A thread someone posted on SDN left me wanting for more, so I thought I would ask this over here:
What GPAs are EXACTLY reported to med schools from the AMCAS?
UG, Grad, BCMP, post-bacc? How is everything categorized? I was under the impression that anything you took while registered as an undergrad was considered fair game for UG GPA, even if you’ve already got a B.S., and anything you’ve taken while registered as a Grad student was lumped into grad GPA. Now people are talking about a post-bacc category, too, and now I’m confused as heck.
Please straighten me out.
Meg,
Post-bac hours ARE listed in a separate category. Let me see if I can replicate the table from my AMCAS here:
The left hand column is “academic status” with a row for HS, FR, SO, JR, SR, PBU (Postbac undergrad), CUG (Cum. undergrad), and GRAD. The next column is BCPM, and it is subdivided into Hours and GPA. The next column is "All Others, also subdivided into Hour and GPA. The fourth column is Total, again subdivided into Hours and GPA. There is a separate table for P/F, CLEP, and AP hours.
So, for example, my AMCAS lists a Postbac BCPM of 43.4 hours and a 3.98 GPA, and a CUG BCPM GPA of 3.76 in 50.4 hours. My “all others CUG” hours and GPA are 107 and 2.92 (no non BCPM hours postbac) and a total CUG of 157.4 hours with a 3.19 GPA.
Therefore, postbac hours are listed separately and also figured into your overall BCPM GPA and your overall GPA. Graduate hours are listed separately and not figured into any other category.
Hope that helps!!
Yes, that definitely helps. I also visited the AMCAS instruction booklet on their website and found the same info.
No one on SDN tried could tell me if post-bacc courses count in the UG total, but your post and the AMCAS site helped me find that out. I think someone also posted on SDN that post-bacc grades were not figured into UG grades.
My heart almost stopped beating for a minute 
This is probably redundant based on the explanation but just to make it clear: AMCAS has their own magical way of computing a GPA. It may not make a lot of sense but that is the way they do it. So you put in all your grades to AMCAS and then they compute the GPA that THEY want to use. I was bemused to find that a B+ from one school was assigned a different value from the B+ at a different school. I honestly couldn’t remember if the assigned value was the same as what the original school had given - I seem to recall that it wasn’t, that AMCAS knocked down a bit of grade inflation and docked my B+ from a 3.5 to a 3.33 or something like that, but that was a long time ago.
Anyway, the point is, you give AMCAS all the raw data and they come up with numbers.
Mary
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Yes, that definitely helps. I also visited the AMCAS instruction booklet on their website and found the same info.
No one on SDN tried could tell me if post-bacc courses count in the UG total, but your post and the AMCAS site helped me find that out. I think someone also posted on SDN that post-bacc grades were not figured into UG grades.
My heart almost stopped beating for a minute
Please don’t believe what you read on SDN,
1. They are kids (Mostly)
2. They will post stuff to make you upset.
3. Little moderation.
I don’t go there much due to where I am, they are not Keen on Caribbean Med students there.
I’d stick to this forum much more mature discussion. (We be grown ups here, LOL).
Good Luck.
This was brought up in the non-trad forum, where most are older, but the people trying to answer the question were not even in med school yet.
I didn’t post this particular thread over there, but happened to ask for further clarification in that thread. I usually post over there and here because SDN has more traffic. But, when people do respond here, it’s of higher caliber typically.
Anyway, like I said, one person was trying to tell me that post-bacc course were NOT considered part of the undergrad total. I thought this was strange, and I was right. Everything else I understand 
Quote:
This was brought up in the non-trad forum, where most are older, but the people trying to answer the question were not even in med school yet.
I didn’t post this particular thread over there, but happened to ask for further clarification in that thread. I usually post over there and here because SDN has more traffic. But, when people do respond here, it’s of higher caliber typically.
Anyway, like I said, one person was trying to tell me that post-bacc course were NOT considered part of the undergrad total. I thought this was strange, and I was right. Everything else I understand
Yea I thought about my post you said what I think, I know there are tons more over on SDN and there are just a few that spoil it for me. So if I’m missunderstood sorry, I just love this site for good honest answers cause people don’t answer here unless they really know. So sorry about SDN (I just don’t like them too much).
I know what you mean. I rarely spend time in the pre-allo forum because they are such knuckleheads.
The MCAT and non-trad forum I enjoy. I also appreciate the interview feedback SDN has
Ditto about SDN hardly ever post on pre-allo, and even the non-trad forum has it’s downfalls…mainly folks that have NO clue getting all ruffled when the truth is spoken…it seems that the non-trads that post on the non-trad forum there are just not as “mature” as the ones that post here…the only ones there that I consider my peers are far and few in btw…(megboo, Q, NJB, etc…)