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[LAH]

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I have never wanted something more than to be an optometrist... I graduated high school with a 4.0, and other than chemistry and BiologyII (C...I understood it fine, but stereotypical freshman mistakes outside of class), I have all A's thus far, but will also only be a sophomore in the fall. I recieved a B in General Chem I, but am STUGGLING with General ChemII. I withdrew from it (eek, I know) last semester as an attempt to dodge a C, and hoped to rejuvenate myself during summer session with an A or B. Now, I am struggling to even PASS the class... I believe I'm a motivated person, I just don't understand chemistry 🙁 Obviously, I have yet to take ochem and biochem... in addition to retaking chemII... and possibly bioII. I would appreciate it if ANY advice was given... my fellow pre-opt majors are having difficulty with this class, too, yet are doing extremely well in all of their others. They've already accepted the fact that they must retake it... but will it be of any use?? It surely won't look good on transcripts... **or do they even see withdrawals/poor grades from classes that are later retaken?**

Do I have a chance? Even after withdrawing once, D-ing it the second time (this is what I propose at this point), and hopefully doing fine the third time? Will they even have record of withdrawals/grades from classes taken over again?

I really don't want to change my major... it'd be ashame if one class brought me down. (Although I have yet to take OrganicI and BiochemI)

Please, any advice would be wonderful!

 

[lnguyen]

I have never wanted something more than to be an optometrist... I graduated high school with a 4.0, and other than chemistry, I have all A's thus far, but will also only be a sophomore in the fall. I got a B in General Chem I, but am STUGGLING with General ChemII. I withdrew from it (eek, I know) last semester as an attempt to dodge a C, and hoped to rejuvenate myself during summer session with an A or B. Now, I am struggling to even PASS the class... and I know optometry doesn't even want to mess with C's in undergrad. I believe I'm a smart person, I just don't understand chemistry 🙁 I would appreciate it if ANY advice was given... my fellow pre-opt majors are having difficulty with this class, too, yet are doing extremely well in all of their others. They've already accepted the fact that they must retake it... but will it be of any use?? It won't look good on transcripts.

Do I have a chance? Even after withdrawing once, D-ing it the second time (this is what I propose at this point), and hopefully doing fine the third time?

I really don't want to change my major... it'd be ashame if one class brought me down. (Although I have yet to take OrganicI and BiochemI)

It bothers me knowing how much I want this... My father was a dentist, but lacked the motivation with his profession. With his chem grades, and my devotion, one mighty eye doctor could be born...

Please, any advice would be wonderful...

Sincerely,
Chemically Challenged

I received 2 Cs one in biochem and another in bio 2 and I didn't have any problems getting into optometry school

 

[drbizzaro]

I have never wanted something more than to be an optometrist... I graduated high school with a 4.0, and other than chemistry and BiologyII (C...I understood it fine, but stereotypical freshman mistakes outside of class), I have all A's thus far, but will also only be a sophomore in the fall. I recieved a B in General Chem I, but am STUGGLING with General ChemII. I withdrew from it (eek, I know) last semester as an attempt to dodge a C, and hoped to rejuvenate myself during summer session with an A or B. Now, I am struggling to even PASS the class... I believe I'm a motivated person, I just don't understand chemistry 🙁 Obviously, I have yet to take ochem and biochem... in addition to retaking chemII... and possibly bioII. I would appreciate it if ANY advice was given... my fellow pre-opt majors are having difficulty with this class, too, yet are doing extremely well in all of their others. They've already accepted the fact that they must retake it... but will it be of any use?? It surely won't look good on transcripts... **or do they even see withdrawals/poor grades from classes that are later retaken?**

Do I have a chance? Even after withdrawing once, D-ing it the second time (this is what I propose at this point), and hopefully doing fine the third time? Will they even have record of withdrawals/grades from classes taken over again?

I really don't want to change my major... it'd be ashame if one class brought me down. (Although I have yet to take OrganicI and BiochemI)

Please, any advice would be wonderful!

dont worry about a D... people have gotten in with many D's and F's even... just as long as you prove yourself in some way (ie. OAT or overall GPA)

people can get F's and still have a very high CGPA

 

[LAH]

Good to hear...

