Opinions on retaking Premed courses

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horangeez

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Hello everyone, I'm sorry for asking this (I know it's probably been talked about over and over) but I had trouble finding a post so I decided to ask again.

What is everyone's (expert) opinion on whether you should retake a course or not. Should you retake if you got less than B-? I've been talking to advisors/students/doctors and everyone seems to have a different opinion. I wish this was set in stone.

Thank you all.
LK

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Depends. If you got a C- or lower, you more than likely have to retake it anyway for your degree. If it's like a one time thing, or uncommon for you to get a C, then don't worry about it, try harder in your next classes because if you retake, MD schools average the two grades (so if you got a C, then got an A, you'd still only have a B, so no use really worrying about it). If you keep getting C's, you may need to learn better study habits, etc...
 
Hello everyone, I'm sorry for asking this (I know it's probably been talked about over and over) but I had trouble finding a post so I decided to ask again.

What is everyone's (expert) opinion on whether you should retake a course or not. Should you retake if you got less than B-? I've been talking to advisors/students/doctors and everyone seems to have a different opinion. I wish this was set in stone.

Thank you all.
LK

i honestly wouldnt retake a course if i got a C+ in it if thats what your asking. If i got like a C- then it'd probably retake. C even if it was a class like o-chem i wouldn't really retake it..If its not a pre-requisite/science course i wouldnt even care to think about the possibility of retaking it. This is of course if you mantain a decent gpa, if your gpa is below a 3.0 then i might consider retaking some classes.
 
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If you're a non-science major, a C will destroy your gpa. It was mentioned the grade itself is not that big of a deal, the problem is what it does to your gpa. If you don't want to retake the pre-reqs take some more math classes.
 
Depends. If you got a C- or lower, you more than likely have to retake it anyway for your degree. If it's like a one time thing, or uncommon for you to get a C, then don't worry about it, try harder in your next classes because if you retake, MD schools average the two grades (so if you got a C, then got an A, you'd still only have a B, so no use really worrying about it). If you keep getting C's, you may need to learn better study habits, etc...

And MD schools definitely do not average grades. You're thinking of DO schools.
 
And MD schools definitely do not average grades. You're thinking of DO schools.

From what I've heard, they do average the two. DO schools take the retake grade
 
Wow. That's pretty cool.

I always give this advice..... even if you lets say got a D in a prereq like gen chem I (which is beyond horrible)... rather than repeating it the following semester, go on with gen chem II... you can still do well in the second half of a science course regardless of whether you did well in the first half...

this way finish up all the pre-req's by the end of your junior year. THEN in the summer between your junior and senior year, you retake prereq's where your grade you are not satisfied with. This way the grade in the retake pre-req will show up before you apply to med school your senior year... and you wont have to worry about not having completed the required pre-req's (before you apply though you technically can apply without having completed all the pre-req's, but I would not recommend that)

Also understand the importance of the required pre-req's needed for admission. I sincerely believe they are even more important to ad com's than upper level science courses... so try to retake pre-req's where you got a C+ or lower in the summer between junior and senior year.... even if you got all A's in your upper level science courses....... i think pre-med's undervalue the importance of required pre-req's thinking upper level science courses make up for a poor performance in them... but I really don't believe so... because the required pre-req's are REQUIRED... upper level science courses are either RECOMMENDED or OPTIONAL

there is a BIG BIG BIG difference in REQUIRED VS. RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL, so I really believe it is incredibly important to do well in REQUIRED Courses... since it is REQUIRED

and I got accepted to med school having only done the pre-req's (I did very well in all of them) and MCAT... shows to you that med schools I think really only care about your grades in the required courses, your overall GPA, and MCAT
 
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If you're a non-science major, a C will destroy your gpa. It was mentioned the grade itself is not that big of a deal, the problem is what it does to your gpa. If you don't want to retake the pre-reqs take some more math classes.

