Grade Replacement?

[DRAD1S]

Greetings SDN'rs!

I'm beginning to take my last year of science pre-reqs and was hoping some of you might be able to provide me some insight. My Stats:

Undergrad GPA: 3.4
Science GPA (currently): 3.7

I did a retake of a couple classes in my undergrad and when I reviewed my official final transcript it doesn't show my previous grade, but rather, just an R where the grade was replaced. When I talked to the registrar's office at my school they stated they overwrite the previous grade (have not spoken directly to the registrar (him/her)self)... the implication being they don't have my previous grade.

My objective is MD (I'm looking into SMP's since my GPA is rather low) but does anyone have insight into how grades showing as R are calculated into overall GPA?

Thanks!

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[DrMidlife]

Your school gets exactly no vote on GPA calculations for med school. Your GPA will be calculated by the med school app service (AMCAS) after you enter your coursework line by line. AMCAS et al will pay exactly no attention to a GPA that shows up on a transcript or a school's repeat policy.

Retakes are not forgiven for MD school GPA calcs. DO schools do forgive the retake in GPA calcs but you still have to list the class.

Regardless, your GPA is not low (as reported) and you probably should not be looking at SMPs unless you're in California. Don't spend $50,000 to fix GPA when it's not broken. Put your time & money & sweat into the MCAT before you start looking at SMPs.

Best of luck to you.

 

[SN12357]

Your school gets exactly no vote on GPA calculations for med school. Your GPA will be calculated by the med school app service (AMCAS) after you enter your coursework line by line. AMCAS et al will pay exactly no attention to a GPA that shows up on a transcript or a school's repeat policy.

Retakes are not forgiven for MD school GPA calcs. DO schools do forgive the retake in GPA calcs but you still have to list the class.

Regardless, your GPA is not low (as reported) and you probably should not be looking at SMPs unless you're in California. Don't spend $50,000 to fix GPA when it's not broken. Put your time & money & sweat into the MCAT before you start looking at SMPs.

Best of luck to you.

While this is all true, I'm not sure this exactly answers her question. If the grade doesn't even appear on her official transcript, then AMCAS can't verify the first set of grades in the class. Might this not cause potential problems in her verification process? The rules on AMCAS are to enter grades exactly as they appear on the transcript. If she enters 'R', what's going to happen?

OP I think you should call AMCAS and ask how they will handle this/what you should do.

 

[wholeheartedly]

If his transcript doesn't show the previous grade how does the AMCAS verification work. I mean he could put down that his initial grade was a C when it was actually an F. Or what if someone took a bunch of classes 10 years ago and can't remember all of their grades. I wonder if this would hang up the verification process?

OP, DRMidlife is right in that AMCAS won't do grade replacement, regardless of what you school does. You'll need to report your initial grade and your retake. But you might want to call AMCAS and see if you're going to run into trouble with getting your app verified without that initial score listed on your transcript.

Your school gets exactly no vote on GPA calculations for med school. Your GPA will be calculated by the med school app service (AMCAS) after you enter your coursework line by line. AMCAS et al will pay exactly no attention to a GPA that shows up on a transcript or a school's repeat policy..

 

[DrMidlife]

If the grade doesn't even appear on her official transcript, then AMCAS can't verify the first set of grades in the class.

As I understand it, colleges with legitimate accreditation aren't allowed to do this. Good to catch it early so it can be figured out.

 

[DRAD1S]

Thanks all for the feedback! I'll give them a call and see if I can get any further insight and try to get directly in touch with the registrar to see what data they have available. (Can't imagine that grades would just be overwritten...) Once again, thanks!