To everyone who is posting, "I failed a class"

[Dr.TurkandJD]

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Even though I understand your frustration and fear of not being able to attend medical school due to an F/D or even a C- on your transcript, DO NOT FEAR. An F or a C- is not the end of the world. Whats great about AACOMAS, they only calculate your final grade and not the average of the numerous grades (AMCAS).

From my personal experience, medical schools like to see an upward trend (increase in yearly GPA from freshman to sophomore, sophomore to junior, ext). Also, when you retake that class, make sure that class is your top priority, you HAVE to get an A or at the very least a B. Failing the same class twice looks bad, but I have seen people get accepted with that.

Don't forget that most DO schools look at your application holistically. If you fail a class and then retake it and get a great grade, they won't reject you based on that factor.

Lastly, I have seen a lot of people get discouraged during undergrad from awful grades and failed classes. However, DON'T give up, stop partying, buckle down, and study. If this is truly what you want to do, if you work hard enough, you can succeed.

Good luck to you all!

 

[MedPR]

Even though I understand your frustration and fear of not being able to attend medical school due to an F/D or even a C- on your transcript, DO NOT FEAR. An F or a C- is not the end of the world. Whats great about AACOMAS, they only calculate your final grade and not the average of the numerous grades (AMCAS).

From my personal experience, medical schools like to see an upward trend (increase in yearly GPA from freshman to sophomore, sophomore to junior, ext). Also, when you retake that class, make sure that class is your top priority, you HAVE to get an A or at the very least a B. Failing the same class twice looks bad, but I have seen people get accepted with that.

Lastly, dont forget that most DO schools look at your application holistically. If you fail a class and then retake it and get a great grade, they won't reject you based on that factor.


Good luck to you all!

Failing Prereqs at uni then going to juco or cc for As doesn't look good though.

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[Dr.TurkandJD]

Failing Prereqs at uni then going to juco or cc for As doesn't look good though.

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I never said to re-take them at a CC 😀

 

[MedPR]

I never said to re-take them at a CC 😀

I didn't say you did

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[Dr.TurkandJD]

👍

I didn't say you did

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Even though I understand your frustration and fear of not being able to attend medical school due to an F/D or even a C- on your transcript, DO NOT FEAR. An F or a C- is not the end of the world. Whats great about AACOMAS, they only calculate your final grade and not the average of the numerous grades (AMCAS).

Your gpa will be salvaged. But it's still blemish on your application and will be seen.

From my personal experience, medical schools like to see an upward trend (increase in yearly GPA from freshman to sophomore, sophomore to junior, ext). Also, when you retake that class, make sure that class is your top priority, you HAVE to get an A or at the very least a B. Failing the same class twice looks bad, but I have seen people get accepted with that.

Agreed.

Don't forget that most DO schools look at your application holistically. If you fail a class and then retake it and get a great grade, they won't reject you based on that factor.

I disagree, DO schools are selective, number driven, etc. And your second comment is debatable.

Lastly, I have seen a lot of people get discouraged during undergrad from awful grades and failed classes. However, DON'T give up, stop partying, buckle down, and study. If this is truly what you want to do, if you work hard enough, you can succeed.

The key is assessing what went wrong.

Good luck to you all!

Medical school applications are competitive, get serious and don't make mistakes. The DO forum has many examples of people being redeemed for previous bad experiences, getting in against statistical odds, but you do not want to be in either of those categories and you must do all it takes to get good grades.

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

They are selective, but they will look at your application a bit more holistic instead of just seeing the F and rejecting you.

 

[abolt18]

They are selective, but they will look at your application a bit more holistic instead of just seeing the F and rejecting you.

While this may be true, I would just like to add in an exception. Failing a pre-req multiple times post-bacc is not so good. My best friend had a pretty stellar application (much stronger than mine in every aspect except MCAT by 1 point) but he has recently failed O-chem 1 twice and barely passed the third time with a C+. He is in O-chem 2 right now and of the 10 schools he applied to, he received 3 interviews, and 2 of those schools rejected him post-interview SOLELY because of his recent struggles with O-chem.