the grade does matter... in many supplementals you are required to list your grades you got in the required pre-req's.... yes maybe for upper level science courses, the grade itself is not a problem but it is for the GPA... but for the required pre-req's the grade is important both for a good GPA and because I believe ad com's specifically look for grades in these courses
 
the grade does matter... in many supplementals you are required to list your grades you got in the required pre-req's.... yes maybe for upper level science courses, the grade itself is not a problem but it is for the GPA... but for the required pre-req's the grade is important both for a good GPA and because I believe ad com's specifically look for grades in these courses

I think the reason why doing better in upper level course (if you get like a C in a class (not a whole bunch or anything)) is suggested so much is because it shows that, although you got a C in a prereq, you obviously mastered the basics enough to do well in what is considered more difficult classes and may have just had a bad semester.
 
the grade does matter... in many supplementals you are required to list your grades you got in the required pre-req's.... yes maybe for upper level science courses, the grade itself is not a problem but it is for the GPA... but for the required pre-req's the grade is important both for a good GPA and because I believe ad com's specifically look for grades in these courses

You missed my point. A grade of a B- or C+ will not keep you from getting into a school. However, your cumulative gpa will.
 
You missed my point. A grade of a B- or C+ will not keep you from getting into a school. However, your cumulative gpa will.

A C+ in a required pre-req may, despite a good cumulative GPA. A C+ in an upper level science course will probably not. This is assuming the cumulative GPA is good.

But a bad cumulative GPA will keep you out period.
 
You missed my point. A grade of a B- or C+ will not keep you from getting into a school. However, your cumulative gpa will.

Yea, a few B's (I've had a few, no big deal) or a C aren't going to hurt. You do have to watch your GPA, as mentioned, because it's very important as it's like an over gauge of how well you did in your classes before they actually would look at each individual grade (if you know what I mean)
 
A C+ in a required pre-req may, despite a good cumulative GPA. A C+ in an upper level science course will probably not. This is assuming the cumulative GPA is good.

But a bad cumulative GPA will keep you out period.

I don't know, one C in a prereq won't hurt (due to MCAT and success in upperlevels), but a C in an upperlevel may give off the impression that you never really understood what you learned before. It's a very on-the-fence kind of topic.
 
I don't know, one C in a prereq won't hurt (due to MCAT and success in upperlevels), but a C in an upperlevel may give off the impression that you never really understood what you learned before. It's a very on-the-fence kind of topic.

No. Med Schools know that you will learn everything you need to know in med school.. But this is with the assumption you have a solid foundation in general bio, chem, orgo, and physics... this is why these courses are required and why upper level science courses are not required... a C in the required pre-req shows you are not solid on the basic foundations, so I believe they think you may struggle in med school, because of your solid foundation being weak..... upper level courses in ug have a different emphasis than that of med school, and ad com's know that and thats why they dont really care about these courses. and thats why these courses are not required.. but the assumption is that students entering med school have a solid foundation in general bio, chem, orgo, and physics, and thus will be able to master the medical sciences in med school from the info they give you there.... The MCAT also is written to test fluency in the required pre-req's... that is why grades in the pre-req's along with the MCAT are extremely important
 
No. Med Schools know that you will learn everything you need to know in med school.. But this is with the assumption you have a solid foundation in general bio, chem, orgo, and physics... this is why these courses are required and why upper level science courses are not required... a C in the required pre-req shows you are not solid on the basic foundations, so I believe they think you may struggle in med school, because of your solid foundation being weak..... upper level courses in ug have a different emphasis than that of med school, and ad com's know that and thats why they dont really care about these courses. and thats why these courses are not required.. but the assumption is that students entering med school have a solid foundation in general bio, chem, orgo, and physics, and thus will be able to master the medical sciences in med school from the info they give you there.... The MCAT also is written to test fluency in the required pre-req's... that is why grades in the pre-req's along with the MCAT are extremely important

Upper level course are usually done again in med school (like biochem, etc...), so what I'm saying is that having a strong base, and doing well in upper level courses, show you can do that type of work.
 
Upper level course are usually done again in med school (like biochem, etc...), so what I'm saying is that having a strong base, and doing well in upper level courses, show you can do that type of work.

but they are not REQUIRED.... so med schools never asked you to do biochem... but they asked you to do gen bio, chem, orgo, and physics so the expectation is that you do well in them... that is why pre-req's >>>> upper level science courses
 
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