Do I Need to Retake C/D/F Classes to Get Into Med School?

Session 116

Do you need to retake C/D/F classes from earlier in college? Listen to find out why you may not need to retake classes and what you should consider instead.

Listen to this podcast episode with the player above, or keep reading for the highlights and takeaway points.

By the way, the episodes in this podcast are recordings of our Facebook Live that we do at 3 pm Eastern on most weekdays. Check out our Facebook page and like the page to be notified. Also, listen to our other podcasts on MedEd Media. If you have any questions, call me at 617-410-6747.

[0:30] Question of the Day

“I’m going back and retaking classes to improve my GPA. Should I retake General Chemistry or not?”

Her GPA had an upward trend where it was pretty low for her first two years of college and then it went up for her junior and senior years. She thinks she can’t move it that much more without possibly going back and retaking classes.

She’s taking upper-level Bio classes and Neuroscience classes but not Chemistry classes. She has not taken Genetics.

[1:25] Seeing the Big Picture

At the end of the day, the question isn’t, “Did you retake it? Can you prove that you can handle chemistry?” What does your trend look like? What does your GPA look like? Is there a consistent story of you having a C in General Chemistry 1, another C in General Chemistry 2, a C in Organic Chemistry? Which potentially points to you not having a good foundation in Chemistry in general. That’s really the heart of the question.

The one C at the end of the day doesn’t really matter. Retaking one C doesn’t really matter.

“At the end of the day, it's the big picture.”Click To Tweet

If you feel like at this point, you’ve done well in the upper-division at past Chemistry, if you struggled in let’s say, Chemistry 1, but you did decent in Chemistry 2, Organic Chemistry 1 and 2, Biochemistry, etc. then you are probably okay. Then you don’t need to take General Chemistry all over again.

There’s no difference math-wise between you retaking your Gen Chem series versus you just taking something else at the end of the day.

[3:07] Getting Multiple C’s from Early On

“If I have multiple C's from early on, then is it possible that I need to retake it? My overall GPA right now is 3.5.”Click To Tweet

Again, think of the big picture. Overall, your GPA is fine. You have some C’s you’ve overcome. Obviously, you’ve done very well.

Schools won’t think you can’t handle medical school because you got a C. More likely, they will look into where you’ve gone from there. Some students retake the classes early on. Maybe that’s not the right or the wrong thing. Maybe that individual student retook the classes to improve their foundational knowledge.

At this point, you’re close to finishing wherever you’re at in your schooling. Going back and taking freshman or sophomore level classes when you’re about to graduate just doesn’t make sense. Especially given that overall, your GPA isn’t bad and you have a really good trend.

“Spend time on some upper-division classes if you want to continue that upward trend.”Click To Tweet

If you have C’s throughout, then there’s a concern over how academically qualified you are for medical school.

That being said, there are a million reasons for early Cs. Maybe you just had some adjustment issues, maybe you tried to take on too much or you just had some issues learning the pace of college. Whatever those reasons are, you had those early C’s, you improved, you have an upward trend, you figured stuff out and you’re doing great. So those C’s aren’t a concern.

Our student believes she has four C’s from a mix of freshman and sophomore year. She’s consistent in Chemistry and Bio. And a mix of it spread out throughout those first two years is not going to be an issue.

Assuming you have this strong upward trend and your upper-division classes are good grades, this would lend you an upward trend. So it’s not an issue. Moreover, the foundation is there when you think about MCAT prep. Again, that’s assuming you’re doing well in your upper-division classes.

[5:48] Taking a Master’s Program to Improve GPA

Our student was also considering doing a Master’s program in order to improve her GPA. Her cumulative GPA overall is 3.6. Her last two years, GPA-wise would be about 3.7.

You don’t need a Master’s for 3.6 or 3.5. Master’s are for 3.1 or 3.2 students potentially. In that case, I typically don’t recommend master’s programs.

Instead, I recommend postbac programs where you’re doing more undergraduate-level coursework because that’s what medical schools tend to lean on. You don’t need any sort of improvement.

You’ve proven academically, with your upward trend, that you are academically capable of medical school. You’ve done that already. You struggled early, and then you improved. Your overall GPA in your mind isn’t great, but a 3.5 is a solid GPA. So many students on SDN would look at that and freak out thinking they need to do a master’s. That’s just not true.

“That's what a Master's program is for – to prove that you can academically handle medical school.”Click To Tweet

Take the MCAT and make sure the rest of your application is well-rounded. Make sure you have good clinical experience, you’re shadowing, and that you can put together a solid story on why you want to be a physician. Then you’ll be fine.

[8:18] GPA as a Hindrance

This student is bothered that her GPA might hinder. But it actually helps because we can see a story of struggle and then triumph, then some initial issues, and then ultimately figuring it out. That to me is a stronger student than someone just coming and getting 3.7 across the board – not improving.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with that but I like the story of someone who had some early issues for whatever reason and then figured it out and did better.

And that tells the admissions committee that when and if you struggle in medical school, you’ve been down this path already and you’ll figure it out again.

I was at an admissions conference in 2019 in Toronto and I was speaking on behalf of premed students. It was all deans and directors of admissions of medical schools, nursing schools, PT schools, etc. The kind of overarching theme that I kept hearing from all these admissions committee members was:

“It’s not where you are at the end of the day. It's where you got with everything with the cards that you were dealt.”Click To Tweet

Someone who was given life on a silver platter with a 3.7 GPA versus someone who struggled early on and then figured it out is a much better story in terms of who you are and what you’ve been through.

So don’t worry about your GPA, it’s not going to be an issue. You obviously need a strong MCAT score and the rest of your application needs to be solid. But in terms of GPA, I wouldn’t be concerned about it holding you back enough for you to go and spend $20,000-$40,000 on a Master’s program, which I typically don’t recommend anyway.