Medical Should I withdraw from a class?

[Goro]

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I am considering withdrawing from one of my classes that is required for my major instead of switching it to S/N and taking it at a later point instead. This would be my 5th withdrawal over the course of my undergrad. My GPA is a 3.2, and my plans was to spend this year reinventing myself for the 2021-2022 application season. I had plans for continuing my volunteer position and participating in a research internship at my University tailored towards underrepresented students that would pay a hefty stipend to cover my summer expenses. That way I would be able to work in my current lab and receive research credits for my major in the coming school year. Now I am laid off work, internship likely won't happen, and the jobs that are the most available to me are a 9-5/10-6 type of job working at local daycares. One particular job I am interviewing for is looking for a 10-6pm full-time person, and this class I am considering dropping is the only class interfering with it.

This class I am considering dropping is the equivalent of a "Biology I". I had already taken a different version of Biology I at another institution, and I thought it was sufficient for my premed biology pre-req in addition to upper-division biology courses that I had already taken. Now that I switched majors and institutions, they are highly recommending that I take my new college's version of Biology I and Biology II (which each have a separate lab course). They said I might be able to take "biology II" over the summer at a community college and this might fulfill my major requirement, but they highly recommended that I take the course at the University even though it would take me an extra semester to complete the full biology sequence. I am currently taking my institutions' version of Biology I, and I was fine with it, but now that I am applying for full-time jobs, I do not think I can keep up with this class and manage my finances at the same time. What do you guys recommend? Should I withdraw this class or change it to pass or fail?

Your 3.2GPA is far more an issue than your Ws

 

[MusicDOc124]

I had plans for continuing my volunteer position and participating in a research internship at my University tailored towards underrepresented students that would pay a hefty stipend to cover my summer expenses

This doesn't sound like volunteering if they're paying you a hefty stipend. I'm not saying don't do it by any means, but be aware of the difference between volunteering and working.

I am considering withdrawing from one of my classes that is required for my major instead of switching it to S/N and taking it at a later point instead. This would be my 5th withdrawal over the course of my undergrad. My GPA is a 3.2, and my plans was to spend this year reinventing myself for the 2021-2022 application season. I had plans for continuing my volunteer position and participating in a research internship at my University tailored towards underrepresented students that would pay a hefty stipend to cover my summer expenses. That way I would be able to work in my current lab and receive research credits for my major in the coming school year. Now I am laid off work, internship likely won't happen, and the jobs that are the most available to me are a 9-5/10-6 type of job working at local daycares. One particular job I am interviewing for is looking for a 10-6pm full-time person, and this class I am considering dropping is the only class interfering with it.

This class I am considering dropping is the equivalent of a "Biology I". I had already taken a different version of Biology I at another institution, and I thought it was sufficient for my premed biology pre-req in addition to upper-division biology courses that I had already taken. Now that I switched majors and institutions, they are highly recommending that I take my new college's version of Biology I and Biology II (which each have a separate lab course). They said I might be able to take "biology II" over the summer at a community college and this might fulfill my major requirement, but they highly recommended that I take the course at the University even though it would take me an extra semester to complete the full biology sequence. I am currently taking my institutions' version of Biology I, and I was fine with it, but now that I am applying for full-time jobs, I do not think I can keep up with this class and manage my finances at the same time. What do you guys recommend? Should I withdraw this class or change it to pass or fail?

You have a lot of Ws, a low GPA, school transfers, changes of major, and financial things happening. While these aren't inherently difficult to overcome, you have them all. You are digging yourself into a hole if you don't pause, and do what you have to do to be stable both financially and as a student. I see indecisiveness here in the absence of more information.

I dont think you should drop it. Bio 1 is a pre-req, and it's a major course requirement for you as you state. Not only would this further show indecisiveness, but also poor judgment.

Finish the class you started unless the financial hardship it too much. If it is, then take the W and focus on work, meaning don't go to school immediate in the summer either, but stabilize yourself first so that you can start stronger in the fall or following spring.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You need to read @Goro 's guide to reinvention. You need to ditch any plans to apply to medical school on your proposed timeline (apply next summer for class of 2022). I agree that the stay-at-home mandates means you probably won't have your research internship this summer.

If you are trying to apply for 2022, that makes you... a sophomore? So you haven't finished two years of college and you have four withdrawals already and you're thinking about adding a fifth with a premed prereq. We don't know what your major is, and I don't know what you were advised from your academic advisors and faculty. You sound like you have financial challenges, so are you commuting from home? You switched majors and institutions... what happened at institution #1? All grades count for your application.

If you are underrepresented, how connected are you with other URM premeds, URM medical (I presume) students, and diversity officers/student services staff at your current and past university? What sort of mentoring have you been using?

I am not sure how to advise you on what to do with getting a job in the meantime to support yourself. Everyone needs to figure that out, a lot of people are struggling to find paid opportunities, and no one knows what's going to happen.

Only you know how well you are doing in your biology class to choose P/F or W. Just note that most medical schools want a true letter grade with most prereqs, and while you may catch slack for this one semester, we want you to be as prepared and successful as possible from foundation up. If you struggle with biology I, you're going to struggle on the MCAT, preclinical exams, and ultimately your goal to be a physician. The foundation of your house needs to be solid as possible or everything will fall.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Sorry I did not write my initial post as clearly. I am currently a Senior, taking a fifth year because of switching institutions and life circumstances. I switched from not having a major in Institution #1 to Neuroscience at Institution #2. I had already taken Biology I (A), General Chemistry I (B), Calculus I (A) at a previous institution and ended my Freshman year with 3.53.

My GPA really tanked in my Junior year after a combination of a bad car accident and making bad decisions about my grades after the fact so I have been really working on my repairing my grades since. Since the car accident, I have taken some upper-division courses at my current institution and performed a little better in those courses genetics (A), neurodevelopment (B), statistics (A), physiology (B+), biochemistry (A-). I'm planning to continue to spend the next year working on that upward trend and taking more upper-division science courses. I guess that's why I planned for the 2021-2022 cycle with the 5th year of study and a gap year. Would it be best to take a total of two year gap year after graduation instead?

My current dilemma was that in my sophomore year of college I switched institutions, and they did not accept the Biology I that I had already taken because they had a version specific to my college. They would only accept my prior Biology I course if I had taken the second sequence of it at the same institution, which was nearly impossible because the institution is far away from where I currently live. After talking to my advisor, they said they might accept Biology II at a community college to fulfill my prereqs for my major. I ended up taking the new version of Biology I at my current university because I was told time and time again that classes that med school pre reqs shouldn't be taken at community colleges.

I think I will just follow the advice of taking that class letter grade at my current University. Will it be bad to take biology ii at a community college to finish my major requirements?

Thank you for the clarification on why you are taking biology over again (in other words, transfer rules didn't allow it). If you take a class at a CC (biology II in your inquiry), then it has to be transfer-friendly towards your degree. The only reason why you are taking these classes is to fulfill your DEGREE requirements, not because they will bolster your application to medical school because you already have upper-level biology classes with A's or B's. You need to be able to say this clearly to anyone who asks you why you are taking biology I and II after recording an A in genetics, B-plus in physiology, and A-minus in biochemistry, and you need to find a professor who will clearly state that in any letter of recommendation/evaluation you solicit.

Find the prehealth advisor on your new campus and make sure you get help calculating the GPA and getting your application story ready to interpret it (this is not necessarily your personal statement on why you want to be a physician). You may have a pretty reasonable plan but we are not privy to what classes are left that you have to take in upper-level biology, whereas the advisors on your campus do.