I’m a student currently attending a community college in Orange County. I’m applying to Haas School of Business at Berkeley and Marshall at USC. Unfortunately, I got a C in Calculus 3A, which is one of the prerequisites for business majors. Is it wise to repeat the course? If possible, should I ask the professor to give me a D instead and retake it next semester?
More information: My GPA right now is 3.7 and I’m sure I can raise it to mid 3.8 by next semester
Hmmm, hard call. I think getting a D in a pre-req won’t look good. What grades did you get in earlier Calc courses? Is there anyway you can get an incomplete and do something to raise it to a B-?
I don’t think your teacher can just give you a D if you got a C. I understand the logic behind it, but I doubt that would work. It’s a risky move anyway. I would just take the C.
The competition is taking care of themselves…
jk, this type of question has been asked before. If you call Haas they will tell you to take the C. You can call them to verify if you like. It would be wise to do what they recommend since they are the ones reviewing your application.
Either way your application will take a hit. You need to have something awesome to counter the C or worse a failed class with a retake. A badass internship or a heartfelt home life story might do it.
“If you repeated or have taken more than one course to fulfill a prerequisite you must use the first attempt to satisfy the requirement. If you received a C- or higher for your first attempt you should not repeat the prerequisite.”
https://haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/ucb_prereq.html
My brain isn’t working this morning, but it sounds like even if you retake it, they’re going to use your first attempt. But if you received below a C-, which isn’t passing, I can’t see them using the first attempt … but, again, my brain isn’t working right now.
Back to finishing this paper on ancient drinking vessels of Kültepe …
Oh, and as @MikeSauce said, if you call them and ask, they’ll tell you to take the C (and as my quote from the website says, that might be the only option since it’s a pre-req). I have a few C-'s that were 10 years old and while they weren’t pre-reqs, when I went into Haas several months ago and asked if I should retake them, they said to not even worry about it. Regardless, I’m retaking them as three C-'s that I can now easily get A’s in would kill my GPA, but their school of thought was that it was 10 years ago and my overall application would show that’s not who I am anymore, holistic, blah blah blah.
@briank82, that’s right! Haas only factors in first attempt on major req. 
@mikesauce said:
You vets are a laugh a minute. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! :o3
@lindyk8 Yeah, the first attempt thing kind of sucks. I took the Intro to Biz pre-req in Iraq and I didn’t do bad, I got an A-. But, it was over 5 years ago so I had to retake it (all major pre-reqs need to be completed within 5 years of starting the program), and I got an A in it this semester. Obviously an A- is still a good grade, but not as good as the A I just received.
I think leaving them a note that all classes I took 2006-2008 were taken online while in Iraq and with infrequent access to a computer. It might even be a strength to my application.
Yeah, and add that it was in Arabic.