Just bombed my second biology test in a row. I made a 45 on the first one, and a 47.5 on the one I just took. If a miracle happens I can steal make up to a B+, or maybe even an A with extra credit. The grade isn't really what's important, my hate for Biology is the problem. I've completely stopped going to class, but I still keep up with the class because I read the textbook. I just don't know what I should do right now, it's only going to get harder from here. If I can't manage to pass BASIC biology, then how do I expect to understand upper-level courses like genetics, biochem, etc? This is also a money issue. I'm not on any kind of financial aid nor do I work, my parents are paying 7000+ a semester so I can go to school. I don't want to keep wasting their money chasing and unrealistic dream. I know not everyone is cut out for medicine, but my entire life I thought I was. I was always the over-achiever, the one who made the good grades, but since starting college I've become quite mediocre. One of my biggest fears is 4-5 years from now, I don't want to regret not pursuing medicine. I''m at a crossroads right now, and I have no idea where to go. This goes deeper than just my test grade in biology, because I'm gonna have to stick this class out in whatever decision I make. I really don't know what to do right now..I'm in need of some guidance..any advice would be greatly appreciated..
Should I just stop?
- Thread starter iqe2010
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well...if it is just one bio class that lets u down, i would say do not give up your dream. technically, you don't really need to be a bio major to go pre-med, if that is what you are concern about.
i would say take the time to shadow a few doctors at clinic to see if medicine is truly meant for you, then decide from there. i guess you are still a sophmore or freshman in college? you still have sometime before making the decision.
i would say take the time to shadow a few doctors at clinic to see if medicine is truly meant for you, then decide from there. i guess you are still a sophmore or freshman in college? you still have sometime before making the decision.
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If you don't like the sciences, you probably won't want a career in medicine. Find something else you enjoy. That's what college is all about. That, and sex and booze.
You can still keep your options open by taking all the requirements while studying archeology or art history.
Oh yeah, go to class. And 7k/semester is nothing, consider yourself lucky. My parents had to pay twice that 20 years ago.
You can still keep your options open by taking all the requirements while studying archeology or art history.
Oh yeah, go to class. And 7k/semester is nothing, consider yourself lucky. My parents had to pay twice that 20 years ago.
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I'm not trying to be an A hole, but how about going to class, and put in the effort? 😕 yeah, you hate bio etc but you can't expect to get good grades if you don't put in the effort.
There are very minimal amount of people in this world who gets good grades with very little effort, but if your not one of them, than investing the time might help out....just sayin.
There are very minimal amount of people in this world who gets good grades with very little effort, but if your not one of them, than investing the time might help out....just sayin.
Did you go to a private school? And I can see that you're an attending, did you ever get discouraged in your pursuit of medicine?
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Do you know how other students are doing compared to you? I know in all of my pre-req science classes, an average on a test could easily be less than 60 and so everything was graded on a curve. And a B+ is far from a bad grade. Even if you made a C+ in a class this semester, as long as you keep up the rest of your grades, you should be fine in the long run. Also, there is nothing saying you have to be a biology major (so no upper level bio courses), but if you can't handle biology classes, then medical school will probably be difficult for you. If you truly want to be a doctor (and you should do a lot of shadowing to decide this) then stick it out and I am sure your grades will improve.
By the way, $7000 a semester is nothing for an undergraduate education. Mine was about $21,000 a semester. I am sure worrying about money is not helping your situation either
By the way, $7000 a semester is nothing for an undergraduate education. Mine was about $21,000 a semester. I am sure worrying about money is not helping your situation either
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I was in a somewhat similar situation, I got really discouraged by General Biology II at my school, I didn't do quite that poorly, but I only managed to get a C in the end. I like you had pretty much given up and rarely attended class. I almost changed schools/career paths, but I kept up with it and I'll be matriculating at a really awesome medical school next fall that is practically my dream school, and certainly not an easy place to get into, so you can do anything, you just have to work, a lot.
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General Biology was the worst class I ever took. It gets better man.
👍 soooo true. gen bio is horrible random memorization. try to stick it out a little longer.. maybe take anatomy or physio and see if THAT's interesting. i don't think your dislike for phylogenetic trees or whatever gen bio was about anyway (i don't even remember) has any bearing on your potential as a physician. what WILL have bearing is whether you can suck it up and stick it out. go to class!
by the way, plenty of med schools don't require anything beyond a year of gen bio. so if you major in something else, what will really make up the bulk of your bcpm gpa is chemistry courses. as long as you're good at chem you will be good to go!
