Too stupid for med school/science?

[biobaggins9]

Hi, so I'm new to this thread although I've kind of lurked for a while. I'm not really asking for sympathy with this thread, just advice.

I'm a fall semester sophomore, and I'm taking organic chemistry at the moment. Chemistry has always been my most difficult subject, and I devote the most time to studying for it. It's nearing the end of the semester, and it looks like I might fail it, which is kind of heartbreaking obviously since it's important for med school. I don't really know what I'm doing wrong, I've been studying at least a week or two in advance for every test, I go to my professor's office hours at least once a week, I worked with other people even though I'm not big on studying in a group. I've only seen minimal improvement, like a 59 on the first test to a 60 on the second one, and then a 60 to a 66 from the second to third. I really thought I understood the stuff on the most recent test (the third one), but apparently I didn't.

My GPA is around a 2.5 right now because I struggled with my chem class last year, and I'm just worried that maybe I'm just not smart enough for this? I know it's not test anxiety because I'm fine in every other class and I just don't know what to do. I love science, and if med school wasn't my goal then I'd want to go into research, but it seems like I'm not smart enough for either. Does anybody have any advice?

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[workaholic181]

I was not initially successful in the sciences when I started pre med. It took time for me to learn how to best approach and study these topics which were more difficult for me to understand than other subject areas. Overtime I realized through the process of approaching these things I became naturally good at science.

A lot of people do badly in O chem. An F obviously significantly impacts your application. A 2.5 is far below acceptable for MD or DO. You need to ask yourself honestly if you feel you're able to change the way you approach your science courses. I'm not saying you're not putting in enough effort, but clearly what you're doing now is not going to lead to success. Only you can make up your mind about that. Don't use the word "stupid" when describing yourself!

 

[Goro]

Hi, so I'm new to this thread although I've kind of lurked for a while. I'm not really asking for sympathy with this thread, just advice.

I'm a fall semester sophomore, and I'm taking organic chemistry at the moment. Chemistry has always been my most difficult subject, and I devote the most time to studying for it. It's nearing the end of the semester, and it looks like I might fail it, which is kind of heartbreaking obviously since it's important for med school. I don't really know what I'm doing wrong, I've been studying at least a week or two in advance for every test, I go to my professor's office hours at least once a week, I worked with other people even though I'm not big on studying in a group. I've only seen minimal improvement, like a 59 on the first test to a 60 on the second one, and then a 60 to a 66 from the second to third. I really thought I understood the stuff on the most recent test (the third one), but apparently I didn't.

My GPA is around a 2.5 right now because I struggled with my chem class last year, and I'm just worried that maybe I'm just not smart enough for this? I know it's not test anxiety because I'm fine in every other class and I just don't know what to do. I love science, and if med school wasn't my goal then I'd want to go into research, but it seems like I'm not smart enough for either. Does anybody have any advice?

Go to your school's learning or education center for help with study techniques, time mgts skills, test taking strategies etc. You need to learn how to learn.

 

[stickgirl390]

Everyone is smart in a different way. Just because you struggle with science, doesn’t mean you aren’t smart!

 

[Styrene]

Hi, so I'm new to this thread although I've kind of lurked for a while. I'm not really asking for sympathy with this thread, just advice.

I'm a fall semester sophomore, and I'm taking organic chemistry at the moment. Chemistry has always been my most difficult subject, and I devote the most time to studying for it. It's nearing the end of the semester, and it looks like I might fail it, which is kind of heartbreaking obviously since it's important for med school. I don't really know what I'm doing wrong, I've been studying at least a week or two in advance for every test, I go to my professor's office hours at least once a week, I worked with other people even though I'm not big on studying in a group. I've only seen minimal improvement, like a 59 on the first test to a 60 on the second one, and then a 60 to a 66 from the second to third. I really thought I understood the stuff on the most recent test (the third one), but apparently I didn't.

My GPA is around a 2.5 right now because I struggled with my chem class last year, and I'm just worried that maybe I'm just not smart enough for this? I know it's not test anxiety because I'm fine in every other class and I just don't know what to do. I love science, and if med school wasn't my goal then I'd want to go into research, but it seems like I'm not smart enough for either. Does anybody have any advice?

If medical school is what you really want to do, then you will find a way to boost the GPA to an acceptable level. Otherwise, advice to just choose a different career path right now wouldn’t be bad advice. I’m not saying that’s what you should do, but there is obviously no shame despite what other hypercompetitive premeds might say.

 

[biobaggins9]

Hi! Just wanted to update you guys, I'm in my spring semester now and I passed Orgo I with a C-! Obviously that might not be that impressive in terms of other premeds but with all the mental health stuff I've been dealing with this past year it was really great for me. And now I'm doing really well Orgo 2, I've got a B at the moment and we only just did the second test so I think I have a really good chance of getting an A. So thank you guys for your advice!