*Urgent* Should I Withdraw from my Summer Class? no chance of A & low GPA...

[premedked]

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Hey guys,

I need some urgent advice about whether to Withdraw from my summer O-chem class or not.

There are 2 weeks of summer session 1 left but I am not satisfied with my test grades and feel like I could do better. Many of the places i screwed up were due to careless mistakes (which counted for a lot since the tests were short and had few questions) and bad planning. I also messed up on a lot of the labs, while normally labs are a grade-booster for me.

I'm not sure if I should withdraw due to these reasons. Should I try to finish up the class without a W if I have a chance of getting a grade in the B range?

I already have a W in calc and will be a Junior.

I don't know if i should take the 2nd W and try to get a better grade ESPECIALLY since my science GPA is also a 3.0 (cGPA 3.54)
(general bio: B, B+
general chem: B+, C
stats: A
bio course: C+)

also i'd have to take it over in the following summer because of scheduling difficulties during the year

thanks in advance!

 

[V5RED]

I am shocked your school would still let you withdraw. Mine cuts us off a week into our summer session.

I suppose withdrawing would be best since you can probably get an A when you take a second bite at the apple without your poor performance dragging you down.

Honestly though you need to either improve your study habits or change career paths. Unless you are hiding something, you have failed to secure an A in any of your prerequisite courses.

 

[deleted357625]

Yea i would def drop

 

[theseeker4]

I am shocked your school would still let you withdraw. Mine cuts us off a week into our summer session.

I suppose withdrawing would be best since you can probably get an A when you take a second bite at the apple without your poor performance dragging you down.

Honestly though you need to either improve your study habits or change career paths. Unless you are hiding something, you have failed to secure an A in any of your prerequisite courses.

I would agree with this, as you need to do better to have a chance to succeed at medical school. Don't take any more science classes until you know what you have been doing wrong, why, and are able to fix it. If you continue to withdraw and/or get a <3.0 average in the sciences, even if you get into medical school you will have to do something different to be successful.

 

[raltima07]

Withdraw

 

[phnerd1105]

I'm not going to be harsh and say that you need to change career paths, but you definitely need to be introspective about what you're doing right and wrong. You need to clearly fix something in you study habits to begin improving your grades. If your school still lets you withdraw, I would do that. Good luck to you. 👍

 

[NKChemEng]

Unless you are hiding something, you have failed to secure an A in any of your prerequisite courses.

That's a good point which I agree with. It's not the end of the world, but I would suggest retaking your pre-reqs as a post-bac or SMP. Your other grades must be very high based on your cGPA, but sGPA needs work.

And def. withdraw. I'd take the W and redo the course.

 

[premedked]

Honestly though you need to either improve your study habits or change career paths. Unless you are hiding something, you have failed to secure an A in any of your prerequisite courses.

I know..I'm working on it. I did really bad in gen chem because I didn't understand the concepts. But for orgo, I feel like I understand the concepts more. I just had a bad start and kept making stupid mistakes on the tests, and i guess that's enough to drag me down in a summer-paced course

so a W wouldn't be viewed as having to do so because i was expecting a C or below?

I guess you guys are saying that unless if I can get an A i should withdraw, and that a B/B- would be hurting me given my current sGPA?

 

[premedked]

.

 

[Geekchick921]

Abandon ship!

 

[raltima07]

really? that was the drop deadline for me. today's the withdraw deadline...

Withdraw already - what else do you want us to tell you? Unless you can ace this class, you are digging yourself into a deeper whole

 

[tman5890]

Withdraw!

 

[takeabow]

why W when u can get a B?

 

[EgotiStick]

Not trying to be a dick, but do you really think you'll get an A? Why are your errors in organic different than those in the other core classes (where you also did not get As)?

At best you get an A on the 2nd take, but schools will see the mulligan on your transcript either way. This is still not really a great scenario. If you can pull off a B/B+ I think it warrants not withdrawing.

Either way some soul-searching needs to be done because I would say the Ws are a bad blemish when you don't have any As. Keep in mind many people see a "W" as an "F" that knew when to cut it's losses. It's definitely salvagable, but seriously man: motivate yourself.

 

[Iso4ane]

Not trying to be a dick, but do you really think you'll get an A? Why are your errors in organic different than those in the other core classes (where you also did not get As)?

At best you get an A on the 2nd take, but schools will see the mulligan on your transcript either way. This is still not really a great scenario. If you can pull off a B/B+ I think it warrants not withdrawing.

Either way some soul-searching needs to be done because I would say the Ws are a bad blemish when you don't have any As. Keep in mind many people see a "W" as an "F" that knew when to cut it's losses. It's definitely salvagable, but seriously man: motivate yourself.

You are probably not the first to think this, just the first to voice it.

 

[premedked]

Not trying to be a dick, but do you really think you'll get an A? Why are your errors in organic different than those in the other core classes (where you also did not get As)?

At best you get an A on the 2nd take, but schools will see the mulligan on your transcript either way. This is still not really a great scenario. If you can pull off a B/B+ I think it warrants not withdrawing.

