How Many Classes Did You Retake

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gabem480 said:

Wanted to get input from students on how many classes you retook to improve you GPA and how you think this affected your app in anyway. Thanks.

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That first response wasn't very helpful. I didn't retake classes to improve my GPA, I took higher level coursework and did well in it to improve my GPA. I think schools are more interested in seeing you take additional coursework, and do well in it, than retake classes and do well. Let's me honest, if you retake a class it's going to be much easier to succeed than the first time around.

One.

I agree that an A in Biochem is more important than turning a C into an A in Gen Chem I. However, retaking courses is a good strategy if you have space in your schedule and your GPA or sciGPA is not currently an asset to your application or they are keeping you from meeting the cutoffs at schools you're interested in.

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0... I think that the re-take policy at aacomas def needs to be re-examined

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I retook O-Chem 1 after I got a C in it. But more because I didn't understand it than to improve my GPA.

I just did a calculation. If I retook Bio I and Pchem I (Hell no) my AACOMAS GPA would have went up by 0.13. Hahahaha, wow.

I may have to retake chem 2 because I'm like one point away from a C (I have a C-, like a 74%) and at my school atleast, not sure about others, even if you get one point under a C, as a C-, you have to retake it. It's weird because I was doing fine in the course, yea I got C's on two exams, but I was doing fine on everything else but he grades it really strange, like my homework doesn't count in my grade or something like that.

2 and a possible. I failed one course for which I retook and got an A in it. I'm glad AACOMAS allows retakes into consideration.

0 retakes, 0 withdraws. I feel like this helped my app a lot.

johnniewalker11 said:

None. I worked hard and got good grades the first time around.

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Bacchus said:

0

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Brodiewankenobi said:

0... I think that the re-take policy at aacomas def needs to be re-examined

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tideleonheart said:

0 retakes, 0 withdraws. I feel like this helped my app a lot.

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...and that makes this the most pre-allo thread that I've ever seen in pre-osteo.

DrMidlife said:

...and that makes this the most pre-allo thread that I've ever seen in pre-osteo.

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Hahahaha ... I agree.


I retook 2 OP. Neither below a C-, both really stupid mistakes from Freshman year when I basically enrolled in both courses with no prior knowledge on either subject and got my butt kicked. Retook (with free time in summer) and got A's in both.

To defend myself a little... First, I have received multiple (and I do mean multiple) Cs and low Bs. My school has a strict re-take policy in that you usually need to get a D or F to retake. I made up for these poor grades by performing better in my upper level classes and in my master's program. Why should I be punished for not being able to re-take a class? Is it fair to re-take a class and act as if the previous effort shouldn't be taken into consideration? Averaging the two semesters is a much fairer approach than simply disregarding one, that's all. Any thoughts?

post script I feel for all of you guys who retook orgo. That shows that either your are dedicated or masochistic

Brodiewankenobi said:

Why should I be punished for not being able to re-take a class? Is it fair to re-take a class and act as if the previous effort shouldn't be taken into consideration? Averaging the two semesters is a much fairer approach than simply disregarding one, that's all. Any thoughts?

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Start a thread about it, if you want a discussion. I seriously doubt that the OP wanted to start an argument.

Meanwhile: I have 25 years of college transcripts across 5 colleges. On my AACOMAS are 5 withdrawals, and 7 repeats. See sig/mdapps for how it worked out. Is that the right way to do things? That was not the question.

I went to MSU and dont think they allowed retakes unless you received 2.0 or below. I also strongly believe that AACOMAS should reexamine their policy of ignoring the first grade if a student retook a course. It simply doesn't make much sense, I wouldn't mind so much if they averaged the two grades I suppose.
I took some of the same courses (biochem and physio) in my masters that I did in my undergrad, why are those not eligible to be replaced? I've never recieved a good answer for that question.

rajaholick said:

I took some of the same courses (biochem and physio) in my masters that I did in my undergrad, why are those not eligible to be replaced? I've never recieved a good answer for that question.

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Because UG and GR are reported separately, as they should be.

Do schools know which classes are listed as re-takes on the grade profiles they receive from AACOMAS?

Brodiewankenobi said:

Do schools know which classes are listed as re-takes on the grade profiles they receive from AACOMAS?

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Yeah. If they look through your individual courses, they'll see "R01" for the first time you repeated a course and "L01" for the last time you took it.

3 C retakes, 1 F retake, and 1 Lab w/ C (at two credits). My science GPA went from ~2.64 to ~3.22. I have about 180 credits, taking more classes boosts it about half as much (0.05), and it would take me forever to raise my GPA.

F: Biochem, C: Physiology, C: Orgo I, C: Orgo II, and C: Orgo I Lab. Each C in a 3 credit course boosted my GPA 0.10 points. However, I did get As.

I retook courses to get myself out of a huge hole. Now that I can almost see over the edge, I am taking more upper level courses and while I apply next year I am going to take graduate level. A couple of semesters ago, I decided it would be best to take a semester to straighten myself out first.

If your GPA is below 3.0, retake courses, then take some upper level courses. If you are above 3.0 and you don't have to many credits, just take upper level.

What I did was make an excel spread sheet and find out what would be best for me.

DrMidlife said:

Start a thread about it, if you want a discussion. I seriously doubt that the OP wanted to start an argument.

Meanwhile: I have 25 years of college transcripts across 5 colleges. On my AACOMAS are 5 withdrawals, and 7 repeats. See sig/mdapps for how it worked out. Is that the right way to do things? That was not the question.

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That's very impressive that with all those repeats and withdraws you still got in a good DO program.

