Retakes: Did I mess up?

[wcombs]

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Hey guys, I'm new here but I hope to be around for the next few years. I had a question about my undergraduate coursework. To make long story short, my father killed himself right before I went to my first year of university. I performed extremely poorly, received Ds and Fs for most courses for the year with no consideration for what I wanted for a career. After that I left the school and took a year off to get my act together.

Since then I've returned to school. I thought it would be a great idea to retake all the classes I bombed to impress the admissions committees--my intention was to show them that I was obviously going through a rough time and that I'm not just a *****. I made As in every retake (8 or 9 classes total). None of these classes are prereqs for dental school, but 2 of them are science courses which will drag down my GPA regardless of me retaking them.

After doing some research, I see a lot of people saying it's better to just move on and impress them with upper division courses rather than waste time retaking general education classes (which most of these are--US government, human growth and development, statistics, biology of environmental systems, music appreciation, etc.) I took the retakes on top of a loaded schedule, for example, organic 1, bio 1, calc 1 and two retakes.

I've probably made this way longer than I needed to, but my question is, will the adcoms appreciate my efforts, or will it make no difference? Or is there a possibility that this might actually hurt my chances? I wish I had looked into it before I invested so much time in trying to mend the damage. I just fear they'll look down on me for wasting my time on something as petty as music appreciation when I could have been volunteering.

I've made As since I returned to college and I have 3 semesters left of upper division. If I continue to make As, the best cumulative GPA I can hope for is a between 3.3 and 3.5. What do you guys think?

 

[bing12]

Im sry about.your father. You still have a good chance. You muat retake any class that you got below a "c" in. Your story on why you did.poorly in the.beg is as real as it can get. Sounds like a very tough time. I.think adcoms will understand if you continue to excel.

 

[duckdds]

Sorry about your dad..

About the retakes. If they were not science classes, it doesn't matter much. Your overall GPA is higher now, but if you did not retake it it won't really matter anyway.
But since two of those courses were science classes, it was a good idea retaking it because most schools require a letter grade of C or higher.
As far as I know they are most concerned with your English and Science courses (science GPA)

At this point, just take more science classes to improve your overall and science gpa.

 

[Philippines03j]

Whats done is done...If anything it should help your application. I would focus on getting the last few semesters of As. If you can end up with a 3.5 gpa you will have no worries 🙂 Good luck👍

 

[wcombs]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it! I started thinking too hard about it and worried myself. Hopefully things all work out.

 

[dreamerndoer]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it! I started thinking too hard about it and worried myself. Hopefully things all work out.

I'm sorry about your dad; I think the adcoms will understand your situation. At this point, worrying will not help.. stay positive and give it your best shot 😉

 

[Veloce]

If you can get atleast a 3.3, you will be fine.

 

[KittySquared]

Do your best and continue to ace all your classes! But you can't prevent the inevitable, like getting B+ and whatnot despite your hardest work in certain classes. If you don't make 3.3, try to take a postbac year and apply. For if there's a will, there's a way. Cliche, but it's very true. Best of luck
-Kitty