<p>^ I agree OChem is a tough subject anywhere, but my friends aren’t in OChem (since they are freshman), they are just taking Bio and Gen Chem right now (these aren’t honors Bio and Chem classes either, I am sure the honors Bio and Chem classes at most state schools are just, as if not more difficult than some of my classes). In OChem I am sure they will find it just as difficult as my OChem class.</p>
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<p>for one, i didnt even know you can get into a top 40 school w/ 1700 on SATs ,but its not like your SAT necessarily determines how well you will do in college.</p>
<p>Second, That has to be an achievement to get 95s on their test by not opening their book and getting high every other day. (*however, i think this may be a bit exaggerated, or the class avg gotta be really low, or they have some super awesome studying skills)</p>
<p>“ranked in the 40s”</p>
<p>*roll my eyes. </p>
<p>Look, you chose to go to Vanderbilt. If your friends pull off effortless A’s at UIUC or UNC - Chapel Hill, there is something going on there. Many people that go on to medical school went to top UG colleges. Many of them manage straight A’s, and solid MCAT scores. Stop wasting time, and work more efficiently!</p>
<p>My friends go to Penn State (Ranked 47).</p>
<p>They don’t study, just show up to class and take some notes. They don’t read the material, or work any practice problems. They don’t start studying for a test 5 days in advance(like the pre-meds at Vandy), they cram 3-4 hours before the test. As a result, its frustrating to see when their A is considered better than my (B+/A-)…***</p>
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<p>You don’t get A’s for effort. You get A’s for results. It may seem unfair, but you’re best off being proactive and positive about your own situation then lamenting the injustice of it all.</p>
<p>And because I couldn’t resist… if you think this is unfair, just wait 'til you see how third year medical students are graded. That’s the real definition of frustration.</p>
<p>More to the point, I promise there are plenty of premeds at Vandy who (like my classmates at Duke) didn’t study 5 days before a test and still manage to do fine.</p>
<p>UIUC is also ranked in the 40s, and a great school. My boyfriend grows to Penn State - I know exactly what you’re talking about. However, if you really are so superior, you should get an awesome MCAT score to overcome some GPA deficiencies. However, as close to 4.0 as possible is the general rule, UG institution notwithstanding.</p>
<p>I see what you guys are saying about studying too much, I guess its because of the scedule I took this semester (loaded up on 2 science class and a writing intensive humanities class, along with a pre-business class that is graded with a DEFLATED curve. Oh well, next semester, I will try to be better at managing my time, I picked easier classes(or at least classes upperclassmen have told me are easy) to help balence out the 2 sciences I am taking as well. </p>
<p>Is taking physics over summer school going to destroy me on the Mcats? I was planning on taking physics at UPenn over the summer after freshman year, so that next year, I wouldn’t be screwed by taking OChem and Physics together. I then plan on taking the Mcats before my Junior Year towards the end of the summer. Junior Year I will work on my medical school apps, and have them ready to be submitted by the summer before Senior Year. (Med Schools have rolling apps)</p>
<p>ur lucky to me if u only had to study 5 days before an exam. i went to BU and studied a minimum of 10 days, max of a month for an exam (the month studying was for biochemistry for the med school that i took as a UG) and i struggled for every grade that i got which still didn’t look good compared to other pre-meds. i can tell u that for me, i said in my program interviews that even though my gpa wasn’t stellar, i worked myself t the bone for every grade that i received and am extremely proud of my work ethic. and i can tell u that now, in med school, i am absolutely killing the exams here in my first semester. it is expected that people don’t graduate from every school with a 4.0, and this is a well-known thing at BU at least. most important thing is to get the study habits now, because there is no such thing as procrastination in med school (for the important classes). if u fall behind, especially in head and neck in gross anatomy, you’re done lol. so i say start studying less material earlier in advance (i.e. go home from lecture and review the material once over even if u don’t have an exam for another 2 weeks) and see how you do.</p>
<p>@madmebovary: Not true, my friends at state schools are getting 95+ on all of their pre-med classes, and they haven’t even opened their textbooks this semester. (My friends aren’t smart, made a 1700 on their sats and get high every other day). They go to state schools ranked in the 40s.</p>
<p>I attend SUNY Geneseo which is supposedly New York’s honors college and the place where everyone is a bio major looking to get into med school. So not all state schools are a joke. Just my rant about the class difficulty at state schools.</p>
<p>I currently have Bs across the board (Bio 1, Chem 1, Calc 1) except for some worthless lit class I have an A.</p>
<p>I continue to test out different study habits and will not consider myself out of the running to get into med school until after my second semester grades are final.</p>
<p>Yes, I am in a bad position, but I don’t consider myself out of the running. My pre-med advisor doesn’t sugar coat anything. He told me I definitely could be doing a lot better but should wait until after my second semester to make any big decisions. He told my friend who has a B in everything but a C in Bio that he should start to re-evaluate his career goals.</p>
<p>Try new study techniques and don’t worry about not making the “grade” until after your second semester. If you do better, then spend the summer observing an orgo class at your local community college. Observing a class costs a little money but you do not receive a grade. Yes, it will be a joke compared to a 4 year institution’s orgo class, but you will be at least familiar with its topics.</p>
<p>I have heard time and time again that orgo is the most important class a med school adcom looks at. Good luck.</p>
<p>Vandyfootball,
I assume from your name that you play varsity football.
