Overdoing retakes?

[RT2DO]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello SDN,
I have been a regular reader of the forums, but now since the time to take the mcat and to apply is getting closer, I thought I would ask everyone's opinion on my situation here. I have been a full time Respiratory Therapist here in Las Vegas and decided to change paths to get into med school about 3.5 years ago. Since 2012, I have been taking full time course work, working full time on the weekends and have been part of 2 research studies at my school. (No publications, but great experiences and good LOR's). My problem started when I first took calculus and Ochem in my sophomore year and ended up getting D's in both. I ended up retaking Ochem 1 and Calculus, 3 times each before I got A's in both. I got an A in biochem 1 and A- in biochem 2. The rest of my science courses have been either mostly A-, B+ and B's, except one C+ in ochem 2( did not retake that). I realized that part of the problem was that in my high school back in India, I was a commerce major. I studied accountancy, business studies, economics etc... and was never exposed to ochem and calc. I recognized most of the gen chem and biology material from middle school. So getting used to the language and material took time. And my professors were not the easiest ones. In the end, its no one to blame but me, and its my own reality. My sGPA is around 3.2-3.3 (after grade replacement) and my cGPA is around 3.5-3.6. I plan on taking the mcat in January. I have great physician LOR's from work (Dept. chairs of ER, Surgery and my own Director of Respiratory services) and good LOR's from college professors too. How bad will the multiple retakes in calculus and ochem hurt me? Should I look in SMP or Post Bach programs? I will be very applying broadly to mostly DO schools. Any suggestions and advice will be helpful. Thank you in advance.

 

[spenguin]

Mutiple retakes in mult classes = not so bad

Multiple retakes in each class = looks bad


You need to consider how much of an upward trend you have, how early/late in your college career did you do those retakes, how many harder science courses did you get As in.
The reason is, 3 retakes in one class was a mistake and makes it look like you are very weak in those areas. You need something to show a positive change

 

[ClassicJandT]

Hello SDN,
I have been a regular reader of the forums, but now since the time to take the mcat and to apply is getting closer, I thought I would ask everyone's opinion on my situation here. I have been a full time Respiratory Therapist here in Las Vegas and decided to change paths to get into med school about 3.5 years ago. Since 2012, I have been taking full time course work, working full time on the weekends and have been part of 2 research studies at my school. (No publications, but great experiences and good LOR's). My problem started when I first took calculus and Ochem in my sophomore year and ended up getting D's in both. I ended up retaking Ochem 1 and Calculus, 3 times each before I got A's in both. I got an A in biochem 1 and A- in biochem 2. The rest of my science courses have been either mostly A-, B+ and B's, except one C+ in ochem 2( did not retake that). I realized that part of the problem was that in my high school back in India, I was a commerce major. I studied accountancy, business studies, economics etc... and was never exposed to ochem and calc. I recognized most of the gen chem and biology material from middle school. So getting used to the language and material took time. And my professors were not the easiest ones. In the end, its no one to blame but me, and its my own reality. My sGPA is around 3.2-3.3 (after grade replacement) and my cGPA is around 3.5-3.6. I plan on taking the mcat in January. I have great physician LOR's from work (Dept. chairs of ER, Surgery and my own Director of Respiratory services) and good LOR's from college professors too. How bad will the multiple retakes in calculus and ochem hurt me? Should I look in SMP or Post Bach programs? I will be very applying broadly to mostly DO schools. Any suggestions and advice will be helpful. Thank you in advance.

Study hard and do well on the mcat. That will do a lot to give adcoms peace of mind about your abilities. I wouldn't jump right to post bacc- see how you do on the mcat first. Don't waste time, money and energy on something you may not end up needing. Focus yourself on the mcat

 

[RT2DO]

thank you @ClassicJandT and @spenguin. I took them first in my sophomore year, and the repeats happened in my junior year. Since then, I took physics 1 and 2 and got A and B+, Biochem 1 and 2 - A and A- and a few other upper division science classes with A's and B's. I am taking 6 classes this semester and have A's in all of them so far. I also went per diem at work, which seems to help me be not tired all the time and focus more on school. And I have purchased all the MCAT material and will be giving it all my all, in order to try and do well. If I may ask @Goro to look at my situation and give his adcom insight, I would be grateful sir. Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

[delawarepremed]

thank you @ClassicJandT and @spenguin. I took them first in my sophomore year, and the repeats happened in my junior year. Since then, I took physics 1 and 2 and got A and B+, Biochem 1 and 2 - A and A- and a few other upper division science classes with A's and B's. I am taking 6 classes this semester and have A's in all of them so far. I also went per diem at work, which seems to help me be not tired all the time and focus more on school. And I have purchased all the MCAT material and will be giving it all my all, in order to try and do well. If I may ask @Goro to look at my situation and give his adcom insight, I would be grateful sir. Thanks again for everyone's input.

