Community college grades back to haunt me

[Nater44]

In the mid 90's I took a some community college classes to kill time while working for the fire department. I paid very little attention to the classes. I got a D in intro to speech and a D- in beginning vollyball...among other gems. When I got interested in medicine and transferred to a university I did O.K.... 3.3 science 3.5 non-science. Any suggestions on how to explain away these skeletons in my closet to adcoms?

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[DrMom]

You can basically say the same thing you posted here. And point out how your academic performance has clearly improved.

 

[Nater44]

One more question Drmom, will they toss my app in the trash can if the community college grades drop my gpa? Will I even get a chance to explain to them. Thanks for the help. I'm new to all this.

 

[DrMom]

No. There are many applicants just like you who get in every year.

Did you re-take speech or any of the other classes you did poorly in? If you did, on the osteopathic application system only the most recent grade will be counted in your GPA. Maybe that'll help make things look better.

Otherwise do well on the MCAT, get good LORs, spend some time shadowing a couple of DOs (and get good DO LORs). Also, get your app in as early as possible.

Are you applying this year?

 

[emtji]

why even bother listing it? just don't put it down and don't have them send a transcript to aacom or amcas. unless you did your pre-meds there at the same school...

 

[Nater44]

I'm just about done with my application. Should have an outstanding LOR from a DO friend of mine and used to be a firefigheter/EMT for two years. Also just got a job in an emergency department as a clinical technician. Many of the community college classes I tanked haven't been repeated. Fortunately I only took one science class in CC and got an A. After that it was off to a four year university and all A's and B's. I'm still a little confused on how to put down all the EMT and fire academy training classes I've taken under the professional coursework section...or do I just leave those off? Lastly, in your opinion which DO schools are the best? Thanks Drmom

 

[beatla19]

I strongly recommend you list ALL your courses. I've heard(on this forum) about students getting their admission rescinded because they didn't list some classes taken in their past at CC's. I definitely think you should listen if they say "ALL" on the app.

 

[DrSmiles]

YES YES YES.... like the above post said- you MUST list all your college classwork. It will come back to bite you in the you-know-what if you don't list all your course work.
I know someone who "forgot" to mention some CC class, which was an F in some class like basket-weaving, and they got kicked out of school.
I took an F in a CC class, just because I was stupid and forgot to drop the class. As long as you can explain it in your personal statement, they won't hold it against you. Believe me, I was worried about having a big FAT F on my transcript, but I still got lots of interviews (even though this F dropped my GPA) and not a single interviewer asked me about the F. So there you have it.
Be honest and forthright, it will pan out.

 

[tuesday]

what year did you take those classes?
in Texas there is a policy called academic fresh start whereby you can have all the classes over 10years old removed from your GPA. maybe your state has a similar policy. at least it would be something to look into.

 

[Nater44]

I'm sure aacomas would have a mechanism set up to catch people not putting everything down. Besides, I want to be honest through this whole process. If you can't be honest as an applicant how can you be honest as a doctor? Although It's a little embarrissing when you get an F in Intro to Speech. For some reason the 5 minute impromptu speech for the final exam was just too much for me to handle at the time.