End of Grade Replacement?

[SurgDoc95]

They should recognize that some states have more MD spots than others. They should also recognize that some states have more med school applicants than others.

For example one state could have 150 spots for in-state med students and 250 in-state applicants. Another state could have 150 spots for in-state students and 500 in-state applicants. That leaves a large number of people who are very qualified for medical school out of luck for MD programs in that state. They then have two options: a) go DO b) fight for the very competitive out of state spots at other MD schools.

To say DO students just couldn't get into MD programs is too simple. It makes one assume that DO students are inferior to MD students, which is not the case (on a general level).

Agreed, if I was from a different state than California there's a decent chance I'd get a look from my state school. For those of us with middle of the road stats (3.5-3.6 502-505 MCAT) from CA DO schools offer us the best route to become a physician.

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[AlbinoHawk DO]

I have a friend who graduated college with a 2.9 GPA. Took 8 years off of school in a non-medical field. Did a DIY post-bacc of ~30 credits with a near 4.0 GPA and crushed the MCAT. His AMCAS GPA came out to a 3.01. He got a full ride scholarship at a Top 20 school.!

I have a myself that had a 2.7 and also crushed a DIT post-bacc (66 units) and raised my GPA to about ~3.2 (w/3.7 science since I took most for the first time) and didn't get into any top 20 or full ride scholarships.

Seriously, these kinds of anecdotes like yours are exceptions and should not be used as pseudo-motivational.

 

[Sardinia]

@gonnif AACOMAS can selectively choose which credits they accept and deny. On an extension of this principle, they have always decided what grades are presented to advisors and how they are processed. Ultimately the decision to accepting a candidate comes down to the osteopathic schools themselves. Arguing that it's a waste of time and investment for applicants cannot be firmly determined because AACOMAS itself doesn't make the decision to accept or deny applicants on the basis of GPA. It merely has change a metric in the presentation of student information to school administrators. Ultimately culpability lies on the students to examine whether they have a competitive application before submitting it through AACOMAS.

The only charge of fee service that can be tied to AACOMAS as a website is the charge of user fee. In which the culpability lies on the applicant based on the incoming announcement by the website. Applicants can willingly choose whether or not to enlist in AACOMAS, therefore rendering any value loss comes down to the applicant and caveat emptor respectively.

 

[IslandStyle808]

^^ This. If you are qualified to get into medical school, you will. People get into MD schools with sub cumulative 3.0 GPA's. Everyone on here is really underestimating how adcoms look at the overall picture of an applicant. They LOVE people who reinvent themselves. It shows maturity and dedication.

Oh you underestimate how cruel the process can be. In my last three years before medical school I had a 3.9 GPA (with grade replacement my GPA 3.3). I had a really bad MCAT <26 (my only bad section was verbal). I missed several interviews by just one point on my MCAT or that my GPA wasn't high enough to save me.

The cutoffs are harder than you think.

 

[Scrubs101]

Probably would have made more sense to start this the same year as the merger in 2020.

I definitely agree with this^^^, and if they would have arranged to begin this policy then a warning now would be a lot more acceptable. Its even more so despicable that this information has come to surface and people are emailing and inquiring about it and they are denying it...

My heart goes out to all of y'all. Keep grinding. Dont give up!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[sammiesings]

Oh you underestimate how cruel the process can be. In my last three years before medical school I had a 3.9 GPA (with grade replacement my GPA 3.3). I had a really bad MCAT <26 (my only bad section was verbal). I missed several interviews by just one point on my MCAT or that my GPA wasn't high enough to save me.

The cutoffs are harder than you think.

I get what you're saying, but no one is debating the MCAT cut off doesn't exist. It for sure does and is likely the most important one. A sub-26 MCAT was not going to fall into the category we're speaking of here. For the record, I'm vouching for a good post-bacc GPA and a very good MCAT showing. There are schools who reward reinvention and that includes showing up for the MCAT and performing as well as those who didn't struggle with their undergrad GPAs.

