AMCAS GPA - how does a W grade caculate?

[Kate6058]

Hi, everyone. I'm a non-trad trying to familiarize myself with the AMCAS process to prep for when I apply in a year. On the SDN forums I found an Excel program someone has created to mirror the AMCAS GPA calculator, and I'm concerned about how a W is calculated. On my college transcript the W is recorded but no credit hours or grade or honors points are counted toward in my overall numbers. The only sign of the class is that it's actually printed on my transcript with a W next to it and that the class was 4.0 credit hours. However, on this GPA calculator you're required to
enter the credit hours listed on the transcript and then it calculates 0.0 as a grade for it, bringing my GPA down significantly. It calculates 3 running GPAs: Overall GPA (GPA with W hours), BCMP GPA, and Other (my higher GPA without the W factored in as counting credit hours). Does anyone know if this is how it works on the real AMCAS?

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[riceman04]

Hi, everyone. I'm a non-trad trying to familiarize myself with the AMCAS process to prep for when I apply in a year. On the SDN forums I found an Excel program someone has created to mirror the AMCAS GPA calculator, and I'm concerned about how a W is calculated. On my college transcript the W is recorded but no credit hours or grade or honors points are counted toward in my overall numbers. The only sign of the class is that it's actually printed on my transcript with a W next to it and that the class was 4.0 credit hours. However, on this GPA calculator you're required to
enter the credit hours listed on the transcript and then it calculates 0.0 as a grade for it, bringing my GPA down significantly. It calculates 3 running GPAs: Overall GPA (GPA with W hours), BCMP GPA, and Other (my higher GPA without the W factored in as counting credit hours). Does anyone know if this is how it works on the real AMCAS?

AMCAS does not count W's in your GPA

 

[Kate6058]

Well good, that's what I thought. I haven't looked at the real AMCAS yet so I didn't know how accurate this thing was. Do the adcoms see your overall GPA and BCMP separately or is there some kind of final average they consider? For example, in a school's or applicant's stats, is the GPA they display always the cumulative GPA? I'm curious because in my case my BCMP GPA is a lot higher than my cumulative GPA (with post bac work), and I don't know how this is taken into consideration.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

On those spreadsheets, only include coursework that has a grade. Just leave out the Withdrawal, Incomplete, etc. grades.

Adcoms will notice if you have too many W's, and may question you as to why this is the case. If it shows a pattern of withdrawing and re-taking a lot of classes in pre-requisite coursework, that might be a big problem for Adcoms. If it's just a few, no sweat.

 

[postbacker]

On those spreadsheets, only include coursework that has a grade. Just leave out the Withdrawal, Incomplete, etc. grades.

Adcoms will notice if you have too many W's, and may question you as to why this is the case. If it shows a pattern of withdrawing and re-taking a lot of classes in pre-requisite coursework, that might be a big problem for Adcoms. If it's just a few, no sweat.

Ummm, is this good advice? I haven't done the AMCAS myself, but this sounds contrary to the instructions as I know them...

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Ummm, is this good advice? I haven't done the AMCAS myself, but this sounds contrary to the instructions as I know them...

Just leave them out on those spreadsheets that calculate your estimated AMCAS GPA (I made one of them). DO NOT LEAVE THEM OFF THE OFFICIAL AMCAS, if that was what you were thinking.

 

[postbacker]

Just leave them out on those spreadsheets that calculate your estimated AMCAS GPA (I made one of them). DO NOT LEAVE THEM OFF THE OFFICIAL AMCAS, if that was what you were thinking.

Gotcha...early, need coffee...