Rule 1: Take a Breath
Rule 10: Beware of FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
Assume every course you ever took, for any reason, under any circumstances, receiving any grade from the start of the universe at the big bang until the collapse of into a single black hole counts. If you believe some course shouldn’t count see previous sentence.
Your college GPA is NOT the GPA used by AMCAS but rather calculated with every grade you ever took.
So now shake the shock out of your head.
- You cant change the past courses of the affect on your GPA. So worrying about it and deciding your chances are gone because of it just waste your time, energy and resources.
- you can continue to do well, especially in BCPM and show a vast improvement in your grades.
- Your GPA is also seen by year so that improvement will show a markedly upward trend. for example Miller Medical School/University of Miami FAQ states
My freshman GPA was low because I had a sub-human roommate. After that, my GPA steadily improved. Does the Committee look at trends in GPAs? Of course they do. Everybody understands that unpleasant roommates, adjustment to college, girl-friend/boy-friend problems, problems at home and a myriad of other things can lead to a disastrous academic performance. Hopefully, it is a temporary problem. Be prepared to discuss any poor academic performance in your personal statement or in an interview.
- limiting yourself geographically limits yourself chances into medical school. While the overall ratio is about 2.2 applicants per seat, at a specific school it could 3,000 applicants for 100 seats.
************************* ************
From the 2013 AMCAS Instruction Manual page 36
Section Four: Course Work
It is important to request a personal copy of your official transcript(s) to use as a reference while entering your coursework. Obtaining a copy of your transcript prior to completing this section helps ensure that your data is complete and accurate. Omitting coursework, grades, credits, or supplying incorrect grades may affect your AMCAS GPA and delay processing of your application, which could result in missed deadlines.
When entering coursework, 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:
• All attempts at courses that have been repeated, which includes any courses removed from your transcript or GPA as a result of academic bankruptcy or institutional forgiveness policies.
• Courses removed from your transcripts or GPA as a result of academic bankruptcy, forgiveness, or similar institutional policies.
• Courses from which you withdrew.
• Courses for which you received a grade of “Incomplete” and for which no final grade has been assigned.
• Courses that you failed, regardless of whether they have been repeated.
• Remedial/developmental courses.
• College-level courses you took while in high school even if they were not counted toward a degree by any college.
• Courses taken at an American college overseas.
• Courses in which you are currently enrolled or expect to enroll in prior to entering medical school.