Okay I know it looks really bad but I had failed Gen chem (D) and retook it the next year (where Im from classes come around as often as Haley's commet) and I got a D. It was the only class I have ever failed. Am I expected to defend this... there was no excuse, I had reasons... the 'D' happened at a really low point in my life and the 'C' happened during the readjustment part. Please let me know how this looks... I know there are so many threads written about a B+ (boo hoo) but this is a failing grade brought up to an average passing. How does that look? The reasons were very personal and if its okay I'll will not post them. Also... while Im on the trend....Ive received many C's (many was just undeserved!) the thing I want to get at is that many schools want to see a trend of improvement right? Many of us were delt an unfair hand at life and had to make the best of it... I pretty much made lemonade from lemons when given the opportunity and I hope that I can prove that on my applications in hopes of an interview. Please anyone with words of wisdome....give them to me! thanks
It looks like you have already "justified" why you earned these poor grades so what does it matter in terms of "how it looks". The thing that you need to add to your equation is that you didn't bring up a failing grade to an "average passing" because in the world of application to medical school, you are far below average with a grade of C.
The question that you actually need to answer for yourself is "do you have enough knowledge of General Chemistry?" My guess is that this is a significant gap that is going to need to be addressed at some point especially for the MCAT. The other question is "how are you going to address this and remediate this?" because remediation is a huge deal.
The other thing that you need to realize is that life deals you cards and it is up to you how you play them. There is no "fair" versus "unfair". You either get what you need and master your coursework or you take some time off, take care of your distractions and come back to your coursework ready to devote the time necessary for mastery.
There are plenty of people who have issues in life that can potentially derail their undergraduate achievements. The smart thing is to take some time off and get your issues under control. If you don't do that, you wind up in a hole from which you may not emerge.
Your poor grades in Chemistry are what they are and you deal with them. The important thing is not to make any more below average grades and get any issues that may be impinging on your undergraduate coursework taken care of before you attempt anything else.
Upward trends are good but no one is "given" an opportunity. Opportunities are seized and you might want to do some serious evaluation of what is keeping you from seizing the opportunities are are available to you. Anything less is going to derail your medical career.
Figure out what is holding you back and get the job done or otherwise you are wasting your tuition money. Medicine is a very demanding "mistress" and the demands start in undergrad. You either meet them or you don't. It only takes one look at the number of people who seek this career versus the number of people who achieve it to tell you that you have to bring your "A" game and nothing less without excuses.
You have poked fun at people who were concerned about B+ grades but in reality, those B+ grades are the "average passing" for folks who are anticipating admission to medical school and those people who received them are correct to be concerned that they don't keep repeating their B+ performance.
Harsh? Yes, but you have to deal in reality and the reality is that you need to get your act together pretty quickly if you anticipate admission to medical school in your future.