 

[Sardinia]

@gonnif There is also no firm basis that you can charge AACOMAS for loss of time and investment. On a general base case, there is no firm proof that any investment in education is a strict loss of capital when there is potential investment in human capital. Simply speaking, the fact that credits are gained and an education is given for improvement of the human conditions means that students are more marketable. Therefore, such claimed damages are not explicitly evident. For instance, said student could potentially pursue a variety of other health professions in which retaking credits under federal grants would have still been a positive in terms of increasing potential net gain.

In addition, there is no firm connection that AACOMAS directly stimulated students to pursue additional credits. Although retaking credits could have been a metric that students saw as being favorable for admission, it is also possible that students were aiming for other goals in retaking classes. Ultimately, there is no firm proof that any student who retook extensive credits over again could have demonstratively done so solely with the express goal of only doing so under the stipulation of AACOMAS grade replacement.

 

[IslandStyle808]

I get what you're saying, but no one is debating the MCAT cut off doesn't exist. It for sure does and is likely the most important one. A sub-26 MCAT was not going to fall into the category we're speaking of here. For the record, I'm vouching for a good post-bacc GPA and a very good MCAT showing. There are schools who reward reinvention and that includes showing up for the MCAT and performing as well as those who didn't struggle with their undergrad GPAs.

In the end, not all school will suddenly look at a person with a sub 3.0 GPA when they have a high MCAT. Yes, there will be schools that will take that extra look. However, without grade replacement, less schools will look at these applicants. It will hurt the people with major retakes no matter what. Yes, they will get in somewhere, but not not as many choices as before.

 

[efle]

Thank you @gonnif for that info.

I find it very telling that this is the BS statistic they choose to share:

the Repeat Policy raised the mean science GPA by .03 and the non-science GPA by .01 on a 4.0 scale.

Obviously the change in overall mean GPAs is a worthless way to evaluate the impact of this policy. What we should want to know is something like the magnitude of change for the 10-20% which are currently benefiting most from the replacement policy. I bet access to the real, full dataset would show that there is a substantial minority of nontrads who will see a GPA dip of more like 0.5 because of this.

To whomever has been saying this is good in the long run - for DO overall surely it is. It just sucks for the nontrads of the future who have a much bigger hill to climb, and I think the outrage has been 99% because it is dropping right before a cycle - in fact just a few weeks after many have registered for this semester of courses! - with no possible recourse for the people who have spent years and thousands of dollars based on trust in the available AACOMAS information.

 

[sammiesings]

In the end, not all school will suddenly look at a person with a sub 3.0 GPA when they have a high MCAT. Yes, there will be schools that will take that extra look. However, without grade replacement, less schools will look at applicants. It will hurt the people with major retakes no matter what. Yes, they will get in somewhere, but not not as many choices as before.

Absolutely. But shouldn't it be more difficult to become a physician than grade-replacement made it? It bears repeating that retaking a course and getting an "A", is unimpressive compared to tacking on upper-division science units and crushing them and/or scoring well on the great-equalizer that is the MCAT. It should be difficult to gain an acceptance for those (like me) who struggled in undergrad to cancel out that performance. You need to be able to prove you can hang, and re-doing everything is ridiculous and cannot be done going forward, so why allow it to get in?

 

[Sardinia]

Again, its not the policy, which I tend to lean to, its the sudden implementation with the lack transparency of this being a known and committed change by AACOM ins 2014 or 2015

Federal courts have thrown out all civil action lawsuits systematically regarding fraudulent behavior from law schools. The ABA itself had lend itself to misinformation by simply presenting the fraudulent data given to it by schools as ABA related employment information. Neither these schools nor the ABA have incurred a loss since the start of the civil action cases in 2013.

Judges already expect a lack of transparency when it comes to these cases. I feel like this is straight forward. The Law School Scam movement only went so far as to prevent further students from being duped into a fraudulent system polluted by financial gain incentives and no interest in academic integrity. I think students are highly delusional if they think that a case against AACOMAS has any legs to stand on when judges have already shown which side of the fence they stand on when it comes to the devices of the higher education market.

