<p>Hello, I’m a student in a community college in california.
I applied for transferring to UC Berkeley for Fall 06 as Molecular Cell Biology Major.
I got All A’s in major courses such as calculus, physics, general chem, and ceneral biology. However, I got a B in Orchem first semester(Fall 05).
Now,I’m taking Second semester Orchem now, and the grade would be B.
Although I get a B in this orchem, it would be no problem to get into Berkeley. However, I’m planning to go to UCSF Medschool. I think if I get two B’s in Orchem, they won’t accept me. However, If I drop this Orchem course in this semester, Berkeley might revoke my admission because the Orchem is minimum requirement for admission, and I should spend one more year in Community College only for this 5 unit. It would be easy to get A orchem, if I focus only on this course for a year, but it is wasting time.
Should I drop it or getting B would be OK to get into UCSF?</p>
<p>since you want to go to UCSF, and there is no way that you can get there with only a community college education, don’t drop the class. Transfer to UCB, take the B, and then hope for the best!</p>
<p>Frankly, Daniel, people do not “plan” to go to a specific medical school. You can “hope”, but “planning” is simply naive. The odds are simply too bad. It is even a stretch for most students to “plan” to go to medical school at all! When you are applying to medical school - since you seem to be in California - any sane applicant will apply to at least 20 schools, because the odds are not very good. I applied to 25 schools.</p>
<p>And I do not say this because of the B’s. Goodness knows many students can get into top places with B’s in organic chemistry.</p>
<p>I say this based purely on the percentages. You can “hope” to go to UCSF. You can “aim” to go to Harvard. But you cannot “plan” on going to Stanford or UCLA or, frankly, anywhere. The odds are just too low for that.</p>
<p>I agree. UCSF is my dream school too. But I know that most likely I won’t make it as there are too many strong applicants. It’s good to have 10-15 or so med schools that you would be happy going to.</p>
<p>You should consider this “dream school” business very carefully.</p>
<p>While there are many strong reasons to attend UCSF, one of the more commonly cited reasons - cost - is actually not that significant an advantage. UCSF will run you about $23,000 a year. A private school like Penn will run you about $36,000 a year. Now, consider that living expenses in San Francisco are by far the highest in the country, the fact that the UCs give out far inferior financial aid packages, and the fact that the UC tuition is rising much faster than anybody else’s.</p>
<p>Even if you only consider the difference in housing costs, that still leaves you with a difference of about $9,000 a year, a difference which UC’s rising tuition will rapidly erode. This is a small sum compared to the overall cost of medical school (including housing, often close to $60,000 a year).</p>
<p>If you’re on financial aid, it’s safe to bet that UC will actually be your most EXPENSIVE school.</p>
<p>what are some good prep books to learn the organic chemistry tested on MCAT?</p>
<p>Thank you very much. I really appreciate all of your answers.</p>
<p>Sorry to switch focus, but i also have a question similar to the orginal post. I"m just wondering if getting a B+ in ochem2 (i go to ucsd and they divide ochem into three parts/quarters - i got an A for ochem1) hurts my chance at getting into med school? I don’t mean to be anal or anything, i’m just frustrated at myself for not getting that A-. I hear going pre-med is competitive, but does getting a few B+'s in premed courses hurt my chances (a lot)? thanks for replying, hope you guys the best of luck!</p>
<p>No, absolutely not. I have PMed you with more details.</p>
<p>Edit: Whoops, you seem to have disabled your PMs. If you can find a way to contact me privately, I have no doubt I will be able to convince you.</p>
<p>hey bluedevilmike, how do you enable pm?</p>
<p>“My Control Panel” (upper left)–> “Edit Options” (left) –> “Enable PM”</p>
<p>haha nvm, found it…can you pm me again? sorry for the trouble, i’m really grateful for your help.</p>
<p>Done. Let me know if you need anything else. =)</p>