Interested in being a physician, but not thrilled with the pre-requisite courses?

[biogirl236]

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So I am junior biology major, and my grades in Intro Biology were a C and D, and in General chemistry, and C. I am currently sitting at a 2.4 GPA. I never really enjoyed general chemistry. I am taking ochem right now and do not find it interesting. I, however love human biology and learning about disease. And would love to become a PA or physician.

What is your guys' experience with the pre-requisites (Intro bio, gen. chem., organic chem., physics)? Is my lack of interest an indicator that I'm looking at the wrong field? Or is it normal to not enjoy the "weed out" classes?

 

[El-Rami]

I can say that studying medicine is completely different from studying biology and chemistry in college. Even though chemistry and biology subjects are obviously involved in the curriculum, medical classes feel completely different to me. The focus is just different, so you cannot really say that since you hate studying those subjects in college that you will despise studying medicine.

What is more worrying is the fact that you are a junior with a 2.4 GPA. I doubt you can get in anywhere (MD or DO) with those grades. You would have to repeat them and use grade replacement in order to even be competitive for DO schools.

 

[rolliespring]

You really need to beef your GPA up to even be considered for DO. You also probably should shadow some doctors to get a basic idea of what they really do before you decide whether you're interested in medicine or not.

 

[Ismet]

The GPA is a problem. You don't have to find it interesting, you just have to work hard, ask for help if needed, and get through the required classes. I hated chemistry and intro biology, I liked physics and human physiology and my neuroscience classes. Very few people in medicine actually enjoy organic chemistry. You don't have to like the pre-med classes to like being a doctor.

Priorities:
1. GPA. If you decide you want to pursue medicine, repeat any classes you got a C or below in. DO schools do grade replacement so if you get A/B in those classes, your GPA will improve greatly.
2. Shadow/clinical experience to see if you actually like what a doctor or PA does.

 

[MDProspect]

100% agree with the above posters. You also need a minimum GPA of 3.00 for PA programs. I apologize if I am too blunt, but you do not have a shot at either pathway without some serious GPA repair.

 

[biogirl236]

I am well aware of that having a shot at being a PA or getting an MD would be next to impossible without GPA repair. I worked pretty hard in my intro classes but there was also a lot of cramming involved. What I want to know, though, is whether you think some people are simply not able to make the grades necessary in the pre-requisites? I'm trying to figure out if this is my problem.


Essentially, how do I know when it is time to consider an entirely different career path?

 

[MDProspect]

I am well aware of that having a shot at being a PA or getting an MD would be next to impossible without GPA repair. I worked pretty hard in my intro classes but there was also a lot of cramming involved. What I want to know, though, is whether you think some people are simply not able to make the grades necessary in the pre-requisites? I'm trying to figure out if this is my problem.


Essentially, how do I know when it is time to consider an entirely different career path?

Any science based career will have cramming involved. I was a mediocre student for more than 3 quarters of my entire student career. I didn't know how to study, and that might be your problem as well. I used to try to memorize instead of understanding the basics and expanding from there. You have to ask yourself whether you are willing to change your old ways by investing time and effort into improving yourself. If no, then it's time to cut your loses and move on.

 

[biogirl236]

Any science based career will have cramming involved. I was a mediocre student for more than 3 quarters of my entire student career. I didn't know how to study, and that might be your problem as well. I used to try to memorize instead of understanding the basics and expanding from there. You have to ask yourself whether you are willing to change your old ways by investing time and effort into improving yourself. If no, then it's time to cut your loses and move on.

I crammed both semesters of gen. chem and intro biology and still got these poor grades. Isn't everyone still cramming for those courses? And I still did poorly. Which demonstrates that I am incompetent, correct? Or are you suggesting that the high-achieving students in those classes had already figured out how to study their freshman and sophomore years?

 

[MDProspect]

I crammed both semesters of gen. chem and intro biology and still got these poor grades. Isn't everyone still cramming for those courses? And I still did poorly. Which demonstrates that I am incompetent, correct? Or are you suggesting that the high-achieving students in those classes had already figured out how to study their freshman and sophomore years?

