For premeds who earned a very high science GPA, what did you do?

[CookiesBrookies]

I have a below average science GPA, 3.5-3.6. I have a few other prereqs to take and need to do significantly better than how I have performed in the past. For people who have done really well in science classes, what did you do? Especially if you're the "strong in humanities" type but absolutely pathetic at STEM.

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[Hollow Knight]

I've always been more of a reader than a mather. I don't know if I'm "strong in humanities."

For biology/history/psychology, or anything where you have to remember stuff- use anki. Make flashcards, do them every day, you'll magically get 100s.

For calculus/physics, do problems. Do TONS of them, and make summary sheets for yourself for formulas or common approaches.

chemistry and ochem especially is a mix of both of these. For ochem, you have to memorize tons of reactions, which is just write offs. But then you have to pretend you're taking a math class and do tons of practice problems (assuming you're required to draw synthesis reactions like we were).

I was an SI leader, feel free to DM me anytime if you want. And when applying I had crazy high stats

Oh also, go to tutoring/office hours. Sit on the front row. Pay attention, smile, ask questions. Try to prep and know the material mostly before you get to class, then class is just hitting your points of confusion, then immediately do your homework and summarize to remind yourself about that material later for exams.

 

[fightingillini122]

Do you feel like some people are too dumb for premed / not inherently sufficiently good at science?

Being premed completely destroyed my mental and emotional health, if I'm being honest. I earned 3 B+'s and 1 B- and it wrecked my confidence. That B- was the lowest grade I have ever earned in my life.

Even if I dropped an assload of money on classes, I can only raise my science GPA to a 3.84 and my cumulative GPA to 3.89 and even then, I probably wouldn't get into a single school or would be looking at the bottom of the barrel medical schools.

A lot more goes into an acceptance than your GPA. I had a 3.7 sGPA and have been accepted to a top 30 school this cycle. It’s not a T10 but it’s by no means the bottom of the barrel. I’m an ORM with a slightly above average MCAT. It’s about your ECs and essays as well

 

[CookiesBrookies]

A lot more goes into an acceptance than your GPA. I had a 3.7 sGPA and have been accepted to a top 30 school this cycle. It’s not a T10 but it’s by no means the bottom of the barrel. I’m an ORM with a slightly above average MCAT. It’s about your ECs and essays as well

Thank you for sharing and congrats!

 

[fightingillini122]

Thank you for sharing and congrats! I'm just being depresso espresso haha.

No worries. If you can get your GPA up to those numbers you are in a great position. Just round out the rest of your app and you will be more than fine. Don’t let a B- discourage you at all. I had a C freshman year!

 

[chssoccer7]

Do you feel like some people are too dumb for premed / not inherently sufficiently good at science?

Being premed completely destroyed my mental and emotional health, if I'm being honest. I earned 3 B+'s and 1 B- and it wrecked my confidence. That B- was the lowest grade I have ever earned in my life.

Nope. Premed prerequisite classes don't require any kind of special intelligence (in my opinion). Some people may have to study a lot more than others to get the same grades, but I think the vast majority of college students could do well in the prerequisites if they put in real effort.

Like another poster said, it comes down to how willing you are to sacrifice free time to grind flash cards/anki/re-writing notes and working through practice problems. Sometimes you have to do some self-reflection and figure out why you are struggling and change study methods mid-class, which is time consuming. Sometimes you have to go to office hours/tutoring/SI sessions/watch dozens of Youtube videos to figure out why you don't understand something. In my opinion, the hardest part of the prerequisites is sacrificing things you'd rather be doing to get good grades.

Some of the lower-level classes made very little sense to me (looking at you, cell bio) and I worked through them by purely memorizing every line on the powerpoints while not understanding anything. The material didn't click till higher level classes when we were applying that foundational knowledge and things started clicking because I could see the whole picture now and not just random facts about cells. It was extremely time consuming, but I knew I wanted the A so I put in the time to grind it out.

It's also important for you to realize that A's aren't the only finish line. B's are okay too. You just have to do your best and be okay knowing that you put in the most effort you could while also being a human and taking care of everything else in your life. I have more than a few F's, C's, and W's on my transcript and I got accepted to a MD school. I am confident I will fall short of perfection at least a million more times, both academically and otherwise, on the route to becoming a physician and that's okay. I'll learn the lessons from it and move forward.

 

[CookiesBrookies]

Nope. Premed prerequisite classes don't require any kind of special intelligence (in my opinion). Some people may have to study a lot more than others to get the same grades, but I think the vast majority of college students could do well in the prerequisites if they put in real effort.

Like another poster said, it comes down to how willing you are to sacrifice free time to grind flash cards/anki/re-writing notes and working through practice problems. Sometimes you have to do some self-reflection and figure out why you are struggling and change study methods mid-class, which is time consuming. Sometimes you have to go to office hours/tutoring/SI sessions/watch dozens of Youtube videos to figure out why you don't understand something. In my opinion, the hardest part of the prerequisites is sacrificing things you'd rather be doing to get good grades.

Some of the lower-level classes made very little sense to me (looking at you, cell bio) and I worked through them by purely memorizing every line on the powerpoints while not understanding anything. The material didn't click till higher level classes when we were applying that foundational knowledge and things started clicking because I could see the whole picture now and not just random facts about cells. It was extremely time consuming, but I knew I wanted the A so I put in the time to grind it out.

It's also important for you to realize that A's aren't the only finish line. B's are okay too. You just have to do your best and be okay knowing that you put in the most effort you could while also being a human and taking care of everything else in your life. I have more than a few F's, C's, and W's on my transcript and I got accepted to a MD school. I am confident I will fall short of perfection at least a million more times, both academically and otherwise, on the route to becoming a physician and that's okay. I'll learn the lessons from it and move forward.

