Just looking for some advice/experience

[DocHollywood745]

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Hi everyone,
accidently posted this in the wrong sub forum at first

I, just like all of you, want to become a great physician, but I'm worried at the moment. I have not graduated college yet, I just began my sophomore year. Anyways, I attend a liberal arts school that runs on a trimester schedule (10 week long quarters) and I am a chemistry major. I will admit last year was a bit of an adjustment to college but this year is going smoother. Anyways, I am in Ochem III, we took I and II during the winter and spring quarters of freshman year and it has continued to kick me in the gluteus maximus. I have taken general chemistry and it was easy, organic is like a foreign language that is hard to comprehend. I will admit that I am more of a mathematical thinker and that's what I loved about chemistry and is also why I can't wait for Pchem. The first two quarters, and I'm afraid the same will be for this one, for Ochem I have received a C- in the class, and all I read is horror stories and see big bright warning signs when one does not do well in organic and applies to med school. Other than this everything has been fine, consistent improvement in math, in calc I started with a B the first quarter, B+ the next and an A in the final one. Biology has been mid B's, and physics has been very easy and I already have an A. The required English and writing courses, all A's and foreign language was is an A. Organic has me really worried, and I was wondering if it would be advisable to retake it, should this be done after graduation or before, and if anyone else has had a similar experience and how did you get through?

Thanks for your time,
DocHollywood Out

 

[kyamh]

I would see how your GPA plays out by the time you get to junior year. Retaking courses isn't always useful since it's pretty much expected that you should be able to Ace the material the second time you give it a shot. You could probably apply and then take a chance on your primary and explain the reasons for your poor grades in Orgo and what you learned from that experience. An upward trend to support the fact that you actually took something away from the experience will help.

Honestly, given the high number of B's and the couple of C's you are telling us about so far, I expect your GPA is currently closer to a 3.3-3.4. This is a fine GPA to apply with if you absolutely rock the MCAT. If your MCAT is pretty average, however, you may not be very competitive at most MD programs. At that point it will be up to you to decide whether you want to take your chances and apply MD/DO to see how it goes or whether you want to to a post-bac pre-med program.

 

[DocHollywood745]

I would see how your GPA plays out by the time you get to junior year. Retaking courses isn't always useful since it's pretty much expected that you should be able to Ace the material the second time you give it a shot. You could probably apply and then take a chance on your primary and explain the reasons for your poor grades in Orgo and what you learned from that experience. An upward trend to support the fact that you actually took something away from the experience will help.

Honestly, given the high number of B's and the couple of C's you are telling us about so far, I expect your GPA is currently closer to a 3.3-3.4. This is a fine GPA to apply with if you absolutely rock the MCAT. If your MCAT is pretty average, however, you may not be very competitive at most MD programs. At that point it will be up to you to decide whether you want to take your chances and apply MD/DO to see how it goes or whether you want to to a post-bac pre-med program.

Thank you! I have learned many skills from organic that have helped me out in my school work, I could definitely explain that if needed to. That's about where my GPA falls, above a 3.0 for sure, thankfully it's relatively early in my undergrad career where I can get it up easier. I didn't know that 3.3-3.4 is competitive, during my FSEM our guest speakers would scare the daylights out of us where if we did not have a 3.8 or higher we could forget about it. Standardized tests normally go pretty good for me, I know for the MCAT there is a lot of prep for them, and if I can study hard enough I could get a good score. My best friend lives in Slovakia and he got into med school there at 18. I'd imagine it's considerably different over there, but the acceptance rates are really low.

Thanks again!