retaking prereqs... more harm than good?

[heat85]

How much do you think admissions boards at med schools frown upon people who retake courses to get better grades? (I need to retake virtually all my basic sciences because of poor grades, although I do have excellent grades in upper level sciences.) I'm guessing it's not as good as if I got all A's the first time around, but at least it shows effort and determination...... right???

Also, I've heard some schools will average your two grades, and some will take your highest grade (presumably the grade you get the second time around).

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[Maxprime]

All AMCAS schools average your two grades (all MD programs), DO schools take the higher.

If you have bad grades in your pre-reqs, taking them again with higher grades will not be a bad thing (provided they're not just B's right now). It will also help you prepare for the MCAT and for higher level courses. If you take them twice and do poorly, you're sunk.

 

[Sundarban1]

All AMCAS schools average your two grades (all MD programs), DO schools take the higher.

If you have bad grades in your pre-reqs, taking them again with higher grades will not be a bad thing (provided they're not just B's right now). It will also help you prepare for the MCAT and for higher level courses. If you take them twice and do poorly, you're sunk.

Just a correction, Osteopathic schools do NOT take just the higher of the two grades if you repeat a class, they take the most recent attepmt and do not count the previous attempt (regardless of whether or not the grade was higher) although both attempts will appear on your application.

The rule of thumb is that if you have any grade below a B in your pre-reqs, you should repeat the class.

 

[wutwinb]

are you kidding? Every pre-med advisor I've talked to said retaking anything C or above is useless. your gpa barely goes up (even if you get an A). the important thing is doing well on the MCAT and upper level courses to show that the bad pre-req grade won't happen again.

 

[Gooble]

I would say it depends. I received a "C" in Chem I five years ago and therefore will retake it simply because there is no way I could succeed in Chem II after that long of a break from a subject I didn't do so well in.

 

[Sundarban1]

are you kidding? Every pre-med advisor I've talked to said retaking anything C or above is useless. your gpa barely goes up (even if you get an A). the important thing is doing well on the MCAT and upper level courses to show that the bad pre-req grade won't happen again.

No I'm not kidding. Pre-med advisors are notorious for giving bad advice. At Harvard last Fall we had the admissions committee members from Harvard, Dartmouth, Umass, NJ, Wash U MED, and others come to speak with our class at the post bacc program. The advice from them was that the rule of thumb was to re-take anything lower than a B if it is a pre req for medical school. While it is true that if you are a biology major, chances are that your GPA will not go up significantly, however it is important that you show you can do well in undergraduate level classes if you are to succeed in medical school, and unfortunately those letter grades, and the MCAT are very important factors.

 

[Haqiqa]

I took biology from 1998-99, and a semester of chemistry in 1999. I will def want to retake Bio I and Chem I for MCAT preparation...however is it acceptable if I don't retake these classes? Do medical schools mind if the grades are 7-8 years old?

Thanks

 

[DrMidlife]

I took biology from 1998-99, and a semester of chemistry in 1999. I will def want to retake Bio I and Chem I for MCAT preparation...however is it acceptable if I don't retake these classes? Do medical schools mind if the grades are 7-8 years old?

Retaking a class is inefficient MCAT prep. If the grades were good, I think you can let it ride. Review the subject material through one of the various MCAT study books/audios. (I took physics in 1988. I'm not retaking it. I'm applying in '07.)

Retaking chem in order to succeed in o-chem is a good idea. I think anything you saw in Bio I that you'll need in undergrad is going to be in the class of molecular/cell bio, and you'll see those topics 2-3 times again.

Best of luck to you.

 

[nanaschool2000]

I took biology from 1998-99, and a semester of chemistry in 1999. I will def want to retake Bio I and Chem I for MCAT preparation...however is it acceptable if I don't retake these classes? Do medical schools mind if the grades are 7-8 years old?

Thanks

I heard that med schools do not accept classes that are taken more than five years ago. Maybe they don't prefer it? I dunno. This is what I heard from my pre-med advisor. For that reason, I'm planning on retaking Gen Chem and Physics even though I aced it the first time.

Is my pre-med advisor wrong?

 

[poissonbanane]

Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I'm wondering what y'all think about retaking non-prereqs like calculus and statistics? I have a starting BCPM of 2.0 thanks to my D+/B (repeat) in calc II and C- in stat. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to retake stat (mostly as a GPA boost) as well as the entire single-variable calculus series (because my calculus is shaky). I took the equivalent of calc I a loooong time ago in high school and certainly didn't learn anything in calc II in college (even the second time around ) because I was an idiot badly in need of a swift kick to the head. My brain has been slowly atrophying since I finished college a few years ago, so I doubt I've retained much knowledge of calculus, if there was even any to begin with. Would you suggest retaking either or both or none? Thanks

 

[microgin]

I heard that med schools do not accept classes that are taken more than five years ago. Maybe they don't prefer it? I dunno. This is what I heard from my pre-med advisor. For that reason, I'm planning on retaking Gen Chem and Physics even though I aced it the first time.