 

[Ryan_eyeball]

I hope that not many people have gotten into OD school with D's and F's. I think that makes our application process and profession look a little worse. I know sometimes people hit a hard time, or class and manage through it with whatever they can pull out of the class. I wouldn't really worry about too much about your chemistry grade. In four years today was the first time I've ever had to use chemistry in dissolving a concentration. An Ophthalmologist that I'm doing a rotation with let me do botox injection on a lady. I mean some of these procedures are not hard to do, like Yag Post Caps., Yag P.I, Botox Inj, and a chalazion removal that I've ALL DONE on a rotation. Funny thing is that they are all still SEEING. I'm not really trying to get surgical rights, but I just think its funny when OMD's make this out to be rocket science. Complication still exist for all procedures, and I know I'm not a surgeon.

Anyways back to your post, I still think you'll get into OD school. You had a 4.0 in high school, and that still takes some effort. Just stay dedicated, and obtain good board scores, and you'll get in.

Ryan

 

[LAH]

Anyways back to your post, I still think you'll get into OD school. You had a 4.0 in high school, and that still takes some effort. Just stay dedicated, and obtain good board scores, and you'll get in.

Ryan

Thanks, I guess I'm just anticipating similar outcomes from ochem and biochem... mainly ochem. Plus, I'll need a decent chem background for the OATS.

 

[ODhopeful]

In psychology I got a D the first time I took it and the second time I took it I got a C... I am in optometry school. I do have mostly A and B in most of my classes, but in pchem I dropped the first time I took it and the second time I took it I got a C. Good luck, you'll be fine, just kill your OAT and you'll get in.

 

[JennyJet]

LAH,

I hear your pain. Chemistry classes were the hardest for me. I too was a 4.0 student in high school, but general chemistry kicked my butt. I barely got a B. Since I was an engineering major back then, that was the only chemistry I had to take. Now that I 'm going to optometry school, I had to go back to school to take organic chemistry and biochemistry. I was really dreading it.

It was tough, but since I knew these courses were my Achille's Heel, I put more time and effort into the class. My suggestions for you ...
1) Don't be afraid to talk to the professor outside of class time. I know sometimes I felt stupid for asking questions all time, but sometimes things made more sense when explained a second (or even 3rd, 4th, etc.) time around. Also, if the professor knows you are really trying to do well in the class, he/she might remember that if your grade is borderline and give you the higher grade.
2) Form study groups and meet regularly. Also, if you see another student getting A's, ask her/him what his/her secret is.
3) Keep up with homework/reading/studying. This is so important. Ochem and biochem are classes that slacking off in will really hurt you. I learned the hard way. I thought cramming for a test for a whole weekend would be enough. Instead, I got a D on the test. The next test, I studied a little bit at time rather than all in one sitting the weekend before. I got an A!
4) If possible, don't take other hard courses along with ochem and biochem. These classes are lab intensive courses and take up lots of time outside of class.
5) Flashcards really helped me. I used them whenever I had idle time, like standing in line in Starbucks. My professor used to say, if you're not dreaming about Ochem, you're not studying hard enough. 😉
6) Get a tutor. The discipline alone of setting up a time to meet might help you stay on track.

Well, I hope this helps. Just tell yourself you can do well and ask for help sooner than later. Good luck!

 

[LAH]

LAH,

I hear your pain. Chemistry classes were the hardest for me. I too was a 4.0 student in high school, but general chemistry kicked my butt. I barely got a B. Since I was an engineering major back then, that was the only chemistry I had to take. Now that I 'm going to optometry school, I had to go back to school to take organic chemistry and biochemistry. I was really dreading it.