If so, I would not worry too much as long as your “classics” grades are high As and you do decent on the MCATs. As a former med school adcom member who currently has lunch with several current ones, I can tell you that med schools like diversity and people who are not chemists. You may not get into a “research” school like Stanford or Harvard, but you have a great chance at one that turns out primary care docs.</p>
<p>Yes, you should look at how you are studying for chemistry, etc. However, I can assure you that most chemistry and biology majors would not be getting high As in the courses you are.</p>
<p>^ hahaha, no I don’t play varsity football…I like going to Vanderbilt’s football games. I am not good enough to play club football, so I play intramural football rofl.</p>
<p>I don’t plan on being a primary care physician, I want to go into neurology/cardiology. I don’t want to go to apply to top research medical schools like Stanford/Harvard, because I probably won’t get in.</p>
<p>Again, With your grades, you have good chance of getting into school that emphasizes primary care. What you do after you finish school is up to you. (But if you interview and say you want to be invasive cardiology, your sunk)</p>
<p>“Again, With your grades, you have good chance of getting into school that emphasizes primary care. What you do after you finish school is up to you. (But if you interview and say you want to be invasive cardiology, your sunk)”</p>
<p>If you go to a school emphasizing primary care, is it next to impossible to make it into the more competitive specialties, even if you do well in med school?</p>
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no. (if you toward top of class)
but first you need to get the MD</p>
<p>DAMN, I think I might end up with a B-/C+ in general chemistry(I think I just failed chem test, I don’t know the exact grade because it hasn’t been graded, but looking at the answer key, I did horrible)…***…My professor gives these riduclous tests, where the average is always failing, I know kids who have 5’s in Ap Chem, and decided to take the class over again, and they are making 75’s on the test, while the rest of the class is making a 67’s…He brings up material that the other gen chem professors don’t use in their tests(I know this because all the gen chem professors put their answer keys up).</p>
<p>I don’t know what to do, I did what you guys said and modified my studying to fit his style of testing, but it doesn’t help. I think I just failed my third chem test. My professor is a new professor in the chemistry department(has only been here for 2 years, and has only taught 2 gen chem tests here)</p>
<p>My friends are the same position, one of them pulled 5 hour shift at the library for 8 days studying for the test, only to do bad as well).</p>
<p>AND THERE ARE NO CURVES ON ANY TESTs, OR IN THE FINAL GRADE.</p>
<p>I work all the problems in the book, and all the extra worksheets he gives us, but then on the test, he gives us problems we haven’t seen in the book or the extra supplemental worksheets.</p>
<p>Come back when you actually know that you’ve failed your third exam. Talking about hypotheticals is kinda useless in this situation.</p>
<p>^ Its pretty obvious from the answer key that I bombed the test.</p>
<p>I studied for a total of around 13 hours for this test, (I read the chapters twice, and worked the problems in the book twice.)</p>
<p>Can’t get into any medical school with these types of grades. I guess I am just going to be another weeded out pre-med, in bio I have a grade in the A-/B+ range.</p>
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<p>It’s not obvious at all to me. Was this test multiple choice or handwritten? Were you permitted to carry a copy of your answers out of the test room? Sorry, but I’ve been burned a few times by people saying, “I know how I did on the test because I saw the answers afterwards!”</p>
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<p>I’m not going to lie. I LOLed when I saw this. I can’t remember the last test I studied only 13 hours for, but I suppose I did do a lot of cramming as an undergraduate. And maybe therein lies the problem - I don’t recall 13 hours being enough for truly understanding the material. For simple regurgitate-and-forget-it, yes, but understanding?</p>
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<p>Yes, but did you understand any of the concepts? Did you memorize any of the necessary facts?</p>
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<p>There are self-fulfilling prophecies, but there also is reality.</p>
<p>"It’s not obvious at all to me. Was this test multiple choice or handwritten? Were you permitted to carry a copy of your answers out of the test room? Sorry, but I’ve been burned a few times by people saying, “I know how I did on the test because I saw the answers afterwards!”</p>
<p>^ Its a combination of multiple choice and working problems</p>
<p>“I’m not going to lie. I LOLed when I saw this. I can’t remember the last test I studied only 13 hours for, but I suppose I did do a lot of cramming as an undergraduate. And maybe therein lies the problem - I don’t recall 13 hours being enough for truly understanding the material. For simple regurgitate-and-forget-it, yes, but understanding?”</p>
<p>^ I studied 13 hours leading up to the test, when we were learning the material in class, I was also reading the chapters and working the problems, and going to review sessions. </p>
<p>“Yes, but did you understand any of the concepts? Did you memorize any of the necessary facts?”
^ I thought I understood the concepts, but apparantly not. His tests are more application based, and sometimes he brings up concepts that weren’t in his lecture or in the book or on the tests of the other gen chem professors. My class average is a lot lower than the class averages of the other gen chem classes, taught by other professors.</p>