I’m in my second year of music performance and up until this past semester, was a working student. At the end of my undergraduate degree I will have had to repeat three classes due to semesters where working and going to school was too much to handle but doing was necessary because of financial issues. I’m already starting to look at colleges for my Master’s degree that I feel I have a decent shot of getting into, but am worried about being rejected because of those three repeats on my transcripts. The grades I receive from retaking those classes will replace the previous and while the original will show up on my transcript, they will not be calculated into my GPA. What do I do?
How does your GPA look? Grad programs look for far more than your GPA, however this is a big chuck of the package. The fact that you retook the classes does show how serious you are about your education. Were the retake As? You should also look into strengthening yourself beyond academically. Do Music majors generally take up internships? Do you have performing experience beyond anything school related?
What was the original grade and what was the retake grade? What is your cumulative and major GPA? And what does the rest of your package look like? Single items do not exist in a vacuum; they exist in the context of other things in your application as a whole. If you have a 3.81 GPA and are a virtuoso who’s performed at Carnegie Hall, the three repeats will be viewed differently than if you have a 3.1 and you’re an average player. Likewise, which classes they were will matter as well - if they were three pre-med classes and you’re not pre-med anymore, or if they were general education requirements, the repeats will matter less than if they were music classes.