I just need to rant about my Evolution class and my overall grades

[Sharknad0]

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[Professional Student]

Sounds like you made a B+ in a perfectly legitimate course set up, that admittedly might be a little more difficult.

I guess I’m missing the need for a rant.

 

[Sharknad0]

The need for the rant is that I was 3 points of 431 away from getting an A-, when I need to be building my grade instead of keeping B's.

 

[s_med]

The need for the rant is that I was 3 points of 431 away from getting an A-, when I need to be building my grade instead of keeping B's.

Is it annoying? Maybe. My gen chem I course was graded like this and I have sour memories of it.

Is it unfair? No. Short of foul play, a B+ is a B+. Even by 3 points.



Does it deserve a rant?

my GPA now is 3.63 instead of 3.64, and the highest I can make it is a 3.68 instead of a 3.69

Based on this information my assessment is no.

 

[Wiesal]

The questions can be straightforward or even convoluted, whatever, but the fact is if you miss something in lecture and don't realize it, there's no way to corroborate because there's no notes to compare to. I know teachers don't have to post their notes online, but why not just do it? What do they gain by making a class structured like this where we only have the slides from class, and new material for 2 classes before the test, which don't matter for the current stuff.

I think comparing your notes with classmates (swapping any information missed with each other) would be helpful in this case.

 

[Sharknad0]

Is it annoying? Maybe. My gen chem I course was graded like this and I have sour memories of it.

Is it unfair? No. Short of foul play, a B+ is a B+. Even by 3 points.



Does it deserve a rant?



Based on this information my assessment is no.

You seem to have stopped reading right where I said "but"

 

[s_med]

You seem to have stopped reading right where I said "but"

I read your post fully. My point stands. There is no need for a rant. In terms of your overall application this is a drop in the bucket that adcoms won't care about.

They will, however, care about good judgment and emotional resilience in the face of adversity, neither of which you have demonstrated with this post.

I'm not interested in arguing. All the best.

 

[Whale2018]

My organic chemsitry class DIDNT have homework. Yet, professor doesn’t understand why theres a low average on tests. Having Homework gives student motivation to study, and sometimes the feedback may be helpful especially in a clsss where it’s time consuming. My final is tomorrow
Ugh

 

[deleted804295]

My organic chemsitry class DIDNT have homework. Yet, professor doesn’t understand why theres a low average on tests. Having Homework gives student motivation to study, and sometimes the feedback may be helpful especially in a clsss where it’s time consuming. My final is tomorrow
Ugh

Good luck sweety! 🙂

 

[Sharknad0]

My organic chemsitry class DIDNT have homework. Yet, professor doesn’t understand why theres a low average on tests. Having Homework gives student motivation to study, and sometimes the feedback may be helpful especially in a clsss where it’s time consuming. My final is tomorrow
Ugh

Good luck! Another issue was that she took until the next Friday (4 classes later) or Monday (5 days later) to grade, so we didn't know what went wrong with how we studied till later. Oh well, like I said. Just needed to vent.

 

[Microbug]

Is it annoying? Maybe. My gen chem I course was graded like this and I have sour memories of it.

Is it unfair? No. Short of foul play, a B+ is a B+. Even by 3 points.



Does it deserve a rant?



Based on this information my assessment is no.

OP clearly said rant in title, if you don’t want to participate just don’t...

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

So my GPA now is 3.63 instead of 3.64, and the highest I can make it is a 3.68 instead of a 3.69.

Spoken like a true SDN addicted neurotic Pre-Med

Welcome to the family boo-boo

 

[Sharknad0]

Spoken like a true SDN addicted neurotic Pre-Med

Welcome to the family boo-boo

Again, read the next maybe 5 sentences...

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Again, read the next maybe 5 sentences...

Just because someone acknowledges they're koo-koo doesn't make them not a koo-koo

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Lol sounds exactly like my Evo Bio class. The guy used to give these absurd tests then come in all chipper to the next class and announce in a jolly voice "Wow you're all idiots! The average was 78..."

Meanwhile I'm sitting in the back contemplating if its too late to switch to business school as a junior.