You "crammed", meaning you sat there and tried to memorize the textbook, correct? The only time I cram, is when I have to remember formulas or memorize a list of things. Don't compare yourself to others. There will be people who never study and do exceptionally well and there will be someone like me who sits 8-10 hours a day, trying to understand everything. Clearly something isn't working out. If you continue with the sciences, seek help from tutoring or use online videos and do lots of practice problems. Just note that the preques are much easier than med school courses. From what I hear, it's like drinking from a fire hose.

 

[Weirdy]

1. Only consider career changes after you have heavily modified your study habits.
- Are you trying new studying habits?
- Are you going in for tutoring?
- Are you taking advantage of all support services? Old exams? Asking how the students who do well study?
- Do you have the phone and laptop turned off during your study sessions? Are your friends studying with you and you're getting nothing done?
- Are you going to office hours and asking your professor how you can do better?
- Are you putting in the time and studying 2 weeks in advance? 3 weeks? Are you reviewing material? Does the library feel like your home yet?
- Are you running through practice problems instead of staring at the powerpoints? Are you reciting from memory and quizzing yourself?

2. No matter what field you pick, the courses will be difficult to a degree. Switching and calling it quits will not get easier. It will still be difficult, but a different kind of difficult.

I sucked at weed out classes. Just cause class was interesting doesn't mean you're good at them. And even then, some of the classes like Microbio lecture were straight memorization of how ever many slides we had in minute detail. It sucked.

Whether you like the subject or not, whether you suck at it or not- you need to fix your studying habits first before you switch career tracks.

 

[biogirl236]

1. Only consider career changes after you have heavily modified your study habits.
- Are you trying new studying habits?
- Are you going in for tutoring?
- Are you taking advantage of all support services? Old exams? Asking how the students who do well study?
- Do you have the phone and laptop turned off during your study sessions? Are your friends studying with you and you're getting nothing done?
- Are you going to office hours and asking your professor how you can do better?
- Are you putting in the time and studying 2 weeks in advance? 3 weeks? Are you reviewing material? Does the library feel like your home yet?
- Are you running through practice problems instead of staring at the powerpoints? Are you reciting from memory and quizzing yourself?

2. No matter what field you pick, the courses will be difficult to a degree. Switching and calling it quits will not get easier. It will still be difficult, but a different kind of difficult.

I sucked at weed out classes. Just cause class was interesting doesn't mean you're good at them. And even then, some of the classes like Microbio lecture were straight memorization of how ever many slides we had in minute detail. It sucked.

Whether you like the subject or not, whether you suck at it or not- you need to fix your studying habits first before you switch career tracks.

I have yet to study that far in advance for an exam (2-3 weeks). I tried that approach with organic chemistry but I felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information. I tried doing all the practice problems but couldn't finish them in time and ended up having a whole chapter left to go through the day before the exam (this is first semester ochem).

 

[Weirdy]

I have yet to study that far in advance for an exam (2-3 weeks). I tried that approach with organic chemistry but I felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information. I tried doing all the practice problems but couldn't finish them in time and ended up having a whole chapter left to go through the day before the exam (this is first semester ochem).

Try it more often but pace yourself. You've got it down but you're not hitting your quota and getting overwhelmed instead of working slowly and steadily. The more you freak out, the more you forget.

1. Schedule your studying
- Write down days you have up until the exam. Write down which chapters you need to cover. Rank chapters by difficulty/ most amount of time you'll need to cover them.
- Match up what chapters you'll get done in what day. Get through at least 80% of that chapter. Even if you fall behind, you'll at least have 50% of it down. Do practice problems on the day you're reviewing that chapter, but only problems you know you have trouble with.

2. Stick to your schedule. Doesn't matter if you sat there all day and didn't get **** done. Even 15-20 minutes will help. Push yourself to get out of your room and go study. 10 minutes is better than a whole day wasted. I promise you'll get fired up and end up studying for at least 30 minutes minimum.

3. When it comes to cram time, lightly review what chapters you've already covered. Go all out on getting the basics of the chapters you havn't.

