amcas and UC santa cruz undergrad - AHHH

[KatieJune]

Did anyone go to UC Santa Cruz for undergrad? I'm so frustrated because even though I received grades for all the science classes I took there, amcas won't use them to calculate my amcas gpa? Does anyone know if this has to do with the fact that many students at UCSC only get narrative evaluations? The thing is I only went there one year and then transferred, but I got good grades there and want them included.

 

[Rumit]

I went to UCSC and didn't have any problems with grades. I think it may have to do with some confusion with your transfer. All I remember from last year was that I had to select what kind of grading system my school had and I chose grades + evals. No problems after that. However, if you want them to translate your evals into grades, I don't think that's possible.

Good luck,

Adam

 

[Emedpa]

I went to a no hgrade school but my situation is a little different. my gpa from college would be about 3.2 if you could change narratives to grades but my grad school work is all 4.0 so that will be the only gpa accepted. if you appeal individual grades you shouldn't have a problem. I have lots of friends in med school(mostly ucsf, ucla, uci) who went all the way through santa cruz without ever taking a class for grade option. it just means that people need to read the evals. would you really want to go somewhere that wouldn't take the time to read your transcript anyway? best of luck-e

 

[KatieJune]

I'm really worried because it never gives me a chance to say how the grading system works at UCSC and the grades I enter don't translate to amcas grades. And so my entire freshman year is recorded as supplemental hours. Also for some reason even though I have repeatedly entered 1998 for the spring of my freshman year, it keeps translating the spring semester to 1997 (but it keeps the winter quarter as 1998) I'm just worried the schools aren't going to get the right information about me. please help if you've had a similar experience. thanks

 

[Rumit]

Originally posted by emedpa
it just means that people need to read the evals. would you really want to go somewhere that wouldn't take the time to read your transcript anyway? best of luck-e
go slugs!!!!

Heh, it's funny that you say that, since according to the PI that I worked for, most of the people on the graduate admissions committee in biology at UCSC don't bother to read evals from UCSC applicants. I guess it just takes too long. Also, does AMCAS even send copies of the evals, since they aren't part of the electronic app?

Anyhow, at least SC finally got rid of the P/F and will probably drop narratives soon too.

As far as the OP's problem with semester getting renamed, I had the same problem. It's sort of a bug with AMCAS, and it's fine that it renames the semesters. Some kind of weird way they classify different semesters. I would definitely email or call AMCAS to ask them what to do about the grades not being entered correctly. But, I know there must be some way to do it, as I got it to work last year.

Good luck,

Adam

 

[nuclearrabbit77]

i didnt really have problems with my transcript at UCSC, although i came during a time when i could choose to have a letter grade. i'm not really sure about how schools interpret narrative evaluation from UCSC. I think that if you get a strong MCAT, that may get you through the first cuts and bring attention to your application (and an actual person to sort through the evals).
In general, i'd say getting narrative evals would be a disadvantage, but i've heard of people who've been successful without them. either way, it looks that only a part of your undergrad was done at UCSC, so the other years at different institutions will probably suffice to give some credibility to a GPA.
anyways, good luck!

go ucsc! (the most underrated UC, in my opinion)

Nuclearrabbit
Class of 2000 UCSC
Class of 2006 Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine