What looks "better" ??

[BodyBuildingDOC]

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Nontrad student here with a question. I have all A's in my science prerequisites this semester except for Organic Chem.

Organic Chem lecture: D or D+
Organic Chem lab: A

Probably the worst teacher I've ever had and this is a very difficult subject for me. Conceptually I'm not understanding which falls upon me at the end of the day. Professor is very unapproachable and no amount of studying and drawing these darn things is helping right now on my own. He's the ONLY advanced chem professor at my small school and I'm running out of options for help. Trying to teach myself through the book examples is not garnering a good response on exams. I'm thinking about dropping orgo this semester and retrying it elsewhere another time/summer and getting my physics out of the way this coming spring. What looks better to adcoms?

1. Dropping Orgo and receiving a W on my transcript for now, retaking later... or does this look fishy?
2. Stick with it and managing a D+ and retaking later showing perseverance and determination to get it right later...

 

[MrBigglesworth]

withdraw

 

[487806]

Nontrad student here with a question. I have all A's in my science prerequisites this semester except for Organic Chem.

Organic Chem lecture: D or D+
Organic Chem lab: A

Probably the worst teacher I've ever had and this is a very difficult subject for me. Conceptually I'm not understanding which falls upon me at the end of the day. Professor is very unapproachable and no amount of studying and drawing these darn things is helping right now on my own. He's the ONLY advanced chem professor at my small school and I'm running out of options for help. Trying to teach myself through the book examples is not garnering a good response on exams. I'm thinking about dropping orgo this semester and retrying it elsewhere another time/summer and getting my physics out of the way this coming spring. What looks better to adcoms?

1. Dropping Orgo and receiving a W on my transcript for now, retaking later... or does this look fishy?
2. Stick with it and managing a D+ and retaking later showing perseverance and determination to get it right later...

Take the W

 

[gyngyn]

Withdraw.

 

[mynamehere]

W!

 

[LuciusVorenus]

120% take the W.

 

[medoc4]

Nontrad student here with a question. I have all A's in my science prerequisites this semester except for Organic Chem.

Organic Chem lecture: D or D+
Organic Chem lab: A

Probably the worst teacher I've ever had and this is a very difficult subject for me. Conceptually I'm not understanding which falls upon me at the end of the day. Professor is very unapproachable and no amount of studying and drawing these darn things is helping right now on my own. He's the ONLY advanced chem professor at my small school and I'm running out of options for help. Trying to teach myself through the book examples is not garnering a good response on exams. I'm thinking about dropping orgo this semester and retrying it elsewhere another time/summer and getting my physics out of the way this coming spring. What looks better to adcoms?

1. Dropping Orgo and receiving a W on my transcript for now, retaking later... or does this look fishy?
2. Stick with it and managing a D+ and retaking later showing perseverance and determination to get it right later...

ugh same thing happened to me this semester in physics... my withdraw date has already come and gone though... I waited too long to see a tutor but i'm hoping it can be salvaged to at least a C...

 

[Omppu27]

How many exams are you into the semester? If you've already bombed two midterms then i'd think it'd be a good idea to drop. Also, i suggest buying Ochem as a second language if you haven't already. That book did wonders for me.

 

[Ismet]

absolutely withdraw.

 

[DoktorO]

W then go to another reputable college campus this summer and take Orgo there. If med schools ask you why you withdrew say you had personal issues that arose that you would like to keep private. But absolutely do not tell them you had a bad professor or anything of the like, they do not like it when students play the blame game. Anyway, most likely they wont ask you why you withdrew.

 

[whynot7]

Just wondering, how do you study if you consistently manage to get great gpas now? Thanks 🙂

 

[BABSstudent]

Nontrad student here with a question. I have all A's in my science prerequisites this semester except for Organic Chem.

Organic Chem lecture: D or D+
Organic Chem lab: A

Probably the worst teacher I've ever had and this is a very difficult subject for me. Conceptually I'm not understanding which falls upon me at the end of the day. Professor is very unapproachable and no amount of studying and drawing these darn things is helping right now on my own. He's the ONLY advanced chem professor at my small school and I'm running out of options for help. Trying to teach myself through the book examples is not garnering a good response on exams. I'm thinking about dropping orgo this semester and retrying it elsewhere another time/summer and getting my physics out of the way this coming spring. What looks better to adcoms?

