Retaking a course now or later?

[crayons]

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I'm an undergraduate freshmen and I just completed my first quarter of college. If I received a C in my calculus class and feel unhappy about it should I...

complete the math series and retake that particular course at another time

or

retake it immediately


and.. if I were to retake it during summer at a community college, would that hurt me later in the application process for pharmacy school?

 

[rXcmoney]

Retake it at the same school. I would retake it before you move on. If you got a C in calc 1, you're probably going to do worse in calc 2 if you don't go back and learn the material.

 

[NateAZSD]

Does your major require you to take more than one calculus course? Many pharmacy schools will accept calculus II or III as a substitute for calc I. You should contact the schools you plan on applying to to see if they accept substitutions. I took 3 semesters of calc and got a B in calc I and A in calc II and a C in calc III. Needless to say, I am using calc II for my calculus requirement. In my opinion calc II was the easier of the calc courses that I took. If you can substitute another calc course for calc I, then I would not bother retaking it.

 

[grimacingpeon]

Honestly, one C in a required class isn't as big of a deal as you might think. I got really sick one semester and missed an Organic I exam, resulting in me getting a C as my final grade. I never cared to make it up, and just went on to take Organic II, which I did much better in.

If you are planning on going on to further levels of Calc, then you might want to retake it if you think you're not prepared enough to progress. Definitely take it at the same school so that it won't appear on a transcript that you just tried to find an easy way out. Hope this helps.

 

[Pharmcdc]

Definitely take it at the same school so that it won't appear on a transcript that you just tried to find an easy way out. Hope this helps.

I agree, I forgot to mention that some COP will consider the last grade you recieved in a retake if you take it over at the same school. So the first one does not hurt your math/sci gpa. However, this is not the case at every school.

 

[omnione]

As a former math geek wannabe and math major, I think the choice depends on whether you can do well in subsequent courses. Calc II builds off Calc I so you are at a little disadvantage if you can't use Calc I material in the next class.

How far does your math series go anyway? To matrix theory and diff equations?

 

[crayons]

I was taking the highest level of math, so for next quarter I've signed up for a lower/easier series of math that still qualifies for pharm school requirements. I'm fairly confident I know enough to do well to finish the easier series (esp. since I have a friend taking the courses with me and can help me). So knowing this, would you guys say its okay to retake the first course in the math series (that I got a C in) sometime next year? In fact, does it matter when I retake the course? Will pharm schools care?

That brings up anther point: should I bother retaking the course? Will 1 C hurt my chances severely? If my overall GPA is still decent, should I bother spending time retaking the course because then it would take time out of my other courses, and next year I am taking o-chem, bio, and physics.

 

[crayons]

Bump

 

[tootoo30]

I was taking the highest level of math, so for next quarter I’ve signed up for a lower/easier series of math that still qualifies for pharm school requirements. I’m fairly confident I know enough to do well to finish the easier series (esp. since I have a friend taking the courses with me and can help me). So knowing this, would you guys say its okay to retake the first course in the math series (that I got a C in) sometime next year? In fact, does it matter when I retake the course? Will pharm schools care?

That brings up anther point: should I bother retaking the course? Will 1 C hurt my chances severely? If my overall GPA is still decent, should I bother spending time retaking the course because then it would take time out of my other courses, and next year I am taking o-chem, bio, and physics.

I think its a personal decision, I decided to take the class over because I got a C in it, but that because I want to be as competitive as possible to show the adcom that I am motivated to succeed. I'm not happy with C's but thats just MY personal decision. Do what you feel will help your application, you have to remember you are going up against alot of people for a spot in pharmacy school.

HTH