How bad is it to retake courses ?

[gochi]

If one obtained a C or below, should he retake the course, if he feels he can get an A/B ?

How often do you guys repeat courses ?

Will the admissions comitee look upon applicants who have repeated courses but have a high gpa, unfavourablly ?

This question should go on another thread, but I will put it in this one.

Is it harder for applicants who dont have a degree, to get admitted into schools ?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[HAB1206]

If one obtained a C or below, should he retake the course, if he feels he can get an A/B ?

How often do you guys repeat courses ?

Will the admissions comitee look upon applicants who have repeated courses but have a high gpa, unfavourablly ?

This question should go on another thread, but I will put it in this one.

Is it harder for applicants who dont have a degree, to get admitted into schools ?

I think most schools prefer you get a degree. Students with a degree seem to be more competitive.

To be honest, I have repeated 4 of my science courses. I either received C- or D's in those courses and retook to get a C or above (UHCO requires C or above). I don't think they look at you retaking courses as horrible, but I was told that just because you received a C in a science course doesnt mean they will reject or overlook you. I'm just speaking from my stats and the stats of some friends that also got in.

Good luck!

 

[gochi]

I see.

Well....I just recieved my grades for this semester, and I obtained an F in CALC 2, a B- in CHEM 1, a D in BIO 2.

Is my most favourable option to apply to ICO after retaking those courses for which I recieved a C or lower, b/c ICO calc's the higher grade ?

I really did not intend to acheive these awfull scores, but it just happend.

thanks

 

[HAB1206]

I see.

Well....I just recieved my grades for this semester, and I obtained an F in CALC 2, a B- in CHEM 1, a D in BIO 2.

Is my most favourable option to apply to ICO after retaking those courses for which I recieved a C or lower, b/c ICO calc's the higher grade ?

I really did not intend to acheive these awfull scores, but it just happend.

thanks

I dont believe Calc 2 is a prereq, but if its part of your major then YES most definitely retake the class. BIO 2 will also need to be retaken because they require a C or above. I think you should wait until you finish retaking these courses before you apply. (maybe take one during the summer if possible). If you plan on applying for Fall08, just make sure to keep in close contact with the school you are applying to so they know if you are currently retaking the course. Hope this helps.

 

[gochi]

Man, I totally blew that semester. I really do not want to retake BIO, but probably will.

What is your opinion on my chances of acceptances, even though I avg a GPA of under 2.0 in my 2nd semester ?

thanks

 

[hfpepperbean47]

Man, I totally blew that semester. I really do not want to retake BIO, but probably will.

What is your opinion on my chances of acceptances, even though I avg a GPA of under 2.0 in my 2nd semester ?

thanks

I'll be candid with you.

As it stands right now you don't have a very good chance based on your academics at this point in time. I know many people who started college very poorly and turned it around. It would be different if you were a junior or senior with that GPA. There is room for much improvement (obviously) and if you're serious about wanting to pursue optometry you have to do much better than you are doing right now. I would retake Bio2 because getting a D probably means you didn't learn the course material and Biology is rather important.

I repeated two courses (Organic Chem II and Genetics) and got Cs in all of my college Physics courses yet it didn't drag me down.

I think the thing to do is sit down and reassess your priorities. If you continue to do poorly (sub-2.00 GPA) in school, do you really think you would stand a chance of 1) getting into and 2) achieving success in an optometry curriculum when the material is much more involved than an intro Bio class? I'm interested to see how you progress, please keep us up to date! Its not impossible, but I think your climb will be a little tougher than others.

 

[gochi]

I see.

Would you recommend me to take embryology, histology, biochem because these courses are in the curriculum of opto schools.

I think biology is probably the easiest science. Are geography and geology factored into the SGPA ?

thanks

 

[hfpepperbean47]

I don't think that biology is the easiest science, it is the study of life. It encompasses everything. General biology in college may seem easy, but biology in and of itself isn't. It is such a broad area, I think it is a little narrow-minded to say it is easy. Histology, Biochemistry, Embryology, Physiology, Entomology, Ornithology, Mammology, Primatology, Neurobiology, Ecology and so on and so on and so on...they are merely branches/sub-specialties of Biology.

The other classes - geology, for example - i am not sure if they are taken into account for science GPA. Hmmm...that's a good question.

Of the other classes...i recommend taking biochemistry just because it will help in many many other science classes that you take.

 

[hfpepperbean47]

That's the other course I got a C in, Biochemistry. I knew there was another.

 

[anjanisi]

IS it really bad to get a D+ in organic II? I dnt have such a low grade in any of my other classes but this has really screwed me over rite before graduating. And my school doesnt allow u to take a course over if you dont fail it....Do You think I still have a chance of getting into any optometry schools?

 

[tikiriki]

Well, some schools do not accept any course that is lower than a C-, so I definitely recommend retaking those classes. Don't be discouraged, if you want optometry school badly enough and wish to pursue this career, work harder. If your school doesn't allow retaking, have you considered looking into community college courses? Schools like to see upward trend. Pacific, for example, looks at your last 45 semester credits GPA too, and this clearly shows their interest in your renewed efforts. If your GPA is not that high, just think of extracurricular activities and other ways to improve your application. Good luck with everything!

 

[optoforme]

I guess i need to work harder then... retaking orgo 1 (again ) and physics II at community college then... i hope that this will work this fall and that OATs will get better second time around and that i find another way to study so i can excel.

[EDIT]
I just thought though, that SUNY doesn't like courses to be taken at comm colleges... darn it... there goes thoughts of getting in there dashed...

Thanks for the thoughts on this thread... it helps to know that someone is in a similar boat...

 

[gochi]

Overall GPA (24 CREDIT HOURS) got a D in a pre-req and an F in another math subject. Overallgap based on this is 1.9!!!!

What are your thoughts ?

thanks

 

[jefguth]

Overall GPA (24 CREDIT HOURS) got a D in a pre-req and an F in another math subject. Overallgap based on this is 1.9!!!!

What are your thoughts ?

thanks

1.9 is not good, if you look at ICO's entering class profile only 1% (or 2 students) of the class of 2010 had an entering GPA <2.80.

As I see it, not only do you have to retake those courses, and excel round two, to stand a chance of admissions, but you have to pick it up from here on out so that you remain eligible for an honours degreee. At this point I would be much more concerned about being able to get the honours degree than getting into optometry school - b/c if optometry doesn't work out then you're going to need a 4yr honours degree to do any graduate work in Canada.

Either way, what I would be most concerned with is not getting in, but being able to survive all 4 years once you're in... prove that you can handle it now!

 

[deleted112134]

To be competitive for Med schools, one should get 3.3 GPA or above.

I had spoken with lots of advisors/profs about retaking courses, and ALL of them didn't seem to like it....