Retakes or post-bacc?

[Uk11cats]

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I'm into my last two semesters before I graduate with an BA in biology with psychology minor.

As of right now my cGPA is 2.5 and sGPA 2.45

I plan on doing retakes but my school only allows 3 retakes. Also i am an transfer student and my school policy doesn't allow retakes from previous
transfer credits for a better grade. I have at least 4 more classes that I want to retake that I got C's in after using up the 3 repeats classes that I'm allowed to have. What can I do to retake the classes if already exhausted my 3 repeat policy at my current institution? Once I graduate from undergrad should I apply for a post-bacc program for pre-med even tho I already have a bachelor in Biology and my gpa is under an 3.0?

Any suggestion on what I need to do to boost my gpa while in undergrad or should I apply for MS in biological science? Do post-bacc pre med programs only accepts non-traditional student or do they also accept traditional student with weak undergrad gpa?

Help please! My dream is to become an physicians but my gpa my main concern and my mcat score is a 26.

 

[stlrams22]

Go to a different college and retake the classes. Sounds like a pointless policy to not let you retake classes you want to do better in. If at all possible try to avoid a post-bacc because they are expensive. Your mcat does not help you with a GPA that low. You need to get a 30+ and have As in nearly all medical school pre reqs. I'm confident you can get in somewhere by only retaking pre reqs and getting As with a 30 MCAT.

 

[Uk11cats]

Go to a different college and retake the classes. Sounds like a pointless policy to not let you retake classes you want to do better in. If at all possible try to avoid a post-bacc because they are expensive. Your mcat does not help you with a GPA that low. You need to get a 30+ and have As in nearly all medical school pre reqs. I'm confident you can get in somewhere by only retaking pre reqs and getting As with a 30 MCAT.

So should I graduate and then go to another university or cc to retake my pre reqs?

My pre req stats so far:
Bio 1&2: C
Phy 1&2: c/b
Gen chem 1&2: a/a
Orgo1&2:c/b

Upper bio electives:
Genetics:c

I didn't specified on the first post but I'm very interested in DO medical school and primary care. Do they care if the retakes are at CC because it's cheaper on me to take them there than at another university. Do retakes have to be the same credit hour/similar content as the class that I did poorly in?

Thank you for the response

 

[cabinbuilder]

So should I graduate and then go to another university or cc to retake my pre reqs?

My pre req stats so far:
Bio 1&2: C
Phy 1&2: c/b
Gen chem 1&2: a/a
Orgo1&2:c/b

Upper bio electives:
Genetics:c

I didn't specified on the first post but I'm very interested in DO medical school and primary care. Do they care if the retakes are at CC because it's cheaper on me to take them there than at another university. Do retakes have to be the same credit hour/similar content as the class that I did poorly in?

Thank you for the response

Graduate and be done. Take the classes over where you can afford it. The class credit hours need to match for grade replacement in AACOMAS. They won't replace a 4 credit genetics with a 3 credit genetics.

 

[hallowmann]

So should I graduate and then go to another university or cc to retake my pre reqs?

Like cabinbuilder said, finish your degree, and then take retake classes at another school (CC, University, whatever).

After bringing your GPA up well above a 3.0 (with the retakes replacing your old scores of course), then take the MCAT and apply.

I started out with an undergrad GPA lower than yours, and after 2 years of taking classes, I'm in a US medical school.

Do retakes have to be the same credit hour/similar content as the class that I did poorly in?

Thank you for the response

Short answer: yes. The retakes should be roughly the same content and the credits must be equal or greater than those of the courses they are replacing.

 

[cabinbuilder]

Yes, my undergrad GPA was 2.7 and my sGPA was 2.5. I took all the pre-req's I need to take over in one year. (4) 4-credit science courses each semester and worked a 32 hr week and had a family/toddler. Post-bacc year was 3.8 MCAT 24. Had a great story and a great essay.

 

[kp11]

I'm in the same boat as cabinbuilder and hallowman. Decided to go back to take classes at a low cost state school. I highly recommend this, just as everyone else in the thread has. What helped me decide was actually crunching the GPA numbers to see how fast just replacing a few bad grades can boost your GPA. You can do it. Stay the course. Plus, how easy are entry level science classes going to be now that you've taken higher level classes? It'll be a real "fish in a barrel" situation.

 

[kkosp2451]

Graduate and be done. Take the classes over where you can afford it. The class credit hours need to match for grade replacement in AACOMAS. They won't replace a 4 credit genetics with a 3 credit genetics.

What if the credit is higher? For example, my original attempt at 0-chem was a 4 credit course (not including lab - lab was 1 credit and known as a separate course). At my new school, o-chem is 5 credits as you are required to take both lecture and lab together and cannot differentiate between them. The lecture and lab are grouped together under one single 5-credit course with one title. Would this still not be replaced?

