Heya,
I’m the typical slacker kid who had no sense of direction or purpose until recently, and at 26 I have quite a bit of damage I’m correcting… mainly due to a brief run in with an online “university” that gave me F’s for a couple SEMESTERS worth of classes rather than withdrawing me… but all of those classes seem to just show up as electives everywhere else anyway, and that’s not what my question’s about.
My question is this: I have a C in college algebra from 2001. Just this past semester, I took a 5 credit Precal I & II with Trig class and got a B+ in it. Would it be silly to retake the algebra class at this point? While I’m almost certain to ace it, money IS enough of an issue that I don’t want to retake classes if I don’t have to. It seems like all the retake threads are regarding sciences and other pre-reqs for med school rather than pre-reqs for pre-reqs (heh). If I do as well (or better, hopefully) in Calculus as I did in this 5 credit beast, should that C in algebra really even matter?
I’ll probably be posting another thread some other time regarding my real GPA issues that I’m trying to overcome… I don’t quite feel like dredging up the whole mess right now… this is a good start! I should say that I’m thinking DO over MD anyway just based on my rural practitioner desires, and the DO schools I’ve looked at show preference for students that want to go into rural medicine - and they’re in states that will offset the cost of school for time commitments in under-served areas. No MCAT yet… I’m at a community college for at least another year before I transfer and worry about MCATs.
Anyway, nice to meet you all. I’ve lurked in this forum for the last year or so and just made an account today. I tried to search for an answer to this, but couldn’t quite find the right one, so I figured I had to delurk and ask it myself.
The only reason I would think a person might retake it is because it’s used so much in chemistry courses. Have you done taken chemistry? Is algebra something you are not comfortable with? At my school it is not college level. However, you must be proficient in it in order to take higher math classes and science classes.
Reasons why you should take it is if you think the “C” means that you don’t get it and it may affect your MCAT
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/prepari ng/psprep…
Can anyone tell and show me that my low level classes are going to be scrutinized as well as the true college credit classes?
I just wrote a response and cleared it on accident with an errant swipe of the mouse. Ack.
So the College Algebra class, in Nevada, does transfer between the community colleges and the universities. Since It’s a 100-level math class, it’s actually on par with the pre-cal class I took this semester for majors that don’t require a more stringent course - that algebra class is all that an English major would need, even at the baccalaureate level. It would transfer to the University of Nevada at Reno, for example, which is where the MD school is. Does that make a difference in whether I should retake it? I’m trying to get an appointment with a pre-med advisor at UNLV, but I’m not sure he’ll talk to me since I’m a community college student still. :-?
Algebra I have got down FLAT. I’m good at Chemistry, too. If I had to retake it, I could get a VERY easy A in it. 
I just don’t want to waste some of my precious financial aid on it if I don’t have to, you know?
I would spend more time focusing on getting As now and in the future and clearing up whatever it is that has you with a few semesters of Fs than on one C in a pre-prereq.
That’s what I thought… Thanks. I’ve sort of reached the point where I’m not sure how to fix the F’s. All of those classes show up as business electives if anything, and not in classes I can replace a grade without going back to the online school (which I am NOT going to do unless my very life depends on it. As much as I love the idea of medicine, if it involves dealing with that scam of a diploma mill again, I will just have to settle for something else). My GPA is listed at the community college right now as in the 3.4 range.
However, the college I’m at now doesn’t bring over D’s or F’s, so I’m finding it difficult to figure out exactly how terrible my situation is. I know that my AMCAS/AACOMAS GPA cannot be that high! I have three prior colleges over the years, including the online one (which has a 0.50 on it! AND like 40 credits!), and without knowing exactly how to fix classes that aren’t coming over now, I’ve found myself looking at things like that algebra class as one of the very few things I CAN do anything about.
Algebra is not 100 level in Washington State. Once again this shows that each state and university will have different requirements.
Good luck getting that worked out.
More algebra would be beating a seriously dead horse since you did well in the precalc-trig. Enough. Take Calculus and Statistics if you (wisely) want the best math prep possible for medical school.
Yes, calc and statistics are on the agenda for when I get out of community college limbo. As it stands, I don’t quite want to take those until I get to the university. I can’t transfer until I either get an associates and automatic acceptance, or somehow get a 2.5 transfer gpa.
By the way, Kim, the advisors at UW are awesome. I’ve been talking with them quite a bit over the last year as one of the paths I’m looking at is transferring into the RHIA program there. 
I lived in Oregon for a bit and miss the NW horribly! However, I’ve already got instate tuition here and the possibility of automatic acceptance at UNR or UNLV.