I took Eng. Comp. I and Eng. Lit. in my young and wild days (1995 good times…) and received C’s in both. I was thinking about retaking the courses online through a local community college. Would it be worth the money and does it matter that they are online? Thoughts please. Thanks a bunch, love this forum. By the way the review definitely would not hurt my poor writing skills.
I would not make them a priority as:
1)some schools will not accept online courses for prereqs (check MSAR and school websites)
2)some schools (not that many) wont accept CC credits. Very generally speaking, CC courses will make you less competitive though these courses it wouldnt matter that much
3) MD schools use EVERY grade from EVERY course you EVER took so getting A’s in these now wont be a large impact. DO schools do take only grade from the most recent retake so it would make some impact there.
4) grades in science and MCAT scores would have more impact so using your time, money, and resources on those priorities may be a better tactic
- gonnif Said:
I would not make them a priority as:
1)some schools will not accept online courses for prereqs (check MSAR and school websites)
2)some schools (not that many) wont accept CC credits. Very generally speaking, CC courses will make you less competitive though these courses it wouldnt matter that much
3) MD schools use EVERY grade from EVERY course you EVER took so getting A's in these now wont be a large impact. DO schools do take only grade from the most recent retake so it would make some impact there.
4) grades in science and MCAT scores would have more impact so using your time, money, and resources on those priorities may be a better tactic
1)some schools will not accept online courses for prereqs (check MSAR and school websites)
2)some schools (not that many) wont accept CC credits. Very generally speaking, CC courses will make you less competitive though these courses it wouldnt matter that much
3) MD schools use EVERY grade from EVERY course you EVER took so getting A's in these now wont be a large impact. DO schools do take only grade from the most recent retake so it would make some impact there.
4) grades in science and MCAT scores would have more impact so using your time, money, and resources on those priorities may be a better tactic
I second gonnif's great summary of the pitfalls here. I will add that I did take an online English class from a state *University* to meet a pre-req for most schools in the U.S. I received my undergrad in Canada where English was not a requirement for my major (or most majors). I don't see why re-taking it is going to get you more points with an admissions committee unless there are specific school requirements (again, see MSAR as gonnif suggested). If your goal is to pad your GPA then I would suggest going with easier Science courses that will pad both your cumulative and science GPAs vs going with a course that will only pad your cumulative.
Online courses are valuable when a school can't tell if they are online. The AMCAS application doesn't make the distinction anywhere (as of 2011-2012). If it's from a noted "online school", then it may be obvious. But a state school that holds face-to-face, online and hybrid classes may make the courses and course codes indistinguishable.
Just a thought and, of course, your call.
I am planning going the DO route and this community college isn’t an online school. I am starting school at a major university in the fall and I guess I could wait. I just wanting to go ahead and take two classes this summer and work schedule doesn’t allow anything else but online this summer. Also the DO school I am interested in does require six hours in Eng and Lit. and says community college courses are fine. I am just worried about the online part. I will call the community college and ask them if the online courses are distinguishable on my transcripts.
Since you already have the Eng and Lit classes from 1995, I presume you are going for grade replacement. In that case, you should make sure by checking with the CC that the course descriptions match. You should also look at AACOMAS instructions/FAQs on grade replacement. You want to make sure the courses you intend to take will be considered equivalent or equal to those whose grades are to be replaced.
- James Thomas Said:
I took Eng. Comp. I and Eng. Lit. in my young and wild days (1995 good times...) and received C's in both. I was thinking about retaking the courses online through a local community college. Would it be worth the money and does it matter that they are online? Thoughts please. Thanks a bunch, love this forum. By the way the review definitely would not hurt my poor writing skills.
For schools which require a year of English (many do, many do not), you've already met that requirement. Why would you repeat it?
Cheers,
Judy
Just make sure they are true C’s and not C-, (thuis guy had to take English 1 last year over a C minus)