It was tough, but since I knew these courses were my Achille's Heel, I put more time and effort into the class. My suggestions for you ...
1) Don't be afraid to talk to the professor outside of class time. I know sometimes I felt stupid for asking questions all time, but sometimes things made more sense when explained a second (or even 3rd, 4th, etc.) time around. Also, if the professor knows you are really trying to do well in the class, he/she might remember that if your grade is borderline and give you the higher grade.
2) Form study groups and meet regularly. Also, if you see another student getting A's, ask her/him what his/her secret is.
3) Keep up with homework/reading/studying. This is so important. Ochem and biochem are classes that slacking off in will really hurt you. I learned the hard way. I thought cramming for a test for a whole weekend would be enough. Instead, I got a D on the test. The next test, I studied a little bit at time rather than all in one sitting the weekend before. I got an A!
4) If possible, don't take other hard courses along with ochem and biochem. These classes are lab intensive courses and take up lots of time outside of class.
5) Flashcards really helped me. I used them whenever I had idle time, like standing in line in Starbucks. My professor used to say, if you're not dreaming about Ochem, you're not studying hard enough. 😉
6) Get a tutor. The discipline alone of setting up a time to meet might help you stay on track.

Well, I hope this helps. Just tell yourself you can do well and ask for help sooner than later. Good luck!

Thanks Jenny! I'm glad to know someone can relate. I'm finally accepting that chem is indeed one of the main components of optometry's undergrad requirements. Hope all is going well with optometry school 🙂

 

[UABopt]

I hate to be a downer here, and I wish you all of the luck in the world…but I think I should be the voice of reason. Sometimes we Americans over do the “you can be anything that you want to be” mentality. While in some cases this train of thought can help motivate us, in other cases it can result in disappointment. In some cases you have to sit down and face reality.
I am in no way at all telling you to give up. I would rather say try hard and do your best, but in the end if it was not meant to be it just was not meant to be.
In my honest opinion, of the hundreds of semester hours that I took as an undergrad (or in Optometry school), General Chemistry II does not rank even close to the top in level of difficulty. Certainly people display levels of aptitude in various subject areas, and perhaps chemistry is just not “your thing” or maybe it is in fact a harder class where you go to school. I feel that, for me, organic chemistry I/II, Biochemistry, genetics, and Cellular Biology, among other classes, were in truth orders of magnitude more difficult than general chemistry.
My advice to you would be to work toward your goal as hard as you can, but consider a backup plan. As you move on in your career as a student, and the courses become more challenging, it will become clear as to whether or not your goal is attainable.
In order to become an optometrist, at all, you must first make it through optometry school. The best predictor of future performance is past performance. Just remember once in optometry school, no matter how hard a class might get, dropping the course is never an option.
Remember it is not the goal of the admissions committee to hurt people’s feelings, but rather to make sure that the students that they accept will have the academic ability to pass all of the required courses, and become good optometrists. Luckily, as far as I know, optometry schools are not in the business of ripping off students, or they would just accept anybody that applies, take their money, and let them fail out. This not being the case, work as hard as you can, apply, and let the admissions committee do their job. If they accept you, then, chances are, you will make it through. If they don’t accept you, it was simply not meant to be, and perhaps, just perhaps, they saved you $40,000+ that a failed first year could have cost you.

Once again, best of success in attaining all of your goals in life!!!!

 

[RLK]

I hate to be a downer here, and I wish you all of the luck in the world…but I think I should be the voice of reason. Sometimes we Americans over do the “you can be anything that you want to be” mentality. While in some cases this train of thought can help motivate us, in other cases it can result in disappointment. In some cases you have to sit down and face reality.
I am in no way at all telling you to give up. I would rather say try hard and do your best, but in the end if it was not meant to be it just was not meant to be.
In my honest opinion, of the hundreds of semester hours that I took as an undergrad (or in Optometry school), General Chemistry II does not rank even close to the top in level of difficulty. Certainly people display levels of aptitude in various subject areas, and perhaps chemistry is just not “your thing” or maybe it is in fact a harder class where you go to school. I feel that, for me, organic chemistry I/II, Biochemistry, genetics, and Cellular Biology, among other classes, were in truth orders of magnitude more difficult than general chemistry.
My advice to you would be to work toward your goal as hard as you can, but consider a backup plan. As you move on in your career as a student, and the courses become more challenging, it will become clear as to whether or not your goal is attainable.
In order to become an optometrist, at all, you must first make it through optometry school. The best predictor of future performance is past performance. Just remember once in optometry school, no matter how hard a class might get, dropping the course is never an option.
Remember it is not the goal of the admissions committee to hurt people’s feelings, but rather to make sure that the students that they accept will have the academic ability to pass all of the required courses, and become good optometrists. Luckily, as far as I know, optometry schools are not in the business of ripping off students, or they would just accept anybody that applies, take their money, and let them fail out. This not being the case, work as hard as you can, apply, and let the admissions committee do their job. If they accept you, then, chances are, you will make it through. If they don’t accept you, it was simply not meant to be, and perhaps, just perhaps, they saved you $40,000+ that a failed first year could have cost you.