 

[monatanu]

So I am just finding out about this and I was about to start Winter quarter in a couple of days and was going to retake some freshman year C's at a community college. (I have 3.44 w/o grade replacement, 505 mcat, CA resident). Should I not bother or should I take any classes that I can (retake or otherwise) to give some boost to my gpa. If I get As in any 4 classes, my gpa will be 3.48. Will this help my chances?

 

[sammiesings]

So I am just finding out about this and I was about to start Winter quarter in a couple of days and was going to retake some freshman year C's at a community college. (I have 3.44 w/o grade replacement, 505 mcat, CA resident). Should I not bother or should I take any classes that I can (retake or otherwise) to give some boost to my gpa. If I get As in any 4 classes, my gpa will be 3.48. Will this help my chances?

If I were you, I'd tack on some upper-division science courses instead.

 

[redsox93]

So I am just finding out about this and I was about to start Winter quarter in a couple of days and was going to retake some freshman year C's at a community college. (I have 3.44 w/o grade replacement, 505 mcat, CA resident). Should I not bother or should I take any classes that I can (retake or otherwise) to give some boost to my gpa. If I get As in any 4 classes, my gpa will be 3.48. Will this help my chances?

probably better to take upper division courses instead of retakes at this point

 

[IslandStyle808]

Absolutely. But shouldn't it be more difficult to become a physician than grade-replacement made it? It bears repeating that retaking a course and getting an "A", is unimpressive compared to tacking on upper-division science units and crushing them and/or scoring well on the great-equalizer that is the MCAT. It should be difficult to gain an acceptance for those (like me) who struggled in undergrad to cancel out that performance. You need to be able to prove you can hang, and re-doing everything is ridiculous and cannot be done going forward, so why allow it to get in?

It depends on how many retakes one has. If it is one time per class, then it is nothing much, I agree with you there. Now if one is retaking 3 F in the same course (especially if this is a non-required one), this will crush them. It doesn't mean they were not cut out to be good medical students if they couldn't pass theoretical physics after 3 attempts (just means they made the poor choice to take the class).

 

[Dr.Sticks]

DO schools do publish some data. The typical applicant these days carries a 3.45 out of undergrad and for those that do postbacc, 3.60 is the average postbacc GPA. Average MCAT was a 26.4.

So if our hypothetical typical dude carries a 26 MCAT and a 2.6 GPA, takes a year of perfect grades and now gets up to a 2.88 (assuming postbacc is the same credits as one of the four undergrad years). Two years of perfect postbacc? Only a 3.07

His odds are not good. He needed replacement.

If he has 120 credits and a 2.6 he needs 185.5 credits to get a 3.45
That is 62 non science classes or 47 all science classes
You can take 4 a semester so
Summer, spring, fall
12 a year
So basically a 4 year post bacc will make him competitive

But if he was smarter he would retake the MCAT and get at least a 32 and raise his GPA to a 3.3 which 120 credits or 30 science classes which can be done in 2.5 years
So yeah hope isn't lost boss
Retake MCAT get a 4.0 in post bacc
Take 120 credits
And you should be able to get into D.O with stellar ECs.

Oh and a 5 year post bacc should get one into M.D, and a 6.5 year post bacc should make you competitive for mid tier M.D

 

[HowYouGetAnts]

I'd for sure be part of this class. I'm sure many more would as well.

It depends on how much trouble I want to cause. Threat of lawsuit might make them back down. While I can do that without problem as I do not work for any school or company, I also dont carry much weight because of that. However, since this seems like I could make a federal case out of it, literally, and could probably get a "class" of people suffering under the same issue (Class legally here means three or more), certainly could file something. Lets see what trouble I can cause

 

[sammiesings]

It depends on how many retakes one has. If it is one time per class, then it is nothing much, I agree with you there. Now if one is retaking 3 F in the same course (especially if this is a non-required one), this will crush them. It doesn't mean they were not cut out to be good medical students if they couldn't pass theoretical physics after 3 attempts (just means they made the poor choice to take the class).

Agreed. However, if this person existed, I would say adcoms would look at them the same if instead they just tacked on an equivalent number of "new" upper-division science courses and got "A"s on their first go at these. Mathematically it might not come close to evening out but this is "new" material which they can prove they were able to master on the first go. Its really all in the way you look at it though.

