How much weight do labs carry?

[ncguy2005]

It seems like every science class I take I can make an A in the lecture, but I always end up with a B in the lab. The only lab of the four I've taken that I've gotten an A in is the chemistry II lab last semester. Does anyone know how heavily considered labs will be in my application process?


My stats are (if this matters at all):
My overall gpa is 3.51
My science GPA is 3.65

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[Sondra]

In my opinion, as long as you are making A's and B's and keeping your GPA up, you will be fine. If you have a good GPA, having B's in lab won't destroy your chances.

 

[almo88]

At my university, the lab grade is not recorded on our transcript. In fact, depending on the instructor, it will count as 20-30% of our entire science course grade. So, I wouldn't think lab would count that much. Good luck.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

It seems like every science class I take I can make an A in the lecture, but I always end up with a B in the lab. The only lab of the four I've taken that I've gotten an A in is the chemistry II lab last semester. Does anyone know how heavily considered labs will be in my application process?


My stats are (if this matters at all):
My overall gpa is 3.51
My science GPA is 3.65

I wouldn't sweat it honestly.

Some classes include the lab grade in the lecture while others record the lab grade independently.

At least at my school, lab is pretty haphazard due to a lack of communication between the TAs and the head of the lab so, at least in my opinion, there's a lot of luck in lab (esp. for results-based lab experiments haha).

Considering that many schools lack independent lab grades and some labs (not all of course) are a bit hit-or-miss, I don't think they'd consider them with great importance.

As long as you are getting As in the main science courses and are doing decent in labs, I don't think you have a problem.
-Dr. P.

 

[AudioslaveFan]

42 pounds...

 

[maestro1625]

At my university, the lab grade is not recorded on our transcript. In fact, depending on the instructor, it will count as 20-30% of our entire science course grade. So, I wouldn't think lab would count that much. Good luck.

well coming from a small LAC, every science class with the exception of biochem had the lab "built in" to the lecture. The whole thing was a combined grade of both lecture and lab, with the lab counting for 20-50% of the overall grade. Lab MUST be passed to pass the class, even if the combined grade is above passing.

 

[annihilatorpro]

My experience with labs have been pretty horrid at my school. It doesn't seem to correlate much with the material that we learned in the associated class and the grading policies are ridiculous as well, so I feel your pain. However, I really doubt that medical schools will look that intensely at the difference between your lab grades and the grade in the main class simply because that would take way too much time. That said, I'm sure you're in good shape right now so long as you're not failing your labs.

 

[ncguy2005]

Yea, I'm not failing any of them. It just always seems that something happens to mess my grades up in the lab (which are independent of the lecture and count as one credit on our transcripts). It's just somewhat annoying to understand everything in the lecture and not be able to apply it to the labs because it seems like the labs were poorly put together and come out with a B...

I know a B isn't bad, but still its frustrating...at my school a B is a 3.0 no matter what so it does have a bad impact on my gpa.

Alright I'll stop whining now.

 

[Robizzle]

42 pounds...

Damnit beat me to it.

 

[Faze2]

Yea, I'm not failing any of them. It just always seems that something happens to mess my grades up in the lab (which are independent of the lecture and count as one credit on our transcripts). It's just somewhat annoying to understand everything in the lecture and not be able to apply it to the labs because it seems like the labs were poorly put together and come out with a B...

I know a B isn't bad, but still its frustrating...at my school a B is a 3.0 no matter what so it does have a bad impact on my gpa.

Alright I'll stop whining now.

yeah but it should be only 1 credit. But I hear ya. I got a B+ in Chem II lab and the amountof work we had to do was ridiculous for a 1 credit lab. The quizes and lab exams were incredibly difficult, but I still did better than most of the people in lab. I did more work per credit for the lab than I did for the lecture that I got an A in, and I did well on the labs.

 

[adamMD]

Labs are often in control of a TA which may or may not have very much experience with teaching/grading. Don't feel bad.

 

[ncguy2005]

I've had several bad TAs, but I've also had some really great ones. The problem with my biology lab was the professor...he geared it to do what we were supposed to be doing in lecture at the time. We fell behind in lecture by like 2 weeks so I was writing lab reports on things in the lab that I didn't really understand (because we hadn't gotten to it yet in lecture). It was horrible...