Moral of the story is, failing and retaking a class early in education is ok. Failing and retaking classes post-bacc is not looking so good.


Luckily he was accepted to the third school and DOESN'T have to take O-chem 2 and so he dropped the class lol.

 

[DrMeows]

I understand the point of this thread because it's very nice and motivational for people who are struggling and having a hard time with certain classes 😀

But if you want my two cents (and even if you don't, here it is 😉 ) a poor grade/grades with retakes or upward trends can still hurt you. Just because you do better next time doesn't mean they won't count it against you. Trust. Me.

Think about it: 2 identical people standing side by side: 4.0 first time around and 4.0 with retakes and an adcom has to choose only one? They'll choose the first-time 4.0-er. Just saying don't give people too much false hope with this thread. While motivational, try to get it right the first time kiddos! 👍

 

[DrMeows]

While this may be true, I would just like to add in an exception. Failing a pre-req multiple times post-bacc is not so good. My best friend had a pretty stellar application (much stronger than mine in every aspect except MCAT by 1 point) but he has recently failed O-chem 1 twice and barely passed the third time with a C+. He is in O-chem 2 right now and of the 10 schools he applied to, he received 3 interviews, and 2 of those schools rejected him post-interview SOLELY because of his recent struggles with O-chem.

Moral of the story is, failing and retaking a class early in education is ok. Failing and retaking classes post-bacc is not looking so good.


Luckily he was accepted to the third school and DOESN'T have to take O-chem 2 and so he dropped the class lol.

Glad it ended up working out for him, ochem can be a MIGHTY BEAST 😡 He probably had specifically a hard time with apps because it was o chem (rumor has it a lot of medical schools look highly on your o chem grades).

So this brings up another point: failing/struggling in a certain prereq (organic chemistry) may have a much bigger impact on your application than another prereq (idk....something less important lol....physics? 😕 )

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

I got 5 C's, 1 C-, and 1 F my first 2 years. Then did 2 years with straight A's. Retook the F right away and retook the C- 4 years later. Definitely was lucky enough for the upwards trend.

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

I understand the point of this thread because it's very nice and motivational for people who are struggling and having a hard time with certain classes 😀

But if you want my two cents (and even if you don't, here it is 😉 ) a poor grade/grades with retakes or upward trends can still hurt you. Just because you do better next time doesn't mean they won't count it against you. Trust. Me.

Think about it: 2 identical people standing side by side: 4.0 first time around and 4.0 with retakes and an adcom has to choose only one? They'll choose the first-time 4.0-er. Just saying don't give people too much false hope with this thread. While motivational, try to get it right the first time kiddos! 👍

Point of this thread is to stop 5 people from posting "I failed, what should I do" threads and I guess motivation 🙂

 

[DrMeows]

I got 5 C's, 1 C-, and 1 F my first 2 years. Then did 2 years with straight A's. Retook the F right away and retook the C- 4 years later. Definitely was lucky enough for the upwards trend.

I think your situation definitely shows adcoms your ability to buckle down and change the way you work. I think this shows an extreme example, but you have been very successful this cycle so it's definitely motivational enough to show people it can be done 😀

Point of this thread is to stop 5 people from posting "I failed, what should I do" threads and I guess motivation 🙂

Good point. The redundant threads do get a little annoying. I swear it's like people don't know the search function exists!

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

I think your situation definitely shows adcoms your ability to buckle down and change the way you work. I think this shows an extreme example, but you have been very successful this cycle so it's definitely motivational enough to show people it can be done 😀



Good point. The redundant threads do get a little annoying. I swear it's like people don't know the search function exists!

👍 ok future classmate.

 

[DrMeows]

👍 ok future classmate.

very funny 😉

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

very funny 😉

Meow

 

[hv92]

What about not passing O-chem the first time u take it... then retaking it and getting a C, and the university you are at does not allow you to retake C's (as in, if you even register for it, you are dropped from the class)? The CC is the only option for me due to this situation. I think this is where the MCAT comes into play.