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Do you want a cookie?O really? cause I got a 95 on my exam
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stick it out man, it's just bio. i thought only girls liked bio..
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So I'm just about done with Med School and my advice is to stick with it, because it's worth it. I get to do things every day that are so stinking cool you wouldn't believe it. It's hard and it does legitimately suck sometimes but it's totally worth it.
Science, as it turns out, is really not the core of medicine. Medicine is really a humanistic profession with a sciency toolbox, so if you're not a science geek, don't despair, there's a lot more to medicine than phylogeny charts.
You also don't need a 7.0 GPA and a 100 on the MCAT to get into a good medical school. You need a compelling story that can convince someone reading an application that you are a human well suited to the profession of medicine. My GPA out of college was in the 2s and in non-science major, but I was able to convince the folks on the admissions committee that I would be a good doc, so they let me in.
Stop stressing about the A+, and learn to love sick people through some extra-curriculars and then learn how to communicate these experiences in a compelling way -- forget about the rest.
Science, as it turns out, is really not the core of medicine. Medicine is really a humanistic profession with a sciency toolbox, so if you're not a science geek, don't despair, there's a lot more to medicine than phylogeny charts.
You also don't need a 7.0 GPA and a 100 on the MCAT to get into a good medical school. You need a compelling story that can convince someone reading an application that you are a human well suited to the profession of medicine. My GPA out of college was in the 2s and in non-science major, but I was able to convince the folks on the admissions committee that I would be a good doc, so they let me in.
Stop stressing about the A+, and learn to love sick people through some extra-curriculars and then learn how to communicate these experiences in a compelling way -- forget about the rest.
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Definitely see if you like real-life medicine. 1) You'll know if it's worth it or if you need to find a new career goal, and 2) if you LOVE it, it'll renew your motivation to study. Also, don't write off a subject because of one class. You might just have a bad professor or textbook.
Now, if you're already feeling this way in Bio 1, you're probably susceptible to burnout. That's perfectly fine -- I'm susceptible to burnout too. Here's my advice: major in something that will get you a job when you graduate from college. Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Psychology, Pre-med studies.... these things will NOT get you jobs if you need to take some time off after undergrad or if you decide not to go to med school. Major in something like Nutrition, Education, Computer Science, Engineering, or Accounting, and work towards lining up a summer internship so you'll be marketable in the workforce. That way, if you start to feel burned out and hopeless in your junior year, you won't be trapped. You won't HAVE to go to med school or dental school or whatever -- you'll have options.
D
deleted357625
I made a 119 on my first one...
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Two exams in the 40s and a possibility of an A with extra credit?!? What type of college is this?
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Seriously OP, lots of good advice here, but you're going to have mature regardless of the major you end up with. Shadowing a doctor or whatever is only going to (hopefully) give you the perspective to push through, its not going to make class less of a bore.
Can you honestly look in the mirror everyday and justify to yourself (not just SDN anons) that its okay to not apply yourself because its "too boring"?
I can't remember a time through ANY of the med prereq's where I was just floored with how cool the lecture materials were. Science is rarely stimulating at this level, but you have to pay your dues, and by your mentality its doubtful you've ever realized this. Even in the sexy research jobs new discoveries are found at a pace that makes snails look like Ferraris.
Welcome to life hot shot, nobody gives a **** if you think class isn't its stimulating enough to apply yourself (well maybe your parents do), you're going to have to do it anyway.
Can you honestly look in the mirror everyday and justify to yourself (not just SDN anons) that its okay to not apply yourself because its "too boring"?
I can't remember a time through ANY of the med prereq's where I was just floored with how cool the lecture materials were. Science is rarely stimulating at this level, but you have to pay your dues, and by your mentality its doubtful you've ever realized this. Even in the sexy research jobs new discoveries are found at a pace that makes snails look like Ferraris.
Welcome to life hot shot, nobody gives a **** if you think class isn't its stimulating enough to apply yourself (well maybe your parents do), you're going to have to do it anyway.
D
deleted357625
that's what i was thinking hah
Whaat?
OP it really depends on how your classmates are doing cause of the curve. Unless you're absolutely sure you hate science, I would stick with it a little longer. You're still young/a freshman so you still have a lot of time to find your path. Don't feel too hurried.
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What's the class average?
Several pre-med classes are of the sciences, and there are many that have a lot of math in them-chemistry, physics, trignonometry, calculus, etc. If you like math, mabe you'll enjoy those more.
However, since you are having trouble so early on, it definately might be an indicator that a you should change your major to a different one.
However, since you are having trouble so early on, it definately might be an indicator that a you should change your major to a different one.