I'm praying that the NSU admission committee will consider me the same way >.>

dxu said:

Four science retakes, three to five withdrawals. I couldn't leave them haunt me from my freshman and sophomore year. I admit without hesitation I was not ready for college and still am probably not, ha. But I am doing better and getting my rear in gear. It took me getting a job as a paramedic and running 12 calls a day and lifting heavier folk to make me realize this isn't HS and I actually have to work. It takes different motivation for everyone.

Since then, my big science classes (O-Chem, Physics II, a few higher levels) have all been As and Bs.

Waiting on the MCAT.

dxu

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its funny how the real world hits you and then you realize, ya know what, school is the way to go. i 2 worked WHILE in school but when i was in school just frumped around. then realizing that i gotta get my ass in gear(2 years ago) my grades have also jumped up. nice job man good luck with those scores

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johnniewalker11 said:

I also worked throughout high school and college. I guess some people have a hard time resisting the temptation to party and lounge around. So far all my hard work hasn't gotten me anywhere compared to my roommates who slacked off, partied 4 days a week, barely got Bs and Cs and cruised into decent MBA programs in the northeast. I'm a little frustrated with the whole process right now.

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What the hell is with the attitudes like this? According to this thread, not getting good grades = partying and drunken orgies (which would have been awesome ).

I retook one class, Calc I in which I got a C- in. I didn't bomb it because I was out partying every night, I bombed it because in high school **** came easily and I didn't have to study to do well. Freshman year was a smack in the face and it took me some time to figure out how to study and what works well for me.


But maybe you guys are right, if you don't get it all perfect the first time around might as well not even bother going into medicine. Its a good thing I didn't pick up a double math major after getting that C- in Calc 1.

I'm scared for medical school now. I don't know how I'll be able to compete with all of you guys who get everything right on the first try. If I get more than three questions wrong on an exam I'll have to go find a strong rope and a tree limb.

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Made a D in Calculus. Retook for an A at CC
Made a C in Physics1, Retook for a B at CC
Made a C in Genetics, retook and dropped at University night courses.

Did it affect my application? Not really as far as I know other than booting my actual GPA up just a tiny bit. It was brought up and discussed in one interview for about 1 minute.

I got sick some summer session and hadn't withdrawn from the 2 courses I was taking and ended with a C- and a D+, statistics and Anatomy and Physiology. Retaking them was the first thing I did when I decided to return to school and pursue medicine. Got an A in statistics and A- in Anat. and Phys. No problems, didn't even come up in interview, and I didn't anticipate that it would, but I was prepared for the eventuality.

Cheers.

Ehhh....I retook an embarrassing number of courses. Retaking a course or two is not going to boost your GPA by all that much given the large number of credits you take in UG. Re-taking more could change your GPA, but it will making your transcript look bad, so it negates the effects of a higher GPA. You should only re-take a course if you are below the admission minimum (ie C- and below) otherwise just take some upper level science courses. You'll learn more and it will have a positive effect on your GPA.

engineeredout said:

What the hell is with the attitudes like this? According to this thread, not getting good grades = partying and drunken orgies (which would have been awesome ).

I retook one class, Calc I in which I got a C- in. I didn't bomb it because I was out partying every night, I bombed it because in high school **** came easily and I didn't have to study to do well. Freshman year was a smack in the face and it took me some time to figure out how to study and what works well for me.


But maybe you guys are right, if you don't get it all perfect the first time around might as well not even bother going into medicine. Its a good thing I didn't pick up a double math major after getting that C- in Calc 1.

I'm scared for medical school now. I don't know how I'll be able to compete with all of you guys who get everything right on the first try. If I get more than three questions wrong on an exam I'll have to go find a strong rope and a tree limb.

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My crappy GPA is dominated by the years when I was working 80+ hours a week for minimum wage running a business that ended up being the resume asset that scored me the engineering internship that set me up for my first 15 year career. In software nobody gave a crap about GPA or even whether you graduated. And in all honesty, I think Nova accepted me based on my success in that career, forgiving the GPA side effects. All I needed was one school to notice that I've already demonstrated that I can thrive under an obsessive 120 work week, year after year.

I retook 3 classes - I was asked about them at about 1/2 of my interviews. (I got in everywhere I interviewed.)

0.. but i do have 1 C+ and 1 B- on my transcript (Orgo 1 & 2, respectively)

Brodiewankenobi said:

post script I feel for all of you guys who retook orgo. That shows that either your are dedicated or masochistic

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Hah. I qualify. I got 'C's in both Orgo 1 & 2 the first year (as I was taking 22/23 units each term and working 30+ hrs a week, and had a death in the family and two days later my first love left me for someone else. I was a wreck.) I retook both with the same professor who was known as the most difficult Ochem professor in the department, but far better than the other Ochem instructors. People thought I was nuts. (I also had the same guy for gen chem 2 as well, in which I had the best grades in the class). I guess my ego was bruised as I never got any 'C's until then at my university, and I didn't want to disappoint myself or him (as I was previously his best student). So I took both semesters of orgo over, did much better obviously the next time around... and after 5 semesters with him, yes, he did write one of my recommendation letters. I know it was a risk to get a letter from an instructor who I got two 'C's from... but he was willing to write a letter, so I took the chance. I know I'm crazy, but I figure that maybe I'll get brownie-points for at least being persistent enough to go through that hell for 2 years straight. If by some chance his letter wasn't that great, then hopefully this will be made up by having several other recommendation letters in my LOR packet from others who I know love me.

I retook a pre calc class my freshman year, I might retake chem 2 though depending how my professor grades. Our class average is about a 53 right now and there's only twelve of us that haven't dropped so I'm not sure how the curve is going to work. I don't think a few retakes will hurt you too badly, especially early on. If you work to improve your grades early on then I'm sure your strong record can speak for itself when it comes application time.