2 months versus .12 GPA points

Started by DrDre2001
Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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DrDre2001

DrDre2001

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SDN, help me decide here:

I have two choices:

Apply in May with a 3.12 cGPA, 3.2 sGPA, 32 MCAT, and average EC's

or:

Apply in early August, after retaking a very easy Art class that I got an F in, which would raise my cGPA to a 3.24



(I can't retake this art class this spring semester, the class is only offered to me in the summer)
 
DrDre2001 said:
SDN, help me decide here:

I have two choices:

Apply in May with a 3.12 cGPA, 3.2 sGPA, 32 MCAT, and average EC's

or:

Apply in early August, after retaking a very easy Art class that I got an F in, which would raise my cGPA to a 3.24



(I can't retake this art class this spring semester, the class is only offered to me in the summer)
Click to expand...

I'd fill out the primary now don't submit it yet. Have your LOR's, and everything else at the ready for early August application. Then once you've got the new grade, bombard them with everything you have!!

IMHO, it's much better to have the F fixed on your application than to have it sitting there looking ad-coms in the face, unaddressed.

Make sure you apply to a lot of schools (10 or more) to hedge your bets, but I'd wager you'll get multiple interviews / acceptances as long as you don't go to the interview wearing a ski mask and speaking in tongues. Good luck! :luck:
 
Apply now and update later, especially because it's an art class. Your GPA + MCAT will get you bites, and updating with anything only helps during those stagnant phases in the app cycle.
 
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Are you sure an A will raise your GPA by .1? Maybe you have less than 100 credits. I have about 150+ credits and getting an A raises my GPA by .00001. 🙁 Anyways I have the same GPA and thought for a long time that a 3.2 would look better but I've come to the conclusion that there really is no difference betwee. 3.0-3.3. Just apply with what you have and hope the other parts of you app get you acceptances. 👍
 
The OP is over all published gpa cut offs...now schools that screen heavily before sending out secondaries (Western comes to mind) you may want to add them after the retake.

I like drugs, their gpa is going to increase so much b/c they are replacing an F with an A (hopefully)...so it really affects their gpa...if they were just taking an additional class and got an A, I seriously doubt their gpa would go up .1.
 
beckhunter116 said:
The OP is over all published gpa cut offs...now schools that screen heavily before sending out secondaries (Western comes to mind) you may want to add them after the retake.

I like drugs, their gpa is going to increase so much b/c they are replacing an F with an A (hopefully)...so it really affects their gpa...if they were just taking an additional class and got an A, I seriously doubt their gpa would go up .1.
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Yeah, you're right. I keep on forgetting that Fs and Ds aren't calculated into the GPA for DO schools. 😍
 
ILikeDrugs said:
Yeah, you're right. I keep on forgetting that Fs and Ds aren't calculated into the GPA for DO schools. 😍
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Well they are counted if you don't retake them. I have one D...it's not a science class, and since I have recently moved out of state I'm not going to retake anything since I don't qualify for instate tuition to the state I moved to. My gpa is higher than the OP's and it happened in my 1st semester at college so I'm not really worried about it.

Edit: Admins will still see the F, so your gpa is better but it isn't erased.
 
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beckhunter116 said:
Well they are counted if you don't retake them. I have one D...it's not a science class, and since I have recently moved out of state I'm not going to retake anything since I don't qualify for instate tuition to the state I moved to. My gpa is higher than the OP's and it happened in my 1st semester at college so I'm not really worried about it.

Edit: Admins will still see the F, so your gpa is better but it isn't erased.
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Yeah, that's what I meant -- not counted if retaken. I had an F in economics and D in trig way back when so I'm not worried about them either.
 
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you guys are making me feel better. i have an ugly D on my transcript from first semester sophomore year in Calc II... there is pretty much no way in hell i'm retaking that class.
 
Apply early and then update your application. You will be in a better position by applying early, than if you were to wait to retake an art class!
 
beckhunter116 said:
Cool. I'm going to apply to mostly DO, I'm debating about MD schools. Have you already taken the MCAT? I have, but I know I can do better than what I got so April or May I'm retaking.
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I'll be taking the MCAT in mid July. Hopefully everything will be verified and sent to the schools by August. It's not as early as I would want it to be but I think I should be ok.
 
Thanks to everyone who responded.

I guess I will indeed send in everything in May, and mark it down that I will be retaking that art class. Then, when I get the grade for the art class (hopefully an A or atleast a B), I will "update" my application. I did not really know about this "updating", so thank you very much to those who mentioned it.



Also, in the timespan between May and August, I have an opportunity to keep volunteering at my local hospital (for 5 hours a week), so I can accumulate ~50 hours more of clinical volunteering. Can I also "update" my application in August with this?
 
Bumping this old thread. With new information (my Art class that I will be retaking ends September 10, not in early August as I was previously hoping for)


I now have two choices:

1. Apply to all my desired DO schools now with a 3.11 cGPA, 3.2 sGPA, 32 MCAT, and average EC's

or:

2. Apply to only some of my desired DO schools now.

And apply to the rest in Mid-September, after retaking a very easy Art class that I got an F in, which would raise my cGPA to a 3.22 (assuming I get atleast a B+ in the Art class the second time)



After working through the actual application and seeing how I can list a future attempt in the "Colleges and Coursework" section, it seems that it will be hard for any DO school to not notice that I am retaking the class. Thus, I am leading towards option 1 above...as I believe my DO schools will realize I am retaking that F, and then the will basically mentally calculate my GPA to be a 3.2 or so, as they know that it will eventually be a 3.2 after I get done retaking the Art class.

Your thoughts?

Thanks.
 
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