Will Retaking Class I got a B Minus in Boost Transfer Application?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a mathematics major at a large state school who plans to apply as a junior transfer next year to Penn (for a math major), Cornell (statistics major), and Duke (statistics major), along with other less competitive programs. I have a clear and genuine reason for desiring to transfer to these schools in particular and I believe my extracurriculars are solid.

From an academic standpoint, in college, I’ve received all A’s and one A-, except for a B- in first-semester Calculus III. I won’t go into too much detail, but basically, I had trouble adjusting academically to college, as a result of treating it like high school and assuming my old study habits would still be sufficient. However, my other first-semester classes were so easy that it only really hurt me for Calc III. Since then, I’ve received A’s in other math courses, like Linear Algebra. While a B- isn’t awful, the fact that I’m applying to be a math or math-related major makes me worry about how much of a negative effect this will have.

Would it be beneficial for my application if I retook the class at a local community college, or my current university, over the summer, just to prove that I can master the material? Even though it won’t affect my GPA and replace the B-, I feel as if doing this could be helpful in showing that my poor grade was not a result of an inability to handle math courses, rather, academic unpreparedness coming out of high school. Thank you all for your advice, it is greatly appreciated!

Most schools don’t allow you to retake and substitute a grade that is above a D. I think that B- is there to stay, so don’t worry about it.