Does Retaking Courses to Boost Your GPA Pay Off in the Long Run?

[revpayb]

If I was to graduate with a GPA x, is it worth to spend another semester to raise that GPA to x+.1 or above by repeating courses. Or in the long run, GPA won't matter that much?

 

[Cyrus]

If I were in your shoes I would do it, just for the fact that I could learn what I did not understand the first go at it.

 

[chroot]

Definitely repeat the courses.

- Warren

 

[revpayb]

I understood what I did wrong after I got my tests back. If I retook the early courses(Calc. 1, Calc. 2 etc) I would easily get an A. So, I'm asking about retaking courses for just boosting my GPA not because I didn't understand the concepts. What was your suggestion geared toward chroot? Retake it for the GPA or understanding the concepts? Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[chroot]

There's no shame in taking an extra semester, and a higher GPA will definitely help you get a better job, depending upon your industry. In some industries, particularly technical ones, it's expected that you'll put your GPA on your resume. In other professions, leaving your GPA off your resume might not be an issue.

Should you ever consider going back for an advanced degree, the line between 2 and 3 is huge, and you normally can't retake classes for GPA replacement after a certain number of years have passed.

- Warren

 

[leright]

I'd retake some classes to get the GPA up, evne if you understand the topics depite the lower grade. Also, if you now understand the topics you got the lower greade in, maybe take some other electives that pertain to your major to get the gpa up, and just learn more. If you were to apply to graduate school mention that you now deeply understand the topics in the classes you scored low in, and you took some additional tech electives to get your overall GPA up and broaden your knowledge in your field. So, it might be a better idea to take new classes, opposed to retaking old classes if you now understand the topics in the old classes.

However, retaking classes you scored low in might help the gpa more than taking new classes and doing well in them, I dunno.

 

[chroot]

If the school permits you to replace poor grades with better grades after retaking courses, then retaking the old courses will boost the GPA much more than will taking new classes.

- Warren