Amcas senior year GPA calculation

[pupsnacks]

Edited for TMI
Basically: took many classes after initial 120 credits. Senior year lumps 2 BS degrees spanning 15 years into one GPA. Just wasn't sure adcoms review the credit hours or if they just look at GPA. In a skimming way.

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[Inspired Chaos]

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[pupsnacks]

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[etp123]

So, I'd like to know why Amcas presents my application at first glance to be so poor? And, if its true that adcoms just look at GPA and GPA trends without looking at the credit hours, I think the standard advice should be to not go into medicine if you fail your freshman and sophomore years. It is what it is.

First, relax. I think you're unecessarily fretting yourself over how they're going to split the hairs on your application, which is a valid concern, but keep in mind that despite GPA being a big part of your application it is not the only part. It may raise doubts at first, but if you have a strong rest of your application they will take a closer look and see what's going on. Despite what people say about adcoms, they are still human and will see your compelling story if you present it to them well enough.

In your case, they're not just going to see a straight number and go superficially off of that. Because if the rest of your application is stellar and your GPA is a bit iffy, they'll naturally take a closer look to see what's going on. They'll see all your grades and the dates. It's not just some little printout with only single GPA calculations per year. And in that case, they'll realize that the bad grades were from over a decade ago and the you of now is not the you of back then. Yes it sucks that it's first averaged when presented to a computer which screens out those less than a 3.0 or something, but if you show that you managed to pull your GPA up from a 1.ohgod to over the 3.0 mark with such an enormous amount of credits, that will likely work in your favor.

Take a look around this forum. There's a low GPA success stories thread and a below 3.0 GPA thread. Plenty of people have gained admission from having absolutely abysmal GPAs that even after repair were just over the 3.0 mark. Just above a 3.0 is hardly competitive statistically speaking, but yet they still got acceptances. Why? Because adcoms actually do take a closer look and will see that the you of now is not the you of back then, and that you are a responsible and competent enough individual worthy of a seat at their school (so long as the rest of your app reinforces that).

 

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[Ad2b]

FWIW: vintage 198x graduate, large, Big 10, land granting university... GPA is about 2.196, maybe 2.1957 or 2.1964 I was told at a Rotary club lunch where the dean of that particular university's medical school spoke... asked him afterward if there was any way... he almost laughed in my face. Another few years passed, ended up being directed to Judy Colwell (a Godsend to all non-trads, if you ask me; former Asst Dir Admissions - Stanford). Told her my story.

"Go back. Get as many A's as possible in all pre-reqs. Take a few upper division science courses. Do well. Ace the MCAT. Apply."

So, I did that and am.

The GPAs from ugrad and post-bacc get listed separately but also get consolidated. So yep, all the F's, D's on my transcript for science courses will get lumped with my shiny A's from now.

There's really not much anyone can do about it. You just have to apply broadly with the best stats and hope for the best.

 

[pupsnacks]

FWIW: vintage 198x graduate, large, Big 10, land granting university... GPA is about 2.196, maybe 2.1957 or 2.1964 I was told at a Rotary club lunch where the dean of that particular university's medical school spoke... asked him afterward if there was any way... he almost laughed in my face. Another few years passed, ended up being directed to Judy Colwell (a Godsend to all non-trads, if you ask me; former Asst Dir Admissions - Stanford). Told her my story.

"Go back. Get as many A's as possible in all pre-reqs. Take a few upper division science courses. Do well. Ace the MCAT. Apply."

So, I did that and am.

 

[Ad2b]

MCAT?

FWIW: FFFFFFFDDDCFFFFWWFFWWWDDDAA (sex ed) FFDDCC BB DD FFFFFFFFFFFFFFWWWWWWWCCDD ............ graduated.

Now? AAAA-B (no +/- or it'd have been an A-)AAABA+AAA

 

[pupsnacks]

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[Ad2b]

Its fine.

I ask for a reason. If that MCAT is 515+, then your GPA will not necessarily keep you out. But it needs to be a stellar MCAT or otherwise

I'm not looking for a total evaluation. I'm trying to understand adcoms view of GPA and was wondering if they actually look at the credit hours. At. All.

Probably not. 8,000 apps with nothing outstanding about yours (ala MCAT?), I can't say for sure but probably not. Something has to get you "into the box" to have the review it. Or that's what I've been told. So either post bacc GPA or MCAT or both.

Did you get straight Fs for real?

Yep.

 

[pupsnacks]

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[Ad2b]

Well, my mcat is not a 515, and unfortunately for me unless I quit working 40-50 hours a week at a job where I come home exhausted it probably won't ever be. Truth. Be. Told. Now, give me 3 months of someone else paying my bills and a free gym membership and a Kaplan class I can focus on, then it will be a 515. From adulting for 20 years, always had to balance work,school,life,work,school,work,school,work,school,life.

Single mom. 53. Work f/t 45 - 50 hrs a week, volunteer, shadowed, sleep less than 5 - 6 hours a night; am always exhausted. Goal score? 516+

How hard are you gonna grind to get into med school? Because grinding TO med school will pay off IN med school.

Go find Eric Thomas the preacher man - that dude pumps me up every single day with his Twitter, FB and podcasts. Love that man. GO GRIND!

 

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[Ad2b]

My suggestion to the graduate or try and haul that sucker up?

Graduate. Make sure the GPAs are bifurcated. Absolutely. No question about it.

I have applied and saw my app when I printed it. It's starts out in reverse (latest grades first). I don't go past the first page because then I want to

My grades, btw, in the post above with all the FFFs... that was included in my ugrad GPA. All the A's, outside of sex ed (a real class back then for credit), are current in last few years (gen chem, orgo, biochem, physics, bio, genetics, physio, cell bio, field research, med myco, human genetics - different from general genetics).

You don't choose how you get to present yourself in AMCAS with respect to grades. That is pre-defined. You put in the semester, # hours, course, course #, grade achieved. The rest is up to AMCAS.

What you DO get to define is what you do now and how you fill in the other areas of the application (volunteering, most meaningful, etc).