Should I retake a course? /online courses

[armybound]

I was a bad student when I started college and made a bunch of C's my freshman year. This not only caused my GPA to be skewed a little lower, but also means my pre-reqs from that year (gen chem 1 + 2) are C's.

I don't know for sure, but it seems to me like these C's are hurting me, since schools often ask specifically for your pre-req grades and I have to list these C's. I think it would be a good idea to retake these C's, even though I've already gotten my BS and MS and have made significant improvements in my grades (my last 60 hours of my BS were at 3.7+ and my MS was a 4.0). Do you agree that I should retake them?

If I do retake them, would an online college be acceptable? I don't really have time to retake the courses at a traditional college, though I can sneak them in over the summer if I need to.

Thanks for any advice

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[RxnMan]

AMCAS averages your GPA, including retakes - If you took 3 credit hours of Gen Chem in undergrad as a C, and took another 3 online and got an A, it would average to 6 hours of B GPA. You can do the math yourself (i.e. see what your new GPA would be), but at ~$200/credit hour and being in (what would be for you) a remedial class would not be a good way to spend your time for the small effect it would have on your GPA.

 

[armybound]

I'm not worried about the GPA itself. I'm worried more about filling out the "Tell us what you made in your pre-reqs" section.

Mine looks something like this now:

Gen chem 1: C
Gen chem 2: C
Bio 1: B
Bio 2: B
Physics 1: A
Physics 2: B+

Not that good. But if I did retake chem and got A's, it could say:

Gen chem 1: A
Gen chem 2: A
Bio 1: B
Bio 2: B
Physics 1: A
Physics 2: B+

which, IMO, looks much better. do you think they pay attention to this pre-req GPA much? I felt so bad having to fill in those C's for my pre-reqs.

 

[RxnMan]

I do not remember many programs asking for pre-req GPA (let alone make me fill out a form like the one you suggest above). Maybe 1 in 20 asked for pre-req GPA. I was never asked about it in interviews. I would expect that any school that asks for details like above would also ask for where and when you took those courses. And that might provoke the questions you want to avoid. If your goal is to make this section of your application better, then do what you need to. My opinion is that this is a relatively minor aspect of your app, and your effort may be better spent elsewhere.

 

[armybound]

I had to fill it out several times in my 15 applications.. though I did get interviews at 4 schools, so I guess it didn't mean THAT much to them.

I'm just trying to address every weakness I can

Thanks for your opinion.

 

[Krisss17]

I had to fill it out several times in my 15 applications.. though I did get interviews at 4 schools, so I guess it didn't mean THAT much to them.

I'm just trying to address every weakness I can

Thanks for your opinion.

Have you taken organic chemistry yet? I think that if you do really well in organic, it'll overshadow gen chem.

 

[armybound]

Have you taken organic chemistry yet? I think that if you do really well in organic, it'll overshadow gen chem.

yeah, like I said, I've already gotten my BS and MS, taken all pre-reqs.. my grades got significantly better later on, it's my early pre-reqs that look really bad.

 

[RugbyJC]

I do not remember many programs asking for pre-req GPA (let alone make me fill out a form like the one you suggest above). Maybe 1 in 20 asked for pre-req GPA. I was never asked about it in interviews.

AMCAS requires you to fill in your science gpa and your non-science gpa.

And to the OP, both the grades that you received as an undergrad and the "re-takes" will appear on your AMCAS application separately--not averaged. The end result will be their average. So, if you take other science/math classes to boost your gpa, it might look better than seeing general chem or math or bio on their twice. I do not know how online classes look, so I can't help you there. If it is an accredited school and not a CC, then I can't see how it would hurt youor how anyone would know, but I do not know the answer to this.

 

[RxnMan]

AMCAS requires you to fill in your science gpa and your non-science gpa...

Why did you quote me? Considering that the OP has a BS, most of their transcript will be science courses. The science GPA AMCAS calculates would include many more classes than just the standard pre-reqs, so their pre-req GPA =/= science GPA.

