OK, I have been in contact all day with the very helpful woman from TMDSAS who handles Fresh Start.
I know that I would report both CC and Baylor grades. That’s not a problem. And FWIW, if I do this, I am planning on taking all science and math prereqs at Baylor and the balance of the 90 hours at CC.
What the TMDSAS person told me (and believe me, I asked for clarification MANY times!) is that I can reapply to the CC I attended for one summer term in undergrad under Fresh Start. I can take 90 hours at MCC and BU, take MCAT, etc., and apply.
When I apply, adcom will only see the most recent 90 hours. BUT they will see that I attended and received degrees from Baylor and University of Houston. All that is wiped away are the classes and the grades, not the degrees. They will know that I have a BA and JD (and obviously they’ll know I was/am a lawyer because they’ll see my work history). I clarified this with her twice.
I really don’t see the downside here. I mean, it is interesting because on the one hand, I keep reading that having a high GPA is so, so, so crucial and that the fact that you came back and took prereqs post-bac and aced them doesn’t take away from the fact that you have a low UG GPA. On the other hand, I am hearing that adcom would rather see a degree with a lower GPA than a non-degreed high GPA. Although, as I said, they WILL see that I have degrees, they just won’t see the grades. And traditional premeds don’t have degrees when they are applying anyway, right?
I mean, don’t you think that someone with, say, a 3.7 that includes all science prereqs, paired with a good MCAT, has a better chance at interview than someone with a 3.4 with science GPA brought down by old undergrad science classes (for non-majors, but they still count)?
I am going to talk to a Baylor pre-med advisor on Monday. I’ll report back. It sounds like there is a lot of conflicting information out there about what exactly Fresh Start does and is (I have read it on different boards, including this one).
Happy Friday night! Thanks for wading through this with me.
“And I would think Baylor would then report the old grades as they are NOT covered by Fresh Start”
One more note. This is what I was really curious about – whether the old Baylor UG grades would be covered by FS since it is a private school. She said that grades from ALL schools will be disregarded. So Baylor will report them (as will the CC I went to for that one summer, and my public law school) but TMDSAS will remove them from whatever adcom sees.
I wonder what the stigma of this is, though, WRT adcoms. I wonder if they see people coming in through FS and it is an automatic red flag, kwim? In my case, my GPA ain’t that bad. Will ask pre-med advisor about this.
- heartoftexas Said:
Maybe I am a bit thick, but I really do not perceive a lot of gain for you by going through the Fresh Start program. Your UGrad is not too bad - mine was a hell of a lot worse - and I think the professional degree & coursework could be to your advantage. Actually, I think you are in a pretty enviable situation, esp if you compare it to what many others are struggling with.
Unless things have changed markedly since I was applying, back in 1998, your post-bacc grades are kept more or less separate from your formal BS & grad school work. Even it the post-bacc & old UGrad grades are averaged together, assuming your perform well in your pre-requisites, you would still apply with a fairly competitive cumGPA. And, you can use your personal statement to define the timeline & emphasize how you have matured both personally & professionally to serve as an underscore on how strong your new, shiny pre-req grades are.
There are many ways to skin the cat...and I think you might be shooting yourself in the foot...only knocking off a couple of the smaller, less important toes...by accepting the Fresh Start program.
If there is more that you are not revealing or we just aren't picking up on what you're saying, please clarify so we are all on the same page.
Thanks for your thoughts, Dave. I think you make some good points. I guess I have just read SO much that says adcom doesn’t care if you have a 4.0 in post-bac work…low UG grades will still hurt you. I know mine aren’t that low, but it take a ton of work to pull them to 3.5. FWIW, I need to be a VERY competitive applicant because I will not leave Texas and I prefer a school that would not require me to leave my hometown (I know that is very, very picky…but that is the reality of my situation and I accept it…fortunately, the school nearest me is not one of the more difficult ones to get into). That is why I am so hell bent on getting my GPA high.
My law school grades will NOT count toward my cum GPA, correct? Even though I graduated cum laude, Law Review, Order of the Barristers, and in top 20% (I think…maybe it was 25?), my law school GPA is actually lower than my UG. How bizarre is that? Unfortunately, the way the mandatory curves work in law school combined with some professors’ grade distribution strategies can result in low GPAs relative to class rank. I was #3 in my section (1/4 of the class) after first semester, but my GPA didn’t even put me in the top 10% of the whole class because my profs distributed grades very differently than those in other sections. I digress.
Anyway, what if I went back for a bio degree at Baylor and then took some hours (non-prereq…maybe Spanish which is very helpful in TX and some non-core science classes or something) to boost my overall GPA? I would be happy to attend Baylor until the cows come home, but it is $1000/hour and I do have 36 hours of tuition remission left (my parents work at the university) but that’s all.
Thanks again! I’m so glad I am hashing this through with y’all instead of acting impulsively (as I have a tendency to do…this tendency is partially responsible for the poor GPA I am trying to correct!).
Oops, I lied! Went and checked my resume and my law school GPA is actually 3.18, so it was higher than my UG GPA. 