part to get rid of folks who don't *really* want to go to med school. They're designed to be a reality check of the work it takes to get to med school (which is, in my experience, a miniscule fraction of the work it takes to do well *in* med school) and send folks that aren't willing to actually do the work running in the other direction.

Roll with it.

 

[QofQuimica]

I'm a 30-year-old sophmore, who am trying to keep from getting shaken when all the 17/18-year old freshmen in my 1st year Biology class are dropping like flies. I'm not doing much better than they are - am I just being hopelessly optimistic, or is sticking with it and rolling with the punches a mark of any successful pre-med (except for those exceptional ones who make all As, all the time)?

First, three things about me:

1st of all - I WAS one of these Bio/Pre-med dropouts over 10 years ago. My then-boyfriend didn't want to wait so many years to start a family, I lost focus and was wicked depressed, switched majors and didn't return the next semester.

2nd of all - after being out of school, 'growing up' a bit, and living in the 'real world' (and finally getting rid of my loser husband) I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to do with my life and what needed to be done in order to get it. My conclusion was obviously medicine, and I'm steadilly working towards my goal. I just don't see how a few low Bs or even a couple of Cs should force me to give this up.

3rd of all - This is pretty much still early in my undergraduate career. I'm a Bio major, so I'm still going to have to take tons more science courses, which should help boister my math/science GPA. My overall GPA is 3.6/3.7ish right now, so wouldn't it be foolhardy to give up the ghost? I understand if my GPA was below 3.0 then I might be delusional, and might want to reconsider the whole medicine thing. Then again, I'm turning 31 on Monday and the very thought that I might be wasting my time just SUCKS.

So anyway, how do you guys deal with the rampant major-changing/course dropping of your peers? Try to ignore it and hope that it doesn't affect the curve? Interpret it as the survival of the fittist? Realize that it will only get worse and try your hardest not to associate with anyone classifying themselves as pre-med? Take into account that people drop/change majors for a variety of reasons, and not to take it personally? Other? 😉

Keep reminding yourself that your classmates aren't your peers. You are now an adult who has gone through some tough times in your life, and these pre-med classes are definitely within the realm of your capabilities. You're doing fine so far. Don't worry about what a bunch of adolescents are doing or not doing. Many of them are at the same stage now that you were at ten years ago, and they don't know yet what they want to do with their lives just like you didn't know what you wanted when you were their age. As long as you're making progress toward your dream, and you are, that's all that matters. As folks say here in the South, keep your eyes on the prize.

 

[ToGodALLGlory]

Last semester I was in the worst weedout class I've ever seen. The prof had each student introduce themselves, stating major, etc., and one girl actually said she was premed and going to be an anesthesiologist for the money. She didn't last 3 weeks. A class of over 30 dwindled to 6 by the end of the semester. The prof actually said to me in front of everyone that "maybe something you were good at at 15 you aren't good at at 30 anymore" and for the first time in my life, I went to my car and cried........but guess who passed that stupid class with over 100%! I keep those thoughts in the back of my mind as studying fuel. Q is right per usual...they aren't my peers...I don't think it's a fashion show, I don't care what beer fest is going on this weekend (couldn't take the kids anyway), and my rally cry is not "for the money--hooray!" Someone once posted this great quote on SDN: "Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'I will try again tomorrow.'" Good luck everyone! 🙂

 

[MomTo2Boys]

The prof actually said to me in front of everyone that "maybe something you were good at at 15 you aren't good at at 30 anymore" and for the first time in my life, I went to my car and cried..

Oh my GOODNESS, ToGodAllGlory... what did you SAY when the prof said that to you?!?!?!?!?!?! Good for you for showing them all what you were made of.

And that was a GREAT quote, by the way, about courage.

 

[njbmd]

So anyway, how do you guys deal with the rampant major-changing/course dropping of your peers? Try to ignore it and hope that it doesn't affect the curve? Interpret it as the survival of the fittist? Realize that it will only get worse and try your hardest not to associate with anyone classifying themselves as pre-med? Take into account that people drop/change majors for a variety of reasons, and not to take it personally? Other? 😉

Here are a couple of thoughts:

1. Focus on the material that needs to be mastered. The material doesn't care how old or how young you are. You simply need to get the material mastered and the job done. Either you can do this or you cannot do this.