When scheduling your days, don't count days where you'll have a soccer game or the day you're going to go shopping with your girlfriends or the day you're cramming for another exam. Pick days where you know you'll have at least 2 hours in the library by yourself studying.

I made Cs in both Ochem as well as some upper level biol. I didn't try hard enough when I really looked at myself. I didn't study efficiently enough or started early enough.

Try the steps above and you'll see some results. Its frustrating but you have to want it bad enough. You have to get to the point where you know what kind of questions the prof is gonna ask and quiz yourself based on that.

 

[Kpw101]

If you ever have to cram, you're studying wrong. How I study is to go over my lecture notes the day or the day after I take them down and build on the information as it is given to me. Studying two weeks in advance, maybe even a little more than a week should be sufficient for your pre-reqs. You have a long uphill battle considering your GPA, but change your study habits and start to make progress. Best of luck!

P.S. studying early is so stress relieving to be honest. Only having to go over/study 2 lectures a week for a given class is heaven compared to cramming 8 lectures worth of material the night or two before an exam.

 

[Weirdy]

If you ever have to cram, you're studying wrong. How I study is to go over my lecture notes the day or the day after I take them down and build on the information as it is given to me. Studying two weeks in advance, maybe even a little more than a week should be sufficient for your pre-reqs. You have a long uphill battle considering your GPA, but change your study habits and start to make progress. Best of luck!

P.S. studying early is so stress relieving to be honest. Only having to go over/study 2 lectures a week for a given class is heaven compared to cramming 8 lectures worth of material the night or two before an exam.

That's a nice bike.
Always been partial to CBR1000RR though.

 

[Kpw101]

That's a nice bike.
Always been partial to CBR1000RR though.

Never been a fan of the hondas, though I have nothing against them. Always loved the s1000rr though I'll probably switch to aprilia/ducati in the near future. Wish they made the front end of the fireblade more agressive.

 

[Weirdy]

Never been a fan of the hondas, though I have nothing against them. Always loved the s1000rr though I'll probably switch to aprilia/ducati in the near future. Wish they made the front end of the fireblade more agressive.

Aprilia looks aggressive as hell. Remember reading a comparison between one of those and the KTM.

 

[libertyyne]

I crammed both semesters of gen. chem and intro biology and still got these poor grades. Isn't everyone still cramming for those courses? And I still did poorly. Which demonstrates that I am incompetent, correct? Or are you suggesting that the high-achieving students in those classes had already figured out how to study their freshman and sophomore years?

Understanding breeds familiarity. Undergrad classes are not hard unless you are taking engineering. Understanding the concepts and building mental models of the content leads to better comprehension and retention. I absolutely hated cramming, i would try to understand the concepts and then go from there. Based on your GPA and your comments it seems you don't have a clue on how to study for classes. It is an extremely difficult path forward ,perhaps you weren't adequately prepared in Hs for college.perhaps you are a terrible test taker. Only you can discover the insight on where you are going wrong. One can get by in college without a lot of rote memorization ,except stupid o'chem. Look at your classes where you scored A's ,what did you do differently?
As for the path forward all is not lost,you are young and there are still plenty of opportunities via post bac or GPA repair. However you need to diagnose your problem prior to having the ability to fix it. Good luck.

 

[Goro]

More like drinking from a fire hose while running after the fire engine.

You "crammed", meaning you sat there and tried to memorize the textbook, correct? The only time I cram, is when I have to remember formulas or memorize a list of things. Don't compare yourself to others. There will be people who never study and do exceptionally well and there will be someone like me who sits 8-10 hours a day, trying to understand everything. Clearly something isn't working out. If you continue with the sciences, seek help from tutoring or use online videos and do lots of practice problems. Just note that the preques are much easier than med school courses. From what I hear, it's like drinking from a fire hose.

Time to go visit your school's education or learning center, because everything you're doing is wrong, and destined to destroy any hope of a medical career.
And it's not merely good enough to memorize; you need to be able to think, reason, and apply.

