Full-time to Part-time

[Gymgivitis]

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I'm in a bit of a pickle pre-denters...

So I'm currently in my senior year and enrolled in anatomy. At my school it is well known that the prof that teaches in the Fall is an avoid at all costs kind of professor. Unfortunately, because anatomy is a pre-requisite for physiology at my school I had to take it this semester. Well now it's kicking my ass and it seems I'll be LUCKY to get a C. I know it's early but I'm diligent enough to know when I should be concerned. I'm considering dropping it and taking it again in the spring with the better professor, but I'm concerned about two things...

1) this will put me at part-time(11 hours). Which may look bad to D schools. And I've already applied through TMDSAS so I'd have to update them if I drop.

2) because anatomy is a pre req for physiology which are both required for my major I'd have to take physiology in the summer of next year and graduate in early-mid August... which would suck. Would this also look bad to dental schools?

Credits are not an issue to graduate on time. I only need 10 more credits to graduate. It's just this damn pre-requisite situation. I'm telling you all right now I'll continue to work as hard as possible until the drop date and see where I am but even if I get a C in the course I'd have a 3.2ish for the semester. If I drop I'll have a 3.8 most likely(other classes im in: immunology, neurotoxicology, medical entomology, biochem2). What should I do? I'm also working part-time this school year and I dropped a couple classes back freshman year so idk if that matters.

TLDR; should I go part time and graduate late if it'll spare my GPA.

 

[WaveRace]

Take a deep breath, give yourself a full day off if you need it, and then work at 110% until the end of the semester. You can do this.

I'll be blunt for a second here because you need to hear it: both situations are bad. Getting a C in a class like anatomy (which you will be taking in dental school) right before you are admitted to dental school is not a good sign. An academic update of "I got a C in an important class" isn't a good thing. My question for you is: how are you already that far into the semester that you are sure you are getting a C? Did you just screw up your first exam and are overreacting? You can turn this around. I've been in this position and ended up with an A. Go to office hours, email your TAs constantly, meet people in the class and make a study group, use anki to make notecards. If you really want to get into dental school, you need to make this the focus of your life right now. Can you ditch the part-time job? Also, there are going to be hard professors in dental school. This situation will present itself again. Why not learn to handle it now?

The "W" would call into question why you loaded up this much this late in your undergrad. "Does he not know what he can/can't handle"? Additionally, some dental schools start during the summer. Would you be able to matriculate to the schools you applied to if you are not graduating until early-mid August? If they start during that time frame, the answer is likely no. This would likely put you in a situation where you can't matriculate next year.

Ultimately it's up to you on how you want to handle your situation. We can't decide anything for you. The less bad situation is the withdrawal, IMO. You should really try to avoid either of these if it is at all possible. I will say that I really do think you can do it. You wouldn't be posting here if you didn't care. Make sacrifices, put in a ton of time, come out on top. Nobody said this road was going to be easy.

 

[Gymgivitis]

Take a deep breath, give yourself a full day off if you need it, and then work at 110% until the end of the semester. You can do this.

I'll be blunt for a second here because you need to hear it: both situations are bad. Getting a C in a class like anatomy (which you will be taking in dental school) right before you are admitted to dental school is not a good sign. An academic update of "I got a C in an important class" isn't a good thing. My question for you is: how are you already that far into the semester that you are sure you are getting a C? Did you just screw up your first exam and are overreacting? You can turn this around. I've been in this position and ended up with an A. Go to office hours, email your TAs constantly, meet people in the class and make a study group, use anki to make notecards. If you really want to get into dental school, you need to make this the focus of your life right now. Can you ditch the part-time job? Also, there are going to be hard professors in dental school. This situation will present itself again. Why not learn to handle it now?

The "W" would call into question why you loaded up this much this late in your undergrad. "Does he not know what he can/can't handle"? Additionally, some dental schools start during the summer. Would you be able to matriculate to the schools you applied to if you are not graduating until early-mid August? If they start during that time frame, the answer is likely no. This would likely put you in a situation where you can't matriculate next year.

Ultimately it's up to you on how you want to handle your situation. We can't decide anything for you. The less bad situation is the withdrawal, IMO. You should really try to avoid either of these if it is at all possible. I will say that I really do think you can do it. You wouldn't be posting here if you didn't care. Make sacrifices, put in a ton of time, come out on top. Nobody said this road was going to be easy.

You're the best. Thank you. Now let me ask you this... I just found out that for some reason my major decided to drop the physiology requirement to graduate. So if I drop the anatomy class and take it next semester and still graduate on time, how would I stand then? What if I was honest and said that the spring semester professor was a professor that I felt I could learn more from and perform better. Would they understand that reasoning seeing as how competitive getting into dental school is? In retrospect I would've never signed up for the course and just been part time this semester and next because it's all I need to graduate and I'd save money.

 

[WaveRace]

You're the best. Thank you. Now let me ask you this... I just found out that for some reason my major decided to drop the physiology requirement to graduate. So if I drop the anatomy class and take it next semester and still graduate on time, how would I stand then? What if I was honest and said that the spring semester professor was a professor that I felt I could learn more from and perform better. Would they understand that reasoning seeing as how competitive getting into dental school is? In retrospect I would've never signed up for the course and just been part time this semester and next because it's all I need to graduate and I'd save money.

No problem, just trying to help. Withdrawing is less bad than getting a "C" IMO. The situation at that point would be explaining it, because you most likely will get asked about it during an interview. I'm sure if you read a few old threads you'll find someone who had to answer to adcomms for something like that. I'm not familiar. Perhaps someone else can better answer.

 

[fayevalentine]

You're the best. Thank you. Now let me ask you this... I just found out that for some reason my major decided to drop the physiology requirement to graduate. So if I drop the anatomy class and take it next semester and still graduate on time, how would I stand then? What if I was honest and said that the spring semester professor was a professor that I felt I could learn more from and perform better. Would they understand that reasoning seeing as how competitive getting into dental school is? In retrospect I would've never signed up for the course and just been part time this semester and next because it's all I need to graduate and I'd save money.

One thing to note if money is a factor - you'll pay more for a post-bachelor's class than you would as an undergraduate student. Do you have any other C's or W's?