How am I doing ?

[jaysondeguzman]

Hi I needed some much needed advice since counseling at my university is not up to par. Well first off I am a biological sciences major and just finished my freshman year (we rune on a quarter system) with an overall gpa of 3.475 and a science gpa of 3.439. I am going to take statistics and writing this summer to finish my math and writing requirements hopefully to raise that gpa as well. This fall I am taking art history, genetics, organic chemistry, organic chemistry lab, independent research, and extracurricular activities of tutoring for biology core classes and volunteering at a hospital. Now my two main questions are 1.)this quarter turned into a disaster and really hurt my gpa recieved a 3.2 and a c+ in the last quarter of general chemistry and was wondering if that would really hurt me 2.) How am I doing so far any recommendations?

Thanks for your input

[jameslynton]

Most school have poor to awful pre-med advisor's. My suggest to you is get out of the science major fast. Do not unless you are a really glutton for punishment take genetics and organic together. Why - (Sound logical reason - genetics as it is taught now is mostly molecular biology of the gene - you got threw Mendel very quickly like a week. If you don't believe go look in Weaver genetic 3rd ed from page 131 on to p503 is all biochemistry as is Watson's Molecular biology of the Gene) You really want to have organic by itself with two really easy courses (reason - you already muffed one chemistry). You want to have organic before you have any physiology or biochemistry, cell biology or Genetics. Most likely you did poorly because you had biology & chemistry and another hard course with it. There is just not enough time to study and do the reading.

You have to do really well on your core medical school pre-req sciences. Getting a C+ will need to be balanced out with at least two to three A's. They don't care if you major in basket weaving as long (you have all A's) and your pre-req's are swell > 3.6. and Your over all GPA is > 3.6-7.

Normally, we have some person who got a D in chemistry asking these questions. My opinion - most biology teachers hate pre-med students. So the less time you spend with them the better. If you really love biology or chemistry - just audit the courses. The courses that will do you the most good are physiology and biochemistry (best to audit these course as that most of the teachers are either grad students or they give very hard tests on general principle). Avoid evolution courses like "dry rot" as that I have yet to meet an evolution teacher who was not a jerk or wacko. Well that's my soap box, .02s and a few grains of salt.

Also take my hint - take more English courses - one's where you learn the deeper inner means of things - like experimental literature. I took one my senior year and it was a blast - we read Kurt Vonnegut books.

On the MCAT you are going to need to figure out and do really well on the verbal section. These courses help! This will help you more in medical school than you would believe. My son took Latin - it really helped him reading old Latin and Greek stories and words, they were easy A's also! Hope this helps

[jaysondeguzman]

Thanks alot for the advice the problem is with switching majors is I love biology actually, I have gotten all A's in it, so far things that have hurt me are that one chem class the other 2 sequences got B+'s short by few points both quarters from an A and writing this quarter B+ and first series of calculus B second series though A. The other thing with switching majors is it is really difficult to switch majors because the prereq classes are restricted to majors and majors that have that as a major requirement so pretty much if you are another major other than sciences you have to take it in the summer in 6 weeks.

[jameslynton]

Stick with biology then. However, don't take chemistry courses with other time eating courses. Looking back, I wish I only took some of them without any other courses that quarter. They really take your time to do well in them.