Should I retake class that I got a D in CC from over 5 years ago?

Transfer Students
1

GPA: 3.4
Major GPA: 4.0
Major: Graphic Design
(2.0 from former cc 5 years ago, 3.9 in current cc as a full-time student for 2 years now)
I have a D from 5 years ago in intro to political science (CSU GE requirements). I already have the required classes for that area with a B and an A and I’m not sure if I should retake it. I already have 5 classes to take in Spring…

My former transcript basically looks like C’s, B’s, hardly any A’s. My current cc transcript is all A’s with 42 units in. A huge upward trend.

Will my application get thrown in the trash because of that D? That’s what I’m afraid of. If so, I will retake it.

Applied to transfer for fall of 2019 at CSULB, SDSU, SJSU, Cal Poly Pomona, CSUDH

2

I wouldn’t bother retaking this. It isn’t related to your major, and is not a specific requirement for graduation. However since you are interested in specific universities, you should take this question to the Transfer Advisor at your CC. That person will be able to help you determine your best plan of action.

3

Thank you.

4

If anyone has also had a similar experience I would love to hear it. I’ve searched and read numerous threads here but none were recent.

I have contacted my academic counselor and she didn’t seem concerned. I told her I’ve read stories on collegeconfidential (lol) of students getting denied for D’s and she just said, “yes, if you want to retake it…” But didn’t make it seem like a necessity.

5

GPA calculation for CSU transfer purposes will “Honor the grading policies of the institution where credit was earned by accepting official transcript entries including those reflecting academic renewal, repeat, and incomplete grades”, according to page 34 of https://www2.calstate.edu/attend/student-services/Documents/admission-handbook-2018-19.pdf .

Based on that, you need to determine how your GPA will change if you repeat the course (obviously, the grade you earn on a repeat will matter) and estimate whether the change will materially affect your likelihood of admission to your target campuses.

Obviously, if expect to take an upper division course after transfer for which the course with a D grade is a prerequisite, you may want to repeat it anyway to get better preparation.

CSUDH is not impacted, so you should be admitted if you fulfill the base requirements on page 31 of the document linked above. SJSU is impacted, but the 2018 threshold for transfer to various arts majors varied from 2.00 to 3.80, according to http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultstransfer/ . CSULB has a reputation of strongly preferring local area applicants (defined by https://www.csulb.edu/admissions/local-preference-admission-consideration ), meaning it it tends to be easy for local area applicants to get into, but difficult for others. SDSU has a web page at https://admissions.sdsu.edu/transfers/apply/gpa_requirements that suggests that a 2.50 is needed for graphic design.