I guess that's a good point, but I have a good chance of doing better than I'm doing now at least. It's different with this class cause i keep making stupid mistakes while like in gen chem I had no idea what I was doing at some points. I tried my best to get the grades in other pre-reqs but for this one other circumstances got in the way

Also because I'm not taking it at my university and find it to be easier to do better here in science courses...planning on taking it here again if I take it a 2nd time

..just stalling until the end of the day when I get more grades back before making the final decision

 

[MDOnlyWillDo]

I guess that's a good point, but I have a good chance of doing better than I'm doing now at least.

You need to shoot higher than "doing better" at this point with your sGPA. With your cGPA, either you haven't learned how to study science, or you are simply breezing through the "easy" non-science classes. Until you figure out which one it is (or both of them) and fix it, you will continue at C level, preventing you from your med school of choice. I would say drop the class, take only one pre-req in the fall, and get yourself back on track. A W is better than another low grade at this point.

 

[kcin]

I know..I'm working on it. I did really bad in gen chem because I didn't understand the concepts.

No offense bro, but gen chem is plug and chug.

edit: Are you working full time or do you have any other reason you're doing poorly? If not and you're unable to pull decent grades in a summer semester, I'd start rethinking life goals.

 

[kts]

Yeah I was in a similar position and my advisor said basically if you don't get A's on the rest of your pre-req's, it's a pretty slim chance of getting in. g'luck 👍

 

[raltima07]

Yeah I was in a similar position and my advisor said basically if you don't get A's on the rest of your pre-req's, it's a pretty slim chance of getting in. g'luck 👍

Did it work out for you?

 

[Avoidthetiger]

I have been in the same place as you before. I did dropout of OChem summer course with about 2-weeks left. I had about a 3.2sGPA at the end of my freshman year of college, and was freaking out over getting a B or worse in my summer ochem class.

Honestly though, summer Ochem is super tough (at least at my school) and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I was studying about 50 hours a week, working about 20 hours (i like money), and I was barely getting 50% on the tests. Curves would have made it a B... maybe even higher. But I was just getting so frustrated with my school, that I even wanted to drop out and never returned.

I ended up withdrawing from the class, going home, and enrolling in a fun class at another college for the summer. When I retook ochem, I still ended up getting a B .. but it was a more comfortable B, becuase I was atleast getting 80% or so on all the exams

And hey! guess what! I raised my science GPA up to a 3.4 or so, and still got into MED SCHOOL.

I would say do what makes you happier. Part of me regrets dropping because i most likely would have gotten a B-grade.... but part of me was very happy to do it... because I was super homesick, hating life and probably would have dropped out of college for good (yep, I hated ochem that much). Don't drop though just because you assume you will get an A next time. You might not. And really, it won't be the end of the world.

 

[premedked]

thanks for the input everyone

 

[paul411]

probably would have dropped out of college for good (yep, I hated ochem that much)

Fffffuuuuu Ochem

 

[Person0715]

You keep saying you don't do well in classes because you keep making stupid mistakes, but knowing the little details is what separates the wheat from the chaff. Being meticulous is an important quality to have.

 

[Algophiliac]

I am wondering if the responses would be different if you have a history of multiple withdrawals/drops (for whatever reasons) and a low GPA?

Assuming you can pull a low B or high C in a class...but would typically be capable of pulling an A, should you still drop? I ran into this scenario in the past, and am wondering if I did the right thing.

 

[kaleidoscopes]

I'm just curious, I've been lurking around SDN for a while and I thought the general consensus of when to take a W is if you're about to get a C, D, or F. If you could possibly get a B, why would you withdraw? what's the difference between this situation and other ones?

 

[Algophiliac]

I'm just curious, I've been lurking around SDN for a while and I thought the general consensus of when to take a W is if you're about to get a C, D, or F. If you could possibly get a B, why would you withdraw? what's the difference between this situation and other ones?

1. Very low GPA
2. +/- grading--a grade in the B range can mean B-, which would lower OP's sGPA; anything not A will lower his already low cGPA
3. pre-req course
4. Low pre-req grades in past
5. Will be a junior
6. Made stupid mistakes and can actually do better
7. Only 2nd W

Which is why I'm wondering how this advice might change if it was a history of taking W's, but nothing else different!

 

[justadream9]

1. Very low GPA
2. +/- grading--a grade in the B range can mean B-, which would lower OP's sGPA; anything not A will lower his already low cGPA
3. pre-req course
4. Low pre-req grades in past
5. Will be a junior
6. Made stupid mistakes and can actually do better
7. Only 2nd W

Which is why I'm wondering how this advice might change if it was a history of taking W's, but nothing else different!

I would say that if you have a reason for the history of W's it might be okay, but i'm not positive

 

[Algophiliac]

I would say that if you have a reason for the history of W's it might be okay, but i'm not positive

I definitely have a reason. But that was the first course I actually dropped that did not relate to that reason. Basically, I had a history of W's for a medical reason, then 1 W for a non-medical reason. The problem is these won't be differentiated on my transcript...except by time...yikes.