<p>So I'm a sophomore at a pretty selective university.</p>
<p>I love the school, it's perfect for me. The location, the size, the faculty, the support, etc is great. </p>
<p>But I suck at the classes I LOVE (Science). I just don't find time for them after doing all my other work?</p>
<p>I don't know what to do</p>
<p>I'm so jealous of my friends who go to a different university. My one friend doesn't attend any classes, crams the day before, and aces his exams. I'm very close to transferring to a university where I know I can thrive.</p>
<p>I'm pre-med and as much as I can say, "well I'm doing bad so I'll give it up", I just can't. Even if it means I need to take a gap year (or years), I will.</p>
<p>I finally understand how to study for Orgo (failed first test, C second test, B third), the class is curved to a B- so unless I beast my final (probably average), I will get a C. </p>
<p>I put off all my Stats so basically I have one day to learn a lot of new material and I'm praying to pull of a B (low B).</p>
<p>I'm just wondering if I have hope? I am a Biology major with Cognitive Science minor. I plan to take lots of Science to undo my bad grades from last year.</p>
<p>Hey, it may seem like you are slipping up because you dont have time, but really you have been living life more than you have been studying. yes where you go matters but, unlike what people would tell you, grades are the only thing that matters in school because every thing else you can redo right after college. So you are there to simply get good grades and move on. I know people are going to say this is bad advice but the end is more important than the means when it comes to grades. AND NO I AM NOT TELLING YOU TO CHEAT, really no. What I mean is put in the effort to get an A and just dont let the stuff you dont get at that moment bother you. look at high school, you did stuff to get good grades, not to find a deeper truth. And in the end everything comes to a point where you understand the subjects. in summery, do what is needed, you are in college to get skills not understanding so study to pass the test and in doing so you will be able to have the skills needed. “I dont get it” is the first cause of a bad grade and “I dont care why it works, I know how it works” is the number one cause for As.</p>
<p>Getting into medical school is highly competitive and that sentence above does not make any sense. If they’re the classes you love, they should be your No. 1 priority and you should be doing well in them. The fact that you’re not suggests that you don’t love them as much as you say you do. </p>
<p>Maybe you shouldn’t be a pre-med. If you’re having trouble with sophomore-level pre-med classes, it’s not going to get any easier from there. The fact is, a metric ton of students come into college as pre-meds and graduate as something entirely different. There’s no shame in deciding that your career path lies elsewhere, and you certainly aren’t alone.</p>
<p>Either way, you need to rethink your academic plan, because you can be a pre-med all you want, but if you graduate with a GPA less than 3.5, you’re probably not going to get into medical school.</p>
<p>Well, as I said, I have timing issues. I do my homework that NEEDS to get done first, which happens to be easier classes. “Studying” and optional homework I put off until I realize that the midterm is two days away. I think that if another student were to do as much studying as I did, they would do a lot worse. </p>
<p>I have a timing issue, which is why I’m so frustrated.</p>
<p>Is that your real birthday on your profile? I’m wondering if you’re my sister. LOL. Except that I don’t think she has any intention of transferring.</p>
<p>Anyway, my sister seems to be in the exact same situation as you… Same major, in the classes that you mentioned, having a hard time with Orgo, etc.</p>
<p>Chill out, it’ll all be okay. You’re not the only one. </p>
<p>Now honestly, if the best you can pull in Orgo, trying your hardest, is a C, you’re probably not cut out for med school. That’s all there is too it. Sorry. You can try transferring to an easy school and maybe you’ll get into med school, but if you can’t compete in undergrad I think you’re going to have a hard time of it in med school. Doesn’t mean you can’t do something sciencey. I’ve told my sister to check out Pharmacy school for instance, you might be interested in that yourself.</p>
<p>^I would agree with the general point of this, but the OP did mention that she had only just learned how to study for Organic. Some students get C’s armed with their highest possible study skills the whole time.</p>
<p>This is problematic. You need to realize that studying and optional homework is actually required, and treat it like that. That means that you need to be doing the optional homework as it’s covered in class and that you need to study a little bit every day. Plan to do it so that it happens and becomes required, instead of putting it off. Going to an easier university won’t change bad study skills.</p>
<p>Honestly, it doesn’t sound like transferring would fix your problems. You’re going to have to study, regardless of which school you’re at. Suck it up and make sure you do your work, including studying and other “optional” things.</p>
<p>Just because you have friends who are doing well doesn’t mean the other school is easy. Maybe your friend just tests well, or maybe they knew the material beforehand, etc. Different people learn different ways. But their success means nothing in terms of how you would do at their school.</p>
<p>If you’re not sure where your time is going, maybe try writing it down? Go through your day, one activity at a time, and see what you spent the most time doing. That’s not to say you should be studying every hour of the day or should be able to account for every minute, but if you don’t know where your time goes, figure it out.</p>
<p>Vladenschlutte- I’m not your sister lol. The thing is I haven’t been trying my hardest. Some people do ALL the problems in the book and reread it four times, I don’t. I hardly do any problems. </p>
<p>If I got a C knowing I worked my butt off, I’d be proud. I’d know medicine isn’t right for me, but at least I know I tried. I never learned to study in high school. </p>
Sounds to me like medicine is not for you, for whatever reason(s). But rather than state it outright and have to confront whatever drives or people think you should be a doctor, you are doing it passively. </p>
<p>Look at the students around you, at your “pretty selective university”. How many of them do you think believe that if they wanted to be a doctor the right approach would be to hardly try any problems, even while knowing others around them are studying almost obsessively? How many do you think realize grades are HUGE in deciding who gets into med school, and after a bad semester would repeat the same thing for two more?
What an an interesting way of putting things. That homework that “NEEDS” to get done first are in classes that you signed up for, in a major that you chose. After one rough semester most people that were serious about medicine would have realized something needed to change, and changed it. </p>
<p>I could go on, but no need. You’ve dug yourself a deep hole, one that even a strong student would have trouble climbing out of. But I don’t think its an accident you are where you are. At some subconscious level this is exactly the position you wanted to be in, able to gracefully turn away from medicine while citing the pressures of all the other “homework that NEEDS to get done” and perhaps a touch of poor time management skills along with a helping of blame directed at your old HS for not infusing said skills into you.</p>
<p>No shame in this. Medicine isn’t for everyone. While you have the time left in college I hope you find the willingness to really work to find out what IS right.</p>
<p>I know it seems like I’m not making it a priority, but I sleep less than the average student. All last year I went to bed at 4AM, doing work. I pull several all-nighters a week (like today). </p>
<p>I’m on a quarter system, so I do have lots of time to make it up, and I am determined to succeed.</p>
<p>My adviser and I went through majors and I hated ALL of them, except Biology. I feel like college is not for me.</p>
<p>I will spend all winter break studying for next quarter so that I don’t get behind as easily.</p>
<p>I’m just lost on how to be more effective, faster. My adviser even suggested I should see a psychiatrist and, if needed, take adderall. </p>
<p>How much time does a typical organic student spend on the class a day?</p>
<p>Also, I am a TERRIBLE reader. It probably takes me four times as long and after I do it, I don’t comprehend any of the material. That’s what I mean by, “I finally learned how to study Orgo.” I don’t read, any of it. I go through notes and the obvious main points in the book. And I do the suggested problems by the professor but after doing all the ones in the book for the first midterm, I decided not to and clearly it worked out better.</p>