Hi folks,
I haven’t posted on this forum for quite awhile, but I was hoping to get some good advice.
I’m currently in a do-it-yourself post-bacc. My first bachelor’s degree was in music. I’ve since felt the calling to enter medicine, either as a PA or Physician. Lately, I’ve been leaning towards the former. I’ve finished about 43 science credits since beginning my post-bacc, and have a 3.84 gpa in those courses. My overall is a little over 3.5. This weekend, to my horror, I looked at my old transcript from my first degree and found 8 W’s—ahhh!! I knew I had a few, but 8, seriously, what was wrong with me!
Fast forward to this summer, I am currently enrolled in a 7 week Physics course, which is not going well. In fact, most of the class scored in the C to D range on our first exam, but she decided not to curve our scores very much, because in her words, she “doesn’t know what that means yet.” Meaning she doesn’t understand why so many of us did so poorly.
Here’s what I’m trying to decide. Should I stick with the class, even though I currently have a C (so depressing, never had a test score in the upper D range before) or do I withdraw. Clearly, with my history, another W is certainly not going to look good at all. But a C will torpedo my gpa a bit. The other consideration is, most PA programs don’t even require physics. So do I go ahead with a class that will lower my grades, lower my competitiveness, and I don’t even really need it? Ugh, I wish I wasn’t in this situation. . .
Btw, I studied a lot for that first exam, did a ton of practice problems, etc. The exam consisted of two problems for a total of 40 points. There was one problem that I believe threw most of the people in my class off. We didn’t really do one similar to it in class or in any of our practice problems. (Haven’t found any in our book’s practice problems like it either.)
Anyone out there with some sage advice for me? Thanks so much in advance!
How long do you have that you would still be able to withdraw if you chose to? Seeing as it’s only the first exam and the majority of your class did poorly I’d try to stick it out. I’d think there’s a good possibility something will change in terms of teaching or curving, or you might even find a better way to learn/study the material.
Good luck!
Hey, thanks so much for the quick reply. I officially have until July 20th to withdraw. By then I will have taken 3 exams, so I guess the outcome of my grade will be much more clear by then.
Btw, I graduated with my first degree in 2001, so those W’s are from quite awhile ago, and I think I could explain them by admitting my lack of maturity and focus during those years. Just want to continue my strong upward trend and am trying to decide between the lesser of two evils, I guess. . .
I think the old W’s are explainable - I had a handful as well but went on and did well in post bacc and grad courses. I mentioned it in one sentence in my PS and that was it.
I really can’t figure out the adcoms, but I think it’d be in your best interest not to add a fresh “W” to the bunch, so I hope you can work something out for your physics course before the withdrawal deadline.