AMCAS grades, 3-year plan?

[bujji13]

Hello to all,

From the posts I've been reading, you guys seem much more knowledgable (and friendly) than my pre-med advisor, so I thought I might ask you all two nagging questions:

1) How do transcript grades convert to AMCAS grades? From what I've heard, science plus grades are converted to intermediate grades (B+ = AB) and all pluses/minuses are dropped from nonscience grades. Is this correct?

2)I am considering graduating from undergrad in three years. Despite a strong record (at least I hope so) from a "well-known" school, my advisor has told me that early graduation will basically eliminate my chances from attending a top tier med school and hurt my chances in general, despite the fact that I am considering programs such as Americorps, Peace Corps, and Teach For America (the latter are two-year programs) in my time off. Should I listen to my advisor or ignore her? I really want to save a years tuition (it is too expensive here)and do something non-academic that I've been dreaming of doing but I also don't want to hurt my chances of acceptance.

Thanks for the input guys

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[sandflea]

•Hello to all,

From the posts I've been reading, you guys seem much more knowledgable (and friendly) than my pre-med advisor, so I thought I might ask you all two nagging questions:

1) How do transcript grades convert to AMCAS grades? From what I've heard, science plus grades are converted to intermediate grades (B+ = AB) and all pluses/minuses are dropped from nonscience grades. Is this correct?•

no, actually pluses and minuses count for ALL grades, not just science, and nothing is converted to intermediate grades. so a b+ in a science class will count as a b+ (3.3 on the AMCAS GPA scale) and a b+ in a philosophy class will count the same.

•2)I am considering graduating from undergrad in three years. Despite a strong record (at least I hope so) from a "well-known" school, my advisor has told me that early graduation will basically eliminate my chances from attending a top tier med school and hurt my chances in general, despite the fact that I am considering programs such as Americorps, Peace Corps, and Teach For America (the latter are two-year programs) in my time off. Should I listen to my advisor or ignore her? I really want to save a years tuition (it is too expensive here)and do something non-academic that I've been dreaming of doing but I also don't want to hurt my chances of acceptance. •

there's no question here: if you've been dreaming of doing it, then you should go for it. once you start med school you probably won't have the time to go back and do these kinds of things. besides, something service-oriented like what you're thinking of doing would only help to ENHANCE your app, not hurt it. alternatively you could also apply to med school and defer a year once you're accepted to pursue these other things--but not every school will let you defer, i believe, so you would need to look into that. plus that would only apply to programs that are one year in duration.

good luck.