Have an F on a summer class from an art school... What to do??

So about three summers ago I went on a art history trip to france through an art school. Since my school was not going to accept the credits I went on the trip as a way to learn about another country and did not fulfill one requirement that needed to be done after the trip was over. Today I called the school to find out that they gave me an F on the course.

What is the best way to approach this situation if I cannot get the grade changed? Obviously this doesnt show up on my transcript but I need to submit all transcripts from all schools. So i will have my science transcript with good grades and a random transcript from an art school with an F.

My original plan was to write about this as a summer trip through the art school in my activities section of AMCAS. In fact one of my letters of recommendation is from the director of art history from the school who was on the trip.

A random adviser recommended that I address it in my personal statement, however I honestly would rather avoid wasting space on a class that is not imperative for my admission into medical school, such as a prereq. Would it be okay to explain the situation under my description of the trip in the activities section? And then further in the secondaries?

Ouch!

Writing about it in the activities section and mentioning that you did not complete the requirements for the course and thus the F will explain what happened. The LOR will, we hope, show that you were an attentive student and good member of the traveling group. I think that is sufficient. We won't be admitting you as an art history student so the F in that content area shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for the reassuring words LizzyM. I guess my main concern was being screened out of certain schools because of a random failing grade.

Originally Posted by DOCTAfoHIRE

Thanks for the reassuring words LizzyM. I guess my main concern was being screened out of certain schools because of a random failing grade.

I didn't pass an art history class in undergrad and that came up in interviews. I was honest about it (didn't study, wasn't focused).

Because I had a very good graduate GPA and good science grades in later years of undergrad it wasn't an issue.

For you I feel that it'd be even less of an issue since my failed class was at my actual undergrad institution. I'm pretty sure it's unlikely you'd be screened out just for that grade.