Retaking a class for a better grade

[silphium]

I'm looking at starting prerequisites to eventually apply to a nursing program as a transfer student.

My local community college bases admission on a strict points system.  The higher you score on the required prerequisite classes, the better, and they do allow you to retake classes for a higher grade.  I got a C in intro to psychology the first time around.

The thing is... that was 1998.  I've since earned my bachelor's in psychology.  And the community college is not the only school I plan to apply to, and the other schools will of course be judging their applicants differently.

How bad will it look if I have intro to psychology on my transcript 18 years after earning a B.S. in the subject with honors (so it would be very clear I am only taking this class for the grade)?

[VetmedtoRN]

You should look into the points system closely to see if every pre req is counted for GPA before you stress yourself out or retake a course☺️. For example, a school close to me calculates the GPA based on grades in Anatomy, Physio, Microbiology, Chemistry, Biology and English only. The other corequisite courses (Psych, Anthropology, Communications etc) were not included and just had to be completed in order to apply. For this application I had to meet an overall GPA requirement to apply but was not given points toward the application, the points were given for the "science GPA". 

[silphium]

Thanks for your response!  The community college ranks applicants based on a numerical score based on GPA, HESI, and prereq grades which are weighted more heavily toward your overall score.  Unfortunately all my prereqs were taking in my first year of college when I was not a great student, and my grades are C, C, and B (in calculus, the only math class I took in college other than statistics).  My GPA is lackluster (3.4 or 3.6) and isn't really budging since I already have a lot of college credits (180+).

I'll be casting a wide net given my unimpressive GPA and nontraditional status, so I don't want to do something that will look bad on the other applications, but the community college is my most inexpensive option.  Hope that makes sense. :)

[silphium]

I wish I could just edit the other comment to add this, but I can't figure out how to do that...

I spoke with an advisor at the community college who advised that retaking those classes would give me a better chance at acceptance.

I kind of don't want to contact the other schools to ask them such a goofy question because I'm worried about looking like a giant pain in the butt before I've even applied (for one thing, each application will be accompanied by seven transcripts -- I did a lot of one-off classes at community college before transferring and completing my degree).  I mean... doesn't it look like I'm padding my GPA?  Because that's basically what I'm doing!

[marquisdelafayette]

Honestly, especially because of how old your psych class/grade is, I don't think schools will look negatively at you retaking. For some schools, your original might even be considered 'expired', so you'd have to retake anyway. And while yes, you're padding your GPA, you're also trying to demonstrate to them that your work ethic/study habits have evolved and grown and that a C from 1998 doesn't represent who you are as a student now or how you would be as a student in the program. And schools /do/ like to look at things like that.