I have yet to study that far in advance for an exam (2-3 weeks). I tried that approach with organic chemistry but I felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information. I tried doing all the practice problems but couldn't finish them in time and ended up having a whole chapter left to go through the day before the exam (this is first semester ochem).

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Anyone who is moderately intelligent can do well in intro level courses. If you are not doing well, it is because of one or more of the following:

1) you aren't studying properly,
2) you are lazy and don't put in the work required,
3) you aren't playing to your learning style

It could be one or all three of those. Fix those, and you'll likely do much better. Slogging through those courses is just a part of the process. You will need them for the MCAT, so look at it like that.

 

[Doctor-S]

More like drinking from a fire hose while running after the fire engine.

All of what @Goro said and many other posters suggested ... and now add red lights flashing, the siren blaring, and your own caboose on fire.

Have you had some good opportunities to shadow physicians or PAs?

When you shadow different MDs, DOs, PAs, you will learn that human medicine is often perplexing, exhausting, frustrating and challenging, as well as interesting, stimulating, amazing and truly inspiring. At times, it's super-satisfying; and at other times, it's downright agonizing (e.g., observing a seriously burned child who is presenting with intractable pain).

By the way, when you begin your MS1-MS2 education and training, you might dislike some of the required courses (e.g., biochemistry, human genetics, microbiology, etc.). However, you must complete these courses with an acceptable grade/score: you cannot withdraw from the course because you're not thrilled with the subject. Medical school is very different from many UG programs, and much less forgiving.

The posters on SDN have provided you with some useful suggestions - feel free to follow these suggestions - especially if they will help (or motivate) you to move forward in developing different study habits, or in choosing a professional career in medicine.

 

[El-Rami]

I crammed both semesters of gen. chem and intro biology and still got these poor grades. Isn't everyone still cramming for those courses? And I still did poorly. Which demonstrates that I am incompetent, correct? Or are you suggesting that the high-achieving students in those classes had already figured out how to study their freshman and sophomore years?

To do well in General Chemistry and O-Chem, you have to work problems from your textbook/other sources every day. The only exceptions (for me) was biochemistry. I just reviewed Powerpoint slides and did worksheets given to me by the professor.

Also, I never read any of my textbooks in college except for General Chemistry, O-Chem, and Physics. Other exceptions weren't so much textbooks as they were required readings. I had to read several novels for my humanities courses.

I also disagree with an above poster about cramming. There's no excuse to constantly cram for your quizzes and exams in college because you have the time to study. Just make a schedule for yourself to avoid wasting time and pace yourself as far as studying goes.

Now, if you want, you could always review things like formulas (that you wrote down on a sheet) right before an exam. You could always write down 7 things you have trouble remembering (in sentence form if you can keep it simple) onto a sheet of paper or note card and look at that right as you are going to take a test. Doing that will get that information into your working memory and will stay there while you take the test, but you will forget it afterwards.

 

[biogirl236]

Thank you so, so much with all your posts and your advice regarding study tips. This advice has been immensely helpful and is something I will do my best to follow no matter what undergraduate path I take.

I think the reason I started to have doubts was not only because of my GPA, but also because I am trying to be open to other career paths that I could seek fulfillment from. I've strongly started considering psychology because I've realized that I want to be able to touch and help people on a different level, possibly as a clinical psychologist. I still am very passionate about medicine, however, and it is very difficult to give that up.

All that being said, I really needed to come to the realization that my "cramming" study habits have been ineffective. Having OCD (though having gone through rigorous treatment) is still very time consuming, distracting, and takes up a lot of mental space, so that is something I have to consider in terms of having to deal with the cognitive demands of medical school. The various medications to treat obsessive compulsive disorder (antipsychotics, antidepressants, sedatives) come with their drawbacks as well, as all of these drugs affect levels of acetylcholine in the brain, thus potentially limiting short term memory and causing problems learning. Personally, I am aware that I don't retain as much information as I do when I am off these drugs. These drugs significantly reduce mental activity in my brain, because my brain would otherwise be constantly thinking, searching, evaluating and analyzing information.

These are all factors I have to take into consideration as I determine a career path that best suits me.