2. Resist the urge to focus on your past performance. You can only use the past as experience and nothing more. Since you are in the present, you can decide at any time to do excellent work which CAN and WILL affect your future.

3. Resist comparing yourself to any other person. Only YOU can do what YOU need to reach your goal. Since medicine is a long-term goal, you reach it by taking one step at at time and by keeping you eyes clearly focused on what you want.

4. "Weed-out" courses are a myth. There are courses that demand more attention and there are courses that demand less attention. Either you are giving your coursework the proper amount of attention and diligent study or you are wasting your time. Adding a description like "beast" or "weed-out" does not change the fact that you need to master the material presented.


In the end, it doesn't matter if everyone in the class fails and you wind up with an A. You still have the A.

Good luck and run your own race. You will be most successful that way.

 

[Wickedgood]

Thank you guys. I needed to hear this stuff from my REAL peers (not my classmates or my family). I slacked off this semester, and have been feeling sorry for myself and watching seemingly everyone drop like flies just deepened this funk. Oh, and the excuse of 'getting older' too lol. Poor me ~

Anyway, thanks for putting things into perspective. There are a few more weeks left in the semester and I still have the opportunity to effect my grades (either for good or for bad). Just gotta start thinking about myself and MY performance and goals, and stop worrying about classmates, past mistakes, etc.

🙂

 

[Trismegistus4]

So anyway, how do you guys deal with the rampant major-changing/course dropping of your peers? Try to ignore it and hope that it doesn't affect the curve? Interpret it as the survival of the fittist? Realize that it will only get worse and try your hardest not to associate with anyone classifying themselves as pre-med? Take into account that people drop/change majors for a variety of reasons, and not to take it personally? Other? 😉

Who cares what the other students in the class are doing? If you're cut out to be a doctor, you'll survive the weeding out. If you don't, you're not cut out to be a doctor. As a patient, would you want to be treated by a doctor who got C's in important subjects?

 

[Trismegistus4]

'weed out' courses are designed in part to get rid of folks who don't *really* want to go to med school. They're designed to be a reality check of the work it takes to get to med school (which is, in my experience, a miniscule fraction of the work it takes to do well *in* med school) and send folks that aren't willing to actually do the work running in the other direction.

I usually can't stand njbmd's posts, but she's right on this one. Some courses have the effect of weeding people out of the med school track, but they aren't designed to do so. It's not like the AAMC or a school's pre-med advising office controls these courses. Organic chemistry, for example, is designed by a school's chemistry department. A chemistry department couldn't care less about who gets into med school and who doesn't; they care about chemistry.

 

[medicalbound]

Just a quick observation, the OP stated that they were having difficulties in a 1st year bio course, which would not typically be considered a "weed out" course, but rather the bread and butter that everything else builds on.

I'm sure that I'm not the only med student here that doesn't have the same experience as ShyRem. I have never had to work this hard to do well in school - and I don't say that lightly.

That being said, it sounds like you have the capacity to do well and the suggestions of your fellow SDNers are sound. You need to only concentrate on yourself, the attrition rate of students who fall off (especially premeds) will continue to increase as your studies progress. Gently step over the bodies of those who fall before you, help pick up the ones you can help, and keep marching forward. I am 33 and can empathize, just keep your eyes on the target and you can get there.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Pemberley]

Make sure your evaluate why you are having trouble. First year biology is in no way conceptually difficult, so it will probably boil down to one of the following:
1) not spending enough time on the class
2) employing the wrong study skills
3) both of the above

I teach recitation sections in freshman physics. In the vast majority of cases, the freshman who drop this class during the semester did not struggle, work hard, visit office hours often, do lots of practice problems, and simply fail to cut it. They are names in my gradebook, never seen in office hours and rarely in recitation, with missing and/or incomplete homework assignments leading up to a total disappearance. Why did they drop the class without really trying, or ever taking advantage of the resources available to help them succeed? I have no idea.

The bad news is that (odds are) as a non-trad, your lack-of-time issues will probably be more severe (and less beer-induced) than those of your classmates.

The good news is that maturity might make you better able to evaluate your own performance, adjust your strategies, and ask for help when you need it. Good luck, and stick with it.