1. Dropping Orgo and receiving a W on my transcript for now, retaking later... or does this look fishy?
2. Stick with it and managing a D+ and retaking later showing perseverance and determination to get it right later...

W's are better than D's because they do not factor into your GPA. Having one or two W's won't be out of the ordinary. Things happen and withdraw rules vary by school, that's why it doesn't matter so much. If you go crazy with the W's, that's when it raises red flags.

 

[tyrionmygrace]

W's are better than D's because they do not factor into your GPA. Having one or two W's won't be out of the ordinary. Things happen and withdraw rules vary by school, that's why it doesn't matter so much. If you go crazy with the W's, that's when it raises red flags.

Truth. But have a good reason ready because it's fair game at interviews.

 

[Dumpstarrian]

-

 

[BABSstudent]

Truth. But have a good reason ready because it's fair game at interviews.

Well you should have an answer ready for anything on your application. Heck, I asked an applicant what happened when they graduated with a 3.99 GPA and had one B, all the rest were A's. Did their answer change my decision? No. I was just legitimately curious what happened.

 

[tyrionmygrace]

Well you should have an answer ready for anything on your application. Heck, I asked an applicant what happened when they graduated with a 3.99 GPA and had one B, all the rest were A's. Did their answer change my decision? No. I was just legitimately curious what happened.

Haha what did he/she say?

 

[BABSstudent]

Haha what did he/she say?

She messed up a due date with an online post for a project. I don't remember if it was worth 15% of her grade and she was given half credit or if there was no way for her to turn it in for partial credit and it was worth like 7.5% of the grade. A few other missed points brought her down to the B range. Granted, it was like a B+, but it stood out. I have done that a few times with online classes before so I didn't worry.

 

[occams_razor]

W's are better than D's because they do not factor into your GPA. Having one or two W's won't be out of the ordinary. Things happen and withdraw rules vary by school, that's why it doesn't matter so much. If you go crazy with the W's, that's when it raises red flags.

this! definitely take the W

 

[BodyBuildingDOC]

Thanks so much for the replies everyone! I did indeed withdraw from Orgo1 this semester. (Forgot my password & didn't log on here for a few weeks!) I still have an A in the lab. I love applying the things in the lab and always have strong grades in that component, so that's decent. I'm curious about what to tell the adcoms why I dropped Orgo1 this semester and retook it elsewhere during this coming summer as I have planned.

I certainly don't want to blame the professor... and I do admit that conceptually I was having a hard time understanding it... yet I'm not sure the best way to phrase it to an adcom when it comes time. I have all A/A+ in my other 5 classes, yet I dropped just *this* one... Any thoughts? Hmm...

 

[BodyBuildingDOC]

Just wondering, how do you study if you consistently manage to get great gpas now? Thanks 🙂

The way I've been studying lately is attending class/asking questions/participating highly in discussions, and then going home and printing off lecture notes that professors post. I then go through all of the powerpoint lecture notes, pull out the important ideas, and hand-write important concepts/terminology/practice problems. It's time consuming combing through all of the powerpoints and there are the inevitable hand cramps from writing so much! Haha, but totally worth it since I seem to commit it to memory best when I've hand-written it. I've been having great success with this since I went back to complete these pre-requisites so I'm happy I found something that works for me (I had taken ZERO college science courses prior to summer 2013 as an MBA Degree recipient years ago).

 

[Zelda840]

kahnacademy single-handedly saved me from failing organic. you might give that a try next semester.

 

[whynot7]

The way I've been studying lately is attending class/asking questions/participating highly in discussions, and then going home and printing off lecture notes that professors post. I then go through all of the powerpoint lecture notes, pull out the important ideas, and hand-write important concepts/terminology/practice problems. It's time consuming combing through all of the powerpoints and there are the inevitable hand cramps from writing so much! Haha, but totally worth it since I seem to commit it to memory best when I've hand-written it. I've been having great success with this since I went back to complete these pre-requisites so I'm happy I found something that works for me (I had taken ZERO college science courses prior to summer 2013 as an MBA Degree recipient years ago).

Thanks! I think we learn mostly the same way. I just can't memorize something or learn it until I have looked at it myself outside of class.

 

[BodyBuildingDOC]

kahnacademy single-handedly saved me from failing organic. you might give that a try next semester.

Wow, thanks! What a good resource! I can't believe I've never heard of this guy before. I watched some of his videos and understood literally everything he presented 🙂 I will surely be using this for this summer's organic chem. Thanks again.