...And to the OP, both the grades that you received as an undergrad and the "re-takes" will appear on your AMCAS application separately--not averaged. The end result will be their average.

Can you explain how average is not average? (emphasis added)

I can guess that you are talking about the difference between what is reported on the transcript (separate courses) and what GPA is kicked out by AMCAS at the end (everything grouped). But the OP's asking about secondaries, not transcripts. All of their courses will be listed, and listed separately on their transcript, but the number AMCAS calculates for ugrad GPA will be the average of all courses taken. This is in contrast to AACOMAS, where the grade of a re-take is used in place of the original course grade when calculating the cumulative ugrad GPA.

 

[armybound]

any more advice on this situation? i really need to improve my ugrad BCPM GPA and don't know if I should retake my pre-reqs or keep adding on other upper-level courses.

 

[Blade28]

What's your current overall and BCMP GPA?

 

[armybound]

What's your current overall and BCMP GPA?

undergrad overall is 3.31, bcpm is slightly below that, but still ~3.28

i also have a masters which was 100% bcpm at a 4.0. if you average the graduate grades in it goes to something like 3.45 overall and 3.6-3.7 BCPM

the majority of my BCPM bad grades came freshman year, when I got a C in chem 1 and 2 and calculus. those are the 3 courses i'm considering retaking since they're both BCPM and my pre-reqs that i didn't do well in

 

[Blade28]

undergrad overall is 3.31, bcpm is slightly below that, but still ~3.28

i also have a masters which was 100% bcpm at a 4.0. if you average the graduate grades in it goes to something like 3.45 overall and 3.6-3.7 BCPM

IIRC, grades from a Master's or SMP count as graduate credits, so they'll be considered separately by AMCAS. So you'd have a separate undergrad and graduate GPA (AO and BCMP).

So Master's/SMP classes won't improve your undergrad GPA. You need post-bacc classes for that.

(Or you could retake those Cs, if you had a lot of them - otherwise, that wouldn't bump your GPA up too much if you're looking at MD schools.)

 

[armybound]

I realize that the graduate grades don't factor into the ugrad GPA, but you'd think they'd still be interested in seeing the last 60-75 hours of classes I took were at 3.8+ GPA.

the question for me is really, which is more important.. a satisfactory ugrad GPA or a strong trend that lasted for 8 semesters, even if 4 of those semesters were grad school?

I just calculated it and if I retook the 2 Cs in chemistry and 1 calculus grade it would bump my BCPM undergrad from 3.28 to 3.34 and my cumulative from 3.33 to 3.37. nothing major, but it's a start?

 

[Blade28]

I realize that the graduate grades don't factor into the ugrad GPA, but you'd think they'd still be interested in seeing the last 60-75 hours of classes I took were at 3.8+ GPA.

the question for me is really, which is more important.. a satisfactory ugrad GPA or a strong trend that lasted for 8 semesters, even if 4 of those semesters were grad school?

The thing is, many adcoms feel (rightly or not) that the grading system in most grad schools is far more lenient than during undergrad. Many grad students are required to maintain a certain minimum GPA and it often behooves the school to not pass out Cs or Ds (unlike during undergrad).

Of course a strong showing during grad school is great - unfortunately it's sometimes expected by adcoms.

But upward trends are always good!

 

[armybound]

I had the chance to have my file reviewed by a couple of medical schools I applied to and they both said my GPA was fine, especially with my MCAT and current trend. It turns out my LORs really sunk me! One school said I would have gotten an acceptance if it wasn't for an unenthusiastic LOR.

Things you can only learn after the fact..

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I had the chance to have my file reviewed by a couple of medical schools I applied to and they both said my GPA was fine, especially with my MCAT and current trend. It turns out my LORs really sunk me! One school said I would have gotten an acceptance if it wasn't for an unenthusiastic LOR.

Things you can only learn after the fact..

Wow, I'm glad they were so honest with you. Following that advice, I wouldn't retake stuff.