Study Abroad Credit

[idunnowhattonamemyself]

Hello! I am a pre-dental student in Texas, and was wondering if anyone had studied abroad and how the credits transferred and were calculated into your overall GPA.

While abroad, I would be taking classes for my business minor or a Spanish minor. There are two types of programs available at my university.

The first one is an exchange program, which is a reciprocal exchange agreement with a foreign university that allows our students to attend that university as if it were their home institution. This means that all course credits and grades will transfer back to my university, with the grade and show up on my transcript. I would still be paying tuition to my university but will be attending another school abroad.
The second option is doing an affiliate program; an affiliate program is a third party that my school has an agreement with. This option seems more appealing to me because it is a program so housing, food, cultural excursions, program activities, etc are all included so I wouldn't have to do everything on my own. Pertaining to credits, all courses will transfer back, so I will receive credit for them, but only as transfer credits; this means that it won't affect my GPA on my university transcript.

My main question is if anyone has experiences with either of these? I really do want to do a study abroad for one semester, but I want to know how this would affect my GPA when it comes to applying to dental schools. For example, if I were to do the affiliate program where my GPA is not affected, will dental schools still calculate the GPA from that university or not? And, I am assuming dental schools will count the exchange program grades into my GPA, considering it is already on my transcript from the university?

Any other advice, experiences, or tips would be greatly appreciated!

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[CaliforniaCrentist]

I studied in Germany for a semester under what you call the exchange program (#1) but still had the perks of being a "program" like in option #2. My grades appeared on my transcript from my home university like any other class. The only dental pre-req I took there was Physics 2, which still counted as normal because it was taken under my accredited university. I would definitely check to see if there are any pre-reqs in your program and if they have to be taken at a US university to count for dental schools.
All of my classes factored into my GPA since they were not pass/fail (which is how some affiliate programs can appear). When entering your grades into AADSAS they have you select which (if any) classes you took abroad. Of course schools will still take a look at your course load and such, but it is definitely good to have a culturally enriching semester.

 

[idunnowhattonamemyself]

I studied in Germany for a semester under what you call the exchange program (#1) but still had the perks of being a "program" like in option #2. My grades appeared on my transcript from my home university like any other class. The only dental pre-req I took there was Physics 2, which still counted as normal because it was taken under my accredited university. I would definitely check to see if there are any pre-reqs in your program and if they have to be taken at a US university to count for dental schools.
All of my classes factored into my GPA since they were not pass/fail (which is how some affiliate programs can appear). When entering your grades into AADSAS they have you select which (if any) classes you took abroad. Of course schools will still take a look at your course load and such, but it is definitely good to have a culturally enriching semester.

How was your experience?

As far as I know, the courses will not be Pass/Fail, but it will be CR as how AP credits and transfer credits from community colleges are on my university transcript. My thought was that since dental schools will look at my community college courses and grades, so they would do the same regardless of exchange or affiliate program for study abroad. Though, I am unsure.
I plan on taking classes for my minors, so no science classes or prereqs - just Spanish and sociology courses!

 

[CaliforniaCrentist]

They looked at my courses as study abroad, but still through my University so the classes still counted for my GPA. That's the main difference between the two types of programs in your case.

Either way, I highly recommend studying abroad! You learn so much culturally and non-academically!