How many letter B can you have on your transcript?

[DaymanNightman]

This has been bothering me for sometime; I know the whole rule for medical school applicants is that less Bs you have the better, but I've been told getting a B is practically like getting an F and it virtually destroys your opportunity to go to med school. How many Bs is too many? I've got about 9 Bs, but planning to retake 3 or as many courses possible.

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[xXIDaShizIXx]

Dont retake Bs. Whats your gpa? 3.5+ is great.

 

[DaymanNightman]

about there yeah (my transcript is not available right now), but why not retake the Bs? Wouldn't that raise eyebrows and red flags when the admissions boards see that?

 

[DrEnderW]

That's absolutely not true at all.

There are literally thousands of doctors and current med students that have C's on their transcripts. A few scattered B's are by no means a death sentence. Try to balance them out with A's obviously.

If you are applying to MD programs, your grades will not be replaced and the retake grade with be averaged in with the rest of your grades. The DO app service does take grade replacement.

You can still end up with an above average accepted GPA with that many flat B's, so relax and work on pumping out some As. PLEASE do not listen to crazy pre-meds that try and scare you.

 

[gravitywave]

Dont retake Bs. Whats your gpa? 3.5+ is great.

Eh, 3.5 isn't "great," but it'll get you by if the rest of the app is solid. What it does is add more pressure at MCAT time.

OP, having Bs is fine. What you said first is true, the less of them the better. Bs are certainly not Fs. Do not retake Bs.

 

[latebutterflu]

Retaking B's might actually give interviewers/etc. a less-than-great impression of you. I remember discounting one of my classes, saying that I "only" got a B+ and the interviewer correcting me and saying that that wasn't actually a bad grade. Rather than retaking lower-level B's, maybe focus on doing well (A-/A) in upper-level courses.

 

[DaymanNightman]

That's absolutely not true at all.

There are literally thousands of doctors and current med students that have C's on their transcripts. A few scattered B's are by no means a death sentence. Try to balance them out with A's obviously.

If you are applying to MD programs, your grades will not be replaced and the retake grade with be averaged in with the rest of your grades. The DO app service does take grade replacement.

You can still end up with an above average accepted GPA with that many flat B's, so relax and work on pumping out some As. PLEASE do not listen to crazy pre-meds that try and scare you.

Really? So pretty much speaking, if I retook these classes, it would actually look bad than good? When you mean averaged in, do you mean like the original grade doesn't get dropped and actually counts with the GPA? (even if those circumstance, you had to retake the class?)

 

[KnuxNole]

I've never heard of anyone trying to retake a "B" grade. It's not like getting an F, noone will ask why you got a B in a class. Unless you only get B's, then it can be a problem, cause having a GPA of a 3.0 or lower is not gonna be good.

 

[AestheticGod]

As long as your overall GPA is above 3.5, YOU'RE FINE.

 

[DrEnderW]

Really? So pretty much speaking, if I retook these classes, it would actually look bad than good? When you mean averaged in, do you mean like the original grade doesn't get dropped and actually counts with the GPA? (even if those circumstance, you had to retake the class?)

That is 100% correct. If you retake a class, the retake grade and the original grade will both be averaged in to your final GPA. In other words, there is no grade replacement policy.

It is true that if you get a poor grade that repeating it will look good, but it will never replace the original grade. I don't think you should worry about retaking B's. For example if you're unhappy with a B in Bio II, get an A in Cell Bio and an A in Genetics. If you got a B in Orgo, get an A in Biochem. That will show maturity and success in upper-level material.

 

[Neuronette]

I took a couple of computer science classes and a calc class at a local college while in high school. (Grades were lower than Bs). College grades are all As. Should I retake the courses? Have not taken courses in those subjects in over a year...! :'(

 

[DrEnderW]

I took a couple of computer science classes and a calc class at a local college while in high school. (Grades were lower than Bs). College grades are all As. Should I retake the courses? Have not taken courses in those subjects in over a year...! :'(

Hmm, that's something you should look into.

I'm not sure if you'd have to report those classes because you were in high school still. The AMCAS does say "all college classes" but I bet there is a way around that if taken in HS. I would talk to a school adviser. I can't see anyone being too upset about classes taken in HS...

 

[lobo.solo]

25% of all the classes you take. Don't retake B, it doesn't help much for MD schools.

 

[Heday]

This has been bothering me for sometime; I know the whole rule for medical school applicants is that less Bs you have the better, but I've been told getting a B is practically like getting an F and it virtually destroys your opportunity to go to med school. How many Bs is too many? I've got about 9 Bs, but planning to retake 3 or as many courses possible.

I feel like you're trolling, but I'll bite. Getting a B is practically like getting a B. You don't want too many. I would just imagine you do well in classes specific to prereqs and your major

I've got 7 Bs over 7 semesters... my gpa is around 3.8.. I would imagine your GPA is at the very least a 3.6, probably a 3.7ish. Which is fine. Whoever told you a B=F is an idiot.

 

[Ismet]

Getting a B is practically like getting a B.

Haha jk

 

[MortellarPreMed]

......I've been told getting a B is practically like getting an F and it virtually destroys your opportunity to go to med school.

Where did you hear this other than SDN? Trust me, I wanted to kill myself after I got a B in Public Speaking (wtf!!!) because I too treat B's like F's, but the reality is they're not. Treating B's like F's pushes me to keep my GPA as high as possible and never strive for anything less than an A, but a B is not the end, not even close. I even know of an instance where a student got a W in organic chem, retook it and only got a C and still had plenty of acceptances. Getting B's will keep you out of med school is another ridiculous pre med myth.

 

[Belle Melodie]

This has been bothering me for sometime; I know the whole rule for medical school applicants is that less Bs you have the better, but I've been told getting a B is practically like getting an F and it virtually destroys your opportunity to go to med school. How many Bs is too many? I've got about 9 Bs, but planning to retake 3 or as many courses possible.

I hope you're not taking any other advice from this person. This sounds absolutely ridiculous to me

 

[gookies]

Ah, I would love to retake some classes to get a 4.0 in, but my university's policy is that if you get a 2.0 or higher (we don't use letter grades here), then you can't retake the course.

 

[mzarrowsmith]

1 B is too many. Getting a B means that you were wrong at least 10-20% of the time. Do you want a doctor who is wrong 10-20% of the time? No, you want a doctor who is wrong 0% of the time.

jk. Buy the MSAR, look at the data and figure out how many B's you can get to earn a competitive GPA for the schools that you are interested in attending. This is not rocket science, but believing *****s is never a good route to take in life.