 

[Sharknad0]

Just because someone acknowledges they're koo-koo doesn't make them not a koo-koo

I mean it’s not that neurotic if you’re considering a 3.6/3.4-best case scenario and being pre-allo.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[aldol16]

tl;dr - OP is mad that new material is taught before old material is tested and that notes aren't posted. Sorry to break it to you, but this isn't what led to your poorer grade. Everybody who got a higher grade than you did so under the same circumstances. If you forget material that isn't tested immediately after it is taught, you're going to be in for a rude awakening for the rest of your medical career.

 

[Whale2018]

Now I feel desperate about taking Evolution. Well, I won't have to worry about it for a couple of semesters. Recently changed majors from Chemistry to biology. Haven't taken any biology courses yet

 

[calivianya]

Evolution was a stupid waste of time at my school. Never studied for anything, didn't learn anything, didn't want to learn anything. I think I can sum up that class in one sentence: OMG evolution iz real, there's like evidence and stuff!!!

I feel like anyone who successfully made it through a middle school science class should be able to place out of that stupidity. Sorry you had to take it, OP.

 

[Turkishking]

Evolution was a stupid waste of time at my school. Never studied for anything, didn't learn anything, didn't want to learn anything. I think I can sum up that class in one sentence: OMG evolution iz real, there's like evidence and stuff!!!

I feel like anyone who successfully made it through a middle school science class should be able to place out of that stupidity. Sorry you had to take it, OP.

Good luck at my undergrad evolution course. That class brings back nightmares. Occasionally get a nightmare with that class 2x a week to this day lol

 

[de Ribas]

Evolution was a stupid waste of time at my school. Never studied for anything, didn't learn anything, didn't want to learn anything. I think I can sum up that class in one sentence: OMG evolution iz real, there's like evidence and stuff!!!

I feel like anyone who successfully made it through a middle school science class should be able to place out of that stupidity. Sorry you had to take it, OP.

probably the least scientific bio course.

 

[lemurcatta]

The ignorance in the post above is staggering.

 

[calivianya]

probably the least scientific bio course.

I would disagree that it's the least scientific... but it's definitely the least useful bio course, by a mile.

I'm quite sure re-learning how to read a phylogenetic tree, which I clearly remember learning in middle school, is going to significantly help me with treating live non-extinct humans. At least, they'll be impressed that I could tell which dinosaurs are most closely related to each other, because that's what really counts in medicine, right?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

My organic chemsitry class DIDNT have homework. Yet, professor doesn’t understand why theres a low average on tests. Having Homework gives student motivation to study, and sometimes the feedback may be helpful especially in a clsss where it’s time consuming. My final is tomorrow
Ugh

Depends on the homework and the class. Two of my courses this semester had homework. One was mildly helpful, the other one was actively unhelpful as it was consistently material not tested on and presented differently than on exams. My other course had absolutely no homework, and yet despite the exams covering more material and having trickier questions, everyone did consistently better in that class.

Oh, and all three were science courses.

 

[de Ribas]

I would disagree that it's the least scientific...

What is the least scientific biology course in undergrad then?

 

[lemurcatta]

What is the least scientific biology course in undergrad then?

I would first want to understand what you mean by "least scientific." Do you mean least rigorous? Because the courses that we teach at my university (I am a graduate student and TA), emphasize things like calculus-based models of population change in ecology, and population genetics, molecular biology, and applications to medicine in evolution.

By "least scientific," I suppose you could also be making an argument that it would be the course that least emphasizes the epistemological approach we use in scene (empiricism and hypothesis testing). I have no idea which science course is the least scientific from this standpoint, but it certainly isn't evolutionary biology.

But also, I respect that evolution may be taught differently at different institutions, and many do a poor job. If your evolution class didn't include a robust mathematical treatment of evolution, and also at least a lecture on its applications to human biology and disease, than you are right to be disappointed I suppose.

 

[Whale2018]

GUYS I passed Organic chemistry 1 !!!!!

I will have to work harder next semester!

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

GUYS I passed Organic chemistry 1 !!!!!

I will have to work harder next semester!

Good job. I went to penn state my freshman year, btw.

 

[Whale2018]

D

Good job. I went to penn state my freshman year, btw.

I go to University at Albany. I wished I went to Penn State but I didn’t have the requirements for my major. Transfer student

 

[pewpew95]

@Sharknad0 people on here are asses, this does sound frustrating and I'm sorry you had to deal with such a sh**y class structure but this isn't going to be the end-point for your journey into medicine so don't get too hung up on it

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

D


I go to University at Albany. I wished I went to Penn State but I didn’t have the requirements for my major. Transfer student

Yeah, I transferred out after freshman year. It was a good school, but it wasn't the right fit for me.

