Did I simply kill any chances ?

Graduate School
1

<p>I want to ask if I had killed my life with this</p>

<p>I had a (C-) in my "calculus and analytical geometry II" course</p>

<p>Major : Chemistry minor biology and I study in a university in the middle east</p>

<p>GPA now is in the range of 3.85-3.89 and without this C- which will be repeated .. i can bring it up to 3.9</p>

<p>GPA is not the matter now .. i know all can score the whatever they want .. but this C- in my transcript causing me horrible nightmares, will it be soo bad that it will delete and abolish all of my work</p>

<p>I want to pursue a postgraduate degree in the molecular biology field in the us .. aiming for a good education rather than killing myself for a wowy university ( but am aiming for Rice, purdue, john's hopkins) ... i know what graduate school stands for, from research to LORs n so on but i would like u to precisely tell me .. whats the effect of this C- in my life now ? if it is too too bad , what can be done to overcome this shame ?</p>

<p>I'll certainly take the course again with the staright A guarnteed, however, the C- will keep on choking my throat in the transcript ..</p>

<p>ANY Points about this PLEAAAAAAASE :(</p>

2

<p>The C- is not the end of the world. You'll be fine.</p>

3

<p>UCLAri .. thaank you but how?</p>

<p>after i retake the course, the new grade will be assigned by an R "repeated" next to it</p>

<p>won't the monster adcoms say that the applicant falied in a simple basic course? I have my reasons, was in the hospital a whole week b4 the exam n got in with 47 out of 50 .. but who knows or cares in ur transcript were u in hell or hospital or wherever ..</p>

<p>anyway .. explain to me in details please .. what r the bad effects of this ?
fire is blazing flaming inside me .. i want to be a researcher sooooo bad that am ready to cut off my study now and start all over again </p>

<p>PLEaSE PEOPLE .. tell me at least what shall be done to cover this .. or to show it is indeed an exception ?</p>

4

<p>The fact that your overall GPA is 3.8+ already demonstrates that this C was a fluke. That's seriously in your favor. </p>

<p>As long as you have good research experience, keep up the high GPA, and pull off a good GRE score, the one bad class is something you can explain to the adcoms.</p>

<p>Don't freak out over this. I know people at top programs (Think Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, UCLA, etc.) who had the occasional C in undergrad. You're fine. Stop hyperventilating.</p>

5

<p>OHHHH UCLAri </p>

<p>as if God brought you to assuage the flames inside of me</p>

<p>I will for sure repeat "retake" this course</p>

<p>ONE MORE Q !</p>

<p>am in the middle east.. did two researches so far but they r not "wow" ones
they dont have sufficient supplies n basis for the labs here.. research has a fact of being "null" over here .. & for I'll try my best to raise the level of my research</p>

<p>but ..</p>

<p>do they expect me to present them good researches as those applicants living in US where they have rains of research centres and proffesors flowing over their heads ?</p>

<p>how will the adcoms look at this point ?</p>

6

<p>I got a C- in Calc 3, retook it for an A-. It didn't seem to affect me with admissions at all.</p>

7

<p>Where did you get accepted at ? which major ?</p>

8

<p>I went 2/3 for my MS admissions and 4/5 for PhD admissions in geology. I'm currently at the #3 ranked school by the American Geological Institute (more reputable imo than US News for my field).</p>

9

<p>Trust me, one grade does not matter. I am applying to grad schools in a similar field as you do, and i talked to numerous professors (including professors on the admission committee) of my school (UC Berkeley). The consensus is that only the overall package counts. Instead of worrying about you C-, why not checking over who is writing you LOR, and trying to establish personal contacts with professors in schools of your interests. From my experience, Mo bio is not a very competitive field, if you don't want to go to big name schools, it is very likely you will receive admission offers.</p>

<p>p.s. just FYI i am applying this year and received admission from cornell and johns hopkins and interview from MIT</p>

10

<p>
[quote]
OHHHH UCLAri</p>

<p>as if God brought you to assuage the flames inside of me

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Haha, I like that.</p>

11

<p>I must admit, I've never been told that before.</p>

12

<p>Uhhhhh, how did you repeat a C? I thought a C was practically the worst grade in the sense that C's are not repeatable. Please explain.</p>

<p>thank you</p>

13

<p>Varsev,</p>

<p>Different policies at different schools in different countries make it hard to know what can or can't be done differently. </p>

<p>It's all so different.</p>

14

<p>I got a C- in a GE once, never retook it, and got into every single polisci program I applied for. You're fine if you retake it and do well.</p>

15

<p>yeah, well I thought the C rule was universal :)</p>

16

<p>nah you can't repeat the course unless you get C- or below</p>

<p>thats our local univ rule .. it differs</p>

<p>stolper : where did u get admitted to ?</p>

17

<p>I got into 5 top 10 programs, including the general consensus top 3, Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton.</p>

18

<p>i'd take the next math course which comes after that class.</p>

<p>otherwise, u just need to do well in GRE quantitative part. u'll almost never need calculus in molecular bio.</p>

19

<p>if u do better later u'll be okay and most likely they'll ask u in the interview and u'll get the chance to explain it.</p>

20

<p>I think I'd be more concerned at how stressed you're getting over a single C- that you plan on retaking when your GPA is in the 3.8-3.9 range!
If you cannot take something going haywire from time to time, how do you hope to live in the real world?
In terms of getting into top schools, I'm right there with you, and I know I'd be upset with anything short of an A, but seriously, relax! Dying of high blood pressure is <em>not</em> going to help you!</p>