Last semester of post-bacc, B- in biochem, withdraw?

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Premedgirl27

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I am in my last semester of completing my post-bacc as a non trad student. I am not doing well in Biochemistry, unfortunately I got stuck with a not so good teacher who is very unclear. Anyways enough with the excuses, I will probably bet a B- if I am lucky, if I do well on the final.

So far my post bacc GPA is 3.6 and my undergrad GPA is low. Should I withdraw from Biochemistry and retake it?? Or just deal with a low grade in an important pre-med class.

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I am in my last semester of completing my post-bacc as a non trad student. I am not doing well in Biochemistry, unfortunately I got stuck with a not so good teacher who is very unclear. Anyways enough with the excuses, I will probably bet a B- if I am lucky, if I do well on the final.

So far my post bacc GPA is 3.6 and my undergrad GPA is low. Should I withdraw from Biochemistry and retake it?? Or just deal with a low grade in an important pre-med class.

I'd imagine a B- or lower would drop your post-bac GPA to the 3.4ish range. That's not good. Take the W and retake.
 
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I'd imagine a B- or lower would drop your post-bac GPA to the 3.4ish range. That's not good. Take the W and retake.
Are you kidding ? A B- looks much, much better than a W and the W will more than likely warrant an explanation in a secondary or interview.

"Yeah, I wasn't going to get an A, so I withdrew."

:bang:

Bust ass for the final and start going to office hours religiously. If the professor sees initiative, perhaps they will boost you if you're a point or so within range of the next half letter grade.
 
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Are you kidding ? A B- looks much, much better than a W and the W will more than likely warrant an explanation in a secondary or interview.

I agree about busting ass, but seems like even with OP busting her ass the best she can get is a B-

At least with the W in biochem she might make it onto secondaries and interviews stage, assuming she kills biochem the second time around.

Otherwise, low GPA, a 3.4 post-bac, and assuming non-URM = very low odds of getting an II
 
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Are you kidding ? A B- looks much, much better than a W and the W will more than likely warrant an explanation in a secondary or interview.

"Yeah, I wasn't going to get an A, so I withdrew."

:bang:

Bust ass for the final and start going to office hours religiously. If the professor sees initiative, perhaps they will boost you if you're a point or so within range of the next half letter grade.

Agreed. A B- isn't a BAD grade. See if there's anything you can do to boost your grade before the semester is over. Talk to your classmates, find a study group or a tutor, speak with your professor, find out if there are past exams circulating, anything. But in my opinion, it's pretty silly to drop a class over a B-. If your GPA isn't what you want it to be, consider adding on some other courses that might help with a GPA boost. I'd rather do that than take the same course twice.

Also, even if your GPA drops below 3.6, that doesn't kill your chances for MD or DO programs (provided you have strong ECs and a good MCAT). There are many schools that don't even require Biochem--I would be more concerned with whether you understand the material well enough to do well on that section of the MCAT.
 
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A B is far better than a W. This is your last semester of a post-bacc; there's a big difference between taking a W freshmen year and taking a W your last semester of a post-bacc when you are supposed to shine and in a class as important as biochem.
 
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Do well on the final, and at least get it to a B+
 
Adcoms are not blind to the letter W as though it's a "fnord" from the Illuminatus trilogy. They're going to see a W on the transcript during your post-bac and assume you did horrible in an important predictor of med school success. A B-, on the other hand, isn't horrible. It's not great, but I'm sure lots of people were accepted this cycle with a B- in biochem. Try to ace every other scoring assignment in the class and get it up to a B, which nobody will care about.
 
I agree about busting ass, but seems like even with OP busting her ass the best she can get is a B-

At least with the W in biochem she might make it onto secondaries and interviews stage, assuming she kills biochem the second time around.

Otherwise, low GPA, a 3.4 post-bac, and assuming non-URM = very low odds of getting an II

Eh, depends how *low* the cGPA is. If all and all it's below a 3.0, a 3.6 post bacc won't save it. Life story and fit plays much more into getting IIs than just numbers. I'd argue they'd perhaps see II's much later than if they were a bit higher. A senior year post-bacc W is no bueno; I'd imagine they'd rather see the B- than assume the W was going to be a D-.