 

[darklabel]

While this may be true, I would just like to add in an exception. Failing a pre-req multiple times post-bacc is not so good. My best friend had a pretty stellar application (much stronger than mine in every aspect except MCAT by 1 point) but he has recently failed O-chem 1 twice and barely passed the third time with a C+. He is in O-chem 2 right now and of the 10 schools he applied to, he received 3 interviews, and 2 of those schools rejected him post-interview SOLELY because of his recent struggles with O-chem.

Moral of the story is, failing and retaking a class early in education is ok. Failing and retaking classes post-bacc is not looking so good.


Luckily he was accepted to the third school and DOESN'T have to take O-chem 2 and so he dropped the class lol.

I'm surprised O-Chem 2 wasn't a requirement for the school.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

What about not passing O-chem the first time u take it... then retaking it and getting a C, and the university you are at does not allow you to retake C's (as in, if you even register for it, you are dropped from the class)? The CC is the only option for me due to this situation. I think this is where the MCAT comes into play.

You're SOL. Get an A in O-Chem 2. Hire a tutor, etc.

 

[darklabel]

You're SOL. Get an A in O-Chem 2. Hire a tutor, etc.

I think he should retake O-Chem 1 for the A and just rock O-Chem 2 in his 4-year. Raise GPA and show you can handle O-Chem in his school.

 

[hv92]

You're SOL. Get an A in O-Chem 2. Hire a tutor, etc.

this is in O chem 2. Yet all of my bio upper division classes are Bs, B+s, and As (more As though). Looks like all of my pre-reqs will be from a CC since this policy has been implemented.

 

[dododr]

I'm surprised O-Chem 2 wasn't a requirement for the school.

+1, I can't think which school this is

 

[coolingglasses]

An F is not a death knell. Neither is a crappy retake. Hell, neither is a recent C. I have all three.

But the longer ago they were, the better. The first two fall in a two year block where it's really obvious I was struggling with college and life as a whole, not just the material.

Oh, and the F was at a community college lol.

 

[TriagePreMed]

What about not passing O-chem the first time u take it... then retaking it and getting a C, and the university you are at does not allow you to retake C's (as in, if you even register for it, you are dropped from the class)? The CC is the only option for me due to this situation. I think this is where the MCAT comes into play.

I would leave it at the C if it's your only prerequisite with a low grade.

That said, to the people failing or getting bad grades, while not ideal, 1 or 2 Fs, even if you don't retake but have a strong GPA, would probably not be the kiss of death. If you have 1 or 2 Cs in prerequisites, it might not be necessary to retake. Now, people who are having to retake a class >2 times, for more than a single class especially, I think you need to start evaluating pausing pre-med at this time. I'm not saying give up on medicine, but it sounds like you have other problems you need to address before continuing on this journey.

 

[IH8ColdWeath3r]

Honestly, I don't get what is so hard about OCHEM. It is completely manageable if you work hard and study hard. If you preview the lectures before hand, go to class, do the problems, and study/work hard, you SHOULD be able to get an A.

I took Ochem I and II with the hardest professor at my university. Got A's in both and ended up tutoring and TA for him for 2 years. What I noticed is that the people who struggle with Ochem are biology students who are used to rote memorization. So these students go into the class trying to memorize every single little detail/arrow for mechanism as opposed to learning concepts and trying to APPLY those concepts to new situations/problems. And so, because of this, they either got a C/D/F and had to retake the class.

One of my interviewers at one of my interviews asked me if I thought that doing well in Ochem would help me in medical school. I responded No. He then went on to recite a study showing that the greatest indicator for success among medical students was how well they did in Ochem (obviously this doesn't mean that everyone who did well in medical school also did well in Ochem). I thought this was interesting, albeit I don't know how accurate/biased the study was.