 

[edgerock24]

Absolutely. But shouldn't it be more difficult to become a physician than grade-replacement made it? It bears repeating that retaking a course and getting an "A", is unimpressive compared to tacking on upper-division science units and crushing them and/or scoring well on the great-equalizer that is the MCAT. It should be difficult to gain an acceptance for those (like me) who struggled in undergrad to cancel out that performance. You need to be able to prove you can hang, and re-doing everything is ridiculous and cannot be done going forward, so why allow it to get in?

Yeah, because grade replacement made becoming a doctor "easy."

Get off your high horse. Becoming a physician is extremely difficult whether grade replacement is around or not.

Grade replacement gave a lot of people a chance to become a physician after not doing so well academically the first time around (sometimes classes were retaken after 10+ years, for instance).

 

[efle]

This sounds good but it's kinda like the AAMC advising schools to consider everyone with a 500+ MCAT as competitive when in reality they just used percentiles as they did before. But at least it does sound good that they're pushing using the old method to evaluate.

Wouldn't the parallel be more like the AAMC deciding it was only going to show MCAT scores as Pass/Fail, in keeping with their understanding of best practices for recruitment of future physicians, a week before the cycle went live? Suddenly a whole lot of people wasted a whole lot of time and money on MCAT retakes, courses, materials, or application costs for those banking on their high MCAT offsetting weaker grades. A lot of people would not be very drastically affected, but another large group would be livid.

 

[Sardinia]

As our president elect has said, law suits are negotiating tools. I just want them to slow this down and starting a suit, having them worry about it impacting their timeline, may just have them back down and not implement this for 2 years, which is reasonable

I don't think any form of litigation has slowed down any scrupulous action to the same pace of progression to the lawsuit itself.

 

[sammiesings]

Yeah, because grade replacement made becoming a doctor "easy."

Get off your high horse. Becoming a physician is extremely difficult whether grade replacement is around or not.

Grade replacement gave a lot of people a chance to become a physician after not doing so well academically the first time around (sometimes classes were retaken after 10+ years, for instance).

Again, you're looking at it from a very narrow lens. I've been here (sub 3.0 science grad) and didn't take advantage of grade replacement. Instead I did a DIY all upper division science post-bacc and am sitting on a mid-tier MD acceptance plus several MD IIs. I'm not on a high horse, kid. I'm saying there are other ways at a chance.

It absolutely took me longer than some DO replacement folks. I also top loaded on ECs and research. But, hey, I got it done with a different route than the grade-replacement road.

 

[redsox93]

Wouldn't the parallel be more like the AAMC deciding it was only going to show MCAT scores as Pass/Fail, in keeping with their understanding of best practices for recruitment of future physicians, a week before the cycle went live? Suddenly a whole lot of people wasted a whole lot of time and money on MCAT retakes, courses, materials, or application costs for those banking on their high MCAT offsetting weaker grades. A lot of people would not be very drastically affected, but another large group would be livid.

Agreed AAMC definitely went about it much better. But it did sound like they were really trying to push a 500+ being a competitive score.

 

[efle]

If he has 120 credits and a 2.6 he needs 185.5 credits to get a 3.45
That is 62 non science classes or 47 all science classes
You can take 4 a semester so
Summer, spring, fall
12 a year
So basically a 4 year post bacc will make him competitive

But if he was smarter he would retake the MCAT and get at least a 32 and raise his GPA to a 3.3 which 120 credits or 30 science classes which can be done in 2.5 years
So yeah hope isn't lost boss
Retake MCAT get a 4.0 in post bacc
Take 120 credits
And you should be able to get into D.O with stellar ECs.

Oh and a 5 year post bacc should get one into M.D, and a 6.5 year post bacc should make you competitive for mid tier M.D

8 semester post baccs? Just score at least top decile on an MCAT retake? Are you being sarcastic

 

[efle]

Agreed AAMC definitely went about it much better. But it did sound like they were really trying to push a 500+ being a competitive score.

I mean, they pushed it in the sense that they said it a lot.

Different from pushing it by springing a change on everyone at the last second to make the system suit their ideas better.

