Retakes In The Summer

[jo.s18]

Hello, everyone.

 

So I've just finished my second year of my undergrad. I want to retake three courses in the summer because my school's retake policy is that they replace your first grade with whatever grade you received after the retake (even if it's worse). Now I'm aware that most med schools don't look at summer courses, especially for GPA considerations. I want to retake these courses for my GPA for graduation—I want to graduate with a 90% average, and this is pretty much impossible unless I get rid of some of my lowest grades.

 

So what I'm saying is, I want to retake these three courses during the summer to boost my GPA, but not for med school requirements, just for graduation purposes. What I'm wondering is, do med schools see courses you take during the summer, even if they don't consider them in GPA calculation? And if they do see them, do  they think badly of retaken courses in the summer? The courses I'm planning on retaking are: Stats, Anatomy, and Biomolecules (Biochem).

 

I've seen a lot of posts about retakes, and summer courses but not about retaking courses in the summer!

 

Thanks guys!

[not my real name]

I'm not 100% sure what you mean about "seeing" them. Yes, they will see them. If they are prereqs (stats? Biochem?) then they might be considered as retakes even if taken in the summer. Otherwise, schools that look at summer classes will consider them (pursuant to their retake policy) and schools that don't will not. Look at the schools you want to apply to, check out their summer and retake policies, and see what the impact will be.

[Borborygmi]

Yes, schools will see all credits taken at the post secondary level whether or not they include it in your gpa calculation. American DO schools (I don't recall if allopathic schools are the same) will allow your retaken courses to replace the original credit in your gpa calculation. McMaster will average the grades of the repeated courses if the first course's final grade was a fail. I don't know if McMaster averages the course grades if the first attempt of the course was passed. Do institutions look down upon retaking courses? I would say that only adcoms will really know the answer to that question. I would probably guess that they don't care too much; however, some institutions will include a subjective assessment of your academic merit where retaking courses may or may not negatively impact that assessment.

 

Out of curiosity, what institution allows for you to replace grades on your transcript with a second attempt and is there any limit to the number of different courses you can repeat?