But, what I always used to tell my students was that in terms of the thought process, there are similarities. In organic chemistry, you are provided with small bits and pieces of information (the reactions, mechanism, stereochemistry) and your supposed to use the information you know in a step-wise manner to come up with a problem. Sometimes, you do not arrive at the solution with the first path that you take. You are required to go back, retrace your steps, work backwards (retrosynthetically) and find an alternative solution. Medicine is very much the same way. You are given bits of information (the patient's history, their vital signs, and your medical knowledge regarding X,Y,Z) and then your are to come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan. You sometimes do not come up with a definitive diagnosis and so you work backwards, order additional testing/imaging in order to arrive at the problem.

 

[MedPR]

Honestly, I don't get what is so hard about OCHEM. It is completely manageable if you work hard and study hard. If you preview the lectures before hand, go to class, do the problems, and study/work hard, you SHOULD be able to get an A.

I took Ochem I and II with the hardest professor at my university. Got A's in both and ended up tutoring and TA for him for 2 years. What I noticed is that the people who struggle with Ochem are biology students who are used to rote memorization. So these students go into the class trying to memorize every single little detail/arrow for mechanism as opposed to learning concepts and trying to APPLY those concepts to new situations/problems. And so, because of this, they either got a C/D/F and had to retake the class.

One of my interviewers at one of my interviews asked me if I thought that doing well in Ochem would help me in medical school. I responded No. He then went on to recite a study showing that the greatest indicator for success among medical students was how well they did in Ochem (obviously this doesn't mean that everyone who did well in medical school also did well in Ochem). I thought this was interesting, albeit I don't know how accurate/biased the study was.

But, what I always used to tell my students was that in terms of the thought process, there are similarities. In organic chemistry, you are provided with small bits and pieces of information (the reactions, mechanism, stereochemistry) and your supposed to use the information you know in a step-wise manner to come up with a problem. Sometimes, you do not arrive at the solution with the first path that you take. You are required to go back, retrace your steps, work backwards (retrosynthetically) and find an alternative solution. Medicine is very much the same way. You are given bits of information (the patient's history, their vital signs, and your medical knowledge regarding X,Y,Z) and then your are to come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan. You sometimes do not come up with a definitive diagnosis and so you work backwards, order additional testing/imaging in order to arrive at the problem.

🙄

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[hv92]

Honestly, I don't get what is so hard about OCHEM. It is completely manageable if you work hard and study hard. If you preview the lectures before hand, go to class, do the problems, and study/work hard, you SHOULD be able to get an A.

I took Ochem I and II with the hardest professor at my university. Got A's in both and ended up tutoring and TA for him for 2 years. What I noticed is that the people who struggle with Ochem are biology students who are used to rote memorization. So these students go into the class trying to memorize every single little detail/arrow for mechanism as opposed to learning concepts and trying to APPLY those concepts to new situations/problems. And so, because of this, they either got a C/D/F and had to retake the class.

One of my interviewers at one of my interviews asked me if I thought that doing well in Ochem would help me in medical school. I responded No. He then went on to recite a study showing that the greatest indicator for success among medical students was how well they did in Ochem (obviously this doesn't mean that everyone who did well in medical school also did well in Ochem). I thought this was interesting, albeit I don't know how accurate/biased the study was.

But, what I always used to tell my students was that in terms of the thought process, there are similarities. In organic chemistry, you are provided with small bits and pieces of information (the reactions, mechanism, stereochemistry) and your supposed to use the information you know in a step-wise manner to come up with a problem. Sometimes, you do not arrive at the solution with the first path that you take. You are required to go back, retrace your steps, work backwards (retrosynthetically) and find an alternative solution. Medicine is very much the same way. You are given bits of information (the patient's history, their vital signs, and your medical knowledge regarding X,Y,Z) and then your are to come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan. You sometimes do not come up with a definitive diagnosis and so you work backwards, order additional testing/imaging in order to arrive at the problem.

So I guess this means... "Yes, take it again you little b***h".