 

[edgerock24]

Again, you're looking at it from a very narrow lens. I've been here (sub 3.0 science grad) and didn't take advantage of grade replacement. Instead I did a DIY all upper division science post-bacc and am sitting on a mid-tier MD acceptance plus several MD IIs. I'm not on a high horse, kid. I'm saying there are other ways at a chance.

It absolutely took me longer than some DO replacement folks. I also top loaded on ECs and research. But, hey, I got it done with a different route than the grade-replacement road.

Congrats on your success. Then again, maybe if you got more appropriate advice for your sub 3.0 situation (or if you weren't dead set on MD), you would've taken advantage of the grade replacement policy and applied DO only.

If you did that, then you would be in a very different situation right now. But that isn't the case. You got by without grade replacement. You'll be attending an MD school. So, why would you care about students being screwed over by this implementation. You have no reason to.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Agreed. However, if this person existed, I would say adcoms would look at them the same if instead they just tacked on an equivalent number of "new" upper-division science courses and got "A"s on their first go at these. Mathematically it might not come close to evening out but this is "new" material which they can prove they were able to master on the first go. Its really all in the way you look at it though.

This is also true. The only issue I would see is them getting past the GPA filter of some schools. If this can be avoided, then yes I believe adcoms will give them their fair shot. It will still hurt them in the end, even with an SMP.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Again, you're looking at it from a very narrow lens. I've been here (sub 3.0 science grad) and didn't take advantage of grade replacement. Instead I did a DIY all upper division science post-bacc and am sitting on a mid-tier MD acceptance plus several MD IIs. I'm not on a high horse, kid. I'm saying there are other ways at a chance.

It absolutely took me longer than some DO replacement folks. I also top loaded on ECs and research. But, hey, I got it done with a different route than the grade-replacement road.

Another issue is time, which slipped my mind. Without grade replacement, I could only image pre-meds taking 4 years to reach a point of applying that would only take 2 years w/ grade replacement. Not something a person in the later years of their life is willing to do.

 

[sammiesings]

Congrats on your success. Then again, maybe if you got more appropriate advice for your sub 3.0 situation (or if you weren't dead set on MD), you would've taken advantage of the grade replacement policy and applied DO only.

If you did that, then you would be in a very different situation right now. But that isn't the case. You got by without grade replacement. You'll be attending an MD school. So, why would you care about students being screwed over by this implementation. You have no reason to.

You seem really hell-bent on being bitter. I'm sorry for you.

However, I was not dead set on MD. I did what I believed would not limit me to one or the other.

In your prior post you mentioned that folks with 10 year old grades needed grade replacement to "have a chance." I'm offering an alternative to those students and allow them a "chance" even without grade replacement. There are schools that will reward reinvention in both the DO and MD category to students who are truly invested in becoming a physician.

 

[km93]

It's like AACOMAS just punched me in the face. I'm a non-trad, and with my grades from 12 years ago grade replacement was the only way for me to get above a 3.0 in less than 200 credits. This is a horrible shock, and I have no idea what to do now. I chose so many of my classes with grade replacement in mind, spent thousands of dollars retaking old coursework when I would have rather been taking new upper division classes, got all As, got a 515 MCAT, and now it's all a waste. Thanks for the bait and switch, AACOMAS.

Maybe I'll see some more options once the shock wears off, but right now I don't see any path to becoming a doctor and everything feels hopeless.

In the off chance you are a Louisiana resident, the 32-hour policy could be another option for you: https://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/admissions/Requirements.aspx

 

[sammiesings]

This is also true. The only issue I would see is them getting past the GPA filter of some schools. If this can be avoided, then yes I believe adcoms will give them their fair shot. It will still hurt them in the end, even with an SMP.

Another issue is time, which slipped my mind. Without grade replacement, I could only image pre-meds taking 4 years to reach a point of applying that would only take 2 years w/ grade replacement. Not something a person in the later years of their life is willing to do.

It definitely makes things more difficult for people in some categories. Overall though, I'm hoping this helps adcoms on the DO side shift to a more holistic approach for folks like the latter set you mentioned. I mean, that would be fair and would matriculate a large set of qualified older-nontrads.