Thanks! I just get really into my head sometimes and depresso espresso over undergrad. Sorry if I sounded dramatic and congratulations on your acceptance!

 

[inwantstobeadoctor]

For chem/ochem/phys, there's a good called Chad's videos on YouTube that helped me when studying for the MCAT. Wished I knew about him back in undergrad. Also Premedh channel.

 

[atriablack]

Especially if you're the "strong in humanities" type but absolutely pathetic at STEM.

Entered college being mediocre/good enough in STEM and excellent in humanities. Found myself in a STEM major, taking largely STEM classes... pain. Unlike HS, I did very well in science classes this time around, what changed?
This exactly:

it comes down to how willing you are to sacrifice free time to grind flash cards/anki/re-writing notes and working through practice problems. Sometimes you have to do some self-reflection and figure out why you are struggling and change study methods mid-class, which is time consuming. Sometimes you have to go to office hours/tutoring/SI sessions/watch dozens of Youtube videos to figure out why you don't understand something.

Practice, so much practice. Didn't get the grade I wanted in Orgo 1, so I did every single problem in the textbook/coursepack for Orgo 2 (and I mean every single problem). It's not just about brute force practice, it's asking for help/clarificaiton every time you get stuck. If you got stuck on it, it's a conceptual gap. Fill it. There was never a problem on the exam that caught me by surprise.

In my opinion, the hardest part of the prerequisites is sacrificing things you'd rather be doing to get good grades.

Yep. Taking out time is the hardest part. Once you progress in your classes, you'll figure out very quickly the subjects that come easy to you vs. one that you really need to do all the problems available.

Also ask for help, keep asking for help. Ask your profs, ask your GSI, ask your peers. Ask for extra office hours if they don't fit your schedule. Who cares if you look dumb, your exam scores will speak for themselves.

 

[lacrossegirl420]

The more you study the better you’ll do, honestly I never really saw it as a chore because I’ve always loved studying

 

[NotADoctor1]

Rate My Professor was probably the most valuable tool for me. Avoiding overly difficult professors and classes will save you so much time and effort. Ideally you would challenge yourself with your undergrad classes, but in the context of medical school applications, your raw GPA is much more important than the perceived rigor of your classes. Taking the easier class/professor when you have the choice is usually the way to go.

 

[PhoenixRising77]

Rate My Professor was probably the most valuable tool for me. Avoiding overly difficult professors and classes will save you so much time and effort. Ideally you would challenge yourself with your undergrad classes, but in the context of medical school applications, your raw GPA is much more important than the perceived rigor of your classes. Taking the easier class/professor when you have the choice is usually the way to go.

This is so true! What I did was not only look at the rating but also look to see if the professor’s teaching style matched with how I learned. For example, I’m not a quiz person and prefer multiple exams throughout the semester with an optional/no final. So, I looked through syllabi when I could choose a professor to find a match. I do want to impart a word of caution about rate my professor— just because the professor didn’t work for someone else, it doesn’t mean they can’t work for you.

 

[RedFrog]

I agree NotADoctor1. Select classes with "easier" professors. I researched the "easiest" professors and attended night classes, Summer classes, community college and have a 4.0. I wouldn't have done it if I took those classes "regularly".
In additional, avoid science major so that you are not required to take more science classes than you have to.
It is just my experience and may or may not suitable for you.

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

I was this type of student. First, embrace your humanities skills! Every section of the MCAT will throw jargon-filled nonsense at you to trip you up, and you will be well-equipped to quickly read and synthesize what is important and what you can ignore. Moreover, when it comes time to apply you will be able to write strong, clear, and concise essays.

I improved my sGPA with a combination of the following:

1. Have a schedule. Eg class on Monday, start homework on Monday. Have a "rough draft" of the homework done before office hours on Wednesday. Go to office hours. Finish homework by Friday. You get the idea.

2. For chemistry/biology, focus on "telling the story" of what is going on. If you're a humanities person, you're probably good at "telling the story" of how some phenomena caused/is related to some other happening. You can use this mindset for the sciences too. Look into concept mapping. Anki and brute memorization may be helpful/necessary, but if you can understand the big picture of the concept you will be much better off and you'll be able to get more practice problems right.

3. Switch your attitude from a fixed "I'm bad at science" mindset to a growth "science is a skill that I can learn" mindset. I realized that I had a constant, subconscious "elevator music" stream of "I'm bad at this, this is scary, I don't know what's going on" thoughts whenever I started a physics problem. I had to learn how to turn off the negative emotions that were cluttering my brain and stopping me from thinking clearly through problems. Instead, I filled my brain with thoughts of "what is the professor saying? What does this problem say? What is the first step of solving these problems? What is the second step?" Once I adopted a mindset that was calm, confident, methodical, and completely devoid of emotion I did much better. Of course, being overconfident is not good, and some problems are scary no matter what. To get around that I've adopted a somewhat defensive mindset as well when approaching problems and test questions. This means going into it feeling very confident that I know my stuff, but also knowing that the test is looking to trip me up and that I need to treat everything with a degree of suspicion. But that is NOT the same thing as being scared or being overwhelmed by self-deprecating thoughts--it's simply knowing that you need to be careful.

4. Studying with a group can be useful, but in the spirit of #3, if studying with Chad the physics whiz always leaves you feeling stupid, try studying alone. Sometimes struggling with something and then figuring it out on your own can be empowering. But if you never study with a group it's worth trying.