How concerned should I be about 4 B grades senior year?

[Gabe dog]

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I go to a pretty rigorous school (think Berkeley/UCLA). My Gpa is solid (3.75 sGPA, 3.8 cGPA) and my MCAT is 519, but in my last three semesters I will have received 2 B+, 1 B, and 1 B- in Neuro anatomy, biochem, P Chem, and Microbiology. How much will this affect my chance for admissions?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I go to a pretty rigorous school (think Berkeley/UCLA). My Gpa is solid (3.75 sGPA, 3.8 cGPA) and my MCAT is 519, but in my last three semesters I will have received 2 B+, 1 B, and 1 B- in Neuro anatomy, biochem, P Chem, and Microbiology. How much will this affect my chance for admissions?

Welcome to the forums.

I could give a flippant answer, but medical school admissions isn't just about your grades and MCAT score. Plenty of people with those metrics don't get into medical school, while plenty of others with lower metrics do.

What do your prehealth advisors think?

 

[Gabe dog]

Welcome to the forums.

I could give a flippant answer, but medical school admissions isn't just about your grades and MCAT score. Plenty of people with those metrics don't get into medical school, while plenty of others with lower metrics do.

What do your prehealth advisors think?

They told me I was overthinking it. I wanted to get a second opinion.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

So let's take the "overthinking" argument off the board. What failed in your study habits to give you those B's? How do you explain those B's on your transcript?

 

[Gabe dog]

So let's take the "overthinking" argument off the board. What failed in your study habits to give you those B's? How do you explain those B's on your transcript?

I needed to make adjustments to the way I approached exams. In physical chemistry there were open note online quizzes in which we were allowed one sheet of notes. I needed to be more selective about what I included. In microbiology there were open note, open resource online exams. I was able to improve by typing up my notes to make them searchable based on the advice of a classmate. In biochemistry, I needed to spend more time on the material, but had overloaded myself with research and leadership responsibilities, and taking intermediate organic and physical chemistry at the same time. I did poorly on the first couple neuroanatomy lab practicals because I was having difficulty visualizing the structures in 3D, but a professor told me he had the same problem and gave me a method to better visualize them. In medical school I would organize my notes more efficiently, lower my involvement in student organizations to the one or two I am most passionate about, and use the study techniques taught by my professor. I would also be quick to utilize any resources a school had available for learning anatomy, in case I ran into the 3D visualization problem.

I don’t think it would be worth writing about this in my application. Would you ask an applicant about it?

 

[LelouchLamperouge]

Four B’s over three semesters is fine lol. You deserve to be human, you aren’t a robot that’s supposed to be perfect. I feel like this has a very very very high chance of NOT coming up in an interview. How do I know that? I got an F in my first semester of college (I eventually retook the class and got an A), and it never came up in any of my interviews.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I needed to make adjustments to the way I approached exams. In physical chemistry there were open note online quizzes in which we were allowed one sheet of notes. I needed to be more selective about what I included. In microbiology there were open note, open resource online exams. I was able to improve by typing up my notes to make them searchable based on the advice of a classmate. In biochemistry, I needed to spend more time on the material, but had overloaded myself with research and leadership responsibilities, and taking intermediate organic and physical chemistry at the same time. I did poorly on the first couple neuroanatomy lab practicals because I was having difficulty visualizing the structures in 3D, but a professor told me he had the same problem and gave me a method to better visualize them. In medical school I would organize my notes more efficiently, lower my involvement in student organizations to the one or two I am most passionate about, and use the study techniques taught by my professor. I would also be quick to utilize any resources a school had available for learning anatomy, in case I ran into the 3D visualization problem.

I don’t think it would be worth writing about this in my application. Would you ask an applicant about it?

I don't think you need to write about it in your application. However, you may be asked about how you learned "time management" outside of a typical admissions context. Knowing yourself and learning from past errors is critical; it also gives you an idea what to look for if you need help in medical school.

 

[Goro]

They told me I was overthinking it. I wanted to get a second opinion.

You're overthinking.
Next SDNer, please.

 

[A224B]

I got in with a bunch of B+s in grad school but I had a good undergrad GPA

 

[olofmeister]

some people just need to learn what its like to fail at something