 

[SurgDoc95]

Another issue is time, which slipped my mind. Without grade replacement, I could only image pre-meds taking 4 years to reach a point of applying that would only take 2 years w/ grade replacement. Not something a person in the later years of their life is willing to do.

That essentially saying it's the quicker, easier route. There is a reason why MD schools dont do this and it's good that DO programs will no longer either.

I think this thread has devolved into pros/cons of grade replacement where the issue is lack of transparency by AACOM/AACOMAS by putting a policy into effect without any sort of notice. If the merger had been announced and residencies were combined without a transition period people would be up in arms.

 

[Frogger27]

I have a myself that had a 2.7 and also crushed a DIT post-bacc (66 units) and raised my GPA to about ~3.2 (w/3.7 science since I took most for the first time) and didn't get into any top 20 or full ride scholarships.

Seriously, these kinds of anecdotes like yours are exceptions and should not be used as pseudo-motivational.

But you got into medical school, right? My point wasn't to highlight that everyone has a chance to get into a Top20. But people can get into A MEDICAL SCHOOL with lower GPAs if they have an upward trend and good MCAT. Doesn't matter how low the uGPA is if you prove it is in the past. Goro has said multiple times that schools reward this type of thing. I took this route and many of my classmates in my post bacc did and have all had success of getting into medical school

 

[edgerock24]

You seem really hell-bent on being bitter. I'm sorry for you.

However, I was not dead set on MD. I did what I believed would not limit me to one or the other.

In your prior post you mentioned that folks with 10 year old grades needed grade replacement to "have a chance." I'm offering an alternative to those students and allow them a "chance" even without grade replacement. There are schools that will reward reinvention in both the DO and MD category to students who are truly invested in becoming a physician.

Just because someone makes an argument that you don't agree with doesn't make them bitter. Your success is an outlier. There are cases where even after years of a DIY postbac, GPA's could still remain low. This would get students autoscreened at many schools.

The solution is, "ace the MCAT!" or "enroll in an SMP." Well, the MCAT is not easy to ace (sometimes an individual cannot get past a ~502, for instance) and SMP's are crazy expensive.

What it comes down to is that this policy should've been announced several years in advance.

 

[WhereMyLiberalsAt]

My thoughts on how I'm approaching this issue...

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/screw-aacomas.1236242/

 

[sammiesings]

Just because someone makes an argument that you don't agree with doesn't make them bitter. Your success is an outlier. There are cases where even after years of a DIY postbac, GPA's could still remain low. This would get students autoscreened at many schools.

The solution is, "ace the MCAT!" or "enroll in an SMP." Well, the MCAT is not easy to ace (sometimes an individual cannot get past a ~502, for instance) and SMP's are crazy expensive.

What it comes down to is that this policy should've been announced several years in advance.

That might be true if I wasn't also sitting on several top-tier DO acceptances. However, I will be matriculating into an MD school, because currently MD>DO.

You're right its not easy to ace the MCAT, but its not easy to be a physician either. There have to be SOME standards- not everyone can be a physician.

My GPA did remain low. I did get auto-screened at many schools (I assume).

However, in the end, my route of just upper-division post-bacc science courses (just as expensive as retaking courses, not nearly as expensive as an SMP) and doing well (90th percentile) on the MCAT worked for both DO and MD schools.

PS: Telling someone they don't care about others in this situation and/or telling them they were hell-bent on MD just because they disagree with you is why you appear to be really bitter.

 

[naivePremed]

This announcement in such short notice is simply unacceptable. Say what you want about the pros/cons of grade replacement, this simply is unacceptable and unprofessional. Students individually emailed schools and they flat out denied this change. I don't understand how they can announce this right before the cycle starts.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

8 semester post baccs? Just score at least top decile on an MCAT retake? Are you being sarcastic

Seriously though, "here let me bury myself in debt so I can do 4 more years of classes to be able to just apply to medical school."

 

[IslandStyle808]

That essentially saying it's the quicker, easier route. There is a reason why MD schools dont do this and it's good that DO programs will no longer either.