 

[Sharknad0]

@Sharknad0 people on here are asses, this does sound frustrating and I'm sorry you had to deal with such a sh**y class structure but this isn't going to be the end-point for your journey into medicine so don't get too hung up on it

Just gotta take it one step at a time, and now it's time to focus on the MCAT

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

my genetics last summer had 106 graded assignments. 4 ball busting tests. in 6 weeks. class average of 68. she wouldn't answer ?'s about why points lost. attendance required

i had 11 secondaries due

i was working full time

Ouch. That’s rough.

 

[Goro]

probably the least scientific bio course.

I would disagree that it's the least scientific... but it's definitely the least useful bio course, by a mile.

I'm quite sure re-learning how to read a phylogenetic tree, which I clearly remember learning in middle school, is going to significantly help me with treating live non-extinct humans. At least, they'll be impressed that I could tell which dinosaurs are most closely related to each other, because that's what really counts in medicine, right?

Believe it or not, not all Biology class takers want to go to med school.
And then there's this:
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution",
-evolutionary biologist and Eastern Orthodox Christian Theodosius Dobzhansky,

BTW, understanding evolutionary biology is crucial in helping to understand why microbe become resistant to antibiotics.

 

[lemurcatta]

Yes, and to add on to what Goro said, when we evaluate the genetic basis of disease, the phylogeny of that gene matters. When we want to calculate a future child’s risk of single gene diseases like cystic fibrosis, the Hardy Weinberg model matters. Evolution in some way underlies all the genetic and genomic questions we have in medicine.

When doctors frequently speak of “development” of resistance in bacteria, they are mistaken. Resistance evolves, not develops. And this matters beyond semantics, because when you don’t understand population based thinking (read: evolution), you won’t understand why we might be able to apply ideas from evolutionary biology (like fitness landscapes) to the fight against resistance in the clinic.

At my institution, we are actively trying to reach premeds in our life science programs with new courses in evolution for future clinicians. We want to disabuse future docs of the notion that ecology and evolution is way less useful than, for example, biochemistry.

 

[calivianya]

BTW, understanding evolutionary biology is crucial in helping to understand why microbe become resistant to antibiotics.

At my institution, we are actively trying to reach premeds in our life science programs with new courses in evolution for future clinicians. We want to disabuse future docs of the notion that ecology and evolution is way less useful than, for example, biochemistry.

It's not that I don't think the material is valuable; it's just horribly redundant. There was literally no content in my evolution class that I hadn't had at least three times previously. That's the problem I have with it. I don't like wasting my time re-learning something I've already studied a million times over just because the name of the class is the latest buzzword in education. It took up a valuable slot where I could have been taking a different class that would have taught me something new and useful.

I covered the Hardy-Weinberg material in middle school, high school, intro bio 1, genetics, and ecology. Why, again, did I have to have it a sixth time in evolution?

If schools just took a few minutes to look at the what's covered in various classes, they could eliminate evolution from the curriculum easily. It's just a rehash of ecology, genetics, and the intro bio sequence. For the record, I learned far more about the evolution of drug resistance in bacteria in genetics and microbiology than I ever did in evolution itself.

 

[begoood95]

It's not that I don't think the material is valuable; it's just horribly redundant. There was literally no content in my evolution class that I hadn't had at least three times previously. That's the problem I have with it. I don't like wasting my time re-learning something I've already studied a million times over just because the name of the class is the latest buzzword in education. It took up a valuable slot where I could have been taking a different class that would have taught me something new and useful.

I covered the Hardy-Weinberg material in middle school, high school, intro bio 1, genetics, and ecology. Why, again, did I have to have it a sixth time in evolution?

If schools just took a few minutes to look at the what's covered in various classes, they could eliminate evolution from the curriculum easily. It's just a rehash of ecology, genetics, and the intro bio sequence. For the record, I learned far more about the evolution of drug resistance in bacteria in genetics and microbiology than I ever did in evolution itself.

Again, as others have said, this is likely an artifact of the rigor of your course. My evolution course ranks highly on my list of difficult (+ useful) classes.