Should I retake calculus?

[vmc303]

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I took Calc BC in high school. Freshman year of college, I took multivariable calc for some reason, slacked off, and got a B-. That was almost five years ago. Right now I'm taking post-bac classes to fulfill the pre-med requirements, and I should end up with a 4.0 in my science courses, save for the annoying B- in a course I had no reason to take in the first place.

Would it do any good whatsoever to take plain old Calc I next semester? It makes me nervous that my only math grade is a B-; I'd like to demonstrate competence by taking the basic "required" calc course and getting an A in it. But is this even worth doing? Obviously, I can't erase the original B- from my science GPA. It won't require much effort at all to add Calc I to my schedule (I'd be taking a course I took when I was 16 and did fine in), but if it won't have any affect on adcoms whatsoever, I suppose it's pointless.

 

[crys20]

No, that is somewhat laughable, a B- is fine. If you were to retake I would think you'd get questioned more as to why you did. But if you have the free time, there's no HARM in it really. But most every applicant has more than a few B-s and it's not like med is super heavy in the old calc department.

 

[rpm]

You would be a complete idiot not to take it over!

We all know you can NEVER get into med school if you have a B- on your transcript.

 

[vmc303]

Cool. It wasn't so much the fact that it was a B- as it was that it ruined an otherwise stellar science GPA. My overall undergrad GPA was pretty mediocre, so I was counting on a near-4.0 science GPA to counteract that.

No, that is somewhat laughable, a B- is fine. If you were to retake I would think you'd get questioned more as to why you did. But if you have the free time, there's no HARM in it really. But most every applicant has more than a few B-s and it's not like med is super heavy in the old calc department.

 

[DelAGator]

you should retake calculus

 

[Preppy]

My opinion is no - there are med schools that don't even require calculus, and that grade was during your freshman year. As for math competency, to be able to take a multivariable calc (and get a B-) means you at least have some math skills: counting, doing derivatives, integrals etc.


But if you feel like studying multivariable calculus and feel like you could do well in the class then by all means go ahead and take it

 

[mshheaddoc]

I got a C or something like that about 7 years ago. No way will I retake. At all. I was told to do well in the science classes for post-bacc classes. No need to torture yourself again.

 

[cjc6d]

Had a similar situation (same mediocre grade in adv. undergrad calc) and also did post-bac work, but didn't retake calc. It wasn't an issue at all and it's not like it's helpful for the MCAT. Don't sweat it or waste your time!

 

[Noway]

My opinion is no - there are med schools that don't even require calculus, and that grade was during your freshman year. As for math competency, to be able to take a multivariable calc (and get a B-) means you at least have some math skills: counting, doing derivatives, integrals etc.


But if you feel like studying multivariable calculus and feel like you could do well in the class then by all means go ahead and take it

i was under the impression that most schools do not require calculus

 

[Noway]

bump

 

[hnbui]

i wouldn't retake it. Do you really want to go thru hell a second time again?