If OP has an overall 3.1-3.2 cGPA with a 3.3-3.5 sGPA, they are still competitive for MD. If they want DO, they can do grade replacements to make it look better. Killing the MCAT is the next step. A 93-99% percentile + those numbers is quite lucrative for Low-mid tiers without a good story.
 
I was in your shoes, took my W that semester and retook for an A along with acing 2 upper level classes. I rather have a W, be able to explain it, than have it mess up my gpa. I don't regret my one W on my transcript, not like it was a string of Ws spotted throughout. We're nontrads, life happens.
 
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So there is a possibility of you getting a c? I would take the w. Biochem is an important prereq
 
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I would take the W. You really can't afford to have your post-bacc GPA go any lower. A 3.6 post-bacc is already shaky, but a 3.59 just killed it.
 
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Thank you for the advice everyone! I appreciate it. I guess I am just going to try my best on the final and hope for the best. The post bacc I am attending doesn't have too many biochem teachers so I'm not sure I would have luck the second time around anyways. It's unfortunate (or good, actually) that my understanding of the subject is not reflected by my grade.

If I was earlier on in my post-bacc It would make more sense to withdraw. Wish me luck on finals
 
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How do I reply to a specific persons response?? I am new one here
 
Is it an option for you to take another "extra" class next semester that could count as part of your post-bacc gpa? If you can do that and get an A , I would think it would make sense to take the B-
 
How do I reply to a specific persons response?? I am new one here

In the corner, to the right, you see that in light light blue the "reply" button. IF you hit it, it will automatically formulate it at the bottom for you to reply. After you hit reply on a specific person's comment, you can simply type up your response. If you want to reply to multiple people, just follow step 1 again. Hit reply, answer. Hit reply to another comment. answer. Or you can hit reply to all of them and make sure you type after each quote of the person you want to reply to (space them out).
 
@OP you never know what will happen. my biochem final was my last final of college. totally didn't even study for it. tbh didn't even look at photosynthesis, despite it being a quarter of the final. needless to say i bombed that hard. brought me down to the low side of the B/B+ border. Well the professor ended up putting my grade in wrong by a couple points, boosting me to a B+. Then he bumped everyone in the class up a grade, so I somehow miraculously ended up with an A-. Long story long: dont give up mannnn
 
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In the corner, to the right, you see that in light light blue the "reply" button. IF you hit it, it will automatically formulate it at the bottom for you to reply. After you hit reply on a specific person's comment, you can simply type up your response. If you want to reply to multiple people, just follow step 1 again. Hit reply, answer. Hit reply to another comment. answer. Or you can hit reply to all of them and make sure you type after each quote of the person you want to reply to (space them out).

Thank you! :)
 
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@OP you never know what will happen. my biochem final was my last final of college. totally didn't even study for it. tbh didn't even look at photosynthesis, despite it being a quarter of the final. needless to say i bombed that hard. brought me down to the low side of the B/B+ border. Well the professor ended up putting my grade in wrong by a couple points, boosting me to a B+. Then he bumped everyone in the class up a grade, so I somehow miraculously ended up with an A-. Long story long: dont give up mannnn

Haha that's awesome!! I would be so happy if that happens. We shall see in three weeks!
 
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In the corner, to the right, you see that in light light blue the "reply" button. IF you hit it, it will automatically formulate it at the bottom for you to reply. After you hit reply on a specific person's comment, you can simply type up your response. If you want to reply to multiple people, just follow step 1 again. Hit reply, answer. Hit reply to another comment. answer. Or you can hit reply to all of them and make sure you type after each quote of the person you want to reply to (space them out).
:)
 
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Update: final was non-cumulative but we were responsible for 11 chapters of material, 5 of which we literally just learned a week before the final. last semester of post-bacc and grades are not looking good at all. I did my best, but I will be lucky to pass biochem with a C, and I got a B or B- in physics.
 
