Do you think It's better for me to retake some courses?

Applying to College
1

Hi, I’m attending to an International school and will be applying to several universities soon.

My current GPA is 3.62 (UW/ Weighted N/A) and SAT score is 2080~2180 range.

My school does not provide any Ap courses until 12th grade.

All of the courses are regular courses.

Nevertheless, i took quite number of Aps which are studied by my self.

I took Macroecnomics, Statistics, Psychology, English Comp and world history and got scores of 2s.

my plan is to :

Take Toefl, get a score about 105~110 range next week.

SAT on October

SAT 2 on November Taking 3 subjects : Math Level 2, Us History and Korean with listening for back up (pretty confident with these three. Aiming for 800 for all of them)

However, i do have a relatively low GPA.

I have never gotten C nor D before, but quite lots of Bs.

The grading system in my school for A starts from 92-100 so most of my Bs are 90~91.

I ironically got B on algebra 1 and 2, but got A on Pre-calculus.

my gpa in 9th ~ 11th by semesters are

3.6 3.6 , 3.3 3.5 (I bombed 10th). 3.8 4.0

I’m planning to retake Algebra 1 and 2 using recovery courses which i can finish within 2 months.

I just want to know if im making a right decision since people say positive and negative effects about retaking courses.

I’m planning to apply to U of M ann arbor for LSA

and I’m planning to apply to NYU stern.

2

I don’t see any positive to retaking a course. The purpose of school is leaning, not grades. Get good grades in new courses rather than retaking.

3

I agree with iwannabe_Brown. In my opinion the only situation in which retaking a course makes sense is when the course is a key foundation course and it’s essential for the student to have a good grasp of the material for followup courses. In your case you’ve already taken the followup course (pre-caluclus) and you’ve done well. This suggests that you now have mastery of the Algebra course.

If your reasoning to retake the course is that the “new” grades will replace the “old” that’s often not the case. High schools (and colleges) with which I’m familiar do not replace the old grade with the new. They add the new grade (in addition to the old) to your transcript. They may not take the new grades into account when computing your GPA. Perhaps your school is different and the new grade will replace the old.

From a practical point of view college admissions, should they see both grades, would likley question why you’ve retaken basic courses. They are likely to see that as a sign of academic weakness in math. A “B” in a course is okay so why encourage that kind of thinking?

4

Do not bother retaking courses that you got B grades in, especially if you got A grades in more advanced courses.

5

Absolutely do not retake.

6

Don’t make your grades fit the college you want, make your college choice fit the grades you have.

7

I do understanding your concern as your current GPA is rather low for some schools like UMich. Many school district do allow retake in summer or online and the new grades will replace the old grades. However, there may be some restriction and requirement. For our school district, each class like that costs ~$300. I hope yours is cheaper. Second, you only get one chance as one cannot retake the summer/online class again. Third, whatever grade you get will replace the old grade, may it be better or worse. Fourth, it only allows taking 2 online/summer classes at a time. I do know some students use this way to recover their GPA to 4.0. Nevertheless, how many classes do you need to retake in order to improve your GPA significantly?

8

The grade will be replaced but the year took will be 2016. Im just planning to retake 2 full year courses in 3 months

9

The grade will be replaced but the year took will be 2016. Im just planning to retake 2 full year courses in 3 months

10

First, make sure you can get a much better grade (not just a subgrade). Second, calculate how much you can improve your GPA by doing that. If you are going to replace 2 Bs with 2 As, your overall GPA is likely increase by ~0.1. It will still be in the low side for UMich for instance, but it may help for other schools. At the same time, you may need to improve your test scores for some schools. Your current range is in the lower half of mid 50 for UMich.

11

Never retake a class unless you failed it because colleges hate that. Most people take algebra 1 in 8th grade so do you really think you should be retaking something middle schoolers easily get As in?

12

In our school district, I don’t think even if you can retake a class after you have finished the next level already. It was meant for catching up with the class. If you have already finished Precalc, I don’t see why the school would let you retake Algebra 1 and 2. It simply doesn’t make sense.