I had to drop a class today

[Engineer2MD]

Hello fellow non-trads.
I'm feeling like a schmuck since I had to drop a class today. Last semester I started my post-bacc and only took 10 credit hours - it was all I could take since they were pre-reqs for everything else. So I worked part time, too.

This semester, I signed up for 14 hours and will be studying for the MCAT for May. Except, the 14 hours I signed up for were

• Biochemistry (the professor says it's equivalent to a med-school level class)
• Biology II with Lab
• Organic Chemistry II
• Organic Chemistry I Lab
• Brain Dissection Laboratory

On top of that, I live 45 minutes from school (both KU campuses). Wednesdays and Thursdays I was spending 3 hours in the car driving back and forth between both campuses.

By the time I got home from spending a full day in class or on the road (yes, I was even listening to Examkrackers Audio MCAT CD's), I had to START studying for 14 credit hours and the MCAT.

There was just no time to study and do well and live a reasonably normal life. If I lived on campus, I suppose that would be different, but for now we own a house near where my husband works.

So I dropped Brain Dissection Laboratory. It was just a simple anatomy lab, but now I'm at 12 hours, plus commute, plus MCAT studying. And I feel much better.

But how is this going to look? Is an ad-com going to think I can't handle it? I have a B.S. and M.S., this is just a post-bacc.

Also, does this imply I won't be able to handle medical school???

I HATE admitting I can't do something!

Tracia

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[DrMidlife]

One W doesn't matter.

Do not f*** up your GPA. Do not f*** up your MCAT score. Don't be in a hurry and f*** up your numbers. You don't have to be in a hurry.

In other words, if you drop the MCAT work to protect your GPA, that's a good tradeoff. I suggest you take a practice MCAT (e-mcat.com) NOW to find out where you are. If your practice scores aren't good, then you have a LOT of work to do that you're not going to get done on top of your courseload. If your practice scores are already good, then pile it on.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Engineer2MD]

Thanks! Guess I should've mentioned - I took the practice MCAT and did reasonable. Not good enough to get into medical school, but reasonable since it's been a long time since I've seen Chemistry and Physics. I just need to review it and learn the biology - and I'm in a MCAT prep course taught by my advisor. He thinks I'm doing well and will be ready in May, as long as I keep up the work on it.

So I guess I kind of thought of it as trading a big pile of work with the possibility of B's all around and a mediocre MCAT score for 4.0 semester and good MCAT.

Does that make sense? But I'm worried that will LOOK bad.

Oh and I didn't get a W because today was the last day to drop before those take effect.

 

[njbmd]

But how is this going to look? Is an ad-com going to think I can't handle it? I have a B.S. and M.S., this is just a post-bacc.

Also, does this imply I won't be able to handle medical school???

I HATE admitting I can't do something!

Tracia

What is your hurry? What difference does it make if you hurry and get poor grades or even worse, bomb the MCAT? The best indicator of an applicant being able to handle medical school coursework is excellent grades not the number of hours that you take with a 3-hour commute.

You probably need to drop a couple of other classes too with that long commute. Taking an extra year if it means success is worth that extra year. Doing grade "damage-control" or posting a couple of mediocre MCAT scores is very bad. You do not want to be in a position where you have to "explain" anything.

Dropping the course was wise because you didn't have time to get the work done properly.

 

[QofQuimica]

Thanks! Guess I should've mentioned - I took the practice MCAT and did reasonable. Not good enough to get into medical school, but reasonable since it's been a long time since I've seen Chemistry and Physics. I just need to review it and learn the biology - and I'm in a MCAT prep course taught by my advisor. He thinks I'm doing well and will be ready in May, as long as I keep up the work on it.

So I guess I kind of thought of it as trading a big pile of work with the possibility of B's all around and a mediocre MCAT score for 4.0 semester and good MCAT.

Does that make sense? But I'm worried that will LOOK bad.

Oh and I didn't get a W because today was the last day to drop before those take effect.

It's hard to say how adcoms will react to *anything*, but the best advice I can give to you is to worry about the things that you can control (i.e., what you do from now on) and not about the things that you cannot (i.e, the reactions of perfect strangers to something that can no longer be changed). I know it's hard to keep things in perspective because you really want to go to med school, but you have to try. Ok, yeah, you overextended yourself and stumbled a little, but it's not exactly a perfect free-fall! Just learn from the experience (i.e, don't take on too much again next semester!), do the best you can this semester, and like DrMidlife said, take the time you need to get the best grades and MCAT scores you possibly can. BTW, you don't have to take the MCAT and apply this summer if you don't feel ready just because your advisor says you should be ready then. Take the MCAT when *you* feel ready, not when other people tell you that you "should" be ready. to you.

 

[DrMidlife]

...I'm worried that will LOOK bad.

Oh and I didn't get a W because today was the last day to drop before those take effect.

You have nothing to worry about. If there's no W, on your transcript, then there's nothing for adcoms to challenge you on. 12 hours is a full time load, and there's no fluff in your schedule.

If you need something to worry about, worry about LORs and your PS.

 

[crazydiamond]

I'm confused about exactly what will look bad. Because really, I don't see anything bad about it!

So the semester just started and you dropped a class. . .BFD. You didn't get a W, you didn't get anything. It will appear as if you never signed up for the class in the first place and they will never know.

As has been said, 12 hrs is full time. Plus you're working. Plus you have a long commute. Plus you're also studying for the MCAT. Give yourself a break!

What's that phrase? "It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt".

What I'm saying is it's much better to do the 12 hrs and do them well, even if they might have some doubts you can't hack more, than it is to take 15 and prove them right.

It's been a few years since I was in college and taking my pre-reqs, but all my pre-med friends (who are now in their residencies) had a strategy: never take more than 2 or 3 hard science classes at a time. The rest of our hours were made of fluff classes to help balance it out. Nobody, and these were very smart people who obviously got accepted, chose to do 5 or even 4 hard science classes simultaneously! There was just too great of a chance of mediocre grades.

So really, the fact that you're even doing 4 science classes is plenty. Don't sweat the one you dropped. Your sudden relief speaks volumes -- try to keep that in mind.