AACOMAS Grade Replacement Policy - take action!!!

[nich11]

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If anyone wants to send out emails or start a new petition (I have seen that some refuse to sign the current one due to lack of structure and clarity), you are welcome to copy what is written below. HOWEVER, I strongly encourage you to use it as a template and change it - rather than copy/paste.

Dear Reader,

If possible, please forward this text to the governing board or persons of influence.

Our call for postponing this new policy is due to the notice being too abrupt.
Below are some points that will hopefully serve as a summary to you:
-Students have invested thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars repeating courses under the clear expectation that they would be competitive candidates.
-Any change to the policy should be given at least one year in advance if not two.
-Changes in policy without notice put unreasonable economic hardship on students reasonable expectations.
-Students must be given reasonable time to plan, and many are signed up for retakes that start this month and have no time to register or apply for programs that make more sense if retakes are averaged.
-The strength of AACOMAS and DO schools is their acceptance of non-traditional students. Students who have learned from mistakes and failure. Students who have proven their commitment and ability to adapt. Don't take that away. Don't try to become the allopathic schools because you simply can't become them and you shouldn't want to anyway.

These are human lives you are affecting. Human lives that you are harming. Human lives that you are destroying.
All we ask for is that you postpone the change, give us the fair time we deserve.

I apologize if it is not written well, I am just very heart broken right now.
If the boards do not listen to humanitarian reasons or morality, please remember that the money of many applicants will be lost (now and in the future).

 

[nich11]

This is a link to the current petition (made by someone else):
https://www.change.org/p/dr-stephen-c-shannon-change-aacomas-new-policy-on-repeat-coursework


I should also mention that @DiveShallow created most of those bulletpoints. I, admittedly, did not ask for permission (and will change this post ASAP if asked to do so), but seeing that he encouraged readers to take action I assumed it would be okay.

 

[Nietzsche's Barber]

I would remove the tidbit about wanting to become like allopathic schools (that is a blatant insult towards your organization) as well as the section about human lives being destroyed (it is important to keep perspective). Also, you may want to get rid of the phrase "we deserve".

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

I would remove the tidbit about wanting to become like allopathic schools (that is a blatant insult towards your organization) as well as the section about human lives being destroyed (it is important to keep perspective). Also, you may want to get rid of the phrase "we deserve".

No kidding. Pretty insulting to practically say "you're MD wannabes" and looking entitled. Destroying lives also sounds like an immature assessment to what destroying lives actually is.

 

[impervious0ne]

I am very disappointed in the new policy... but destroying lives? Come on. Have some perspective.

 

[McRibs]

I seriously doubt any number of online petitions are going to postpone or remove this policy.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

I like the policy.

 

[Alienman52]

If anyone wants to send out emails or start a new petition (I have seen that some refuse to sign the current one due to lack of structure and clarity), you are welcome to copy what is written below. HOWEVER, I strongly encourage you to use it as a template and change it - rather than copy/paste.

Dear Reader,

If possible, please forward this text to the governing board or persons of influence.

Our call for postponing this new policy is due to the notice being too abrupt.
Below are some points that will hopefully serve as a summary to you:
-Students have invested thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars repeating courses under the clear expectation that they would be competitive candidates.
-Any change to the policy should be given at least one year in advance if not two.
-Changes in policy without notice put unreasonable economic hardship on students reasonable expectations.
-Students must be given reasonable time to plan, and many are signed up for retakes that start this month and have no time to register or apply for programs that make more sense if retakes are averaged.
-The strength of AACOMAS and DO schools is their acceptance of non-traditional students. Students who have learned from mistakes and failure. Students who have proven their commitment and ability to adapt. Don't take that away. Don't try to become the allopathic schools because you simply can't become them and you shouldn't want to anyway.

These are human lives you are affecting. Human lives that you are harming. Human lives that you are destroying.
All we ask for is that you postpone the change, give us the fair time we deserve.

I apologize if it is not written well, I am just very heart broken right now.
If the boards do not listen to humanitarian reasons or morality, please remember that the money of many applicants will be lost (now and in the future).

Although I really do support the sentiment of notice before the policy went into effect, this is still pretty poorly written, and even with a really well written petition, I doubt AACOM will change the policy. Like I said however, I do support your principle of speaking out over something that was blatantly unfair. Wishing you the best of luck OP.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[roaringunicorn]

Good luck speaking out against the policy, getting your IP tracked, and then getting denied to DO school because youre on *the list*

 

[crazyboi1993]

I honestly see nothing wrong with the new policy. Medical school admissions is getting tougher, and in my opinion its fair to make standards similar to MD.

 

[ciestar]

I honestly see nothing wrong with the new policy. Medical school admissions is getting tougher, and in my opinion its fair to make standards similar to MD.

I also agree. Grade replacement shouldn't exist, but the real issue here is that they provided no notice that they were implementing it, which they should have. Many applicants spend a lot of time and money retaking classes. Does it help the gpa a little? Yes. But they likely would have taken a different course of action had they known. Just my $.02.

 

[Alienman52]

Good luck speaking out against the policy, getting your IP tracked, and then getting denied to DO school because youre on *the list*

I mean as funny as this comment is, that wouldn't happen.

I honestly see nothing wrong with the new policy. Medical school admissions is getting tougher, and in my opinion its fair to make standards similar to MD.

There isn't anything wrong with the policy, there is something wrong with not giving notice to people who have given years and thousands of dollars to improving their GPA through grade replacement only to have the rug pulled out under them.

I also agree. Grade replacement shouldn't exist, but the real issue here is that they provided no notice that they were implementing it, which they should have. Many applicants spend a lot of time and money retaking classes. Does it help the gpa a little? Yes. But they likely would have taken a different course of action had they known. Just my $.02.

Yes ^

 

[BucketDoctor]

I don't disagree with the grade replacement policy ending. I do disagree with the way it was implemented with no advance warning. If people would of known this was going to happen, they would of applied to SMPs or maybe just take upper division science classes instead of retaking classes they did poorly on. Just my 2 cents.

 

[crazyboi1993]

I also agree. Grade replacement shouldn't exist, but the real issue here is that they provided no notice that they were implementing it, which they should have. Many applicants spend a lot of time and money retaking classes. Does it help the gpa a little? Yes. But they likely would have taken a different course of action had they known. Just my $.02.

I agree with you that its so messed up for them to do that, like they should have given one year notice or something, it sucks for people who spent a year doing retakes. I personally never did retakes and currently am at a DO school, but I do understand!

 

[McRibs]

If people would of known this was going to happen, they would of applied to SMPs or maybe just take upper division science classes instead of retaking classes they did poorly on. Just my 2 cents.

I've been negatively affected by this policy change and this is exactly the problem. Given the correct information from the get-go, I would be much closer to the finish line. While 2.5 years of part-time credits under the pretense of grade replacement wasn't a waste of my time, it certainty wasn't the best use of my time either. At least I get a gold star for an upward trend.