Hey guys, ive been asking people for advice on something related to school and i figured id see what you guys had to say also. Im currently at a community college, and i plan to transfer out to a uni. soon to either get my BS in biochem. or microbio. and then go over to germany for grad school. Now to the question, I, like many others didnt care about school when i was 18-20 (I'm 21 now, turning 22 in may) I did start taking school very seriously, and my passion for science* and school just bloomed at 20 instead of 18, or 16 or whatever. I have 2 WF (withdraw fails) and 1 F on my transcript and my community college, and id like to transfer to university in 6-8 months (so after next semester.) My plan is too take 3-4 classes per 8 wk session (thats per half-semester, many colleges offer quickened classes like this.) Would you guys advise that i retake the class i got the F in, so that my GPA goes up? (even though the credit doesnt count towards my degree, but might matter during admissions.) or should i take a class right now that does count toward my degree, and shows that i am moving forward in my education. Some additional information is that my college requires a 2.0-2.5+ GPA for admission, mines is at 0.4 (i have 2 WFs, 1 F, 1 A that is only a 1 credit class, and 3 Withdraws) I am currently in 4 classes, which equals 10 credit hours and im going to earn A's in all the classes. I recently retook the aptitude test for admissions and scored high enough to get into honors english classes, would taking those classes improve my transcript? * ive always liked science, but it was always an interest, not something i wanted to do with my life (i was really stupid as a kid, just played with legos and played video games, didnt do shit, fucked up jobs, did drugs...ect not an uncommon story im sure.)
Also sorry, i couldnt find any other spot to put this. if there is one please advise and i will just copy and paste it into a new thread in the right spot and delete this one. In other news ive been enjoying my first harvest for the past 3-4 weeks. its awesome not having to grab every week, lol.
For starters you should make sure the classes you're taking is transferable to the university you want to go to and whether or not you can transfer. Some schools require at least 24 credits to accept any transfer students. Furthermore, If you're applying as a transfer student upgrading your high school marks may be a a waste of time. I got into university while not having high school marks , but had enough transferable credits from college. Also for gradschool , depending on the school you apply at , they might only look at the last 2 years of your school history so those early marks may not be as bad as you think. But this depends on what grad school you apply to. Everything I've said may or may not apply to you since different areas are going to have different procedures.
Where I'm from the grad school only look at your last year, but I couldn't guarantee that applies to you. Definitely find out what classes will help you get into the school, and do them. Just make sure you're talking to someone at the college who knows their shit - sometimes they employ undergraduates who have no idea at all.. I was in the same situation as you, and came out of it in the end, by repeating the right classes and quit fucking around. You will not regret the effort. There were certain courses that had GPA pre-requisites, I just had to restructure the order of courses I took so that by the time I did those classes I'd pulled my GPA from rock bottom.
I was in a situation almost identical to yours. I failed out of my first college with a ~1.5 GPA, got a shit job, had to go to a community college to rebuild, then transfered to a 4-year school. I considered retaking some of the classes I did poorly in but never bothered. Since you're majoring in Biology, which was my major, you should make sure you try and get all A's and B's in science classes. Since I just went through the grad school application process, there are two main things I learned that could apply to your situation. One is that if you can have a relatively low overall GPA as long as there is a clear upward trend. Two, as jayfoxpox said only the last two years really matter. Also since, you're in the starting stages, try and look for opportunities to get any kind of undergraduate research experience that you can. Don't forget, everyone loves a comeback story.