There is nothing more paralyzing than going back through an accumulation of grades and pulling out all the skeletons in the closet that make up my undergraduate career.
I just went through all 168 credit hours and followed AMCAS Grade Conversion to determine my cumulative GPA across my two degrees (Associate & Bachelor) 2004–2011.
The CC I went to for my Associate’s left me at a 2.75 Cumulative hides in a corner. When I graduated with my Bachelor’s from my University, I graduated Cum Laude with 3.44. Unfortunately, there are 2 F’s among the 2 degrees, despite retaking the classes which ultimately helped my transcripts, but not so much for figuring AMCAS GPA.
So, my cumulative overall is a measly 3.07
Granted, I have to consider that I have not begun any of my post-bacc classes which will include:
(I’m starting with bare bones just to make sure I am as fully prepared as possible, and to rejuvenate my low GPA)
Basic Algebra (retaking this from 2004 for a refresh)
College Chemistry
Gen Chem 1 & 2
Statistics
Biology 1 & 2
Organic Chem 1 & 2
Physics 1 & 2
Biochem
Inorganic Chem
If I have time:
Anatomy
Genetics
Retake Psychology (to get a better grade from what I got in 2006, and to freshen up for 2015 MCAT)
All of this will consume the next 3–4 years of my life. Is there hope for me?
I do also have to consider that my grades have been on an upward trend each year, but will adcoms consider this? I started out rough in 2004, took one semester off in 2006, then basically got straight A’s 2008 and on. Do schools weed out applications right from the get go if their GPA’s are too low?
I just added on to my worksheet that if I hypothetically get straight A’s for my post-bacc, which obviously is what I’m striving for my cumulative will only come up to a 3.3698, or 3.4 if rounded.
I realized that the classes I’ve retaken are factored into cumulative GPA, so that made me feel slightly better, but I am still feeling so hopeless and defeated. I am a person who strongly avoids feelings of regret and instead chooses to learn from mistakes. But at this rate I feel like I’m completely screwed. I cannot go back in time and fix this, I’m a different person now, a different student, but if you judge me on my cumulative grades I’m a mediocre student at best. I thought with the addition of 58 credit hours it would really improve my GPA.
Ehh… my 10 year old BA adds up to 2.95. My PostBac is a 3.84. My overall GPA is a 3.3 as I submit in a few hours. I devote a line to it in my personal statement, talking about the discipline and tenacity I learned in my military career made me a better student. Focus on positive improvement and why you did better the second time.
You are NOT completely, er, messed up 
Schools often do have a cutoff to review applications, but it is often 3.00. If your cum. was below that, you might need to do more grade repair. They DO look at trends in your grades, they see the postbacc courses broken out as a separate line item as well as added in the cumulative. Doing well on the MCAT can add to the picture that you have repaired your earlier poorer academic performance and give you a reasonable chance. There are doctors on here that were more in the hole than you.
Kate
New to this site. Feeling so unusual and glad to find some folks with some similarities at least!
Hoping to submit AMCAS this week but not sure what to do for upcoming coursework. I finished prereqs with my BA in 1995 (!!!) and am really hoping with decent MCAT (will hear June 25th) not to retake everything. I have taken Genetics and am doing Organic 1 now and Cell Bio. later in the summer. As an old person I am starting nursing school in the fall and won’t have time for more prereqs until spring–maybe one course–and summer–could do chemistry or physics (again). I have been a stay at home mom all this time, so not out in some science-y or health related field. I think I have gone about this totally the wrong way, but too late for now…
The question is, assuming I have one slot in the spring and two next summer, should I say I will be taking Organic 2 and Chem 1 and 2 or should I just leave it blank. Frankly, I don’t want to feel like I have to take those over if they don’t need/want me to. If I were to get accepted somewhere, saying that I was going to do that, I would feel pretty obligated to follow through.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for your help!
Sorry. That was off topic. Being new, I’m confused. I want to delete, but can’t figure out how. I’m going to repost in a new topic.
Thank you Kate.
Do you know if all of my GPA’s for each degree will also be separate line items?
I think I got over my pity party and have even more motivation to rock my post-bacc classes.
Thank you!!