Hi all -- Another question (and please forgive if this is a stupid one): In my younger more impressionable days I garnered a couple of D's and a couple of F's and I'm wondering if one can re-take the classes to get a better grade and therefore a better GPA? If this is the case and I can do it, must the failed (or D's) be re-taken at the same institution? In other words, say I failed Intro to Sociology (don't ask)... would I have to take it from the same school I failed it at or could I take it online (or at another school)? Any repeating experts here greatly appreciated. Reed
I'm no expert, but I have re-taking classed for grade issues. When I was at Michigan State, I took a few classes over. However, you have to take that same class over at the same school or it will not effect your GPA. If you take the class somewhere else, you'll just establish a GPA with them. Hope this helps! Danielle B.A (Michigan State University) M.A (in progress)....
If you have a degree, no point in taking undergrad courses to raise a GPA. It takes too many to have an effect and I doubt that they would retroactively change anything once a degree has been awarded. The old courses would still be staring back from the transcript. Find a 10 course master's program from a school with more or less open enrollment and you may be surprised who will accept you. I was. If you list your interests someone here will offer specic program advice.
I agree with Dennis. Additionally, depending on the Masters program a successful GMAT or GRE score is often the criteria for admissions for returning learners. Lacking these tests for requirements then often only a portion of your credits will be looked at, i.e. last 60. Most institutions will allow you to take classes as a conditionally admitted student and prove your worth. Forget about trying to fix the past unless you plan on acquiring another undergrad degree. The issue here would be not disclosing all your schools when applying for admission. It's never a good idea to be less than forthright.
Reed, Back in July you mentioned on this board that you have 55 transferrable credits, so I'm assuming that you don't already have your undergrad completed but are looking to do so. If this is the case, then the answer is yes. I can only speak for Excelsior, but you can decide not to transfer over any grade you want; F grades and D grades applying to core requirements cannot be transferred (D grades applying to general education credit can at your option). For example, if you have a transcript with 55 credits, of which 3 are D grades (3 credits each) and 2 F grades, then you can decide to transfer over 46 credits. Voila, clean transcript, higher GPA. Let's now say that 6 of those credits came from 2 classes with C grades. If you replace them with 6 other credits (CLEP, other DL course, whatever) you can eliminate those from your transcript as well. All Excelsior wants is something in writing from you requesting this. Fed makes a good point, and one which you will need to consider. If you will be applying to postgrad study later they will undoubtedly want to see the original blemished transcript. But as you'll have taken > 60 credits later some programs may only look at them. This bodes well for you if your results the 2nd time around are better. Also, with Excelsior, if you take an exam and get less than a stellar result you can retake it 6 months later and only the better result will show up on the transcript. Or, you can replace one requirement with another - for example, replace your ECE Statistics B grade with your DANTES Statistics A grade. I partially agree with Dennis - it takes many to have an effect, but if you're starting with a low number then it's possible to make a significant difference if you get an A on every subsequent grade. If one is ultimately looking to get into a competitive grad program it's probably worth the effort. Even if they count the old transcript you'll have > 120 credits which will somewhat dilute the negative effect of the F and D grades. An example: 4 A, 7 B, 4 C, 3 D, 3 F grades (all 3 credits each). Attempted credits on "X" transcript: 63, GPA 2.29. Decides to transfer 54 possible credits to Excelsior (assumes D grades are electives not core). This dedicated student then takes 22 exams, gets an A on each. Attempted credits on "combined" (i.e. sum of all courses X + Excelsior) transcript: 129, with 120 above F. GPA is 3.16 on "combined" transcript (Excelsior's version is 3.4). To boost GPA, decides to take 7 exams to eliminate the 4 C and 3 D grades and scores an A on each. Total GPA on "combined" transcript is 3.28 (Excelsior's is 3.82). The difference between 3.28 and 3.16 may mean admission into a particular program, assuming they look at the total transcript and admission package. If they look at the last 60 credits this guy will be at 4.0. Even if they still look at all the credits the fact that he got Cum Laude or Magna Cum Laude on the degree will be looked positively as part of the overall package (plus look nice on the wall). One point to consider after all this - you need A grades, NOT Pass grades. P/F grades have no effect on GPA to my knowledge. Cheers, Mark
