Post Bac: Should I withdraw from this class?

[pittpanther83]

Thanks for reading this post. I need help deciding if I should withdraw from this class.

I am a post-bac student at a private university taking a biostatistics course. Originally, I was excited about this course because it would give me a foundation to take a step forward in my job (research assistant). However, a couple of red flags appeared after the add/drop period already passed:

- the class has very little to do with true statistics and has turned into very complex coding that was not expressed in the syllabus. Lecture is dedicated mostly to operating in this coding program with only about 30 minutes worth or true statistics knowledge
- the lecturer is unhelpful when asking questions; I mainly ask coding related questions and they are very one worded with no explanation to why am I right/wrong
- the class is a majority of grad students who are familiar with the coding program.
- other little things (lecture is disorganized, moves extremely quickly, and is spotty).

I know this is not ideal, but I truly don't think I can excel in this course, or really learn anything valuable from it. I haven't handed in any graded assignments yet so this is not due to a low grade. My academics have been good in undergrad the last 2 years (3.7c/s) and in my post-bac (4.0 over 7 classes). I struggled a lot my freshman and college years (sub 3.0c/s) and do have a withdraw in there for a lab course. Hence why I am in the post-bac.

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[StarSpangled]

My college biostat class was like this — we had to learn to code on “R”. It was challenging and a huge time suck. I also did not end up doing very well. It sounds like you have quite a few concerns about it already... I’d drop it and do your best to maintain the postbac 4.0.

I found in my research assistant jobs, anything that required more than Excel was done by a PhD statistician. Note though, TX MD schools do require biostat. So I would check the requirements for the schools you’re interested in.

Edit to add: I see you said withdraw and not drop. I never did the W thing but have read that it’s really not that big a deal if you haven’t made a habit of it. It’s better than a C!

 

[pittpanther83]

My college biostat class was like this — we had to learn to code on “R”. It was challenging and a huge time suck. I also did not end up doing very well. It sounds like you have quite a few concerns about it already... I’d drop it and do your best to maintain the postbac 4.0.

I found in my research assistant jobs, anything that required more than Excel was done by a PhD statistician. Note though, TX MD schools do require biostat. So I would check the requirements for the schools you’re interested in.

Edit to add: I see you said withdraw and not drop. I never did the W thing but have read that it’s really not that big a deal if you haven’t made a habit of it. It’s better than a C!

That's the program that we are using actually. It really is! Just figuring out the basics takes a lot of time and in class we do complex loops that take an hour during class for grad students to figure out let alone me lol.

Yea having that W is my only concern. I dont plan on applying to Tx schools. Do you know if there is an opportunity when applying to explain things like this? I dont want to make it seem like I am bailing on it for the wrong reasons.

 

[pittpanther83]

Coding is very helpful if you are into research fields. If not, just withdraw the class. It will just give you stress!!!! No stress. Happy life.

Thanks for the reply. I am familiar with stata/spss but this program is just making simple things fairly difficult. couldn't agree more!

 

[StarSpangled]

That's the program that we are using actually. It really is! Just figuring out the basics takes a lot of time and in class we do complex loops that take an hour during class for grad students to figure out let alone me lol.

Yea having that W is my only concern. I dont plan on applying to Tx schools. Do you know if there is an opportunity when applying to explain things like this? I dont want to make it seem like I am bailing on it for the wrong reasons.

Sorry, that sucks... we used to have 3 hour labs to work on it, it was torturous. And I never used it for research haha.

I only did the TMDSAS and AACOMAS applications so I can’t speak for the common app. TMDSAS does have space with an optional essay but something like this is too minor for a whole essay. Some schools had secondaries which allow space for explaining “discrepancies” or other issues but, again, I wouldn’t make a whole essay about one W. An adcom would know better but I don’t think a single W is a red flag or big deal.

 

[deleted1010363]

If you don't think you will excel in the course, then you run the risk of getting a bad grade in it which will reflect your overall AMCAS cGPA and potentially your sGPA (BCPM). A "W" is definitely better than anything less than a B. So I would say drop the course if you are not feeling good about it.

 

[82Scout]

meh personally, I'm not on the boat of a W over a C. You are far more likely to have to explain a W than a C, a D/F is a different story. Depending what your cumulative GPA's are I really don't understand splitting hairs over anything above a 3.7.

 

[pittpanther83]

meh personally, I'm not on the boat of a W over a C. You are far more likely to have to explain a W than a C, a D/F is a different story. Depending what your cumulative GPA's are I really don't understand splitting hairs over anything above a 3.7.

The only issue I have with this is that I can’t afford to take a C during a post-bac. I’d rather be able to get in the door to explain a W than potentially not even get to that point bc my gpa is lowered with a C.

I would have dropped the course if I had more of a sample size over 2 classes (it only meets twice once a week and drop period is two weeks).

 

[Goro]

Thanks for reading this post. I need help deciding if I should withdraw from this class.

I am a post-bac student at a private university taking a biostatistics course. Originally, I was excited about this course because it would give me a foundation to take a step forward in my job (research assistant). However, a couple of red flags appeared after the add/drop period already passed:

- the class has very little to do with true statistics and has turned into very complex coding that was not expressed in the syllabus. Lecture is dedicated mostly to operating in this coding program with only about 30 minutes worth or true statistics knowledge
- the lecturer is unhelpful when asking questions; I mainly ask coding related questions and they are very one worded with no explanation to why am I right/wrong
- the class is a majority of grad students who are familiar with the coding program.
- other little things (lecture is disorganized, moves extremely quickly, and is spotty).

I know this is not ideal, but I truly don't think I can excel in this course, or really learn anything valuable from it. I haven't handed in any graded assignments yet so this is not due to a low grade. My academics have been good in undergrad the last 2 years (3.7c/s) and in my post-bac (4.0 over 7 classes). I struggled a lot my freshman and college years (sub 3.0c/s) and do have a withdraw in there for a lab course. Hence why I am in the post-bac.

Dump it

 

[deleted962973]

Withdraw and explain why in your secondaries in case any schools ask you why you have Ws on your transcript. From what I remember, most don’t, and 1-2 Ws isn’t a big deal.