anyone have experience with an incomplete grade

[birdie77]

i might have to take an incomplete for one of my courses, but will make it up in the following semester. how does this show up on the transcript?

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[Reckoner]

how does this show up on the transcript?

It depends on your school and the date you withdrew from the course. Your registrar will have more a more accurate answer than this anonymous forum - I recommend sending an email or calling their office.

 

[sharkbyte]

I took an incomplete once, at my school they list it as "IN" on your grade report initially but when you complete the course the next semester (or whenever), they update it by replacing the "IN" with the grade you get. So the "IN" is just temporary and never stays there permanently.

 

[alamo4]

It depends on your school, but AMCAS seems to ignore them completely. They ignore pass, withdraw, and incompletes as far as I can tell. Doesn't go into your GPA or even show up.

At some schools though they can auto convert to failures after a certain time period.

Med schools may request their own transcript copy directly, but many don't seem to, and mine only did after I was accepted so they could file it.

 

[whatever5]

I did that once - it showed up as "inc" until I completed it and then the grade was changed to "A". No mention of the earlier incomplete on my transcript.

 

[Jepstein30]

It depends on your school, but AMCAS seems to ignore them completely. They ignore pass, withdraw, and incompletes as far as I can tell. Doesn't go into your GPA or even show up.

At some schools though they can auto convert to failures after a certain time period.

Med schools may request their own transcript copy directly, but many don't seem to, and mine only did after I was accepted so they could file it.

This is not true.

Schools don't just see the reported GPAs, they are also given a list of the courses you entered into AMCAS (verified by your transcript). They will also see the number of credits you took pass/fail, for AP credit, etc. in the table with the GPA breakdown. So schools will see courses you have incompletes in or withdrew from. Whether they care or not is another question and that likely varies by school and situation.

Many schools also ask questions on their secondaries regarding situations like these (either specifically asking if a student has an incomplete grade or more generally providing space for a student to explain why they have an incomplete). I doubt its looked at as a universal negative as long as there is a good reason behind it (i.e. have to take the final in the fall because of XYZ).

Also, medical schools won't request their own transcript unless you are accepted. They use AMCAS.. that's what its there for.

If you aren't applying this cycle, don't worry about it at all. It will be replaced by the grade when it is available and AMCAS/schools will never know the difference. If you are applying this cycle, be prepared to explain it on secondaries. It shouldn't be a major issue either way.

 

[alamo4]

Schools don't just see the reported GPAs, they are also given a list of the courses you entered into AMCAS (verified by your transcript). They will also see the number of credits you took pass/fail, for AP credit, etc. in the table with the GPA breakdown. So schools will see courses you have incompletes in or withdrew from. Whether they care or not is another question and that likely varies by school and situation.

Sorry about that.

I'm looking at my AMCAS app from a few years ago now. They have columns for sem hours, transcript grade, and AMCAS grade. They don't assign any grade to a pass, incomplete, audit or withdraw. They are listed without AMCAS letter grade, and do not effect your GPA computations.

Actually, more specifically an incomplete gets listed an N, a pass/satisfactory/etc gets a P, but an audit or withdrawal are just completely blank. So I was wrong, they are listed, just not used for computation.

Also, just FYI, an A+ just gets turned into an A, and AP scores seem to just get the credit hours your undergrad gave to your score, without grade like a pass, so it kind of depends on how your undergrad treats AP, which is a little weird.

Then they have a table where they break out your GPA both for BCPM (core science and math), all others, and overall by year...AP, then freshman/sophomore/junior/senior years and totals for each of these. Postbac gets included before undergrad cumulative, and then any grad work is all on one line.

 

[Jepstein30]

Sorry about that.

I'm looking at my AMCAS app from a few years ago now. They have columns for sem hours, transcript grade, and AMCAS grade. They don't assign any grade to a pass, incomplete, audit or withdraw. They are listed without AMCAS letter grade, and do not effect your GPA computations.

Actually, more specifically an incomplete gets listed an N, a pass/satisfactory/etc gets a P, but an audit or withdrawal are just completely blank. So I was wrong, they are listed, just not used for computation.

