Just finished all the courses, have a question on grades

Hi guys,


sorry about this long post, I just finished all my post-bacc courses and had a question on grades and whether I need to retake this course? I am still not completely sure about doing medical school (crazy,) however long story short, I am an Engineer graduated with a dual major in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2003, however wasn’t happy with my company last year and decided to take a stab at applying for medical schools.


My undergrad gpa wasn’t great, about a 2.98 (my Engineering GPA was around a 3.3 - 3.4, however my General Chem, Physics, and Biolgoy course grades back in early undergrad year were dismal and really pulled my grades down, so I decided to retake them in the Post bacc program.)


I just finished taking all my post-bacc courses in little under the last 1.5 years. These were the courses I took last year with the following grades,


Bio I 4.0,


Physics I 4.0,


General Chemistry I with Lab 4.0,


General Chemistry II with Lab 4.0,


Bio II 3.8,


Biochemistry 4.0,


Organic Chemistry I 3.4


All this was while working full time Engineering, and I managed to still have an overall postbacc GPA of 3.886 after these 27 credits last year.


My problem is this semester I had Organic Chem II and Genetics, and I just finished the finals. My grades this semester are not so good as my work became EXTREMELY busy during the middle of the semester. I had to leave to go to Germany for 1.5 months right in the middle of the semester, and missed over a month of the organic chem II classes which really hurt my grades (however I still managed to do slightly above average.)


So this semester I am looking at a B+ (3.3-3.4 gpa) in my Genetics course, and am only doing average in my Organic Chem II with possibly a C+, or B- (hopefully a B- which would be a GPA of 2.7.)


My question is if this Organic Chem II course grade will severely hurt my chances for med school applications in the future? Even if I received a C+,B- in Organic Chem II, my overall post-bacc GPA of 34 credits would still be between 3.7 to 3.8. If I take the MCAT and do extremely well in it, would I still need to retake this Organic Chem course in the future?


Will medical schools consider the fact that I was still working fulltime Engineering while taking these classes, and will the one C+, B- affect their decision so much considering my poor undergrad GPA? What if I do really well in the MCAT?


I would appreciate any feedback from people more knowledgable on the topic. Thank you!

Forget about the grades…this is your biggest issue! Figure this out first and the rest will follow.

  • skysurf Said:
...I am still not completely sure about doing medical school (crazy,) ...


I agree with Dazed and TRY your hardest NOT to get a C in O Chem. Ask your Prof. if there is anything you can for extra credit … wash his car


A C is a 2.0 and so is a C+ … a B- is a 3.0 and so is a B+ …at least at my school … Are there schools that grade different? I believe the Med. School app is based on 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 scale … If I am wrong let me know. Thanks

Thanks for your feedback.


I understand and agree that I still need to work on the first part, and am trying to find a neurologist (which is the field I am most interested in medicine,) to shadow to better understand if I want to go down this long and arduous path.


Thankfully, I received my grades last week and I managed to avoid the dread and instead received a B- in Organic Chemistry II, and a A- in Genetics.


So overall, after finishing my post-bacc coursework I essentially have six A’s, one B+, and one B-, with an overall post-bacc gpa of 3.759.


I am just wondering if this B- in Organic Chem II has ruined my chances for future applicability to medical school (considering my past mediocre performance in undergrad Engineering,) or would a good performance on the MCAT be able to equalize it?

I am dealing with a similar issue-I got a Cplus my first semester of Orgo (taken as an undergrad, not a post-bac) but a B plus in my second semster. I am enrolled to re-take the first half to get a better grade-but I spoke with some med school admissions reps yesterday and will share what they said. Basically, a c plus is not great, but they are more interested in seeing you can take higher level chem classes (like genetics and biochem, as you have done) and do well in them.


I’d advise just to call up a few admissions reps at the schools and ask. What can it hurt? I think with your background and your other grades, a B minus can’t hurt you too bad, especially if you have a strong MCAT score.


Just my thoughts tho!

B-, B+, C-, C+ … Am I missing something? All my classes that I have had in the past were based on A (4.0) B (3.0), C (2.0) and D (1.0) … Is not a B- still 3.0?


Just curious if there are colleges that grade different. Thanks

  • thomasfx10 Said:
B-, B+, C-, C+ ... Am I missing something? All my classes that I have had in the past were based on A (4.0) B (3.0), C (2.0) and D (1.0) ... Is not a B- still 3.0?

Just curious if there are colleges that grade different. Thanks



A lot of schools use this scale:

A 4.0

A- 3.7

B+ 3.3

B 3.0

B- 2.7

C+ 2.3

C- 2.0

My school varied from class to class and sometimes assigned the letter grades above and sometimes assigned a GPA (a 3.9 being a possible grade)