Medical Education US

I am a freshman in college (well basically a sophomore since tomorrow is my last final). My first semester I got a 2.8 because I got a D in math... only because I had so many health issues(flu, mono, viruses, and the school thought I had swine flu). My school was on high alert this year because we had a huge swine flu outbreak that they were just sending me hope all the time...but I was so sick that it was really best anyway. I was able to maintain average grades in all my other classes during this period of time except for math, basically because it is just impossible to teach yourself math at home. It was really hard for me to keep up with work at home, because we all know that professors don't always care. Since this is my first year, I was not well informed about options such as medical withdrawals and awesome things like that. This semester I did a lotttttttttt better. The only thing that really worries me is that I got a B- in Biology. Is this a bad grade? I was ranked 5th in the class out of 20 ... so compared to the rest I felt good... but I feel like a B- is horrible!!! Am I not cut out to go to medical school? I want this so bad but I'm afraid that the grades from my freshman year are going to really mess me up. Any advice?

I changed my major, first semester I was an International Business Major, and now of course premed. I am behind right now since I changed my major, therefore I was hoping to take Biology 2 over the summer. The only problem is that I am taking it online... is this a bad idea?

Low grades will definitely reduce your chances of getting into medical school. A D in math is a potential problem and a B- in biology is not good and sounds a bit odd if you had the 5th highest score in the class. Does your school have a reputation for extremely hard grading? You should talk with your pre-med advisor at your school to see what they suggest. I would guess you'd want to retake the math course to show that you can do well in the class and that it was just health issues that caused the low grade. When applying to medical schools, you can include information explaining the reason for the initial low grade. It doesn't sound like you have any excuse for the B-, but if that is your lowest science grade you wind up with, you may still be able to get into medical school. You'd need to do well in your second semester of biology and of course do well in chemistry and organic chemistry.

I don't believe you'd be able to take a pre-med level of biology online. I'm not too familiar with online colleges, but you'd need to take the class from an accredited 4 year university and take the biology class that a biology major would take, along with the associated lab. If you think the online course will meet the requirement, check with your pre-med advisor first as you're otherwise wasting your time and money. The education could possibly help you do better when you take the full biology course at a full university, but that seems like a lot of extra work and money for the benefit.

Best of luck.