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There's two more tests plus a final..and she drops the lowest grade.
At Geneticist I don't know the class average for this test, but for the first test it was a 60..
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Go to class and study instead of writing long posts. Study more MORE MORE!!!!!MORE!!!!
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Medicine will be a lot more interesting than Gen Bio, but you should still have some degree of interest in the subject. Perhaps your lack of interest is due to your lack of success. I think the only reason I'm enjoying my Orgo sequence is that I'm doing reasonably well in it. In any case, you can always do a post-bac if you change your mind. Seriously, it's not the end of the world if you start med school "late". If your class average is 60 and you got a 47 then you are probably looking at a D+ unless you improve. I wouldn't rely too much on curve though since my profs have set averages anywhere from 74-80. If it makes you feel better, my school costs 54k a year. It probably doesn't though...
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I know how you feel. I'm on my last general biology class right now and I'm really suffering in it. Heck, I find my o-chem class to be easier. I really do like bio, but I just hate having to memorize all this info in such a short amount of time. Hopefully things'll get better in upper-div bio and there's less random crap.
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If OP is going through plant biology, I can understand his frustration. I'm sorry, but that stuff was just incredibly boring. Flip through your textbook and read over some of the human stuff and see how you like it, if you haven't done that yet. I'd look at the section on neurons/nerves, it's usually pretty interesting.
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I HATED general biology. I just took a B and C and moved on and it was so much more interesting after that. I don't know if you can easily manage to get by without attending the class. General biology covers such a wide variety of topics and every professor is going to focus on different things. In my university, a lot of the professors liked to focus on their areas of research and their tests would reflect that. Yes, it is ridiculously boring but it's only a couple hours of your week.
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wat
OP, what are you study habits like? No material from general bio is really conceptually difficult, it's just a lot to know.
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+1
I hated genbio. There's too much boring memorization and it's full of wannabe pre-meds. The good news: it gets better!
The good news... you don't have to actually enjoy your prereqs. Think of it like a job to study. You know your goal and you know what it takes to acheive this goal. The path won't be easy and it may not be enjoyable. Is it worth it to you?
I am graduating with a major in Biology...which is basically useless since I don't want to work in a research lab. During my gap year I'm actually using high school work experience to get me into the job, lol. I have gone through many cycles of "OMG I can't wait to be a real vet and do these cool procedures myself" and "Holy crap this is a lot of $ and many years spent studying." I pushed through and am all set to apply in the fall!
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I agree with everyone else in that, right now, its too early to tell if you truly enjoy bio or not. Biology I and II really do boil down to almost pure memorization, and nobody really enjoys staring at note cards for hours, memorizing little details. (Although I did enjoy reading the textbook...the memorization before exams was boring, but I loved the reading). Before you make the call on whether or not to pursue a different career, get through the basic bios and try a couple of upper level bios that sound interesting to you. You also may want to pick up some bio books or articles, read them, and see if you find yourself fascinated. If you don't, medicine probably isn't for you. I mean, medicine IS biology, and the first two years of med school are basically spent memorizing butt loads of bio info in quantities much greater than that you'll be expected to memorize for undergrad classes. Sure, you don't have to major in bio to get into med school, but you can't escape bio forever if you want to be a doctor.
Also, even if the class is boring, you really do need to suck it up. I HATE calc. with every fiber of my being, it is boring as ****, but med schools looking at my transcript aren't going to find that a reasonable excuse if I get a C or D in the class. To get by in life, sometimes you have to do things you don't enjoy. Med schools want to know that you can push through those hurdles and do just as well as you would if you enjoyed the class. It's called sucking it up.
Also, even if the class is boring, you really do need to suck it up. I HATE calc. with every fiber of my being, it is boring as ****, but med schools looking at my transcript aren't going to find that a reasonable excuse if I get a C or D in the class. To get by in life, sometimes you have to do things you don't enjoy. Med schools want to know that you can push through those hurdles and do just as well as you would if you enjoyed the class. It's called sucking it up.
Why did you think your entire life that you were cut out for medicine? Did you do any kind of volunteering/shadowing, etc?
Look, 1st year undergrad was my worst year too. For me it was Chem, especially (and Calc II, but I was stupid to take that in the first place).
While you might say that upper-year courses got harder, they also got a lot more interesting. It wasn't just regurgitation from the textbook. Not enjoying a basic first-year Bio or Chem or whatever class doesn't mean you're not cut out for medicine.
Go to class. The prof might give pointers on what is especially important to study, and you won't get that from reading the text.
