Grades and AACOMAS

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
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I have sent an inquiry to AACOMAS about this but I was hoping someone here might know the answer.


I thought that AACOMAS counts only the latest and greatest grades in the same subject when calculating our GPAs. So, for example, a C/C- in freshman year chemistry 20+ years ago is replaced by a B/B in summer school chemistry two years ago.


However they seem to have added all my courses together and averaged them. What am I missing here? Is there a different, secret score that they send to the medical schools other than what I see on my page at aacomas.aacom.org?


I’ve already gotten one rejection because my overall historical science GPA was below their cut-off point, even though a GPA based on my newer grades would have put me over the top.

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Terry,


I feel your pain. I have grades from 10 years ago that are garbage compared to what I have now in graduate school. I am not sure about grades that are repeated but in the end, all of the grades are taken to create one GPA.


Some schools use only that number and others look for trends. It’s tough, I know, and it is a blow to your ego and you wonder. But I am sure that you will succeed.


Gabe

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  • gabelerman Said:
Terry,

I feel your pain. I have grades from 10 years ago that are garbage compared to what I have now in graduate school. I am not sure about grades that are repeated but in the end, all of the grades are taken to create one GPA.

Some schools use only that number and others look for trends. It's tough, I know, and it is a blow to your ego and you wonder. But I am sure that you will succeed.

Gabe



Gabe,

Thanks for the encouragement. I've learned a lot more since my first posting. AACOMAS will let you substitute a newer, higher grade for a course, but you have to designate the older course as "repeated" in order for that to automatically happen. I didn't do that and so my GPA is a lot lower, because of a wretched performance in freshman year chemistry and more recently in orgo II.

I contacted them by email and they were very responsive, and willing to fix the problem, though it hasn't yet appeared as fixed on the website. I am also trying to replace a computer science course, but they need the registrar to verify that the replacement course really replaces the first one, and the registrar is reluctant to help. So I contacted the professor who is willing to write a letter and call the registrar. Bless his heart. This is turning into a pretty time consuming mistake on my part but I guess it's all part of the process.

Note to all who are applying to AACOMAS: make sure you have all your repeated courses correctly designated and be prepared to document them, i.e. with a link to the course website, in case the examiners need to verify the similarity of the replacement course.
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Thanks for your post. I read AACOMAS GPA calculations and thought it was too good to be true. It will really boost my science GPA. I apply next year, so I pray they keep the same GPA policy.


I wish AMCAS would adopt the same GPA calculation policy…only count most recent grade in a repeated course.


Are you or AACOMAS going to contact the school that rejected you for not meeting the GPA cutoff and let them know your GPA is really higher?



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  • Catherine Said:
Thanks for your post. I read AACOMAS GPA calculations and thought it was too good to be true. It will really boost my science GPA. I apply next year, so I pray they keep the same GPA policy.

I wish AMCAS would adopt the same GPA calculation policy...only count most recent grade in a repeated course.

Are you or AACOMAS going to contact the school that rejected you for not meeting the GPA cutoff and let them know your GPA is really higher?



It's really true! They raised my GPA--not by as much as I wanted--but some--and sent a notification to all my schools. When writing secondaries, I included a cover letter that drew their attention to the new, enhanced GPA in case they hadn't gotten the notification or processed it yet (don't assume anything)--and also mentioned a summer course in biochemistry that I just completed and did well in.

A couple of schools had notified me by email that my science scores were too low, and when I responded that the GPA was being fixed, they put my application on hold. Ultimately their secondaries did come through.

An interesting quirk--my original freshman chemistry and lab was 3 + 2 credits, or 10 credits total for 2 semesters, whereas my recent gen chem with lab was 4 credits x 2 = 8. Because the credit count was different, AACOMAS refused to substitute the newer one. They will not substitute fewer credits for more credits, but they will do vice versa. I suggested they at least wipe out one semester, which they did. And amazingly, they took my compsci professor's letter without waiting for the registrar (who never responded).

I must say that AACOMAS overall is a very forgiving system. If I don't get in this year, I'm contemplating retaking another basic science course or two to bring up my GPA. But, hopefully that need won't arise.