Hi, First, I apologize if this isn't the right place to post this; looking around, it appeared consistent with other posts, so I figured I'd try my luck. I'm a senior about to graduate in the spring, and my science GPA is around a 3.2 with an overall of about 3.4. Hopefully, I can ace my last classes and beef it up a bit. The reason for the low score is that in my sophomore year, I took two semesters of O Chem and one semester of Genetics and got C's on them. More of an explanation than an excuse, I got very ill during the fall and passed out during an O Chem exam and missed two weeks of class. Then in second semester it came back again and missed some time there. Suffice to say, those are the only two C's I have and most of my grades are A's with some B's here and there. My question is - should I retake O Chem and Genetics? Will it cover up my previous grades or simply go on in addition to them? Also, how do med schools feel about redoing classes like this? Thank you for your help.
Redoing UG?
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A post bacc program will definately boost your gpa up as long as you do well...
4.0 on post bacc gives you (i believe):
3.6 sGPA
3.7 cGPA
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Think of it as a certificate. You will take all of the required premed courses and maybe more (biochem, genetics,etc.) in a year or so. It is designed to boost your GPA and prove that you made honest mistakes. Good luck!
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Think of it as a certificate. You will take all of the required premed courses and maybe more (biochem, genetics,etc.) in a year or so. It is designed to boost your GPA and prove that you made honest mistakes. Good luck!
Important to keep in mind that you'll have to take Orgo 1 and 2 again.
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Do a postbacc. Do a search on SDN about them, there is a ton of information on here about them.
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Do an informal post-bacc and take upper-level sciences only, along with he grades you got C's in. You don't have to retake Bio or Chem if you got B's or higher in them.
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This.
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while we're on this topic, lets say someone who is in currently in their Undergrad and has retaken the courses they got C's in from their freshmen year/soph, and is currently taking upper-level bio courses and doing well in them (A/B+ only), how is that viewed versus a post-bac/informal post-bac.
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They're about the same. It's like a postbacc without the postbacc, except you only have two years of grades to balance out. Your science gpa and cumulative gpa are the main measures that will be used to evaluate you no matter what type of program you do.
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I believe that is what LizzyM/Catalystik call an upward trend.
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If you're talking about AMCAS, then retaking the classes will not change your old grades at all. The only difference is that the improved grades will bump up your GPA some just like if you took any other class with the same amount of credits. If you are talking about AACOMAS, then your most recent grade will be used instead of any past attempts at the same course (as long as the retake is the same amount of credits or more. You can retake classes at different schools as long as you can show that they are the same content)
I definitely would not retake the classes if you are only planning on applying to MD schools. However, with your GPA, you should be thinking about applying DO as well, in which case it might be useful to retake them. Calculate it out and see how much of a difference it will make under both GPA calculation schemes.
There is a lot of information about postbaccs in the "Postbaccalaureate Programs" section of SDN (pay particular attention to the stickies at the top, like this one). A postbacc is not the same as a graduate program, although both are meant for students who have graduated with their bachelor's degree. A postbacc is basically like going back to take undergrad classes with the rest of the undergrads at a school. In an informal postbacc, you pick classes you want to do and there isn't much structure to it. In a formal postbacc, you would have a short list of classes that you are supposed to take (kind of like a minor). At the end of a formal postbacc, you wouldn't get another bachelor's degree. It's like getting a certificate, like xXIDaShizIXx said.
The only difference I can think of is how the GPA is going to be represented on your app. If you retake the classes before you graduate, then those classes will be used to create your GPA for each academic year (like frosh, soph, etc.). If you retake the class after you have earned your bachelor's degree as part of a postbacc (both formal and informal), then those classes will be used for your postbacc GPA. It could be useful if you are trying to create a more dramatic upward trend to retake the class during a post-bacc. If you are visual learner, check out the screenshot attached to my post here to see how your GPA is presented to med schools on the application.
No matter which path you pick (retaking a class at the end of your BS vs. retaking as part of a postbacc), the grades will still show up as part of your cumulative undergrad GPA.
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