Urgently need honest advising

[helly09]

After having finally completed a hellish year, I am sitting here as a pre-med staring at the ruins of my GPA. Let me just give you the numbers...er, letters:
Semester 1:
Organic Chemistry I: C+
Biology I: B
Biology I Lab: B-

Semester 2:
Organic Chemistry II: A-
Organic Chemistry Lab: B
Biology II: C
Biology II Lab: C+

My biology grade was a B before I took my final. I am still not convinced that the grade was calculated correctly and, when I asked her about it, my professor requested that I come see her at the start of the fall semester to go over my records. Regardless, I am choosing to look at these grades for what they are: a possible death sentence for my eventual med school application. Obviously, I am not applying right now, but I recognize that admissions committees take these grades very seriously, as they are the basis for medical school coursework. I have been doing practice MCAT questions daily (say, an average of 5 or 6 a day, just for fun) and have been doing remarkably well--apparently, I learned much more in my classes than my grades indicate. I received high Bs in General Chemisty, As in General Chemistry labs, a B and an A in Physics I and II, respectively, and As in the accompanying labs. I sincerely believe that I am capable of doing extremely well, but made a very grave mistake in my scheduling (core Biology is considered a "weed-out" course at my small, tough liberal arts college). I will do whatever it takes to become a physician, including working hard to pay for post-bac work after my undergrad career. However, I understand that this path isn't for everyone (even though I'm not ready to give up hope that it's for me). Thanks so much in advance for any advice you can give me!

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[Whatyousay]

Is this your first semester? If it is, I wouldn't start smashing the panic button yet.

One bad year won't kill your application (although those Cs will probably hurt) as long as you do well in your future semesters and do well on the MCAT to demonstrate to medical schools that you learned something in your pre-reqs/are capable of handling science coursework.

 

[helly09]

Unfortunately, no, I have just completed my sophomore year. My freshman year went well, but I was poorly advised to skip taking biology and chemistry together and instead wait until I was "more mature" and consider taking biology and organic together. Terrible mistake.

 

[V5RED]

You probably need better study habits.

How much time are you putting in each night to study?

How did you study for physics?

What changed between organic 1 and organic 2? I am always shocked when someone does well in a course when they did poorly in the prerequisite.

Maybe you should apply the way you studied for those to your other classes.

Clearly you can do well(based on your physics and organic 2 grades), but you have not done well in most classes(that you told us about).

 

[helly09]

I suppose it's safe to say I haven't done WELL in the other courses I mentioned--clearly by "well" you mean As, yes? which I do agree with--but I am not beating myself up over the Bs at this point simply because I realize that Rhodes is far more rigorous than its ranking suggests, and because I know that my very, very poor background in science (I came from a high school that, during my time there, had the lowest-paid teachers in the state) did not prepare me at all for college coursework. I did not think this would be the case when I entered, but I digress...
You are probably correct, my study habits could use a tune-up. Honestly, I feel like I wasn't working "hard" until this past semester in organic. I hadn't noticed this before, but in prereqs, at least in lecture, I do have more Bs than As. I'm very discouraged...I want to keep trying but I feel like things are looking very bleak.
Oh, and between orgos I and II, I forced myself to like the material. I was thrilled to take the final exam, because it felt like more of a hobby than work, as if I were showing off a piece of art. That sounds absurd, but it's true. For Bio II, I had a teacher who admitted to the class on several occasions that she wasn't interested in what she was teaching. She was an ecology instructor, whereas the class was mostly anatomy-based. I often had orgo and bio exams back-to-back--actually, ALL of them were roughly 24 hours apart, save for the first one. I scored one of the highest grades in the class--an A--on her most difficult exam, but my final still brought me down. I haven't seen it yet, so I'm not sure what happened. I was extremely confident and am still very surprised at the outcome. I don't know why I'm telling you this, because it doesn't make a difference (I know that an admissions council won't know these things); perhaps somehow it will give you a little more insight? I am not trying to make excuses, simply stating the facts. I should have worked harder if I was insistant upon taking these courses together.

 

[helly09]

Bumping for advice...

 

[eugenierose]

why is it hellish?

are you planning to take b chem and UL bio (the answer should be yes)
get As. problem solved.

if you can't get As get Bs.

what are your other grades? what were your other courses? what is your GPA and credit numbers now?

 

[Windbreaker]

You are NOT screwed or anything like that. But seriously, you need to focus your energies and time on your academics. Take extra, advanced level science classes, like Biochem, Genetics, Microbio, Anatomy, etc. etc. etc. and get A's. Cut out the distractions and decide whats most important to you. If you can pull solid grades, you will be fine.