Will this look bad when applying to grad schools?

Graduate School
1

Does it look bad if I took a general chemistry 1 class at my home institution and got a “C”, then took general chemistry 1 at a CC a few years after that and got a “W” (I had to drop out due to a health issue). Is my “C” still
Valid in the eyes of grad schools? My overall undergrad gpa is a 3.7 so I’m not a horrible student thanks. The program is health field related

2

It’ll still be valid in the sense that it’s on your transcript from your home institution and grad schools will see all of your transcripts and grades. However, it is only 1 course and you still have a good GPA. If your graduate degree requires a strong foundation in chemistry, it might raise some eyebrows if you do not perform better in advanced chem classes. But if it is a general education requirement, or if the field you pursue isn’t dependent on a strong chem foundation, it probably won’t mean much.

3

Thanks, it was a prerequisite class for the grad program–I have good grades in all of the other pre requisite classes, with the exception of this Chem class. i didn’t want grad schools to
Think that since the second time I took it I got a W then that negates the C I got previously

4

No, the second grade you got doesn’t negate the first one, especially since the second thing you got was a W and not an actual letter grade. The only record the program has of your performance in a required course is the C. Moreover, from a contextless look at the grade, it appears that you may have been unsatisfied with your performance in the class the first time and retook it to raise your grade, but were perhaps unable to for whatever reason and withdrew instead of completing the class. All of that gives a graduate program information, and they’re not just going to disregard it completely.

So sure, it looks bad.

However, as @Slynnx already mentioned - it’s only one course and you still have a good GPA! So in the context of the rest of your transcript, it may or may not matter that much.

5

It depends somewhat on the program you’re going into, but your overall GPA is good so generally it really shouldn’t matter. One or two bad grades early on is not going to be a dealbreaker.