EMT - Paramedic Classes = UG GPA?

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hi all,


I’ve seen various and conflicting responses to this, but does anyone know the definitive answer of whether EMT courses taken through college for grades factor into GPA calculations for med school apps?


It seems as though it should.


48 credit hours of nearly straight A’s would be nice…


Or does it depend on the school to which applying?


Thanks so much for any insight.


David

2

I trained for my EMT-Basic and EMT-Paramedic at a regionally-accredited college. All of my EMT courses were included into my overall GPA for medical school. Unfortunately, all EMT courses are considered non-sciences courses (as are nursing and respiratory therapy courses). So having straight A’s in EMT courses will not help the science GPA.


You just have to make sure your military medic training is on a regionally-accredited college transcript (generally not ACE).

3

Great news. Thank you.

4
  • db2103 Said:
Hi all,

I've seen various and conflicting responses to this, but does anyone know the definitive answer of whether EMT courses taken through college for grades factor into GPA calculations for med school apps?

It seems as though it should.

48 credit hours of nearly straight A's would be nice...

Or does it depend on the school to which applying?

Thanks so much for any insight.

David



  • ihopetobeado2 Said:
I trained for my EMT-Basic and EMT-Paramedic at a regionally-accredited college. All of my EMT courses were included into my overall GPA for medical school. Unfortunately, all EMT courses are considered non-sciences courses (as are nursing and respiratory therapy courses). So having straight A's in EMT courses will not help the science GPA.

You just have to make sure your military medic training is on a regionally-accredited college transcript (generally not ACE).



Just to extend the above answer, since GPA used by schools is calculated at the primary application via AMCAS (MD) or AACOMAS (DO) it would not be school dependent.

BTW, Its way cool to get 48 hours of A in an overall GPA via paramedic classes at the college level. That is a nice bonus


5

Thanks, Gonnif.


Yep, that is definitely way cool. Bumps me up to a 3.24.


But, with the good news comes the bad… and another question…


I’ve asked a similar question about GPAs and post-bacc studies in a different topic. But, now, on closer inspection of my way-back-when UG transcripts, I see that I have a current science GPA of 2.4 (15 hours, all non-premed prereq courses).


But, I’m hoping – and tell me if I’m wrong here – that doesn’t really change things, since I always knew I’d have to do great on all my post-bacc prereq courses anyway, and that, even though those old grades will factor into my sGPA average, the adcoms will hopefully put more weight on the list of recent, high-scoring post-bacc courses.


Any thoughts?



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(double click on picture to enlarge)





The above is from an AMCAS 2005 application worksheet. The current 2011 instructions are essentially the same:

  • AMCAS 2011 INSTRUCTIONS, p.8 ©2010 AAMC Said:
"The GPA calculations are presented by BCPM codes (Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math), by AO codes (All Other), and by Academic Status."

"AMCAS reports to the medical schools a GPA for each Academic Status (HS, FR, SO, JR., SR, PB, GR) subdivided into courses listed as "BCPM" or "All Other" in the BCPM/AO Column"



What this means for you is if your original undergraduate GPA is dismal, and then followed by post-bacc paramedic courses with A's and redone prereqs with A's, the two latter items will show up as separate line item with a separate GPA. That will make an impact and adcoms will see that

The other item I always mention in conjunction is the the AACOMAS/DO application mechanics allows for grade replacement. So for any repeated courses the latest grade will used in the GPA calculation. This is one of the reasons that many nontrads gravitate towards osteopathic medicine.

Ultimately, your old GPA is there, you can only move on in the future and worrying if it will be good enough can only be determined by actually applying

Attached files
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Thanks so much for that chart, Gonnif. Very helpful.


Yep, unfortunately those old grades aren’t going anywhere, but I’m really shooting for mostly A’s in my post-bacs, which would raise my sGPA to around 3.3/3.4.


I’m hoping those numbers with a strong MCAT and the rest of my app will put me in a workable situation when it comes time for applications, for both MD and DO routes.


Got to go for it.


Thanks again.