<p>the situation:
1st semester just ended. I'm a pre-med at a top 20 school in the honors program.
pre-finals: I had straight A's except for a B+ in bio, giving me ~3.8
post-finals: no A's in science courses, landing me a 3.5 regular, 3.3 science GPA</p>
<p>so I basically was ruined by finals. I walked into the math final with a solid A (with wiggle room), walked out iwth a B (it didn't help that bio and multivar calc were on the same day). I walked into chem with an A, walked out with a B+. Simply, the entire week of finals (I had 3) seems like a gigantic freak accident.</p>
<p>discuss:
I believe that I have the potential to do well. what do I need to change? How can I tackle finals better? I'm pretty sure I didn't study enough, and they finals ended up harder than expected.
How much does screwing up first semester hurt me? I am really really shooting for a 3.9 next semester, and I think I am depressed and shocked and desperate and frustrated enough to work my butt off for it. It's probably going to be a lifestyle change for me, as I really enjoyed my first semester and met tons of new people, but I guess that isn't allowed for a pre-med
all-in-all, I guess I'm just really shocked and humbled. I came to my school on a big merit scholarship, and I came to succeed (as I was doing for most of the semester). Yet in the end, I really slipped up.</p>
<p>Study better next time? It’s not just a matter of studying long enough - it’s also studying the right things. </p>
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<p>Take a deep breath in, let it out, and reassess your situation. This is the end of your first semester. You have at least 5 semesters to bring your GPAs back up. Many people have a rough first semester, or even a rough first year, and still make it into medical school. This in no way irrevocably damages your chances.</p>
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<p>Do not make the pre-med mistake of thinking that academic success = personal misery. You might have gotten a little lax towards the end of the semester, given your success during the semester. I’d consider this a learning experience and move on with my life.</p>
<p>I’ve seen that the general conscensus on this forum is that you don’t retake a B. can someone explain why? (I know the grades get averaged for a retake). I think it’s pretty reasonable for me to count on getting an A if I retook multivar (although I hated the subject)</p>
<p>We think that medical school adcoms go through the following thought process when they see a retake:</p>
<p>1) The retake grade is an A: “Well, of course it’s an A. The student already took this course. This doesn’t prove anything.”</p>
<p>2) The retake grade is not an A: “The student took the course again and didn’t get an A? How bad of a student is this person?”</p>
<p>No matter the outcome, it’s a lose-lose proposition for the student.</p>
<p>Also, a B is hardly the catastrophe that many pre-meds imagine it to be. I had B’s on my transcript and got into medical school. Some other people on this forum had a C or two and made it in. Medical school admissions is more complicated than just a transcript.</p>
<p>Why anybody would even consider retaking a B is beyond me, it’s just a matter of common sense. Besides, AMCAS/adcoms will see both grades and both will be included in the final calculated GPA. There is nothing wrong with a B, as long as you don’t get too many of them.</p>
<p>Since you asked this question twice, I guess I get to mock you twice.</p>
<p>What is the purpose of retaking a class you got a B in, besides grade grubbing?</p>
<p>Answer me this question. If I sat on the adcom and I saw an applicant retake a B, this would be the first question I ask him.</p>
<p>You even admitted you learned everything in the class (went into the final with an A). All that happened was that you had a bad finals week. Get over it. In the end, this B will lower your final GPA by 0.01, 0.02 at the most. The only reason you are retaking this class is for the easy A. There’s no academic or educational value in this endeavor. </p>
<p>I personally think it’s pretty sad that you’re willing to go through triple integrals and surface integrals twice just to raise your GPA by 0.01.</p>