retaking the pre-reqs?

[seize the day]

Hi everyone,
I'm a fourth year university student doing a specialist in history and a minor in biology. I recently had a change of heart that I want to go into health-related field. I did lots of research on health-care careers and concluded that Optometry would be the perfect fit for me to pursue. That said, I will have to take a few years to finish up my pre-reqs to apply for the Optometry schools. I have taken a few science courses but my gpa for these courses werent all that great. (They were actually pretty bad--around 60s) So my question is- would it be better to retake these courses to get better grades? One thing is that my school doesn't allow us to retake as long as we pass the course. So as an alternative choice, I'm planning to graduate from this university and apply to other universities as a non-degree student to retake+complete the pre-reqs. Do you think this is a good idea? Or am I getting myself into too much trouble? Should I just leave the already-taken courses behind and do well on other courses?

Your help/insights will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

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[Hines302]

It depends how bad those gades where. Anything below a C most schools wont even accept. What classes where they? If it was only one of two.. i would not worry about it to much now, kick butt in your other pre-reqs and then retake the couple other classes at another School and a later date. Gen Chem I&II, Orgo I&II, Bio I&II, and PhysicsI&II are the major classes you have to do well in.

 

[still_confused]

i think you should also consider a master program while taking your remaining prereqs (something to fall back on if you dont go to opt school). itll also boost your application !

 

[seize the day]

It depends how bad those gades where. Anything below a C most schools wont even accept. What classes where they? If it was only one of two.. i would not worry about it to much now, kick butt in your other pre-reqs and then retake the couple other classes at another School and a later date. Gen Chem I&II, Orgo I&II, Bio I&II, and PhysicsI&II are the major classes you have to do well in.

So far I have taken: calculus, OrgoI, GenChemI, and lots of Bio courses (since I'm doing a minor in Bio). I did pretty bad on them (60s;gpa: around 2.2) except for the GenChemI. I don't know if it means anything but our school has very low class mean average in general. They always try to set the class avg in low 60s.
I really want to make this work and would do anything to boost my chance to get into optometry school!

 

[seize the day]

i think you should also consider a master program while taking your remaining prereqs (something to fall back on if you dont go to opt school). itll also boost your application !

I've thought of applying for a master program but wouldn't I be spending too much time on other courses (meaning non pre-reqs) to complete the degree? Also what kind of master programs could I apply that could raise my chance of getting in? I obviously have little knowledge on master programs but I'd definitely look into it in near future.
Thank you for your suggestion!