Getting B's

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hello, all

I have a question: I am taking 17 hours this semester - a jump from only 12 credit hours last semester - and I have found that my grades are suffering as a result.

I will most definitely end up having a B in trigonometry and general chemistry.

I will probably have a B+ in poli sci

I have a chance at getting an A- in my anatomy lec/lab classes

and I am going to get an A in a writing class - because that will help me get into medical school. ( ← sarcasm!)

This is a real dilemma because my GPA will be a 3.5 or a 3.6 by the end of this semester. I don’t know if I am just not as capable as other students but I found myself spread way too thin this semester and now I am running the risk of having almost all Bs this semester. Knowing that I am clearly not able to maintain straight A’s with even the most basic of classes - mostly gen eds - should I be rethinking medical school? And to think I’ll be taking gen chem II with one of the most notoriously challenging professors on campus - I can only imagine what that will be like. It’s disheartening to think about but I don’t think I would be able to live with myself if I wasted away studying for the next four years and end up not getting into medical school and just living in some research lab like a hermit in 10 years - not that there is anything wrong with research, but I don’t have any true interest in a career in research.

So should I be worried? Or should I be thinking about other options? Or am I being a touch dramatic?

Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

2

Hey! Don’t knock the writing class–being able to communicate effectively is very important for future physicians. You’ll be writing papers, reports, and journal articles for the rest of your life. Not to mention that 2 semesters of writing is required by nearly every med school as part of the admission requirements.

College is big step up from high school and the ways you studied in high school just won’t work in college. (And med school is another quantum leap in terms of the sheer volume and complexity of material.)

IIRC, you’re a chem or biochem major with sub-par math preparation for your major.

I think you’re taking too many credits. That’s your biggest issue here.

Your second biggest issue is that you’re under-prepared for your major and need better math skills before you continuing in chem.

I would suggest that you decelerate your college academics–take fewer classes --no more than 4/semester and no more than 2 BCPM classes/semester until you have learned to study successfully on a college level. Yes, you’re probably going to need 5 years to graduate, but this may the only way you can successfully complete a science major. (Adcomms won’t hold that against you. It happened to a lot of students for a lot of different reasons.)

Yes, you should worry because you’re struggling in your sciences and you haven’t even gotten into the really hard stuff yet. But it’s also too early to throw in the towel. You still have time to improve your GPA. (Plus with a 3.5 GPA, osteopathic med schools are in reach.)

I would put pre-med aside for now and concentrate on learning how to learn on a college level. You may want to see if the academic support center at your university offers study skills classes. (Sounds dumb, but what can it hurt?). While you’re there, sign up for tutoring in trig & chem.

I would postpone taking any more chem or physics classes until you’ve caught up with your math skills. After trig, you still need pre-calc (Math 1160) and probably calculus before resuming your chem requirements.

You had mentioned taking calc over the summer previously— I think that’s a really bad idea. You’re not ready for calc. If you’re going to take a math class over the summer, take pre-calc. Then take a bio and a math( (pre-calc or calc) plus 2 GEs in the fall. See how that goes. If it goes well, then resume your chemistry classes. If it doesn’t, then you need to rethink your career choices because med school isn’t in your future.

3

Why OP insists on Chem major (with a weak math background) while obviously he/she seems doing much better in Bio classes…maybe that’s why so many pre-meds get weeded out eventually.

4

Because I like chemistry. I enjoy struggling in it more than I enjoy an easy A writing class; Biology is also not very interesting to me. This is an issue, though, because chemists are bound to go into some form of research, which is not the most interesting thing in the world. I’m in quite the pickle.

I think I am going to keep going, regardless of what my grades are. If I can’t compete with my peers now there is not really a point in competing with them when trying to win a spot at a medical school. I’m only taking 14 credits next semester, so I’ll really be able to narrow my focus down to just a couple of classes - only three compared with six. And I’ll definitely be taking my summer time to review this material.

As for tutoring, I’ve taken advantage of multiple resources with regard to tutoring but I’ve found that the way I study actually helps me more with my tests than the way they try to “teach” the material. But this isn’t to say they aren’t helpful.

And I think the biggest issue was taking 17 credit hours, jumping from titration and molarity to learning about gerrymandering and then to whatever greek god was kind of offputting. I’ll just see how I fare next semester.

5

You’re wrong about this. Chemists go into quality control/quality assurance jobs significantly more often than research labs.

The American Chemical Society lists some chemistry careers here: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/careers/college-to-career/chemistry-careers.html

Now that said, if you don’t like the laboratory environment, why ever are majoring in chemistry when the vast majority of chem jobs will put you in a lab?

That is just plain wrong-headed.

What are you going to do if you don’t get into med school? What’s your Plan B?

And you don’t find biology interesting–yet you want to go to med school? This too does’t make sense. Med school is nothing but biological systems all day every day.

See how next semester goes. When you have your fall grades, then you can make some more informed decisions.

I would also suggest going to career center at your college and getting some aptitude testing.I also strongly suggest you do some soul searching over the summer about why you insist on chemistry as your major and why you want to go to medical schools if the material doesn’t appeal to you.

6

I’m confused…you don’t like biology and you don’t like chemistry, and you are taking trig as a college course?

For medical school…you will need to pass the mother of all chemistry courses…Organic Chemistry…and the lab. Ok…inorganic isn’t a cakewalk but that’s not required for medical school applications.

If you happen to get accepted to medical school, you will have two years of biology biology and more biology…with some chemistry mixed in.

I’m having trouble figuring out why you want to even apply to medical school given your strengths and likes are not in areas you need to love.

So, tell us…why medical school??

@WayOutWestMom could you provide the link about other medical related careers. Maybe there is something there.

@AmbitiousKid1987 I would very strongly suggest you head over to the career center at your school. They will talk to you about your strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and help you tease out possible careers to explore.

7

Effective study skills and time management are absolutely required. If you can only handle four courses instead of five you will struggle in medical school where you will have to learn massive amounts of information in short time periods. I believe it’s been compared to drinking water from a fire hose.

You seem to be struggling in your foundation courses and it only gets more difficult. Wait till you get to Organic Chemistry. If you don’t have good comprehension of the information you are taught in your foundations courses you will not do well on the MCAT.

Look into plan B because if you are not able to perform at a high level medical school may not be an option for you.

For students of certain majors who also are premed taking 17 credits/semester is the norm. (premed/engineering) If you take four classes a semester will you be able to graduate in four years without summer classes or an extra semester? Can you afford to do that?

The other concern is that you say you don’t like biology. You need two semesters of biology and need to take biochemistry. You haven’t taken calculus. I am concerned with how you will perform in physics. You need a strong foundation in sciences for medical school. If you don’t have that then you need to go to plan B.

8

OP if you don’t find biology interesting why are you considering medical school?