Should I Retake the Class or Aim for a B?

Hi, I wasn’t sure where to post this question, but here it goes.

I am nearing my end of my freshman year in college and I’m currently taking summer classes right now at my local community college, hoping to get rid of prerequisites for my major. I’m only taking 7 credits this summer, and was doing so in order to hopefully transfer into a state college. My current plan is to major in Medical Technology and to maybe go into medical school or get into a graduate program, since I would like to either do research in the near future or ultimately become a doctor, I’m still thinking about after getting my bachelors.

I’m taking General Bio I and Introduction to Speech Communication. I’ve been doing well in the speech class and the lecture portion of my general biology class, however I’ve become concerned with my lab portion of General Bio I. I’ve talked to multiple professors about this, and my family doesn’t really help much when it comes down to the decision making. I don’t want to ruin my perfect GPA, but at this point, there’s only a very small chance I can bring my lab grade up to an A. The highest that I can probably get it up to is a B.

I know labs are only 1 credit, but I’m concerned GPA wise that it’ll make me look bad when I plan on transferring to a state college. I also have a small goal of going to an Ivy League school for my Master’s degree (once I figure out what to go for) and I don’t want my GPA be a big reason why I can’t get scholarships or even get into the Ivy League school.

Should I just fail the lab and retake it to keep the 4.0 GPA or should I just aim for the B knowing that the highest GPA I’ll be able to achieve is a 3.99?

Some insight on this would be much appreciated. Thank you!

On the face of it, this seems like a bad idea. What would appear on your transcript if you did this? Would the F grade still be factored in somehow?

I don’t really know, as far as I’ve been told, it would. I’ve talked to professors about this and I’ve had professors talk about how it’d be better to fail and retake the class while others have said to just go for the B since it may not be so bad. My major requirements however for my major has General Bio as one of its major prerequisites to get into the program for medical technology. … Its a competitive program as far as I’m aware.