Need some course drop advice

[Aflasa]

Hey everyone. My advisor told me to stay off this website at all costs, but due to staffing shortages the university functionally no longer offers pre-health advising, so here I am.

I'm in my mid 20's, majoring in political science at a top ranked public university in the Midwest. I was an Army medic for 4 years, I've done civilian EMS, disaster relief, currently work in an ED, etc. Somehow I managed to wind up at my dream school after taking some community college courses while I was still in.

I'm going to graduate in April 2022, when I will then apply to medical school assuming the MCAT goes well. I have a ~3.8 overall GPA between my time here at the university and my community college courses, and a ~3.6 sGPA. I'm currently taking biochem as my last prereq as well as what was intended to be a "science GPA booster," a 400-level zoology based course. Well things aren't working out that way, and this science GPA booster class is a gargantuan time commitment and directly affects my ability to focus on biochem. I could, in theory, pull off A's in both courses, but it would require immense sacrifice. I'm thinking about dropping it and taking a W, but I don't know what the consequences of that would be for my application. I've never taken a W before. It would really make my life much easier if I could, especially with how burned out I am since I've been going nonstop through spring and summer semesters since I started here. I know some schools say that they want to see some period of time where students take multiple difficult science courses, but with my political science classes this is too much. I did extremely well in both organic chemistry courses, if that would make any difference. If anyone could offer advice I would sincerely appreciate it. Thank you.

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[Goro]

I'm going to graduate in April 2022, when I will then apply to medical school assuming the MCAT goes well. I have a ~3.8 overall GPA between my time here at the university and my community college courses, and a ~3.6 sGPA. I'm currently taking biochem as my last prereq as well as what was intended to be a "science GPA booster," a 400-level zoology based course. Well things aren't working out that way, and this science GPA booster class is a gargantuan time commitment and directly affects my ability to focus on biochem. I could, in theory, pull off A's in both courses, but it would require immense sacrifice. I'm thinking about dropping it and taking a W, but I don't know what the consequences of that would be for my application. I've never taken a W before. It would really make my life much easier if I could, especially with how burned out I am since I've been going nonstop through spring and summer semesters since I started here. I know some schools say that they want to see some period of time where students take multiple difficult science courses, but with my political science classes this is too much. I did extremely well in both organic chemistry courses, if that would make any difference. If anyone could offer advice I would sincerely appreciate it. Thank you.

First off, many thanks for your service to our country. Hooooahh!

Go ahead and drop the Zoology course and focus on Biochem. You'll need it for MCAT and maintaining your good academics is better than having that "booster".

It seems to be a pre-med delusion that Ws are worse than Fs. This is not the case. Ws only hurt is you see a bunch of them scattered about a really good transcript, which means that GPA protection was going on. A single W doing the exact same thing isn't an issue.

While there is a lot of angst and neurotic behavior on SDN, it's a great source of advice. You have at your access Adcom members from ~10% of all the medical schools in the country.

 

[Crayola227]

Ditto that advisers that steer you away from SDN are just flat out wrong.

Yes, you have to keep the pre-med neurosis and doom and gloom from getting to you, and you have to be good at critically assessing advice to get a sense of what is good vs what is misguided.

It helps to read a lot and get a sense of which posters are which. Most of the recognized adcoms and verified physicians will have advice with at least some merit. Take other pre-meds with a huge grain of salt vs those who are either involved in med school admissions in some way or have actually successfully navigated the process.

Also at the end of the day you have to decide what's best for you and what you can achieve.

 

[jhmmd]

Hey everyone. My advisor told me to stay off this website at all costs, but due to staffing shortages the university functionally no longer offers pre-health advising, so here I am.

I'm in my mid 20's, majoring in political science at a top ranked public university in the Midwest. I was an Army medic for 4 years, I've done civilian EMS, disaster relief, currently work in an ED, etc. Somehow I managed to wind up at my dream school after taking some community college courses while I was still in.

