Hi guys,
I’m a transfer student from a California Community College, and I am majoring in Biochemistry. I failed 2 of my courses this semester (with D’s.) They were both General Education online courses, and I forgot to take the finals for them. Prior to the incident, I had a 3.88 GPA. I received straight A’s in the physical courses that I took this semester (Gen Chem II, Calc 1 and Gen Bio.) I am currently writing my essays for USC, although I’m nervous that it’s a waste of time. I am retaking the courses in the Winter Semester (I should be able to receive my new grades before the application is due.) I have very strong extracurriculars (e.g. I started an NGO in my home country (Algeria)) and essays topics (overcoming cancer, which inspired me to want to become a doctor.) I know that I will attend USC if I were to be accepted, but I am worried that my chances are going to be so diminished that it will not be worth my time to spend the next month diligently working on my essays. Do I still have a shot at getting in, or should I set my sights lower?
How many units will you have taken? I’m not going to lie, USC doesnt’ honor grade forgiveness so even if you ace the classes, they will factor both grades into your GPA and that will hurt your chances quite a bit. However, if you don’t try to repeat the classes, that would definitely be disastrous. If you’ve maintained a nice record of consistent full-time college attendance, you still have a shot. It would make those grades seem like a minor hiccup, but this is sure a bad time to have such an event happen! I wish you the best of luck. Your background/other info might be of interest to USC. I believe they are more holistic than the UC’s since the school isn’t as overcrowded. However, it sucks that they don’t honor grade forgiveness. That’s going to follow you around at USC too. When you graduate, they go with either your USC-only GPA or your combined USC + CC GPA and select the lower GPA when determining honors. Online courses can be more difficult than traditional courses though - you can definitely slack off. I forgot to turn in my final essay for a health GE class I took online during the winter session. It was due at 5PM whereas all of other assignments were due at 10PM, so I was caught off guard when I noticed. I emailed the professor and thankfully, she accepted my essay. If you’re going take the classes again in the winter and haven’t done a winter session before, make sure you have the time. I was reading 3-4 chapters of the health textbook per week and had two exams every week. The winter session doesn’t mess around.
Thanks for the reply! I’m going to have completed 62 units when I transfer. I’ll have 3.57 GPA if I retake the courses (3.51 with no retake.) I’ll make sure not to slack off during the winter session; I don’t want a repeat of this semester. I’ve also decided to add some less competitive schools to my list: the University of San Francisco among them (my next pick.) I don’t particularly want to attend any UC’s because I’ve heard that they’re terribly difficult for most Pre-Meds to navigate through.
Medical schools will see the D’s. How do you forget to take two finals?
I mixed the dates up. I thought that they were supposed to take place on Wednesday when they actually took place on Tuesday (idiotic mistake, I know.) I’ll probably do a post-bac if I don’t make it into med school directly.
Here is another idea. Talk to both professors and admit to the idiotic mistake. Ask for any opportunity to take the final now and accept any penalty. You obviously know the material, so anything will get you higher than the D you received. They must know there are honest mitakes, it isn’t as if you did horribly and want a redo, you just want any opportunity they can give you to take the actual tests. Good luck.