Once again, best of success in attaining all of your goals in life!!!!

Thanks for the motivation. Now I'm gonna go drink myself to sleep.
(Just kidding)

 

[odstudent]

I hate to be a downer here, and I wish you all of the luck in the world…but I think I should be the voice of reason. Sometimes we Americans over do the “you can be anything that you want to be” mentality. While in some cases this train of thought can help motivate us, in other cases it can result in disappointment. In some cases you have to sit down and face reality.
I am in no way at all telling you to give up. I would rather say try hard and do your best, but in the end if it was not meant to be it just was not meant to be.
In my honest opinion, of the hundreds of semester hours that I took as an undergrad (or in Optometry school), General Chemistry II does not rank even close to the top in level of difficulty. Certainly people display levels of aptitude in various subject areas, and perhaps chemistry is just not “your thing” or maybe it is in fact a harder class where you go to school. I feel that, for me, organic chemistry I/II, Biochemistry, genetics, and Cellular Biology, among other classes, were in truth orders of magnitude more difficult than general chemistry.
My advice to you would be to work toward your goal as hard as you can, but consider a backup plan. As you move on in your career as a student, and the courses become more challenging, it will become clear as to whether or not your goal is attainable.
In order to become an optometrist, at all, you must first make it through optometry school. The best predictor of future performance is past performance. Just remember once in optometry school, no matter how hard a class might get, dropping the course is never an option.
Remember it is not the goal of the admissions committee to hurt people’s feelings, but rather to make sure that the students that they accept will have the academic ability to pass all of the required courses, and become good optometrists. Luckily, as far as I know, optometry schools are not in the business of ripping off students, or they would just accept anybody that applies, take their money, and let them fail out. This not being the case, work as hard as you can, apply, and let the admissions committee do their job. If they accept you, then, chances are, you will make it through. If they don’t accept you, it was simply not meant to be, and perhaps, just perhaps, they saved you $40,000+ that a failed first year could have cost you.

Once again, best of success in attaining all of your goals in life!!!!

I wouldn't worry too much if you are having problems passing general chem. I had trouble with that class too, but got mostly A's in all my other upper division classes. The material was tough, but I think it was the prof. that made that class difficult. Hang in there!

 

[JennyJet]

I wouldn't worry too much if you are having problems passing general chem. I had trouble with that class too, but got mostly A's in all my other upper division classes. The material was tough, but I think it was the prof. that made that class difficult. Hang in there!

I agree. I don't even remember my gen chem professor's name. I was at a university where I was 1 of hundreds of other students in the class. I felt really intimidated by the course on so many levels: the material, the super nerd students, the unattainable professor, etc. I took ochem 2 years ago at a community college. The material was still tough, but the class size was way smaller and you really get to know the professor. In fact my ochem professor proclaimed he was a C - D student in undergrad, but really loved Ochem. He kept pursuing it and viola, he is now an ochem professor. Just keep at it!

 

[drbizzaro]

Thanks for the motivation. Now I'm gonna go drink myself to sleep.
(Just kidding)

dude... dont give up... trust me... if you are able to get stats from the admissions officers, you'll find out that there are MANY people who get into top notch optometry schools with D's ... MANY!

so just pass the course and get into the school you want....

however, make sure you try hard on the OAT... and try your best to get 330+ (if you can)....

