Hi dustwun,
You probably saw my response on the other thread, will post below just in case someone else reads this. As mentioned, I don't think there is a huge difference between online classes and traditional ones in terms of the b school's perception. I will say, though, that I found the traditional one much easier since there was a set time for class and I had access to the teacher. The online class you totally have to pace yourself and motivate yourself, this can be somewhat difficult depending on how busy you are. Both were fairly expensive, so taking more than two would be quite the investment.
With regards to Calculus, if you think you can get an A, go for it. But in my opinion you must get an A in the class. These classes take a significant amount of time and investment, it would be a shame to do all that work only to get a B or B+ which I personally would not submit with my application. Some school's have Calc requirements that say you must get at least a C in undergrad, so obviously they view Calc as a good indicator for bschool math skills. So doing well in the class I think could definitely look good.
Here's my original post from before:
Hi guys,
I'm no expert here, just figured I'd chime in on my experience. I have a 2.9 GPA and was an econ major. Did sort of mixed in my econ classes, some A-, some Cs. In Calc in college I got a C. So I too figured I'd give this alternative transcript thing a shot. I took two classes because really that is all I had time for. If you have time to do more, that might be good, but I personally don't think you have to go overboard, you'd probably be better served to work on your essays and leadership at work/extracurriculars. Here is what I did:
Principles of Accounting - UC Berkeley Extension online, got an A. - Had never taken accounting in college
Math for Business and Economics - UConn Stamford Campus - I work in Stamford so this was easiest for me, got an A. - Honestly, didn't think I would be able to get an A in a Calculus course, I'm 6 years out of college and didn't want to ruin my summer trying to learn calc (pretty much for the first time since I never understood it in school).
I don't think traditional vs. online matters as long as it is a legit program. I do think taking the classes helped me as my waitlist manager at Kellogg said that they were impressed I took the initiative to help show them my quant skills after having a not good GPA and that was probably what made a lot of the difference between me being on the waitlist vs dinged outright.
Hope that is somewhat helpful, good luck!