Question about retaking

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Alright, so I need some advice. I am currently a Freshman at a top 20 university in the south and it is second semester. Last semester didn't go so well for me. My mother was in and out of the hospital a lot and we were fearful of her dieing, etc etc. That coupled with adjusting to college and the rigorous nature of it led to a horrible GPA of 2.526. This semester I'm taking the continuation of all the same classes (Calc II, Chem 102b, Bsci 110b, nutrition, and human memory and the brain) and am doing much better. If my final tests in chem and bio go well I should be sitting at a 3.815 GPA for this second semester. </p>

<p>Well my question is this: Should I retake my gen chem class next semester? In chem 102a (my lowest grade) I ended up with a c- and I was considering retaking to boost my gpa back up. Here, you can retake any course and they will replace your old grade with your current grade into your GPA. Do you think this is wise/worth it? Any real advice would be so greatly appreciated. </p>

<p>Also: If I don't retake the course, and keep maintaining GPA's around 3.8'ish, then my Junior yr second semester (time for applications to med school) I'll be sitting at around a 3.56'ish. Is this GPA competive enough for top medical schools? Thanks again!</p>

2

<p>Don't forget that even if Vandy replaces the grade in your GPA, they probably won't replace it on the transcript. In that case, medical schools will factor the original grade back in. So there's no point retaking. More sensible to take another course instead. Same dilution effect.</p>

3

<p>I heard somewhere that Med schools do not accept a grade of "C-" as passing for premed requirements. Can someone confirm/deny this?</p>

4

<p>Mike,
I asked around and they do indeed replace re-taken classes on transcripts. The only problem is all grades are reported anyway and AMCAS essentially ends up averaging both old and new grades.</p>

5

<p>And while it's ideal to have good grades from the beginning, an upward trend still looks good. Since the AMCAS (and therefore medical schools) would have both grades, it's probably not worth it to retake. Just make sure your grades from now on out are good and it'll indicate that you must know the material even though your gen chem grade might not indicate that you do.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the advice guys. I think I might just not retake then since it would either overload my schedule or put me behind it hours for very little benefit. Thanks again.</p>