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many people withdrew on last day :(
 
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Totally irrelevant to your situation (and likely won't make you feel any better) but I love your avatar! Adorable kitty :)
 
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You've put in work this semester that has resulted in a B- if lucky. Deal with it.

Best case, you got a W and spent an extra semester (+$) to get an A, slight increased chances of getting into an MD school (no idea for DO) but overall if your UG GPA was low and you're applying with ~3.7 you should have good EC's/rest of app to be considered, in addition to an acceptable MCAT score. You also may need to explain the reason for the W, and I don't think "I would've gotten a B" is sufficient.

Worst case, you waste an extra semester (+$), get the same B grade, and now have to explain in interviews why you got a W, and they'll already know that you're taking it for the 2nd time and only managed a B.

Study hard, take the B, or really start studying next semester if you need to retake it (because you weren't serious when you said the same thing last semester).
 
You've put in work this semester that has resulted in a B- if lucky. Deal with it.

Best case, you got a W and spent an extra semester (+$) to get an A, slight increased chances of getting into an MD school (no idea for DO) but overall if your UG GPA was low and you're applying with ~3.7 you should have good EC's/rest of app to be considered, in addition to an acceptable MCAT score. You also may need to explain the reason for the W, and I don't think "I would've gotten a B" is sufficient.

Worst case, you waste an extra semester (+$), get the same B grade, and now have to explain in interviews why you got a W, and they'll already know that you're taking it for the 2nd time and only managed a B.

Study hard, take the B, or really start studying next semester if you need to retake it (because you weren't serious when you said the same thing last semester).


Unfortunately I just took the final today and will likely get a C+ if I am lucky. I will have to wait and see. So there will be no retaking. But yeah, I think you are right. I would not have been guaranteed a good grade regardless, and a W followed by a not so good grade would be bad.

All I have left to prove myself now is the MCAT.
 
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Unfortunately I just took the final today and will likely get a C+ if I am lucky. I will have to wait and see. So there will be no retaking. But yeah, I think you are right. I would not have been guaranteed a good grade regardless, and a W followed by a not so good grade would be bad.

All I have left to prove myself now is the MCAT.

I know this post is 2 years old but I just wanted to check-in with you to see if your grade affected your medical school admissions? I'm currently suffering from an immunology course in my post-bacc and will most likely take the W since I think I'm averaging C- in the course. I'd like to hope that you got in!
 
I know this post is 2 years old but I just wanted to check-in with you to see if your grade affected your medical school admissions? I'm currently suffering from an immunology course in my post-bacc and will most likely take the W since I think I'm averaging C- in the course. I'd like to hope that you got in!

What is your cGPA?

If your GPA is lower end, shoot D.O. If your GPA is around 3.6+ then try for M.D.

C- isn't too good. You need at least a "C" average in your pre-reqs, but med schools want to see A's and B's.

You should consider posting your own, separate thread so those on SDN can evaluate your situation and making recommendations as to how you can improve your application and increase your chances for admission. Comparing yourself to the OP is not necessarily helpful, as each of you have different experiences (volunteering, etc.)

There have been applicants who have gotten F's in courses, have completely messed up their freshman year, etc. who have made it into medical school. So if you do terrible it's not an end all however, it'll be challenging to pull yourself up. For those who had (for ex) a 1.5 GPA their freshman year, they would need an upward trend of straight A's so it's not easy.
 
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I know this post is 2 years old but I just wanted to check-in with you to see if your grade affected your medical school admissions? I'm currently suffering from an immunology course in my post-bacc and will most likely take the W since I think I'm averaging C- in the course. I'd like to hope that you got in!

Hello,

It remains to be seen! I ended up getting a C+ in the course. I am currently in the process of applying to med school, and have gotten 4 interviews so far.
 
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Hello,

It remains to be seen! I ended up getting a C+ in the course. I am currently in the process of applying to med school, and have gotten 4 interviews so far.
Hey sweetheart, I'm happy to hear things are going well for you and hoping things continue to work out. I know how discouraging it can be to get a bad grade in a class but your story really shows that a single bad grade isn't the end of the world. :)
 
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