should I retake my calculus classes?

[ricklee]

I transferred to UC from community college last summer, and I am going to graduate in two quarters.
I have a low community college, 3.02 for 112 Units. I have an F and a D on my calculus II and calculus III class. Both were retaken in community college and got B. I also have a C in physics for engineer major. Then I retook a year physics for bio major, ended up with A in first half and B in second half. Besides those, I have a C in college writing (second half for one year requirement); and a C in linear algebra. All poor grades are from my community college, most of them were before I consider medical school.
Currently I have 3.92 UC gpa with only one B+ and two A-. Straight A for o-chem and lower division bio classes. Hopefully I can graduate from UC with 3.9+ GPA. But I will still have 3.3-3.4 overall gpa and science GPA.

I have very solid research. One co-author on Nature, another (second or third author) on molecular cancer (going to submit soon). Volunteer and EC are also ok.
My question is, should I retake calculus and writing class in my UC's summer school? I plan to go to SMP as well, but there is no way to prove my ability in math class and writing.

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[BigBlueBear]

If you're willing to do DO then yes I'd retake. MD will only average your retakes so your GPA will still be low.

 

[ricklee]

I will apply both MD and DO, but my point is should I retake those math and writing course to prove my math and writing ability? I know my gpa will still be the same, I just want to show my ability in those courses.

 

[BigBlueBear]

Well no offense, but with all those bad grades even if you retook it and got an A you probably won't seem to have a good math and writing ability. To get an F and a D in two different math classes shows that you aren't too good at math; anybody given enough retakes can get an A eventually.

However, I am not an adcom so don't take my word as gospel.

 

[alexrgross]

Well no offense, but with all those bad grades even if you retook it and got an A you probably won't seem to have a good math and writing ability. To get an F and a D in two different math classes shows that you aren't too good at math; anybody given enough retakes can get an A eventually.

However, I am not an adcom so don't take my word as gospel.

This post is fairly true, bad performance never really goes away. That always causes concern, and I think you should retake. That will help your GPA and also it will prove your ability. Otherwise, some schools make you fill in your pre-requisite grades on secondaries and the more As the better IMHO