Orgo Struggles

[hkdude97]

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Really struggling with organic 1 right now, just wondering if i were to get a C in this class, would you recommend retaking it and how bad would it look on med school applications? Is it true the first grade the med schools look at is Orgo 1?

 

[JustAPhD]

I would retake a C, yes. Keep in mind MD schools will average your C and your retake while DO schools will replace the C with the retake grade. I suspect the "first grade" looked at will vary depending on adcom and will not be a standard across all schools.

Best of luck, and do not retake Orgo until you figure out what you're doing wrong now (ie, why you are struggling).

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

First of all, make sure you're using every possible resource available to you to get the best grade you can! You can find some good videos on YouTube. I found Khan Academy to be extremely helpful for visuals and easy to understand explanations. Take advantage of tutoring, if your school offers it. Go to office hours and ask the prof to review things you don't understand. Do practice problems from your textbook or ones you find online. Is there anyone in your class who seems to just get it? If so, befriend them and ask for help!

If you end up with a C, it's not necessarily the end of the world. If you get anything below a C, I would definitely retake. Personally, I think whether to retake a C is somewhat negotiable. It depends on the quality of the rest of your app. (Is your GPA otherwise strong? Do you have C's in any other prereqs? I don't think one C won't kill you but several certainly can. If you have other academic weak spots, a retake might be more important for you.)

I've never heard of adcoms looking at any one grade first and I think that's pretty unlikely. It's more about the whole package than it is about any one course.

 

[Gurby]

Organic Chemistry was the first and only class I ever hired a tutor for. It was some of the best money I ever spent - I actually enjoyed the class once I understood what was going on. Especially if you are taking an accelerated summer course where you just don't time to figure it all out on your own, having a private tutor is going to be extremely helpful.

 

[Dr.Wink]

What is your academic history like otherwise? If this is the only blemish on your transcript, it's not a big deal at all. I had a C+ my first semester of orgo, but followed up with a B+ next semester. (wasn't asked about it at all during interviews)

Hopefully this is the only blip on our academic radar, and just be sure to not let it happen again.

 

[Affiche]

Is it true the first grade the med schools look at is Orgo 1?

No!!! This is so absurd it could be listed in the "funny quotes from less informed pre-meds" thread! 🤣
Retaking a semester is fine, provided you do much better the second time around.

For an anecdote, I ended up with an orgo final exam that missing the last page. The final was worth 40% of our grade and the page I was missing had the highest point value of the entire exam. I finished my final and sat around wondering why all these other idiots were taking so long. Ended up practically failing my final exam because of that missing page and the professor was unsympathetic. I retook the course for an A the next term and was not asked about it a single time throughout the entire interview process. No big whoop 🙂.

 

[wizzed101]

Taking Orgo in summer is like trying to win Darwin award, especially after you had done badly in regular semester. Don't!

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

Totally agree. Summer Orgo is murder and I found that out the hard way. It took everything in me to scrape by with a C+. Ultimately, I chose not to retake it since I had a high GPA and no other C's. Never came up in any of my interviews, thankfully.