<p>I'm a transfer student at my local u. Last semester, I attended Miami U and took the first in their Intro Bio sequences and got a C (Ugh). When I transferred this semester to the institution I'm at currently, the credits transferred as a "natural science elective" not Bio 202 -- which is what I was told by an advisor it would transfer as. </p>
<p>I can either meet with my advisor and see if there's anything that could be done to get it as the course it should be or I can retake it. I'm positive if I retook it, I'd get better than a C (which was caused by my own laziness and hating being at Miami + three different professors for the class and their three different teaching styles when only one wrote the test). But retaking it would hold me back a semester. Not to mention, I really, really hated that class the first time I took it. There's essentially no way possible to make learning about the reproduction cycles of plants interesting. Like, at all. It's basically a lot of botany and the last bit was basically us being shown a picture of an organism and having to identify it's kingdom, family, class, etc. on the fly.</p>
<p>By the way, I'm a bio major and I would like to go to grad school for immunology. </p>
<p>Also, is it bad that I can only point a few things out that I've liked so far in my intro bio classes? For instance, I loved learning about viruses and micro/macromolecules and Darwinism/evolution so far but a lot of the other stuff (botany, for one) seemed like torture. I have a good amount of lab experience in biochemistry and pharmacology labs and I love that but the rest...
Will this get better in the upper level classes when the focus of things won't be as broad?</p>
<p>This one is really up to you. A C in your intro-level major class doesn’t look so great, but if you know you can rock out the other biology classes - especially in your specialty area, biochem and micro - and show a steep upward trend, it might not matter so much. Plus, you said you’re doing lab research and that’s what’s going to matter the most. If you really hated the class that much, what’s to say you won’t get a C the second time around? People always tend to blame professors and their “teaching style” with why they did poorly, but it’s on you to learn the material. What if this professor’s teaching style is even worse? Would you still want to retake it?</p>
<p>Retaking is not something I like to encourage. </p>
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<p>It is perfectly possible for certain individuals to just do awesomely at the classes most relevant to their interests. Instead of retaking, I recommend just doing very well at the other stuff, and then applying to schools which don’t have crazy breadth requirements; they obviously won’t want to admit you, because you would probably be miserable/less successful at their programs.</p>
<p>It sounds like you had more than just a problem with the professor, but rather also with some topics. I hope that you were acing the topics that you like at least, or you will probably have a hard time in the upper division.</p>
<p>^I did ace the things I liked. Even the professor was surprised by the upward trend for the second exam.
And I freely admit my part in my bad performance. It was my first semester living in a dorm and made pretty dumb choices in the name of fun while ****ing away my grades. I was just too immature. And I Duh myself into a whole I couldn’t get out of by failing the first exam.</p>
<p>But the good news I’ve aced the exam, quizzes and homework thus far in bio. It’s just “clicking” better.
Regarding research experience, I’m a junior and this is my first semester NOT in a lab (I need something that pays right now) and I’ve gone to conferences, etc.</p>
<p>Will this stop me from getting into a good pharmacology or immunology program? My dream school is Case Western.</p>