Need advice – I’ve taken all of my prereqs except orgo II and physics II. I finished orgo I in the fall, and did not receive the grade that i wanted (B-), and so I want to take it again and ace it (I was unaware that I had the worst professor in the school). I am planning on taking the MCAT in June, and taking summer school. If I’m applying in the fall, do I need to have all of my courses completed, or can I be taking them in the fall. I was thinking of (re)taking the orgo sequence in the summer, and finishing physics in the fall – will my application be penalized for this? Or would it be better to complete orgo II and physics this summer, and retake orgo I in the fall (I would really like an orgo I A on my transcript before I submit)? Or any other suggestions? Thanks.
- minidee2003 Said:
Need advice -- I've taken all of my prereqs except orgo II and physics II. I finished orgo I in the fall, and did not receive the grade that i wanted (B-), and so I want to take it again and ace it (I was unaware that I had the worst professor in the school). I am planning on taking the MCAT in June, and taking summer school. If I'm applying in the fall, do I need to have all of my courses completed, or can I be taking them in the fall. I was thinking of (re)taking the orgo sequence in the summer, and finishing physics in the fall -- will my application be penalized for this? Or would it be better to complete orgo II and physics this summer, and retake orgo I in the fall (I would really like an orgo I A on my transcript before I submit)? Or any other suggestions? Thanks.
When you apply, you have to key in all of your courses, both past and present, into the AMCAS/AACOMAS web form. Once they receive your transcript(s) and have verified all your grades and credits, they'll calculate a GPA which is sent to schools as part of your primary application package. Actually, they create a whole family of GPAs: undergrad, grad, science/math, non-science.
Prior to your completing your new coursework, the schools will see that GPA on your primary. When you complete the coursework, you update your course status on the web page and have your school send a new transcript, and AMCAS/AACOMAS will then update your GPA and send an update to all the schools you have applied to.
So, you have a variety of options here. If I were you (and I was in your shoes, actually), I would take an extra school year to complete the basic prerequisites prior to applying. You don't want to have a bunch of applications riding on your Orgo I grade.
Regarding the MCAT, I would advise you to complete at least part of Physics II and Orgo II first, unless you've already studied the necessary stuff on your own and feel pretty complete. There's a lot of electricity and magnetism on the MCAT, and that was all Physics II stuff at least at my school. There's less Orgo II stuff as I recall but still. You really want to go in very well prepared for that test.
Just my 2 cents; good luck!
Man, if I were you I’d wait a year to apply.
A better way to bring up that science GPA, in my view, is to take the Physics II and O-Chem II over the course of the summer and fall, and also take some HARDER PRE-MED classes (you know the ones, biochem, molecular bio, microbiology, etc.) over the fall and spring.
- Your MCAT score (which you could then take late spring 2008) will greatly benefit.
- It makes for a good story regarding the weakness you’re perceiving in your organic chemistry knowledge-- “I saw a deficiency, as reflected in this low grade, I didn’t want to apply till I had rectified it by increasing my knowledge base.” Then, you see, your SKILLS become the point of extending your studies, instead of your GRADES being the point.
Take it from me, having to apply twice seriously sucks, and I’m afraid that with the plan you’ve outlined you would be headed down that road.
Thanks for the reply Terry. Another question – I was a math major in undergrad. Is all of my math coursework (even the non-science related stuff) included in the science GPA?