Is it stupid to drop my retake for a guaranteed A? Forum

[ilovelawschool]

Hello, TLS! First time posting here, so I apologize if this topic has been covered in depth already, or I if violate some common courtesy or formatting traditions. Anyways, on to the issue:

I am a second year undergraduate engineering major. I got a D- in a Statistics course in my freshman year. (I slept through the final, and the professor justifiably did not let me make up the final.) I am currently in the first week of spring quarter retaking this course. A D- is technically passing for this course, it will not hold me back from future classes. I have heard a little about how retakes aren't as useful for LSAC GPA as they are for just the regular diploma GPA. A friend of mine is in a really easy survey / discussion course that still has room, and has suggested I register for it and drop the retake. This class would have no homework, and take home exams. I am sure I would get an A in it, sorry if it sounds cocky, but looking at the grades last year, it is a straight scale class that a very large percentage of students got A's in.

What do you think I should do? Am I stupid to think to drop the retake? Thanks for your help in advance, I truly appreciate it!

[njkga]

There's no need (from a law school admission perspective) to retake the course. If you checked the box that you need to check with your current grade, then just pad your GPA with easy A's.

[Mikey]

You want to get as many good grades as possible from here on out, so if you think you can get an "easy A" from that class then by all means go for it. That D- will be counted towards your LSAC GPA, even if you do retake the class.

[zhenders]

It's true that for the sake of your LSAC GPA, this won't matter. In my mind, it would depend upon a few factors:

1. What does the rest of your transcript look like? If this is an anomaly, I might consider retaking it: one D- in an otherwise great transcript looks pretty strange. On the other hand, if your GPA is generally wrecked already (which doesn't seem to be the case from your tone), I likely wouldn't worry about it, as in that situation this grade wouldn't "stand out".

2. The biggest consideration, I would think, is whether retaking would impact your ability to receive any honors distinctions at your undergrad (I was in this situation personally). Your actual undergrad GPA won't matter to firms in the sense that most of them will neither see nor seek this information, but I've had more than one firm comment favorably on my having latin honors on my resume (which would have been less impressive had I not retaken a course under grade forgiveness).

That said, the reported GPA really is what's most important for getting in. I would think that far more important than this question is what your answer will be in the event you get asked, "what happened in THIS class?" I would perhaps want to consider deleting from your earlier post your reason for having done so, and consider how you might honestly answer that question without coming across as a superflake.

ETA: the above poster makes a good point: this depends upon how your school handles this. If it's straight-up grade replacement (my situation), it won't do anything positive for your law school GPA. On the other hand, if you get BOTH sets of credits, then yes, it would help your GPA. Still though, that logic is kind of flawed: if we're going down THAT road, it would be a good recommendation to sign up for loads of additional "easy" classes before you graduate for the GPA boost. That seems like a solid "diminishing returns" situation.

[ilovelawschool]

There's no need (from a law school admission perspective) to retake the course. If you checked the box that you need to check with your current grade, then just pad your GPA with easy A's.

Thank you for your advice! I really appreciate it.