Question concerning grades

[DaCrust]

I am very concerned about how my grades will look to an admissions committee. My grades are as follows: D (Orgo Chem. I), D+ (Cell and Molecular Bio), D (PreCalculus), C (General Chem II) C (Genetics) and C (Anthropology). The rest of my grades are A's and B's. I didn't receive those poor grades all at once, but they're always going to be there. They really hurt my gpa (3.19 overall, now). I know this will lower my chances of getting into med school. Does anyone have advice about what I can do to increase my chances? I'm open for suggestions. Thanks for any help.

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[Djanaba]

Most medical schools require you to pass your prereqs with a grade of C or higher. You would need to retake those courses (like Orgo).

Consider a post-bac program to improve your grades and prove your scientific worthiness to med schools. Or at least retake the courses, and be prepare to explain in an interview or statement what happened the first time around and what you've done to correct it.

 

[DaCrust]

Thanks for your help. I've already started retaking Orgo I and Cell biology because I didn't really learn the material very well the first time around.

 

[galadriel]

I am a recently retired prof of biology/premed advisor with 40 years of experience. There is seldom a simple answer to this type of question. What you should do depends. I always believed that every student who can get accepted to college can be an A student, but of course many are not. And I believe the answer to why not is complex. You don't lack the intelligence required. Among the coomon problems are poor choices of course combination, having a job and working too many hours, boyfriend/girlfriend taking up too much time, uncertain motivation, poor study habits, partying to much, at the wrong college for them, etc. Before you can change your grades you have to have answers to these questions. Otherwise your grades will remain the same.
No professional school accepts grades lower than C and a string of Cs is not good enough.
Yes, you will have to repeat such courses, but if you can't get a handle on what is going wrong, history will repeat itself.
I always recommended students in your situation talk to a counselor in the counseling office. Most resisted, partly because they think that doing that means they are psychologically ill. Bad mistake.

 

[galadriel]

And, no matter when you do repeat those courses, you will have to take additional science courses beyon those required to demonstrate that the improvement is genuine. In many cases, simply repeating a course and getting a higher grade is not enough. A common presumption you is that you had the same lecturer who gave the same exams. Even if that is not true, it will be a wasted effort explaining that to the med schools.