AMCAS Study Abroad Grades- Confusion

[joebob19872]

Hey all,

Hopefully there's someone else who is in the same position as me.

I studied abroad for a semester, only the credits transferred back to my home institution. However, they are not separated by class, instead appearing as one giant lump of credits, with no indication of what I've taken or even if I passed a particular class. A lady at AMCAS told me I could keep it together or separate it...but I really don't think she understood what I was saying with regards to how it appears on my transcript. I separated them into the individual classes on the application even though this isn't represented in my transcript. I marked each as pass ("P") and split the credits. Thoughts?

I'm under the impression that most institutions show individual credit of the classes taken and don't lump it together, which is why the confusion exists.

Thanks

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[Lannister]

I would enter it into AMCAS exactly as it appears on your transcript. My transcript doesn't indicate P/F for my study abroad courses either. The grades are listed as TR, and that's what I put on AMCAS.

 

[joebob19872]

I would enter it into AMCAS exactly as it appears on your transcript. My transcript doesn't indicate P/F for my study abroad courses either. The grades are listed as TR, and that's what I put on AMCAS.

How do you think would be the best way to put it in?

Something like,

Course Name: Study Abroad Transfer Credits
Classification: Special Studies
Transcript Grade: Leave blank or pass?
Credit hours: 15

I'm annoyed my university won't separate the credits on the official transcript, even though they have the information about classes the I took and which type of transfer credit I received

 

[Lannister]

What does it say on the transcript for course name? Put exactly what it says. For classification I would put other. The grade should be whatever it says on your transcript, if it says nothing then no grade I suppose. I might be wrong about this so best to have someone more knowledgeable comment here.
It stinks that your university did this. Seems like laziness on their part.

 

[joebob19872]

What does it say on the transcript for course name? Put exactly what it says. For classification I would put other. The grade should be whatever it says on your transcript, if it says nothing then no grade I suppose. I might be wrong about this so best to have someone more knowledgeable comment here.
It stinks that your university did this. Seems like laziness on their part.

For the semester I studied abroad, all that is there is the placeholder course but it puts zero credits. I think that's there just to show that I was doing a semester abroad but still remained a student at my home university. It does say that is was international study and which university it was.

Then at the end of the transcript in the Other Institutions Attended section, it says "University of X: 15 credits transferred"

So I'll just leave the course name blank with no grade (i.e. pass/fail) unless there's any other input. I also don't understand why my university had to put the credits in completely separate section.

 

[Lannister]

For the semester I studied abroad, all that is there is the placeholder course but it puts zero credits. I think that's there just to show that I was doing a semester abroad but still remained a student at my home university. It does say that is was international study and which university it was.

Then at the end of the transcript in the Other Institutions Attended section, it says "University of X: 15 credits transferred"

So I'll just leave the course name blank with no grade (i.e. pass/fail) unless there's any other input. I also don't understand why my university had to put the credits in completely separate section.

Oh it's not even listed as a class? That's so annoying. I guess just leaving the course name blank is your best option. Also I have a placeholder course on my transcript as well for that semester, and someone told me that I need to list that on AMCAS too.

 

[joebob19872]

Oh it's not even listed as a class? That's so annoying. I guess just leaving the course name blank is your best option. Also I have a placeholder course on my transcript as well for that semester, and someone told me that I need to list that on AMCAS too.

I think the placeholder class is specific for the institution I studied at, which is why it says its name and location. Hmm I'm thinking about putting that as the course name but it specifically says zero credits for it, which may confuse whoever is verifying my application. This is exactly how it appears on my official transcript:

_________________
Spring Term 2014
(Placeholder class####) International Study/Affiliated: FT
University of X, X location
Grade note: SNC (meaning satisfactory/no credit!)
Credit: 0.0 GPA: 0.0
_________________

Then in completely another box at the end of the page, it says this:
_________________
Other Institutions Attended
University of X
Credits transferred: 15
__________________


I've called AMCAS and its difficult to convey to them exactly how it appears on my application without actually showing them. The person I talked to told me I could do either, but I really think she was confused by what I was asking. It does not seem common for international credit to appear on the transcript this way so I am worried my verifier won't know what to do with it. I've tried emailing them but they only tell me to call them haha

 

[joebob19872]

Bumping this in case anyone else has any experience with such a situation

 

[qwerpoiuqwer]

I'm having the same situation as well. In my case, it isn't study abroad but foreign coursework independently attended. But the problem is the same: my transcript lumps
all the credits together and only designates the total # of credits without listing any course names or grades.
The latter I left blank bc to my understanding, it does not factor into the AMCAS gpa. However, it is impossible to leave the course name/ classification
blank seeing as it is a required field.
Another issue I'm having is whether to list the course year of the foreign credits as the year when I actually took them or when they transferred over.

This is way more hassle than it's worth and I'm sorely regretting taking foreign institution courses...

 

[joebob19872]

Have you tried contacting them by phone? I may try again tomorrow but I feel it's good to have two people asking the same question to make sure we get the same answer.

Part of what I want medical schools to see which classes I took abroad in AMCAS, even though they aren't factored into my GPA. This isn't how it's reflected on my transcript though, which makes me hesitant to do it.

I may end up submitting tomorrow and hope the early time means a quick verification so I'll be certain of any problem. I'm afraid it's just going to be up to the discretion of whomever verifies my application because they don't seem to have any specific protocol regarding our situation.

 

[qwerpoiuqwer]

I did several times. The gist was "exactly as it is on the transcript." Like you stated previously, I don't think they really understood the technicalities of the problem.

 

[y123]

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[HistoryMed]

Hey @joebob19872 I'm in the same situation as you as was wondering what you ended up doing/ if you've been verified yet. I called AMCAS twice this past week and they told me that I should actually list the name of the courses I took abroad even though they aren't on my transcript. However, that completely contradicts the instruction manual...

 

[joebob19872]

Hey @joebob19872 I'm in the same situation as you as was wondering what you ended up doing/ if you've been verified yet. I called AMCAS twice this past week and they told me that I should actually list the name of the courses I took abroad even though they aren't on my transcript. However, that completely contradicts the instruction manual...

I have been verified! I ended up listing the class as "Total Study Abroad Credits", for credits I put 15, and I left both the grade and special course option blank. All that happened when I was verified was they put "P" in the grade box and marked the special course option as Pass/Fail. There was no indication of this on my transcript (just the 15 credits transferred) but they changed it anyways. This was a simple fix that they did themselves so it caused no delays (I was scheduled right on time as predicted by that 2015-2016 AMCAS Verification Thread). Hope this helps!

 

[HistoryMed]

Thank you so much, that definitely helps!!!