 

[duracell]

I know how you feel. I'm worried too. I have some C's from first year..and those are basically my pre-reqs...sigh.....

 

[FLCBRUIN84]

i'm so glad to read this post. i have 1 D+ in an upper div animal bio class that was just plain ridiculous and had to retake physics twice and only ended up with C's and a B i think.. Additionally i have like 4 other C's in other classes but my gpa is still close to a 3.0... roughly 2.92 or something. From other friends that I know that have gotten into good optometry schools, they had roughly 2.9-3.0s but just rocked the OAT and excelled in other things as well. I volunteer at like 3 optometrists offices, work for an optometrist and do volunteer work at the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute. I also started a camp at UCLA for kids with cancer parents. I would hope these extra curriculars will give me some upper hand. Grades mean a lot, but you can work yourself around them. You just need to set your edge above other applicants, so just get invoved in a lot of things. If you let me know where you are located, I can share advice on how i found these great volunteer opportunities. Good luck and just try your best.

 

[drbizzaro]

i'm so glad to read this post. i have 1 D+ in an upper div animal bio class that was just plain ridiculous and had to retake physics twice and only ended up with C's and a B i think.. Additionally i have like 4 other C's in other classes but my gpa is still close to a 3.0... roughly 2.92 or something. From other friends that I know that have gotten into good optometry schools, they had roughly 2.9-3.0s but just rocked the OAT and excelled in other things as well. I volunteer at like 3 optometrists offices, work for an optometrist and do volunteer work at the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute. I also started a camp at UCLA for kids with cancer parents. I would hope these extra curriculars will give me some upper hand. Grades mean a lot, but you can work yourself around them. You just need to set your edge above other applicants, so just get invoved in a lot of things. If you let me know where you are located, I can share advice on how i found these great volunteer opportunities. Good luck and just try your best.

you definitely have an edge... you've done alot... i'm sure the admissions committee will take note...

 

[RLK]

General Chem I isn't bad and II starts off pretty easy, but then it gets more difficult when the calculations come. Molarity, Molality, etc. It's not that they're extremely hard, it's just that they're new and may not be familiar.

I think the first year bio, chem, and physics courses are also harder if you get stuck with a professor that isn't all that good. For physics 1 I had some guy from somewhere in the middle east. I couldn't understand much of what he was saying, and he was a real idiot in office hours. I ended up withdrawing from that class, but just last spring I finished physics 2 with an A. Sometimes you just have to play around with things until they work for you I think.

 

[drbizzaro]

General Chem I isn't bad and II starts off pretty easy, but then it gets more difficult when the calculations come. Molarity, Molality, etc. It's not that they're extremely hard, it's just that they're new and may not be familiar.

I think the first year bio, chem, and physics courses are also harder if you get stuck with a professor that isn't all that good. For physics 1 I had some guy from somewhere in the middle east. I couldn't understand much of what he was saying, and he was a real idiot in office hours. I ended up withdrawing from that class, but just last spring I finished physics 2 with an A. Sometimes you just have to play around with things until they work for you I think.

i had bad undergrad profs too... sometimes that's the sole reason for a bad grade...

 

[LAH]

i'm so glad to read this post. i have 1 D+ in an upper div animal bio class that was just plain ridiculous and had to retake physics twice and only ended up with C's and a B i think.. Additionally i have like 4 other C's in other classes but my gpa is still close to a 3.0... roughly 2.92 or something. From other friends that I know that have gotten into good optometry schools, they had roughly 2.9-3.0s but just rocked the OAT and excelled in other things as well. I volunteer at like 3 optometrists offices, work for an optometrist and do volunteer work at the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute. I also started a camp at UCLA for kids with cancer parents. I would hope these extra curriculars will give me some upper hand. Grades mean a lot, but you can work yourself around them. You just need to set your edge above other applicants, so just get invoved in a lot of things. If you let me know where you are located, I can share advice on how i found these great volunteer opportunities. Good luck and just try your best.

I am located in the Pittsburgh area, any info on volunteer opportunities would be great!