When is it worthwhile to retake a class?

[Nova9]

I'm a freshman who just finished their first semester at (insert elite university that I don't want to namedrop here), and I am an engineering physics major with a hope to one day do grad school in applied physics at a similar school. Anyway, due to the almost non-existence of a curve and the rough transition from high school to college I ended up with a C- in my multivariable calc and linear algebra course (it is one class), which although passing probably won't look good and made a damper on my GPA (as it is more than 25% of my current unit count at the moment). Despite this I feel as if I really did learn the material (granted most of my ah-ha moments didn't happen until it was too late), so I could probably easily get a very good grade this time around, but I could also move on and take more advanced classes and not have to overload on units down the line. However, obviously I don't want this one grade to keep me from getting into a good masters or PhD program down the line, or prevent me from doing research this or next summer. I would appreciate any advice I could get - thank you :)

 

[Jaeusm]

I'm a freshman who just finished their first semester at (insert elite university that I don't want to namedrop here), and I am an engineering physics major with a hope to one day do grad school in applied physics at a similar school. Anyway, due to the almost non-existence of a curve and the rough transition from high school to college I ended up with a C- in my multivariable calc and linear algebra course (it is one class), which although passing probably won't look good and made a damper on my GPA (as it is more than 25% of my current unit count at the moment). Despite this I feel as if I really did learn the material (granted most of my ah-ha moments didn't happen until it was too late), so I could probably easily get a very good grade this time around, but I could also move on and take more advanced classes and not have to overload on units down the line. However, obviously I don't want this one grade to keep me from getting into a good masters or PhD program down the line, or prevent me from doing research this or next summer. I would appreciate any advice I could get - thank you :)

Taking a course multiple times does not remove prior instances from your transcript.

 

[Nova9]

Taking a course multiple times does not remove prior instances from your transcript.

At my school I read on the website that it replaces the prior time with an RP or RT or something meaning that it was retaken or replaced

 

[Jaeusm]

At my school I read on the website that it replaces the prior time with an RP or RT or something meaning that it was retaken or replaced

I suppose it may vary from university to university. When I was in school, I was in a situation my freshman year similar to the one you've described. I retook a chemistry class, but it did not replace the initial occurrence on the actual transcript. However, it didn't make any difference in the long run.

 

[Dishsoap]

It varies between universities - at mine, you could retake a course and your first grade would not be factored into your GPA (although some grad schools re-calculate your GPA based on their own criteria)

 

[Student100]

If you learned the material move on. One C isn't going to kill you, just make sure you also learned how to keep up with your coursework so it isn't a reoccurring event.