<p>Hello,
I am currently a sophomore about to finish my second semester of sophomore year. I have a 3.25 GPA and last semester I got a C- in anatomy. I know that I can increase my GPA, but my school has a policy of retaking classes that you got a C- or worse on. Should I retake the class and how would that look to medical schools. It also increases my GPA because if I do better the C- that I got in the first place doesn't factor into my college GPA that they put on my transcript.
Also, does getting that C- just bar me from most medical schools or will that come down to how well I do on the biological science section on the MCAT?
Lastly, I wanted to spend the 2013 summer and study for the MCAT in between my sophomore and junior year and then take the official one at the end of the summer. Should I stick to that plan or should I just keep studying through junior year and take it during the spring of my junior year (spring 2014)?</p>
<p>If your school’s policy won’t allow you to retake–then you don’t retake. One C- isn’t a deal breaker. It’s a ding on your GPA. (In fact, retaking the course and not getting an A will likely hurt you more than the original C-.) </p>
<p>Per ACMAS policy any retaken course will have both the original and retaken grades included when calculating your GPA/sGPA. You are required to report both.</p>
<p>You will need to improve your sGPA by taking additional science classes.</p>
<p>A good bio science MCAT score will not make up for a poor sGPA.</p>
<p>I think you missed a word or two in one of your sentences, but assuming you meant that you’d spend the summer studying and then take the MCAT at the end of the summer, OR you’d spend the summer, fall, and spring studying and then take the MCAT in the spring, you should do the former. There’s absolutely no reason someone should spend a year studying for the MCAT; 2-4, possibly up to 6, months should be just fine!</p>
<p>That said, summers are an incredible time to do stuff other than academics, and you don’t have that many of them to include on your application (sounds like you want to go directly from UG to med). In my opinion, a much better use of your summer would be for leadership or volunteering or clinical work or a job or studying abroad or some mix of these things, rather than studying. I personally think the best strategy is to study for the MCAT like…Dec/Jan until Apr and take the test in Apr. That way, if something terrible happens and you need to retake, you can retake in June or July and still be able to apply that same year. Contrast this with taking it in the end of May, needing to retake in Aug, and thus delaying your application until Aug-Sep–in which case you’d be better off waiting and applying the following year, because getting those apps in early is critically important (in my opinion, more important than a point or two on the MCAT).</p>
<p>Will you finish all science prerequisites by next semester? If not, you may want to wait until Spring 2014 to take MCAT.</p>
<p>BTW, I was surprised to read on that other pre med site, that a med school adcomm said committee members note when during the year the MCAT was taken–i.e. if taken while carrying a full complement of courses (during or right after the school year) or after taking a full summer off to study (no volunteering, research or other activties) or after graduation while working at other than a full time job.</p>
<p>She said the first situation reflected more favorably on an applicant than did the other two. IOW, the adcomm wants to know if you are able to balance a full courseload/full time job with studying.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the information. Regarding Kristen, I meant to take the summer 2013 and study for MCAT and then take it the end of the summer. That being said, I agree with doing other stuff and I already have research at the NIEHS which is only 1 hour from my house. So I planned to go partake in research in the day and in the night study and then take the MCAT at the end of summer. </p>
<p>I will finish all of my science requirements for the MCAT in the spring.</p>
<p>Cool! As long as you’re not just studying for the MCAT over the summer :)</p>
<p>Ok, to WayOutWestMom: My school allows me to “exclude” the grade. This means that the grade is taken off my transcript and replaced with the grade I make in the retake. I am asking if retaking my anatomy class will be more helpful or more harmful (I can guarantee that I will make an A or higher on the retake)? Also, the excluded course appears on my transcript but with no grade and it says “excluded” on my transcript. Would they ask for my grade or recalculate my grade with an F if I do not tell them what I got previously?</p>
<p>I also got 2 C’s in my freshman year in physics 1 and Organic Chemistry 1 if that puts my position in perspective.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter whether or not your school will remove the original grade or not, AMCAS specifically requires BOTH the original grade and the retake to be reported.</p>
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<p>p.36 AMCAS Instruction Manual</p>
<p>If the original course appears with no grade recorded on the transcript, your application will be returned to you. You must provide AMCAS with an official grade report or your application will not be processed.</p>
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<p>p. 44 AMCAS Instruction Manual</p>
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<p>My personal opinion is that retaking the anatomy class will not have the effect you want it to have on your application. You would probably be better off moving on and taking additional upper level bio (or other science) classes to try to improve your sGPA–which with 3 Cs and a C- is probably on the low side for a competitive med school application.</p>
<p>Retaking a class puts a student in a no-win double bind: if you ace the course the second time, your good grade is discounted by the adcomm which will think–gee, greenfire finally got an A, but it took him/her two tries. Too bad there are no second chances in med school. OTOH, if you get less than an A (even an A-), your academic ability will be questioned: hey, look at this–even with 2 attempts greenfire still can’t ace the class.</p>
<p>If you’re dead set on re-taking, would you consider applying to osteopathic medical schools? DO programs do allow grade replacement.</p>
<p>The MCAT is already difficult enough as it is - I think it’s worth it to keep your schedule free just for the MCAT because many people juggle it with other activities and end up having to retake it. Isn’t that worse than taking it just once after a summer off?</p>
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<p>You should be able to “juggle” your schedule. Taking a summer off just for the MCAT could be a problem with many adcoms. Your score may be discounted.</p>
<p>I highly doubt your score will be discounted. I guess I don’t mean keeping your schedule completely “free,” but don’t spend too many hours at research.</p>
<p>Not discounted in the sense that it’s unacceptable. He means that consciously or unconsciously your score will be viewed as lower than stated because of the easier circumstances under which you took the test.</p>
<p>A full time job plus MCAT should be easily doable. Being a pre med student is more than a full time job which is why I personally recommend summer tests instead of school year.</p>
<p>No one gives you a reward for “juggling” MCATs and a busy school or work schedule. Do what is best for you in order to get the highest scores.</p>
<p>This thread is pretty old, but I’ll comment anyway.</p>
<p>Taking time off to solely study for the MCAT is not at all bad, and I actually recommend it. I took three months off to study for the MCAT and was accepted into medical school.</p>