I'm going to graduate in April 2022, when I will then apply to medical school assuming the MCAT goes well. I have a ~3.8 overall GPA between my time here at the university and my community college courses, and a ~3.6 sGPA. I'm currently taking biochem as my last prereq as well as what was intended to be a "science GPA booster," a 400-level zoology based course. Well things aren't working out that way, and this science GPA booster class is a gargantuan time commitment and directly affects my ability to focus on biochem. I could, in theory, pull off A's in both courses, but it would require immense sacrifice. I'm thinking about dropping it and taking a W, but I don't know what the consequences of that would be for my application. I've never taken a W before. It would really make my life much easier if I could, especially with how burned out I am since I've been going nonstop through spring and summer semesters since I started here. I know some schools say that they want to see some period of time where students take multiple difficult science courses, but with my political science classes this is too much. I did extremely well in both organic chemistry courses, if that would make any difference. If anyone could offer advice I would sincerely appreciate it. Thank you.

Sounds like you need to focus more on your time management/study skills. Does your school have an academic advising center? Med schools want to see that you can handle multiple difficult science courses in one semester. I tried to take 2 difficult science courses each semester + 1 lab + 1 easier course. Worked for me.

 

[Aflasa]

Sounds like you need to focus more on your time management/study skills. Does your school have an academic advising center? Med schools want to see that you can handle multiple difficult science courses in one semester. I tried to take 2 difficult science courses each semester + 1 lab + 1 easier course. Worked for me.

I'm a political science major, so by virtue of that fact, taking multiple science courses at once only became an option for me this semester. I ended up overshooting and picking an advanced course with mostly grad students. I made the decision to drop it this morning. And yes, there is an academic advising center, but I'm not sure the issue is my time management so much as the lack of will to do schoolwork for 12 hours a day at this point. Like I said in my post, I maybe could have put in the work to pull off an A in both courses, but that would require immense sacrifice that I longer have the will to put in after doing it for 3 years without a break. But I will spend some time thinking about that. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Crayola227]

I'm a political science major, so by virtue of that fact, taking multiple science courses at once only became an option for me this semester. I ended up overshooting and picking an advanced course with mostly grad students. I made the decision to drop it this morning. And yes, there is an academic advising center, but I'm not sure the issue is my time management so much as the lack of will to do schoolwork for 12 hours a day at this point. Like I said in my post, I maybe could have put in the work to pull off an A in both courses, but that would require immense sacrifice that I longer have the will to put in after doing it for 3 years without a break. But I will spend some time thinking about that. Thanks for the advice!

Better to take a break than to not be able to put in 12 hours a day when you are in school.

Med school frequently requires 12 hrs a day or more of study/work. Especially residency as well. And with few breaks.

Med schools expect to see a similar course load in college with excelling.

The personal sacrifice begins before med school to prove a point, and then continues for a minimum of 7 years in med school/training, with little break, and frankly it becomes more unforgiving.

Now is the time to test yourself and pull the same schedule to not only prove to med school, but to yourself, that you can do it.

 

[Aflasa]

Better to take a break than to not be able to put in 12 hours a day when you are in school.

Med school frequently requires 12 hrs a day or more of study/work. Especially residency as well. And with few breaks.

Med schools expect to see a similar course load in college with excelling.

The personal sacrifice begins before med school to prove a point, and then continues for a minimum of 7 years in med school/training, with little break, and frankly it becomes more unforgiving.

Now is the time to test yourself and pull the same schedule to not only prove to med school, but to yourself, that you can do it.

By going non-stop for 3 years I’ve shot myself in the foot a little bit. I spent those years putting in that kind of time to balance my pre-req lectures, labs, language courses, and poli-sci courses. I also have to work and have a significant other. I guess after spending most of that time online during COVID, I’m just burned out and tired. I’ve spent the majority of my adult life committed to healthcare at this point—I’m hoping that speaks for itself on top of my academics, even if I’m not able to take biochem and a 400 level zoology course. We’ll see I guess. Thank you for the perspective, I really appreciate it.

 

[Dral]

I had a W or two on my transcript and got interviews at the likes of Cornell, Michigan, and UPenn. You'll be fine with taking the W.