Organic Chemistry Woes

[Tideguy]

I took Orgo I and II at a local college the summer after my freshman year in the hopes of getting ahead in my science courses and opening up options for travel abroad my Junior year. However, after completing the course, (I recieved two A's) I really feld like I hadn't learned anything at all!! I decided to retake it at my regular university (a top 20 school) to better prepare myself for the MCAT and Med school. Will the fact that I got an A and an A- first and second semester respectively in a very competative class be overshadowed by the fact that I had already taken the course before? (At a much easier level: we covered everything that I learned over the summer in the first three weeks at my university) How do I present this story to adcomms without sounding defensive. Help!! Thank you everybody.

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[jbfuq]

if they bring it up simply tell them the truth-----they will probably look on this as favorable in that you realized your first experience in the class did not prepare you for what you believed you needed and therefore you retook the class at much harder university. the only way i could see the adcom frowning on this is if you would have scored poorly the second time around.

 

[Tideguy]

Is this something that I should include in my personal statement/essays or should i just respond to it if they choose to bring it up in the interviews?

 

[serpiente]

I would definitely not waste the precious personal statement/secondary essay space with such an explanation. I think your best bet is if you have a committee rec, ask them to explain the situation in it. If you're asking the orgo prof from your school to write on your behalf, he/she could explain it. If you don't want to go that route, I would bring it up in an interview--I would even wait in see if they even brought it up first. It doesn't seem like a huge deal anyway.

 

[racergirl]

Tideguy,

Don't even mention it! You got two As, then an A and an A-. Those are good grades! If anyone ever asks about it, it will probably be just to ask why you retook with two As on your record, and then just tell the truth--you wanted to really learn the material, and didn't feel like you really did the first time. In my opinion, you have nothing to worry about.