<p>This might come across as perfectionist to some but I'm having anxieties about the fact that when I was 16 I took a college credit class at this one out of town college before I even had my GED and I really wasn't motivated and just having a lot of emotionally overwhelming issues at the time. Fast forward to age 17 and I got my GED, and registered into the in-town community college with a clean record and I made a 4.0 going full-time that year...I got boggled down with financial concerns and decided to take a break and start looking for work for a year and a half...then registered back at my original college (St Petersburg College) and transferred all my credits, but now my 4.0 is a 3.6....and even if I continue to make straight As I will never have that 4.0 again....unless there's some kind of loophole so I can retake the class and apply my fullest potential to it this time. The reason I am concerned is because I'm majoring in Anthropology and perhaps Political science, and I'm hoping to get into a good graduate school and get scholarships.</p>
<p>Is there a way I can get better grade? Does it hurt my chances of graduate school too much?</p>
<p>Seriously, a 4.00 is meaningful for just about nothing outside of bragging rights, and your ability to replace a low grade with something better is ENTIRELY a matter of university policy - which you can investigate yourself! If your school completely replaces the grade when you retake the course (which is not typical, but happens), then you can eliminate the “bad” grade. If not, you are stuck with it, which is NOT the end of the world!</p>
<p>I know plenty of people who had a perfect GPA in high school, but not a single one who graduated college with a perfect GPA. Don’t stress over it. </p>
<p>In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you did manage to graduate college with a 4.0 GPA, you probably didn’t challenge yourself enough. If you only ever take classes where you can come out on top, you are forgoing the opportunity to learn from students who are stronger than you in that particular discipline.</p>
<p>Even if you could retake the classes to replace them with an A, it would be a waste of time and money to do that for all of the classes you’d need to claw from a 3.6 to a 4.0. A 3.6 is a great GPA - it’s higher than I had when I was admitted to a top PhD program in my field, and is right in the range to get into good graduate programs. I agree with b@r!um, and even add that in addition to not taking challenging classes it may also mean you’re not doing enough outside of the classroom. The key to graduate admission is not a 4.0, but a good GPA (3.3-3.5+) and research experience.</p>