 

[cabinbuilder]

What if the credit is higher? For example, my original attempt at 0-chem was a 4 credit course (not including lab - lab was 1 credit and known as a separate course). At my new school, o-chem is 5 credits as you are required to take both lecture and lab together and cannot differentiate between them. The lecture and lab are grouped together under one single 5-credit course with one title. Would this still not be replaced?

I cannot answer that. You will have to ask AACOMAS on that one. Things are always changing, especially how classes are grouped.

 

[hallowmann]

What if the credit is higher? For example, my original attempt at 0-chem was a 4 credit course (not including lab - lab was 1 credit and known as a separate course). At my new school, o-chem is 5 credits as you are required to take both lecture and lab together and cannot differentiate between them. The lecture and lab are grouped together under one single 5-credit course with one title. Would this still not be replaced?

The 5 credit course will definitely be able to replace the 4 credit one, but whether it will replace both the 4 and the 1 credit courses is anyone's guess. Listen to cabinbuilder and ask AACOMAS.

I know some people have reported success replacing separate lecture and lab courses with an equivalent combined course of the same credit hours, but I didn't have that experience when I asked.

 

[Uk11cats]

Yes, my undergrad GPA was 2.7 and my sGPA was 2.5. I took all the pre-req's I need to take over in one year. (4) 4-credit science courses each semester and worked a 32 hr week and had a family/toddler. Post-bacc year was 3.8 MCAT 24. Had a great story and a great essay.

Are most post-bacc for non-tradition students or can tradition student take them too? And of course, my major is biology with a minor in psychology.

 

[cabinbuilder]

Are most post-bacc for non-tradition students or can tradition student take them too? And of course, my major is biology with a minor in psychology.

The only place someone is designated traditional or non-traditional is SDN. If you want to take classes over yourself or do a formal post bacc that's up to you.

 

[Dreamstoo]

I'm into my last two semesters before I graduate with an BA in biology with psychology minor.

As of right now my cGPA is 2.5 and sGPA 2.45

I plan on doing retakes but my school only allows 3 retakes. Also i am an transfer student and my school policy doesn't allow retakes from previous
transfer credits for a better grade. I have at least 4 more classes that I want to retake that I got C's in after using up the 3 repeats classes that I'm allowed to have. What can I do to retake the classes if already exhausted my 3 repeat policy at my current institution? Once I graduate from undergrad should I apply for a post-bacc program for pre-med even tho I already have a bachelor in Biology and my gpa is under an 3.0?

Any suggestion on what I need to do to boost my gpa while in undergrad or should I apply for MS in biological science? Do post-bacc pre med programs only accepts non-traditional student or do they also accept traditional student with weak undergrad gpa?

Help please! My dream is to become an physicians but my gpa my main concern and my mcat score is a 26.

Is your MCAT score balanced. I also recommend just retaking all your classes. Do not do a MS in biological sciences, I would retake your undergrad courses. I'm also pretty sure a 2.5 cGPA is too low for a Masters.

 

[Dreamstoo]

I'm in the same boat as cabinbuilder and hallowman. Decided to go back to take classes at a low cost state school. I highly recommend this, just as everyone else in the thread has. What helped me decide was actually crunching the GPA numbers to see how fast just replacing a few bad grades can boost your GPA. You can do it. Stay the course. Plus, how easy are entry level science classes going to be now that you've taken higher level classes? It'll be a real "fish in a barrel" situation.[/quote]

I can definitely agree to this. They have been upper level classes that I have taken that would make my freshman courses look like cake walk. This term with thermodynamics and other insane upper level classes I took can attest to that.

 

[E_C333]

Hi, I'm majoring in Molecular/Physiological Biology and currently have a 3.2 cgpa/sgpa. I haven't taken the MCAT yet and I don't plan to apply till next year (after I graduate). I had a particularly bad first semester in my sophomore year (2.1 gpa) due to health problems including a c- in o chem II, c+ in physics II and c+ in Statistics. Since then, I've had a good upward trend (3.5, 3.6 and 3.9). On the plus side, since then I got an A in Cell Bio, Genomics, Animal Physiology, Human Anatomy I and Gentics. Ideally, I want to go into Family Medicine and, from what I heard, DO is a good way to go with my gpa and going into primary care. I have over 300 hours of shadowing a DO family medicine physician, did undergrad research in Biology (in publishing process) and worked as a lab assistant for a semester. I'm a Virginia resident and am interested in VCOM but plan to apply to a broad variety of schools. I plan to retake O chem and I feel confident that I will maintain this upward trend. If I graduate with a 3.3-3.4 what would my chances be off getting into a DO school and any advice on increasing my ECs? Also, what are reasonable tier DO schools that I should try for?

 

[E_C333]

Also, should I retake those three course to boost my gpa? I don't know if multiple retakes look bad to DO schools?

 

[kp11]

retaking 3 classes is not a bad thing. It shows that you are serious about getting into medical school. If you replace 3 C's with A's, you may be looking at boosting your sGPA by a tenth of a point...which is always nice, but not something that will "change everything." It might be, however, the difference between going to the one school that lets you in, or having some options. And trust me, you want options.