Is my pre-med advisor wrong?

Your pre-med advisor is wrong. While there are a few schools that will not accept "old" pre-reqs (Duke and UMASS, I think are two... I could be wrong though), most schools will not have a problem as long as you have recent coursework too. In other words if you graduated 10 years ago and haven't stepped foot in a college classroom since, I could see there being some concern of brain atrophy To put things in perspective, I took my pre-reqs in 1996-97, went back to school for a Master's degree, and no med school I applied to ever said that my pre-reqs were too old.

 

[Haqiqa]

Hmm. I heard the same thing too about the "must retake your prereqs if they are over 5 years old". But it's good to know there are ways around this.

I got a B+ in Bio II back in 1999. Should I retake this because it is not an A?

I got an A- in Chem I back in 1999...is it really important to retake this to prepare for Chem II and O-Chem? Does Chem II build on Chem I?

 

[Lshapley]

I am in a similar boat as microgin. I emailed some of the medschools I am applying to and nobody said that my pre-reqs from 92-96 were bad. They are just looking for recent coursework to supplement (the brain atrophy thing).

Haqiqa, I wouldn't suggest retaking courses, just brush up by reviewing the material. Even if you got an A-/B+ in all of your basic sciences, you still would have a shot at a Tier 1 school as long as you do well on the MCATs. I am now taking Cell Biology after taking Biology 101 and 102 in 1994 (with A's, thank you very much!) I spent the summer reading a recent biology textbook over the summer before classes began and I am doing just fine (A- so far), even though when I took biology they barely talked about what happened inside a cell beyond mitosis/meiosis and the organelles! You might need to review a bit more of the chemistry, but I think that if you gave yourself a few months to sit down with the texts (new editions, not the ones you used...) you will do fine, especially in bio.

lee

 

[Gooble]

Hmm. I heard the same thing too about the "must retake your prereqs if they are over 5 years old". But it's good to know there are ways around this.

I got a B+ in Bio II back in 1999. Should I retake this because it is not an A?

I got an A- in Chem I back in 1999...is it really important to retake this to prepare for Chem II and O-Chem? Does Chem II build on Chem I?

I am in a similar boat as microgin. I emailed some of the medschools I am applying to and nobody said that my pre-reqs from 92-96 were bad. They are just looking for recent coursework to supplement (the brain atrophy thing).

Haqiqa, I wouldn't suggest retaking courses, just brush up by reviewing the material. Even if you got an A-/B+ in all of your basic sciences, you still would have a shot at a Tier 1 school as long as you do well on the MCATs. I am now taking Cell Biology after taking Biology 101 and 102 in 1994 (with A's, thank you very much!) I spent the summer reading a recent biology textbook over the summer before classes began and I am doing just fine (A- so far), even though when I took biology they barely talked about what happened inside a cell beyond mitosis/meiosis and the organelles! You might need to review a bit more of the chemistry, but I think that if you gave yourself a few months to sit down with the texts (new editions, not the ones you used...) you will do fine, especially in bio.

lee

I would say taking Bio II would be pointless, but you might want to consider retaking Chem I since its been so long since you took it and Chem II definitely is a follow-on to Chem I.

 

[Haqiqa]

thanks for the input! i appreciate it.

 

[Lshapley]

Or audit Chem I in preparation for Chem II. I really wouldn't suggest retaking Chem I for a grade since you got an A-. If you retake a class I you should do better than the first time since you have some familiarity with the material (even if it was over 5 years ago) and the only way to do better is get an A. What if you retake it and it is extra difficult by the teacher and your peers are brilliant, it could be tough getting an A. Why risk it?

 

[Gooble]

Or audit Chem I in preparation for Chem II. I really wouldn't suggest retaking Chem I for a grade since you got an A-. If you retake a class I you should do better than the first time since you have some familiarity with the material (even if it was over 5 years ago) and the only way to do better is get an A. What if you retake it and it is extra difficult by the teacher and your peers are brilliant, it could be tough getting an A. Why risk it?

I didn't even think of this. Def. the way to go. Some profs. will even let you just sit in without technically "auditing" the class. I.E. you go to class, follow along, but don't pay for it. Depending on the prof. you still may be able to take the exams since they generally don't care if their TA's have to grade one more.

 

[umass_md]

question: i took chem I and bio II in '96 and '01, respectively. i received a B- in both. i'd like to attend UMASS med, should i retake these courses? my GPA is currently ~3.7 (course work from the past three years, double major), but i have to carry a GPA from previous universities of around 2.7 (~50 credits).