<p>I am a senior in college, getting ready to apply to MD/PhD programs. Essentially what happened is that I had several personal issues crop up this semester, and ended up with a B- in one of my upper level chemistry classes, and will likely get a B or B+ in my other upper level chemistry class this semester, bringing my sGPA down from 3.78 to 3.7ish. </p>
<p>I was wondering what the impact of this might be on my application, since I'm a senior, and may not have the opportunity to take more science courses to make up for this (and I've heard that some adcoms might worry that I won't be able to handle the upper level science of med/grad school due to my dip in grades in the upper level classes...however I have taken an upper level neuroscience course and made an A in that so hopefully that will help; I intend to do my PhD in neuroscience). I have an otherwise strong application, GPA ~3.8 (should remain around 3.8), MCAT 36, solid research (3 years, with a publication, 3 posters at international and local conferences, and secured my own funding for a project last summer).</p>
<p>Also, I had asked my professor that I made a B- with this semester for a recommendation earlier in the semester, and he said he could provide me with a positive recommendation (I had taken a class earlier with him and made an A). If this B- were to come up in my future correspondences/conversations with him, what should I say? If I told him I had personal issues this semester that prevented me from spending as much time as I'd like to on his class, would it sound like I'm just making excuses for myself (I had never mentioned any of my issues to any of my professors this semester)?</p>
<p>I think you are worrying too much. Your record speaks for itself. 3.8 GPA, 3.7 science GPA, 36 MCAT, and a pub. I expect you’ll get into a decent MSTP program. Probably not Harvard or Hopkins but a school slightly lower.</p>
<p>If you are going to ask this professor for a rec, I do think you should tell him that you had personal issues this semester. Whether he brings up the B- with you or not, it will inevitably come up in his rec letter. I think adcoms would find it odd that you asked for a rec from a professor with whom you earned a B- so it’ll be good for them to have a little context.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, NCG. I really appreciate it. At the point I asked this professor for a LOR, I had already taken a class with him and made an A, so hopefully this will help ease some of the oddness that adcoms might find with choosing this professor for a letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>Totally agree with NCG re the strength of your candidacy (although I don’t know much about MD/PhD programs–I’d be happy with that app for MD programs though!) and how to handle the LOR request. Thinking back to the profs who wrote my recs, if I knew them well enough to ask for a rec and trusted that they would write me a strong one, I also knew them well enough that I would be comfortable explaining this to them (not that they need all the details…). It might even end up working out well for you, since he’ll be able to include in his letter that you are a fabulous student (A) and that indeed this one “bad” grade (B-) was because of situations out of your control. Try not to worry too much!</p>
<p>a 36/3.7-3.8 is sittin’ pretty in my book.</p>
<p>The only impact is that your BCPM GPA is a 3.7 instead of a 3.8 (in other words, not much).</p>