A question about graduate school

[stunner5000pt]

I didn't do very well in a couple of courses mainly due to some 'personal reasons' last year and i was determined to do better because if i had not run into those problems then i would've done much better. In any case my transcript is going to show that i took the course twice but it is going to No credit retained (NCR) for the course i took the first time. It will show the second (and much better) grade, however. Now i want to apply to graduate school (I may not be smart repeating courses but say what you must... i will do it). I want to know if graduate admissions will look badly at the fact that i took the course twice?

thanks for your advice and input!

 

[Laura1013]

When I was a freshman, I got a D in a very difficult Calculus 2 course. I used my university's policy of taking the course over and "erasing" the bad grade. I was warned by a professor, "When grad schools look at your application, they're going to wonder why you took that course over again." If they did, if made absolutely no impact on my grad school admissions whatsoever. Both my GPA and my understanding of the material improved. It was a wise decision.

If it's a freshman-level course, I wouldn't give it another thought, honestly. The situation may be different if it's an upper-level course.

 

[quasar987]

When applying to grad school, you usually have to write a letter adressed to the admission comitee talking about your goals and whatnot. There is a good place to explain the retaking of the courses.

 

[stunner5000pt]

When I was a freshman, I got a D in a very difficult Calculus 2 course. I used my university's policy of taking the course over and "erasing" the bad grade. I was warned by a professor, "When grad schools look at your application, they're going to wonder why you took that course over again." If they did, if made absolutely no impact on my grad school admissions whatsoever. Both my GPA and my understanding of the material improved. It was a wise decision.

If it's a freshman-level course, I wouldn't give it another thought, honestly. The situation may be different if it's an upper-level course.

i wish it was a freshman course but it was a 3rd year (junior level?) course

 

[stunner5000pt]

When applying to grad school, you usually have to write a letter adressed to the admission comitee talking about your goals and whatnot. There is a good place to explain the retaking of the courses.

where can i get advice on writing this letter? Would i simply ask around in my own school's graduate admissions office (even though I am not applying there)?

honestly i was not not happy with the grades i got... i couldve gotten muc hbetter grades but it was a personal problem... at the time

 

[quasar987]

I asked our resident mathematician here at PF, matt grime and mathwonk! :)

Matt grime was very helpful.

 

[ircdan]

where can i get advice on writing this letter? Would i simply ask around in my own school's graduate admissions office (even though I am not applying there)?

honestly i was not not happy with the grades i got... i couldve gotten muc hbetter grades but it was a personal problem... at the time

I wouldn't worry about it, and I wouldn't even mention it, especially if it requires you talking about a personal problem. Just do well your last few semesters and try not to worry, there are plenty of schools and I'm sure you can get in somewhere so focus on learning as much as possible.

 

[stunner5000pt]

Ok here's another question:

last year i was mostly working and going to school at the same time and i only took 5 courses - 4 half year course and one full year course. A full course load is usually 10 courses (as expected by my program). However i didnt have to take certain courses because i had taken them in the previous year. Is graduate going to look at last year as a complete year then?? So far i have a reasonable average (B) but last year was a C. I think i need to take another year...

Also I am going to be applying for an engineering program with a physics degree how will this change things? If at all?

 

[JasonRox]

I got a C- in Calculus 2. I won't even bother doing the course again. It's a darn first year course. Who cares.

 

[stunner5000pt]

I got a C- in Calculus 2. I won't even bother doing the course again. It's a darn first year course. Who cares.

i wish they were first year courses...

 

[JasonRox]

I got a C+ in Complex Analysis and I still don't care.

I want my degree and then out. I would love to go to graduate school and I know I can get accepted based on what I done, but I'm pretty much decided I want a year off before I decide to go back or not.

 

[mgiddy911]

I may very well end with a C+ in Real Analysis, took the final yesterday with a B-/B we'll see how that goes, its out of my hand now
I'm just incredibly glad I passed, Hardest class I have ever taken hands down

 

[DeadWolfe]

Why are you asking if you've already decided to retake it? I would think that if you've already made your decision, you might as well not worry about how it looks...

 

[zhentil]

I got a C+ in real analysis senior year. Didn't prevent me from getting into a good grad school.