Failed outta premed postbacc

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23yroldNontrad

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Hi everyone, so, graduated from undergrad with a a very not science background, and leapt into a premed postbacc.
Summer semester, got A minuses in Gen Chem I and II. Fall got an A in physics I, and B plus in Bio I and Orgo I.
Spring semester was not easy for a number of reasons both academic and not. Failed Orgo II and Biochem, might fail Bio II but I am waiting on results. C plus in physics II.
Obviously, I am aware that this is a very bad thing. Is it quixotic at this point to retake these classes somewhere else and try again, or is retaking them not even worth doing? Is it cut your losses time?
 
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Or, does it make more sense to just take another premed postbacc, maybe one that goes at a slower pace, and just pretend that this year never happened?
 
Or, does it make more sense to just take another premed postbacc, maybe one that goes at a slower pace, and just pretend that this year never happened?
Well if you leave it off apps, that's lying so you can't pretend it never happened.

Who advised you to take Orgo II, Physics II, Bio II and Biochem all in one semester??
 
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But thanks. Did not consider how apps would phrase requests, but did some googling and they all pretty much say they want every class you ever took, so, the latter is apparently not an option.
 
I would recommend that you do not enroll in another formal post-bac program. Find a local university that will allow you enroll as a second degree / post-bac student and retake the classes that you failed at a different pace (i.e. spread those courses out and take some other upper division bio courses as well). The important thing is that you earn high grades. After doing that, I would pursue osteopathic medical schools that will allow you to replace lower grades with higher ones (making it like you did not fail those classes). Allopathic medical schools do not allow grade replacement and will see every attempt/grade that you received. Hope this helps. Best of luck to you.
 
For MD schools, there is some data that shows that students who attended CCs matriculate to allopathic schools at slightly lower rates than students that did not. How much of the admission rate discrepancy is caused by CC classes in and of themselves is not known. However, for allopathic medical schools, given that you struggled in a post-bac program, I would not recommend taking CC classes as it may seem like you are "running away" from a more rigorous education of a 4 year schools (unfortunately, this stereotype appears to be pervasive). For osteopathic medical schools, community college classes are fine.


Tuition is an issue for me. Is community a bad idea?
 
Fix your study habits before you even consider retaking courses.
 
From what you said, it sounds like your grades include one C and two Fs with a third grade still pending. Two questions. First, did you actually fail out of the entire postbac, or are you being hyperbolic? Second, you started out well and then crashed and burned; what happened here? You don't have to post the answer on SDN, but you do need to have a good answer yourself. The postbac curriculums are designed to be intense because they are designed to mimic what medical school is like. You will have to take about 25-30 credits of science classes per semester for your first two years of medical school. Doing an "easier" post bac is not going to convince anyone that you have what it takes to handle that kind of course load. So here's what I suggest.

1) If you haven't already, sit down and think about what went wrong this past semester, and how you intend to fix that problem in the future. If it's a personal life distraction (broke up with your significant other, got treated for depression, family member died, had to work more hours, whatever), make sure that is taken care of before you even consider signing up for another class. You need to be in a mind frame where you can aim for straight As from here on out. If you were overwhelmed by the course load because of your lack of science background, then you are clearly not ready to tackle a medical school curriculum yet, and you need to spend time learning the basics to prepare yourself. If you are just dabbling in school (not studying properly, not making your classes a priority), then you should quit your program until you are ready to give your premed studies the necessary effort.

2) Once you have identified the reasons for failing this semester, talk to your advisor at the postbac program to find out what your options are. Will they let you take a LOA to resolve any personal issues? Will they allow you to remediate if your problem was lack of academic readiness? Can you change some of your Fs to incompletes and make up the work? If there is any way to stick it out with your current program, you are probably better off doing that rather than starting over somewhere else, especially if your current program is linked to a medical school.

3) If the answers to these questions are no, and you really have flunked out of the program, then I suggest you follow the first law of getting yourself out of a hole, which is to stop digging it deeper. In other words, no classes this summer. Take some time to get your life straightened out and come up with a plan to do well in a challenging science curriculum. And don't go back until you're ready and willing to do what's necessary to succeed.
 
You might want to along with above suggestions strongly consider if med school is for you. It doesn't get easier once admitted and if you struggle now odds are higher that you will struggle in med school. Just something you need to ask yourself before you invest more of your life into this goal. If you push forward and fail worse then you are limiting potentially good alternatives.

Good luck!

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