so i’ve decided to do a DIY post bacc, which i hope to begin in august at UC and/or NKU.
i was looking more closely through my old NKU undergraduate transcript and found that i had about 15 credits of CLEP and AP. None of these are in science.
Any idea of how this figures in AMCAS?
i read also that UG grade calculation by AMCAS may vary from the way my university calculated it. As it stands, its a 3.1.
but part of this is due to grade replacements and academic bankruptcy-- that would mean a 2.9, i think… is this true? or am i misinterpreting something?
“When entering course work, you must include information and corresponding grades for every course in which you have ever enrolled at any U.S., U.S. Territorial, or Canadian post-secondary institution, regardless of whether credit was earned. This includes, but is not limited to withdrawals, repeats, failures, incompletes, and future course work.
Courses removed from your transcripts or GPA as a result of academic bankruptcy, forgiveness, or similar institutional policies must also be included.
Course Classification: Each course must be assigned a course classification based entirely on the primary content of the course. See the Course Classification Guide for assistance in classifying your course work.
AMCAS GPA: AMCAS will convert most standard undergraduate transcript grades to AMCAS grades based on conversion information provided by the institutions. The AMCAS GPA provides the medical schools with a standard way to compare each applicant’s background.
The BCPM GPA is comprised of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics courses. All other course work will be calculated in the AO (All Other) GPA.”
I don’t know much about AMCAS grade calculation. But I know that CLEP wouldn’t be part of your GPA. It is a shame, I have a bunch of those, with excellent scores!.
As for AP, I don’t know, because you can elect to have a letter grade for this. So I suppose if you have a letter grade on your transcript (and not the ‘CR’ mention), it could be part of your GPA. But again, I am not sure about that.
1) i was looking more closely through my old NKU undergraduate transcript and found that i had about 15 credits of CLEP and AP. None of these are in science.
Any idea of how this figures in AMCAS?
I think they don't count in your AMCAS GPA. You can either e-mail/call AMCAS and ask them or alternatively, you could ask a pre-med advisor. Personally, I would go straight to AMCAS because even though a pre-med advisor SHOULD know what they are talking about, they don't always.
In reply to:
2) i read also that UG grade calculation by AMCAS may vary from the way my university calculated it. As it stands, its a 3.1.
but part of this is due to grade replacements and academic bankruptcy-- that would mean a 2.9, i think... is this true? or am i misinterpreting something?
Nope, I think you are correct. If you had grades replaced at your original UG institution, your AMCAS GPA will count all of them your AMCAS GPA will be lower.
Don't spend too much time stressing over this. There's nothing you can do to change it, so just concentrate on doing the best you can when you go back to school.
Thanks for the response. Especially since i know your story now, i’m not going to worry about justifying what happened in the past-- i’m going to focus on my present & future.
I didn’t even bring up academics in my personal statement. I think I was asked about my original GPA at most of my interviews, but it wasn’t a big deal. A simple “I was immature and rebelling and didn’t try very hard” seemed to suffice. I didn’t bother to make excuses. Get great grades from here on out and let those grades and your LORs speak to your actual academic ability.
thanks. that sounds like the right way to handle that kind of question about the old GPA. in my case, it would be about the same: disorganized, immature.
I don't know much about AMCAS grade calculation. But I know that CLEP wouldn't be part of your GPA. It is a shame, I have a bunch of those, with excellent scores!.
As for AP, I don't know, because you can elect to have a letter grade for this. So I suppose if you have a letter grade on your transcript (and not the 'CR' mention), it could be part of your GPA. But again, I am not sure about that.
I only glanced at the thread so if this has been cited, I apologized.
from AMCAS 2012 Instruction Manual Said:
Courses with the AMCAS grades listed below are not included in the GPA calculations. Instead, the total hours for each of these categories are reported to medical schools under the heading Supplementary Hours.
Beyond the AMCAS calulation, some schools will accept some AP course with letter grade to fulfill a specific prereq. However, they will not typically count the credit towards your total credits needed for prereqs. Confused?
What that means, if you have AP Bio and received a letter grade on your college transcript, you have you have fulfilled the general bio prereq. But you will still have to have at least two years of biology (other than AP) to fulfill the prereq of two years of bio. Meaning you'll need advanced courses in bio. Why the New York State schools do this, I don't know.