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Hey, guys, my projected GPA will be 3.65 when I graduate. I have two classes from my freshman year Intro to Art, and World Literature both are a D. Do you guys think It would be worth retaking them and getting A's? P.s. I am trying to get into Columbia.

If you can retake and get a better grade, then absolutely. Unsure as to the reason for the Ds (i.e. bad prof, crappy semester schedule, didn't study enough, etc) so the reason could impact it I guess.

I agree that it could be worth it, but make sure you know how it will appear on your transcript first. According to the LSAC website,

The original grade for a repeated course [will be excluded from your LSDAS GPA calculation] when the transcript does not show both the grade and the units for the original attempt. The total number of credits assigned to these grades will appear on the applicant’s academic summary, but will not be included in the GPA calculation.

https://www.lsac.org/aboutlsac/policies ... marization

I would say probably not. Pretty sure the D's still show up on your LSAC gpa, so it's not like the boost will be that significant. If your LSAT is =< 172 then I'd consider using those (theoretical) 15 hours a week to study and retake which can actually boost your chances significantly. Just my .02 - but why Columbia specifically?

I wouldn't. LSAC will count both grades in your GPA and if you got a D in these classes the first time around, there isn't exactly a guarantee that you will get an A. You'd be better off taking other classes you know you can get an A in. I had a similar situation where I had a C and a C+ freshman year. What I did was each semester I would take my typical 15 credits of "legit classes" and then add 5 more of easy bullshit classes, like gym classes or piano, etc. Just make sure that you can take them A-F. Another good one is any 1-2 credit online classes. My university had these public health classes that were online and worth 1-2 credits each, really easy. I took 8 of them. GPA calculation wise, that's equivalent to getting an A in two four credit classes.

No. The Ds will be counted against you anyway, and you're better off taking classes that you can get an A in.

studystudystudy wrote:If you can retake and get a better grade, then absolutely. Unsure as to the reason for the Ds (i.e. bad prof, crappy semester schedule, didn't study enough, etc) so the reason could impact it I guess.

I got D's because I was young and didn't have drive or plan of what I wanted to do. Partied a lot and etc

OakBrook2021 wrote:I would say probably not. Pretty sure the D's still show up on your LSAC gpa, so it's not like the boost will be that significant. If your LSAT is =< 172 then I'd consider using those (theoretical) 15 hours a week to study and retake which can actually boost your chances significantly. Just my .02 - but why Columbia specifically?

I love the campus and the part of Manhatten its in. Also, I wish to pursue international law and Columbia is a good place for that and I have family on Long Island.

Facelessgod wrote:I wouldn't. LSAC will count both grades in your GPA and if you got a D in these classes the first time around, there isn't exactly a guarantee that you will get an A. You'd be better off taking other classes you know you can get an A in. I had a similar situation where I had a C and a C+ freshman year. What I did was each semester I would take my typical 15 credits of "legit classes" and then add 5 more of easy bullshit classes, like gym classes or piano, etc. Just make sure that you can take them A-F. Another good one is any 1-2 credit online classes. My university had these public health classes that were online and worth 1-2 credits each, really easy. I took 8 of them. GPA calculation wise, that's equivalent to getting an A in two four credit classes.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm currently Majoring in Poli Sci and minoring in Journalism. The rest of my hours I plan to use for easy classes.

turkeyremis wrote:

Facelessgod wrote:I wouldn't. LSAC will count both grades in your GPA and if you got a D in these classes the first time around, there isn't exactly a guarantee that you will get an A. You'd be better off taking other classes you know you can get an A in. I had a similar situation where I had a C and a C+ freshman year. What I did was each semester I would take my typical 15 credits of "legit classes" and then add 5 more of easy bullshit classes, like gym classes or piano, etc. Just make sure that you can take them A-F. Another good one is any 1-2 credit online classes. My university had these public health classes that were online and worth 1-2 credits each, really easy. I took 8 of them. GPA calculation wise, that's equivalent to getting an A in two four credit classes.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm currently Majoring in Poli Sci and minoring in Journalism. The rest of my hours I plan to use for easy classes.

No problem. I was political science as well, and my political science department had an internship course that you could take so that you get credit towards your major for doing an internship related to political science. The summer going into my senior year I was interning at the local district court full-time. I took this course A-F for 8 credits and all I had to do was give confirmation from my supervisor that I was actually working these hours and e-mail the professor a 1 page write up about something interesting that happened during that week. I could have taken it for more credits but because it was in the summer I had to pay tuition for it. So yeah it was literally like paying for grades lol, but getting an easy A for an 8 credit class was huge for my GPA.

During the fall I was doing a judicial externship for a judge at the same courthouse for about 12 hours a week and was able to take the same internship course for 4 credits. Since I was a full-time student now since it was fall semester, I didn't have to pay any extra tuition lol but it was an easy A just like before.

So yeah if you are doing internships related to political science I'd definitely look into seeing if your department has anything like this available. I was able to get 12 credits of easy A's just for submitting a weekly journal report and doing an internship that I would have been doing anyways. It's kind of crazy to think about how those 12 credits alone pushed me from a mid 3.6 LSAC GPA to the 3.7-3.75 range which I think will be huge for when I apply. Of course if I didn't sleep through an 8am final and miss another back in freshman year I wouldn't feel like having to play catch up with all of the bullshit classes but maybe in the long run it was good because it motivated me a lot once I realized I wanted to go to law school and had to get an A in every possible class I could.