Hello SDN,
I have been a regular reader of the forums, but now since the time to take the mcat and to apply is getting closer, I thought I would ask everyone's opinion on my situation here. I have been a full time Respiratory Therapist here in Las Vegas and decided to change paths to get into med school about 3.5 years ago. Since 2012, I have been taking full time course work, working full time on the weekends and have been part of 2 research studies at my school. (No publications, but great experiences and good LOR's). My problem started when I first took calculus and Ochem in my sophomore year and ended up getting D's in both. I ended up retaking Ochem 1 and Calculus, 3 times each before I got A's in both. I got an A in biochem 1 and A- in biochem 2. The rest of my science courses have been either mostly A-, B+ and B's, except one C+ in ochem 2( did not retake that). I realized that part of the problem was that in my high school back in India, I was a commerce major. I studied accountancy, business studies, economics etc... and was never exposed to ochem and calc. I recognized most of the gen chem and biology material from middle school. So getting used to the language and material took time. And my professors were not the easiest ones. In the end, its no one to blame but me, and its my own reality. My sGPA is around 3.2-3.3 (after grade replacement) and my cGPA is around 3.5-3.6. I plan on taking the mcat in January. I have great physician LOR's from work (Dept. chairs of ER, Surgery and my own Director of Respiratory services) and good LOR's from college professors too. How bad will the multiple retakes in calculus and ochem hurt me? Should I look in SMP or Post Bach programs? I will be very applying broadly to mostly DO schools. Any suggestions and advice will be helpful. Thank you in advance.

You are fine. If I remember correctly, CabinBuilder took Organic Chemistry four times. And she is now a physician. If anything, it shows perseverance on your part. Also, Calculus is neither a medically relevant course nor a part of your AACOMAS science GPA.

 

[spenguin]

thank you @ClassicJandT and @spenguin. I took them first in my sophomore year, and the repeats happened in my junior year. Since then, I took physics 1 and 2 and got A and B+, Biochem 1 and 2 - A and A- and a few other upper division science classes with A's and B's. I am taking 6 classes this semester and have A's in all of them so far. I also went per diem at work, which seems to help me be not tired all the time and focus more on school. And I have purchased all the MCAT material and will be giving it all my all, in order to try and do well. If I may ask @Goro to look at my situation and give his adcom insight, I would be grateful sir. Thanks again for everyone's input.

I would make sure to take lots of science classes (as many as you can get As in). You want to show them that you can do well in harder science classes.
That is what I did. I retook classes but I also got As on many upper level bio to show that any bad grades early on weren't indicative of my intelligence or work ethic.

What grades did you get on the first and second retakes? Cs or Bs?

 

[Goro]

In the end, the last and best grade counts. But be prepared for interview questions like "So what was so hard about class X?"

Mutiple retakes in mult classes = not so bad

Multiple retakes in each class = looks bad


You need to consider how much of an upward trend you have, how early/late in your college career did you do those retakes, how many harder science courses did you get As in.
The reason is, 3 retakes in one class was a mistake and makes it look like you are very weak in those areas. You need something to show a positive change

 

[RT2DO]

thank you so much @Goro @delawarepremed and @spenguin. 1st time I took it, I got a D in both ochem and Calc. 2nd time I got C and 3rd time got A's. I have been trying to add as many upper level science classes as I can practically can take since then and make sure I try to make it up for these retakes. I have taken virology, bacterial pathogenesis, immuno, cell phys, histology and done well. I take my mcat in January and apply in may or june of next year. So correct me if I am wrong, but I just have the spring semester left and maybe summer, that will actually count towards my aacomas gpa. I am hoping that doing good in biochem will compensate for ochem a little and hopefully I can do well on the MCAT. I have accounted for these retakes on my PS and am prepared to talk about the reasons on why it took me 3 times for these particular classes.

 

[Goro]

Your story is a very common one. Orgo has been the graveyard of many pre-meds.

thank you so much @Goro @delawarepremed and @spenguin. 1st time I took it, I got a D in both ochem and Calc. 2nd time I got C and 3rd time got A's. I have been trying to add as many upper level science classes as I can practically can take since then and make sure I try to make it up for these retakes. I have taken virology, bacterial pathogenesis, immuno, cell phys, histology and done well. I take my mcat in January and apply in may or june of next year. So correct me if I am wrong, but I just have the spring semester left and maybe summer, that will actually count towards my aacomas gpa. I am hoping that doing good in biochem will compensate for ochem a little and hopefully I can do well on the MCAT. I have accounted for these retakes on my PS and am prepared to talk about the reasons on why it took me 3 times for these particular classes.

 

[arc5005]

You are fine. If I remember correctly, CabinBuilder took Organic Chemistry four times. And she is now a physician. If anything, it shows perseverance on your part. Also, Calculus is neither a medically relevant course nor a part of your AACOMAS science GPA.

OMG, O Chem 4x.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I wouldn't put it in your PS. Save it for secondaries and interviews.