Also, just FYI, an A+ just gets turned into an A, and AP scores seem to just get the credit hours your undergrad gave to your score, without grade like a pass, so it kind of depends on how your undergrad treats AP, which is a little weird.

Then they have a table where they break out your GPA both for BCPM (core science and math), all others, and overall by year...AP, then freshman/sophomore/junior/senior years and totals for each of these. Postbac gets included before undergrad cumulative, and then any grad work is all on one line.

I think incompletes are now listed as "INC" or "I" but yea, they don't get calculated in GPA just like passes/withdrawals. I think its important to note though that schools will still be able to figure out one occurred if they look hard enough.

otherwise, great info on everything else.. should be required reading before filling out AMCAS because i'm sure it would answer many questions/issues.

I had thought though that postbac work just gets grouped into "senior year" but I can't confirm that myself.

 

[alamo4]

I had thought though that postbac work just gets grouped into "senior year" but I can't confirm that myself.

Nope it gets its own line, at least on mine, and I didn't even do postbac.

The table row names go along the left. The status is by standing, not necessarily by actual years (i.e. when you became a sophomore is by units):

High School
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Postbaccalaureate Undergraduate
Cumulative Undergraduate
Graduate

Then across the top the major columns are BCPM (biology, chem, physics, and math, I think), AO (all others I assume), and Total, with GPA/Hours under each of those headings.

Then there is an additional line for total hours of Pass/Fail and AP and random stuff listed again.

Then comes your MCAT, and then other tests (GRE, LSAT, etc., but I think these later ones are optional to include).

 

[Jepstein30]

Nope it gets its own line, at least on mine, and I didn't even do postbac.

The table row names go along the left. The status is by standing, not necessarily by actual years (i.e. when you became a sophomore is by units):

High School
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Postbaccalaureate Undergraduate
Cumulative Undergraduate
Graduate

Then across the top the major columns are BCPM (biology, chem, physics, and math, I think), AO (all others I assume), and Total, with GPA/Hours under each of those headings.

Then there is an additional line for total hours of Pass/Fail and AP and random stuff listed again.

Then comes your MCAT, and then other tests (GRE, LSAT, etc., but I think these later ones are optional to include).

I just pulled up my AMCAS and can confirm all of this. Additionally, there is a box on the table for "Other" which I think would show the amount of incompletes, etc. but I can't be sure.

AO = all others

and yea, GRE/LSAT/etc. are optional.. did you really take all of those? that's a lot of testing haha!

 

[alamo4]

As an additional aside and for what it's worth, they never compute a school specific GPA, so if your schooling is split up across degrees/years it doesn't really get calculated differently.

In your grade/transcript table, the school name is on the far left, then all the other stuff, like year taken, the point in your career (Q2 of Junior or whatever), etc.

There is a table that lists schools attended, dates, program, degree and degree conferral, but those are just listed in a separate table.

I don't know in what situation this would matter, and someone could always calculate it, but it isn't already computed.

 

[alamo4]

Additionally, there is a box on the table for "Other" which I think would show the amount of incompletes, etc. but I can't be sure.

Nope, my Other is empty, so I don't know what goes in there. Maybe some of those sort of quasi-classes you can get credit for, like specific military training or something. Maybe quasi isn't the right word, but I think there are categories of things on transcripts which are possible, such as getting credit for specific experiences. These might go in Other. Although, admittedly it is a mystery to me. I was thinking my transcript was as complicated as they got.

 

[alamo4]

Then comes your MCAT, and then other tests (GRE, LSAT, etc., but I think these later ones are optional to include).

Not the LSAT, but I was just using that as an example.

 

[featherdelights]

I took an incomplete once, at my school they list it as "IN" on your grade report initially but when you complete the course the next semester (or whenever), they update it by replacing the "IN" with the grade you get. So the "IN" is just temporary and never stays there permanently.

On AMCAS did it show up us incomplete with the letter grade next to it?

 

[sharkbyte]

On AMCAS did it show up us incomplete with the letter grade next to it?

Nope. The transcript shows the final grade I earned. The IN will never show up if you end up eventually completing the course. The IN just showed up temporarily on my school's grade report and then the school went back and replaced it after I completed my final the following semester.