Advice on Starting Over

[kristieb1]

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When I was 17 to 21 years old I attended two different community colleges. I qualified for a tuition waiver based on my mother's low income. Since I wasn't using my own money for school I didn't take school seriously. I proceeded to sign up for classes and drop them, over and over again (with many "W"s on my record). Sometimes I "forgot" to drop them and received "F"s.

Since then, I attended a for-profit vocational school (yes I know, the classes won't transfer, and I won't be able to get into any grad programs because the school isn't regionally accredited - I was naive when I enrolled and didn't know any of that) but I will be receiving my bachelors degree in Health Care Administration in a few months. Yay! I have a 3.7 GPA at the moment. I managed that while working off and on, being married, pregnant and giving birth to my daughter, taking care of older relatives etc.

Attending this school has given me direction, self confidence and determination (even though it's a for-profit, money hungry vocational school lol). Perhaps having to pay for it myself had something to do with my change in attitude as well? lol

Now I want to attend a "real" college - basically one of my state's public universities. I feel like I can nail my classes. I have my priorities straight. I'm motivated. I have people to do this for, (husband, daughter) as well as myself. I made a schedule that will allow me graduate in 3 years (while attending every summer - but I'm used to that because my current school is year-round).

So, with my current 3.7 GPA, and an imaginary future GPA of 4.0 at the new state school, the highest I can have for my cGPA when you include my horrible grades from the past is a 3.245!! 😳

I'm sure my upward trend (and future upward trend lol) would be obvious. But is it enough to get accepted? Should I not even think MD? Should I think DO?

In a perfect world, where I would get perfect future grades, I would want to attend University of Utah, (since I'm a Utah resident).

Advice?

ETA: I'd be earning a second bachelors degree - a B.S. in Zoology. Not just taking pre-reqs.

ETA2: I screwed up in my initial cGPA calculation. My post was basically unnecessary, other than allowing me to catch my calculation errors! cGPA could be in the 3.62 to 3.66 range.

 

[Morsetlis]

If you can retake classes, DO schools do grade replacement. MD schools do an average of the classes.

If you can't retake classes, get >3.0 GPA and do really well in an SMP or post-bacc.

Otherwise, Caribbeans.

3.25 cGPA is pretty bad. I know you'd have a great upward trend, but... I'm not sure it's enough.

 

[kristieb1]

If you can retake classes, DO schools do grade replacement. MD schools do an average of the classes.

If you can't retake classes, get >3.0 GPA and do really well in an SMP or post-bacc.

Otherwise, Caribbeans.

3.25 cGPA is pretty bad. I know you'd have a great upward trend, but... I'm not sure it's enough.

If the courses were offered online I could potentially do that. The 2 CCs are in CA and I live in UT now. They were just general ed type of classes. Could be online. I'll look into that.

ETA: Arrrgh. None of the classes I'd need to retake are offered online. Not during fall, spring or summer. Budget cuts to California CCs might have something to do with it. Seems they have reduced the number of sections dramatically for all their class offerings.


Question: If I take the same class at another institution would I still get to do a grade replacement? One of the classes I "forgot to drop" is "Intro to Government" which is a pretty common class.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

It sounds like you have a tough fight ahead. I really don't know if the for-profit institution's GPA will count when you apply for med school, but I do know that for-profit institutions are not looked upon highly by the academic world.

You might have an interesting story, and interesting stories attract adcoms. Assuming you can keep the GPA up, I think your chances are alright. Don't worry about your future title (MD, DO, etc.) right now, just focus on getting the grades and eventually becoming Dr. kristieb1.

 

[kristieb1]

You know what, I think I need to learn how to use Excel properly. I might have added this crap up wrong. The cGPA might come out higher if I do this calculation the correct way. I'm just not very Excel savvy lol.

The number of bad units is very small compared to the number of excellent units. So I think I weighted everything completely wrong. I probably don't have to worry too much about the past. It's going to take me awhile to input this stuff but I'm going to figure out what my real cGPA would be.

 

[Morsetlis]

I'm not sure private school GPA would even be counted for the AMCAS.

 

[kristieb1]

I've wondered that as well. I mean, they say to disclose EVERYTHING. Every class taken for college credit. So I would disclose it of course.

Ok, I added it up the right way. Including the crappy GPA, the vocational school GPA, and the perfect GPA (for all classes needed for a B.S. in Zoology) I could get a 3.66 cGPA. Even if you didn't count the vocational credits it would be close to the same (hmm, I believe 3.62).

I feel much better now. I love Excel. 😀 Now I have hope!

 

[JLknights61]

"If I take the same class at another institution would I still get to do a grade replacement? One of the classes I "forgot to drop" is "Intro to Government" which is a pretty common class."

Yes you should not have to retake it at the same institution any retake should qualify for grade replacement, but again this is only how DO schools calculate GPA not MD schools.

 

[searun]

Your grades from a "for profit" vocational school that is not accredited will not help you. I doubt that these grades will even be considered in calculating your gpa for AMCAS purposes. Otherwise, marginal students would flock to vocational schools for a gpa boost. Bottom line is that your performance at the vocational school is probably irrelevant.

 

[kristieb1]

Your grades from a "for profit" vocational school that is not accredited will not help you. I doubt that these grades will even be considered in calculating your gpa for AMCAS purposes. Otherwise, marginal students would flock to vocational schools for a gpa boost. Bottom line is that your performance at the vocational school is probably irrelevant.

But don't I still have to disclose it? Will it say on the online form, "Don't include classes from non-regionally accredited institutions in the GPA calculation"?

 

[searun]

But don't I still have to disclose it? Will it say on the online form, "Don't include classes from non-regionally accredited institutions in the GPA calculation"?

I would contact AMCAS and inquire. But even if you have to disclose your record at the vocational school, I am quite certain that your grades from vocational school will not be factored into the calculation of your AMCAS gpa. These grades are not equivalent to grades received at an accredited college, community college, or university.

Otherwise, every marginal candidate would be enrolling in "Shirley's School for Secretarial Training" for a gpa boost.

 

[Catalystik]

I am under the impression that all grades earned are included in your application GPA calculation. Here is an exerpt from the AMCAS instruction manual. it says nothing about whether a school is accredited or not.​

Transcript Requirements
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​

One official transcript is required from each U.S., U.S. Territorial, or
Canadian post-secondary institution at which you have attempted
course work, regardless of whether credit was earned. This includes
but is not limited to:​



College-level courses attempted while in high school, even if

they did not count toward a degree at any college.
 ​

​

Colleges at which you originally attempted a course, even if

transfer credit was subsequently accepted by another school.
 ​

​

Colleges where you registered but did not earn any credit (e.g.,

incompletes, withdrawals, failures, audits, etc.).
 ​

​

Courses that did not count toward a degree, regardless of

whether credit was earned or transferred.
 ​

​

Extension programs through which you attempted courses, if a

separate transcript is provided by the Extension Division.
 ​

​

Correspondence and home study programs.

 ​

​

Military education.

 ​

​

American schools overseas.

 ​

​

U.S., U.S. Territorial, and Canadian [FONT=Verdana+Italic0]medical .schools.

Note also that some universities issue separate transcripts for
undergraduate and graduate course work. Please be certain to
request an English language transcript from the registrar whenever
possible.

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/amcas2009instructionmanual072808.pdf​

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