Retaking Prerequisites? or Taking Advanced Science Courses?

[mk968]

Hi, I am concerned with my prerequisite GPA as they are pretty low.

Here are my stats (I plan on applying cycle of 2018)
GPA => 3.26 but aim to be higher as I have one quarter left.
cGPA now => 2.83 (with retaking classes => 3.3) (Bio I = C+, Chem II = C+)
GRE = V 148 Q 157 Writing 4.0 (Plan to retake it in a month)
Activites = Member of Korean International Society (KISA), Peer tutor at writing center, Military Police at ROKAF (Republic of Korea Air Force), Inpatient hospital 640 hours (worked as a rehab aide for 6 months)

I am currently taking physics course at community college. Retaking Bio I and Chem II will drastically increase my cGPA, but my advisor and anatomy professor advised to take upper level anatomy courses instead. Without retaking prerequisites, predicted cGPA is 3.05. There are two quarters left that I can re-take or take upper level science courses. Advantage of taking advanced anatomy courses is at counteracting low cGPA taken earlier in college. Yet, I am doubtful that doing well in upper level science courses will be equivalent to the weight of 0.25 difference in cGPA.
As I have two quarters left (spring/summer) - (As Fall quarter ends in Dec 16th, most likely grades posted around 20-25th, not giving me enough time to send my application processed through PTCAS).

What should I do? I've been in distress over PT school for years, and I want to capitalize on the opportunities as much as possible!

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[Never2Late4Change]

Hello! I think the best thing you can do is retake courses that you did poorly in. And, you need to be really selective in the schools you apply to. Look through all of the stats of the average class, so you know where you stand. PT admission is a very competitive process, but if you do your research and determine what schools you have a better shot at, this could help you.

 

[Abudara]

Retake your courses, as long as the schools you apply to count retaken courses

It’ll be easier to get an A in courses that you retake, rather than advanced sciences courses that’ll be completely new information to you. Plus you’ll have to make sure that the schools that you apply to allow you to replace the original prerequisite courses with those advanced courses if you take them.

I would just retake the original prerequisites

 

[mk968]

Thanks everyone for your wonderful comments! I just took the GRE, and I got a V 155 Q 160 AW (5 to be expected), so hopefully this improves the situation a little bit. I had another question for you guys. When psychology and behavioral science, along with statistics is counted, my pre-req GPA goes up towards 3.3, which should (theoretically) improve my shot at schools. Do schools view pre-req GPA and science GPA seperately? or do they only focus on science GPA?
Thanks again for the answers!

 

[TheDancingWriter]

Thanks everyone for your wonderful comments! I just took the GRE, and I got a V 155 Q 160 AW (5 to be expected), so hopefully this improves the situation a little bit. I had another question for you guys. When psychology and behavioral science, along with statistics is counted, my pre-req GPA goes up towards 3.3, which should (theoretically) improve my shot at schools. Do schools view pre-req GPA and science GPA seperately? or do they only focus on science GPA?
Thanks again for the answers!

Congrats on upping that GRE! It depends on the program. The program I want to apply to looks at them separately. They look at cGPA and then your pre-req GPA. So some programs look at pre-req GPA more than overall GPA.