I am enrolled in the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am horrible at Calculus. Never took it high school and I dropped out halfway through the year and only after retaking it did I get the C. I took another course along with these (Anthropology) with which I got a C. But again, my first semester I hadn’t really established an effective studying method.
Second semester I dedicated a significant amount of time and effort to Gen. Chem. II. I scored B’s on all exams but I did poorly on the final. The entire class was graded on a curve based on where you where relative to the highest score. I’ve always been obsessed with Biology/anatomy/disease since I was 7. Is it time to give up on my dream?
Freshman Year Grades:
Gen. Chem. I: BC
Gen. Chem II: C
Calculus I: C (retaken)
Also, do medical schools allow you to take longer than 4 (5) years to complete undergrad?
For Gen. Chem II I was involved with a tutoring group which was extremely helpful and supplemented my study hours. What the red flag is for me is that I really felt I had a grasp for the material, really put forth my best effort, and I was scoring about average on the exams. Seeing that my best effort does not even result in a B, I am wondering if I should reevaluate the effectiveness of my studying habits or my entire career plan.
Med schools are for students with A grades. You should strive for A each class. You need 3.7 Gpa overall to get into med schools now a days.
You should evaluate yourself if you can achieve that standard. If not, you should have a backup plan.
Here’s the data you are seeking: https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html
You might want to spend some time looking into other professions in the health field. Go to your college career services/placement office and talk to someone there about the options. There are many medically-related professions which would welcome someone with a passion for biology/anatomy/disease. Being a doctor is just one way - the hardest way - in. Look at nursing, physicians assistants, physical/occupational/other therapies, hospice, rehab, and of course public health.
Med school don’t care how long it takes you to complete your undergrad so longer as don’t becomes a perpetual student.
Here's website to help you explore other healthcare-related professions:
<a href="http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/home">http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/home</a>
Whether or not you take more than 4 years is irrelevant. The key is why you took more than 4 years. Why are you going to need 5? Because of bad grades? If so, the fact that you have bad grades will be the issue, not that you took 5 years.
This is depressing. I’ve wanted to do this for such a long time, I feel like my hopes are crushed.
I don’t want your hopes to be crushed, but you need to realize that sometimes just wanting a thing isn’t enough. Certain careers requires a certain level of academic achievement. Medicine expects a high level of science/math competency for those who choose to pursue it.
That said, it may be too soon to give up. You’re probably not studying effectively, probably not putting enough time into doing the work required and may have academic deficiencies that are making your science/math classes difficult for you.
1) What help did you seek out when you realized you having trouble with chem and calc?
Did you go to office hours? Get tutoring at your college's academic support center? Join a study group? Seek alternative instruction (like Khan Academy or other textbooks books)?
2) Did you faithfully attend all lectures and recitations? Did you read all assigned materials before attend lectures? And make notes about what you didn't understand so that you could ask in class? Did you do all assigned problem sets? Did you do extra problem sets from other texts or ones not assigned for class? (Honestly, the only way to master calc and chem is to do a million problems…..)
3) Did you take a math placement exam to see if you had the necessary preparation for calc? For chem, had you had a high level chem class (AP or at least honors level) in high school? Have you taken a study skills seminar/class/workshop offered by your college?
If you can honestly say you’ve done all this—then please realize sometimes a person just isn’t cut out for certain careers. There’s no shame in not having an aptitude for science/math.
If you haven’t done everything possible [from above], then it becomes a matter of effort & a willingness to suffer (yes, suffer since as DH’s grad physics prof once famously remarked: knowledge comes from pain) to achieve your career goal.
One thing to consider: osteopathic medical schools allow grade replacement--that is, only the newest grade in a class is included in GPA calculations.
So you can either retake both semesters of gen chem and calc 1 again, or you can give up on med school and start exploring other fields.
It’s just frustrating because the Gen. Chem. material is relatively easy and I felt like I had a good grasp on the material. The C was a big surprise. But then the problem I faced during the final was that there was so much material and I ended up with only a day and a half to study for that exam.
So I take that scoring the average in college = a C?
I took AP Chemistry my junior year of high school but I likely didn’t absorb a lot since I was being treated for severe anxiety (it’s under control now). I dug a hole for myself by not taking Calculus in high school and not getting tutoring until later in the semester. Calculus I, I can certainly attribute to poor study habits/not getting the help necessary/lack of solid foundation in math.