I think this thread has devolved into pros/cons of grade replacement where the issue is lack of transparency by AACOM/AACOMAS by putting a policy into effect without any sort of notice. If the merger had been announced and residencies were combined without a transition period people would be up in arms.

Just because it is quicker doesn't mean that it is easier. There are dudes here pulling 18+ credits so that they can get in 2 years time. There are also people who are working while taking 12+ credits. I don't believe these people will have a hard time in medical school.

Overall people have more of a problem with the quick announcement rather than the actual end of grade replacement. This doesn't make me think better of COCA whether they announced it now or 2020, because it only benefits them with the least amount of effort on their part.

 

[AlteredScale]

In an effort to minimize the rehashing of "no grade replacement..." threads I have created a new sticky.

Please ask all questions regarding how your chances fair without this grade replacement and other questions related to the change in policy in the sticky here: AACOMAS Grade Replacement Policy Announcement/Questions Regarding Change

 

[Dr.Sticks]

8 semester post baccs? Just score at least top decile on an MCAT retake? Are you being sarcastic

Well you could always join the navy seals or win the nobel peace prize as an alternative.. Lol

In a sense it was; I am just pointing out that anything is probable.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

This doesn't make me think better of COCA whether they announced it now or 2020, because it only benefits them with the least amount of effort on their part.

With this change combined with the merger I think COCA is done for. Their accrediting standards are already under scrutiny so with residencies now being the same, and admissions practices the same, all it takes is a few legislators to go "now why do we have two separate medical school accrediting bodies again?"

 

[Ulgarmoose]

Seriously though, "here let me bury myself in debt so I can do 4 more years of classes to be able to just apply to medical school."

30k undergrad debt, what's 80k more? then you can go to CCOM so you can round to an even half a million.

and then you move to Mexico

 

[SurgDoc95]

Just because it is quicker doesn't mean that it is easier. There are dudes here pulling 18+ credits so that they can get in 2 years time. There are also people who are working while taking 12+ credits. I don't believe these people will have a hard time in medical school.

Overall people have more of a problem with the quick announcement rather than the actual end of grade replacement. This doesn't make me think better of COCA whether they announced it now or 2020, because it only benefits them with the least amount of effort on their part.

Not discrediting those that have done grade replacement just sharing my opinion that I'm not a fan. I think it rewards those who performed poorly in courses with an opportunity to completely negate their mess up. Yes it takes a long time if you have multiple bad grades, but I personally don't believe someone taking a class for the second time should be able to have the same A on their transcript as someone who aced it their first go round. Rant over I hope they change the policy to be fair to those applying this cycle who are now put at a disadvantage.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

On another note Podiatry schools just got an influx of applicants.

 

[Ulgarmoose]

Grade replacement wasn't a factor in my application, yet it's unprofessional changes like this that help remind me almost everything is ran by people that are very far out of touch.

 

[redsox93]

On another note Podiatry schools just got an influx of applicants.

I doubt it personally I'd go dental or nursing before I did podiatry.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Not discrediting those that have done grade replacement just sharing my opinion that I'm not a fan. I think it rewards those who performed poorly in courses with an opportunity to completely negate their mess up. Yes it takes a long time if you have multiple bad grades, but I personally don't believe someone taking a class for the second time should be able to have the same A on their transcript as someone who aced it their first go round. Rant over I hope they change the policy to be fair to those applying this cycle who are now put at a disadvantage.

I'm pretty sure there are people who are both replace grades and acing things in one go at the same time. Is it the same as a person who takes 18+ with all courses being their first? No. But the difference is rather negligible if it is a mixture of first time courses and retakes.

 

[Mad Jack]

Does this really even make sense for DO schools? Won't applicants now just apply MD if grade replacement is gone?

They'll apply both and go whichever way is forgiving enough to accept them.

 

[AlteredScale]

all it takes is a few legislators to go "now why do we have two separate medical school accrediting bodies again?"

Because COCA looks at the school in a holistic and osteopathic manner. When they talk with the banking investor....errr I mean medical school founder and hero of Gaylord, MN they also perform an OMM evaluation to determine if they are ready to run a high schoo...I mean costco...I mean a renovated, from the ashes DO school.