retaking many courses?

[TRS32]

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does it look bad retaking many courses...i goofed around alot my first year and a half and got lots of C's and one D....can i take these over or is too late , cause it looks bad enough already

 

[Zyeist]

How many of those subpar grades were in the sciences, particularly the premed prereqs and how far along are you in those prereqs. Even though it all hits your overall gpa the same, a bad science grade is worse than a non-science.

If you're pretty far along then some additional upper level science courses might better serve than retaking say gen chem when you're already at ochem stage. Else if you're still a ways to go in the prereqs and only have a few bad prereq grades, then retaking them might be an option, if only to refresh your understanding and make sure you've got the material down pat before going on to the next.

Judging from the nontrad forums, many do damage control that way though as postbac work because they've already graduated with noncompetitive gpas.

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't AACOMAS replace repeated grades while AMCAS(?) doesn't?

 

[TRS32]

from what i've heard, AMCAS only averages out the two grades whereas AACOMAS replaces the old grade with the new one...thats why i was wondering if there is a limit to how many retakes there are before they get a bad impression

 

[Zyeist]

Unless you got a bad grade in your prereqs the first time because you struggled through the material, I'd say at most once, to up a grade for that course and move on. As long as you feel confident of your grasp of the material. Not much point to take much more than that since they'll be discounted anyway because you'll obviously have familiarity with the course.

In my opinion, while both would improve your overall science gpa (assuming you do well/better than last time), it's better to take additional upper level science courses than retake a course you've gone through before. You're showing you can handle the challenge of unfamiliar science courses as opposed to how well you remembered something from last time around.

 

[Kuba]

the short answer is yes, it looks bad. I retook 3 courses to try and raise my gpa, and when I called DMU to ask about my hold, the admissions director said that one of the reasons is that I retook a few classes. So although AACOMAS does replace old grades with new grades, adcoms still go through your transcript, so you cant hide anything and too many retakes dont look good.

 

[TRS32]

oh no DRKUBA...if thats true, that's going to really effect me then 🙁

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

the short answer is yes, it looks bad. I retook 3 courses to try and raise my gpa, and when I called DMU to ask about my hold, the admissions director said that one of the reasons is that I retook a few classes. So although AACOMAS does replace old grades with new grades, adcoms still go through your transcript, so you cant hide anything and too many retakes dont look good.

Pfft... lame.
What's the point of allowing us to retake if you hold it against us?

I never understood this whole stigma.

Whether you aced the course the first time or the third time, you eventually learned the material that they're using as weed-out courses to let you into med school where most of the time you won't even use this material anyway.

I'm retaking half my prereqs... got C's because at the time all I cared about was passing... nothing I can do now but retake. If they don't like it, well... then at least I tried.

I just figured it would be better to say, "Well, I fixed my C with an A" rather than sit there and mumble something about how I knew a C was bad but I didn't try to fix these flaws.

 

[TRS32]

yea, im going with the same approach, i hope they will see it the same way as we do

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

yea, im going with the same approach, i hope they will see it the same way as we do

I think the odds are somewhat decent.

When they're letting in people with 3.0/25's...
can they really complain if we come in with 3.5/27's even with ten retakes?

...you know?
if you retake both organic chemistries, you should be given a thousand bonus points because people don't want to sit through it once, let alone TWICE. That is dedication to a future career in medicine.

 

[TRS32]

hehe ..well put

 

[DrJekyl]

TRS32, Don't worry about having a lot of retakes. Positive trends are looked at highly by ADCOMS. Just do well from here on out, and do well on the MCAT. If it is mostly science courses you are retaking, try mixing in a non-science course to show that you can do well with different subect matter. Even if you had a rough start, there is no reason you can not earn an acceptance to medical school if you are willing to work hard enough for it. Good luck.