My study habits involve a lot of cramming. Like I will work on an assignment for many hours a day a few days before it is due. I have (premed) friends whose studying methods involve staying ahead, reading lecture material before attending lecture. I make an effort to start studying for an exam a week before but it usually ends up being 3-5 days before, intense cramming. Doing supplemental practice problems for my Chemistry exam got me scores in the B/B- range for exams.
Again, being exposed to the material for AP Biology/ AP Chemistry in high school, etc. it never seemed to be out of my academic aptitude. I have always had an analytical mind geared toward scientific thinking.
I know with lack of maturity comes narrow-mindedness and it probably appears like I’ve had tunnel vision and focused on this one goal my entire life. But again, biology and psychology are really the only two subjects I have ever had an interest for. I love helping people/interacting with people, I want a career that involves the journey or life-long learning coupled with my passion for biology/study of disease.
^^^This is your problem.
Cramming doesn’t work in college and will not work in medical school. You need to develop better self-discipline. Medicine requires ** a lot** of discipline.
Developing better study habits is entirely within your control. Either you take control of your life/habits or you don’t.
Wanting to help people is admirable, but there are literally *thousands* of careers that help people. Maybe it's time to broader your vision.
Looks like this is no longer going to happen. Everyone who reads this post: have a drink for me! Bottoms up! Gonna throw back a leignenkugel before I get too depressed
There are LOTS of professions that will allow you to interact with people while pursuing a passion for biology. Look into PA’s.
https://www.aapa.org/landingquestion.aspx?id=290
If that’s not enough time to study for you, then you need to budget your time better so you have more time to study. If you underestimated the amount of material you would need to know, then you need to stay on top of your classes more so you could have a better sense of how much time you actually needed.
For some people that’s sufficient. Obviously it’s not sufficient for you.
Because a couple people on the internet told you you have bad study habits???
I try to stay away from saying a given study tactic does or doesn’t work in a global sense. I vary my studying techniques based on what I think will work best for each class/test. If you’re getting Cs though, whatever you’re doing probably isn’t working.
Thanks, Brown. I’m just adjusting from the initial shock of that grade. It’s a little strange when you are doing well during the semester and then the you fail the final and go down an entire letter grade and a half. I will never be a fan of curved classes. But I guess I see it for what it really is: poor study habits (spending just one day studying for the final) versus lack of aptitude.
I will never be a firm believer that certain people are born with the aptitude for science and others have an aptitude for teaching or something. I feel like it is a matter of willpower and focus. People have different strengths and being passionate about a subject can certainly aid you in doing well in a course (Interest in material= more time spent studying material & easier recall of information that is relevant to you personally). What also plays a large role is how you are approaching the material and how you go about integrating it into your current skill set. Circumstance is also significant. Sometimes it’s about being in the right place at the right time. Hard work doesn’t always cut it. Again, I believe anyone with the right resources/methodology can be a doctor. At the same time, it’s true certain personalities are especially drawn the field (Type A personalities, high-strung, perfectionistic) because the lifestyle is similar to theirs. That’s great, but I don’t think people should give up on something just because they don’t fit the ideal model for what that is.
The problem is that with your grades, odds are very, very, very low that you’ll have a 3.6+ cumulative GPA, and with a C in General Chemistry, Organic is going to be brutal. Ask the most gifted premed sophomores you know, that class is brutal, and even with A’s in General Chem, no amount of methodology, hours of work, advanced planning, etc, is going to change that. It’ll merely make it doable, as everyone else will be dropping. (DO ask them.)
Changing your study habits - and, especially going to office hours and tutoring - will help you get better grades, which will help you no matter what you do.
But do look into other health professions.
Can you get into medical school with C’s in pre-health classes? Yes. BUT you would have to get all A’s from now on, and if Gen Chem is a struggle for you, the other classes likely will be also.
medicine is a career that many “dream about.” It’s one reason that there are always a huge number of premeds frosh year. But, the fact is, most either do not have the discipline, the foundation, or even that skill set to get the A’s that are needed.
the good news is that there are many other careers, even medical careers that may be better for you.
What are your talents?
I’m not closing my options just yet, and I’m trying to stay broad. I have a passion for biology and psychology. I’m going to work on reducing my cramming/enacting a new method of studying and I’ll see what happens. We’ll see where the next three years take me.