As the title says, what’s worse? Getting a B in a prerequisite course of having a prerequisite in progress. In my case, I am in an impacted major, econ
If we’re talking about UCLA, for econ I’d say in progress cuz I heard they’ll reject students for that cuz it’s so impacted.
Depends on the rest of your GPA tho.
I agree with @ericbadmon.
I’m guessing if you’re worried about a B, the rest of your grades are near-perfect? If so, one B likely won’t hurt. It does depend a bit on which prerequisite, to which major, to which campus, but most applicants are at least a little human.
I have a 3.93 GPA with all A’s in all of my classes except one B in calculus 2, a pre-requisite for economics. I have no idea what kind of standing I have in terms of being admitted for my major. I do have TAP for UCLA, but I’m assuming having TAP won’t help that much if I have a B in a pre-requisite course. I haven’t seen anyone in any of the UCLA transfer threads (2015-2017) with a B in a prerequisite for my major so I’m completely lost as to whether or not I am competitive as an applicant.
Keep the B. You 100% will not be disqualified because of it. Whether you get in, I can’t say but it won’t be because of a single B in Calc. If you drop it that looks way worse.
I will be keeping the B.
However, I just don’t see the logic behind how someone with a pre-requisite in progress that could end up getting a B in that class will be preferred over someone who has a B in that same pre-requisite but they had it done before the spring semester. Sure, that person with the pre-requisite very well also end up with an A but that’s just speculation, isn’t it?
What the impacted majors often do is put a grade minimum in the provisional contract - such as you need a B in Calc 2. And who said that an in-progress is preferred? Ideally, they prefer seeing key pre-reqs (especially hard ones) completed by fall.
Wow, I am stupid - I completely misread my own question and I forgot that I stated in the original post “what’s worse” so instead I thought you guys were saying you would prefer having a pre-req in progress rather than getting a B in a pre-req.
It is weird however, that I have seen economic majors getting in with pre-reqs in progress but I haven’t been able to seen an economics major getting in with a B in a pre-req. I only thought of posing this question after seeing numerous people getting accepted with a 4.0 Major GPA with pre-reqs in progress.
I misread it the first time too. You can have a pre-req last term. Just not sure getting a W and then retaking is the best approach.
Wait so did you apply for fall 2018? In that case you have no choice right? You’re technically IP with it right now. So isn’t it between getting a W and a B? Rather than a B than an In-progress for spring?
For what it’s worth, if you end up feeling like you’re getting a B in the class you could always drop it before the deadline, unless your school’s deadline is early. Idk how they’ll look at it tho, most ppl will say that a B is better than a W. But I definitely wouldn’t drop now as that would disqualify you completely (assuming you applied for fall 2018).
Also, I saw a couple ppl on last year’s forums get rejected with a 4.0 and calc 2 left in the spring. But I would email an admissions counselor if you wanna better answer. LMK if you need help finding one.
Yeah I applied for Fall 2018 so I would be at a four-year school this next fall. I completed calculus 2 last Fall 2017. I was never looking to drop my B, I just wanted to get people’s opinion on which was worse for applying into an impacted major like myself (economics) - having a pre-req in progress in the spring or getting a B in that same pre-req but having completed it before spring 2018.
I think I have also seen people on previous year’s thread with 4.0 and calc 2 IP get rejected but I just never saw people without a 4.0 Major GPA get accepted. Maybe those people never posted, but that is why I am so discouraged.
@choukevin ahhhh I see now. Well of course a student with 4.0 AND the Calc 2 already completed will be a stronger candidate. The question is how much stronger.
I don’t think you should stress too much about it. Calc is an important course for your major but you have a very strong overall GPA that is within the avg range and TAP certification. For what it’s worth, my best friend got into UCLA for business econ last year with a C in Calc and I believe that business econ is even more impacted (it had the most applicants last year). He was waitlisted tho so it’s a bit different. But still, his GPA was considerably lower than yours, I don’t even think he was close to the average range. No TAP either.
Yeah for sure someone with a 4.0 Overall GPA and Calc 2 completed will be a stronger candidate than me. If those students don’t get in, then I don’t know who will. My concerns were really regarding someone with a 4.0 Overall GPA but Calc 2 IP versus me, a lower overall GPA (such as 3.93) but Calc 2 completed before the spring.
Haha, I know I really shouldn’t be stressing about it but I’ve been so bored this semester that my mind wanders to thinking about trivial stuff that ultimately won’t change my admissions decision. I also think about how close I was to an A in Calc 2. I had the highest grade in my class going into the final (102) but “something” happened that dropped my grade to a B. Everything happens for a reason though. If only we had the ability to time-travel, right?