AMCAS Really Wants High School Classes?

[Premed2003]

Ok, so AMCAS wants high school classes? I took an art class at a community college after freshman year in HIGH SCHOOL. I got an A, but do they really want this class on the application? I almost forgot about it too, it was so long ago. Would they have found out anyway?

That's scary. If people forget they actually took a college class in high school, do they find out and automatically reject you?

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[Epi]

Yup, its true that they want those kinds of classes. It was a college so you have to include it, i mean you dont want to do anything that might screw up your application. if you can, get the transcript from the school and send it in to amcas asap.. anybody else have any suggestions?

 

[deva]

I took about 50 college credits when I was in high school - in three different colleges. Yes, I had to put every single course into AMCAS. Definitely send transcripts from every school. I know it is a huge hassle, especially when you can't even remember your student id or the names of the courses. AMCAS requires it, though, so put it down.

Having said that... if you had one college course and forgot to put it in, I really doubt that they would automatically reject you. You could still get in. But it is like when employers find mistakes on your resume - it doesn't automatically mean you won't get the job, but it doesn't look good, either. You could look irresponsible if you don't submit all of your coursework to AMCAS.

 

[Premed2003]

Oh no. I just remembered something else. One of the classes I took as a senior in high school was considered AP/college credit through state university. No one took the AP test because the school didn't recomend it--they figured we didn't learn enough to do well on AP. I don't know if I got college credit through the state university. I think it might have just been the curriculum of the state university. I didn't take any exams made by the university. it was just a normal high school class but I might have received college credit for just enrolling in the class? I don't remember what I got in the class either. It was Spanish with a very hard teacher. I don't remember what I got in the class, but either an A- or maybe even Yikes a B+. I know I didn't get an A. Do I need to find out if I got real college credit for this class? Either the A- or B+ would definitely bring down my GPA. I took intermediate Spanish in college.

What should I do?

Thank you.

 

[El Jefe]

If it never transferred over to actual units on your college transcript, the classes you took in high school don't matter. If you took an AP class, but not the AP test, I don't see how you could get college credit for it; you only get credit for passing AP test scores.

 

[Premed2003]

Thanks Jefe.

I'll just clarify in case you misunderstood. The class was considered "state university spanish." for class rank, the class counted as an AP weight class and was supposedly AP Spanish, but the teacher was so bad that no one would pass the AP test so no one took it. I think that might have been why they made an agreement with the state university so we could say we took college spanish even without the AP test? I'm not really sure. I have no idea, and I just remembered this while I was sitting in class taking notes. It popped into my head that uh oh, I hope that I don't have to put that high school/college? spanish on AMCAS. Panic!

 

[trout]

Technically it would be unethical to not put it since it does specifically say that all class taken for university credit must be listed. My high school didn't offer AP credits so I took many classes at my local CC however, they helped my GPA. The get added into the final undergrad average but they are in a seperate line for high school..

 

[Premed2003]

bumpity

 

[time quaker]

Whew! Good thing huh, Premed? With a B+ on your transcript, none of the adcoms would have touched you with a ten foot stick.

 

[Premed2003]

Quake, please don't be mean.

It would lower my GPA, and I don't even know if it was a college class. I want to know if it's necessary to find out. I don't even know who to contact--my high school? It just seems strange that high school classes have to be included. This was definitely a high school class, but I think it was a cooperation with the state university. Is that a college class, or just a cooperation? It might have given people who went to the state university a language credit that perhaps is needed for state university graduation? It did not count for my current university, where I had to take Spanish freshman year (my college requires 2 year equivalent of a language). I'm just not sure what to do... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

 

[Doctora Foxy]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Premed2003:
It did not count for my current university, where I had to take Spanish freshman year ••••premed2003, please stop worrying and just reread jefe's post. IF IT DID NOT APPEAR ON YOUR COLLEGE TRANSCRIPT AND U DID NOT RECEIVE CREDIT FOR IT IN COLLEGE, IT DOES NOT COUNT FOR AMCAS!!!

You can go ask your premed advisor to be sure, or you can go to <a href="http://www.aamc.org" target="_blank">www.aamc.org</a> to read it on the amcas website.

 

[mpp]

Don't know if I can help, but here is the official word from the AMCAS application:

•••quote:•••
List every post-secondary institution where you have enrolled for at least one course, even if credits have been transferred, no credits were earned, or you withdrew. ••••

 

[A1phaZer0]

If I used AP credit for college classes, do I have to include a high school transcript?

If I do, I am toast, I was a very sub-par high school student

Premed, if that B+ hurts your transcript a little, just think about my situation 3.7 undergrad, 3.56 BCMP, then I did a bunch of post-bacc classes scored 3 C's and 2 B's, now THATS murder on the transcript <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

 

[Doctora Foxy]

Thanks mpp, I stand corrected.

But, if no credits were earned from this high school course (which could be found on on his/her college transcript), then I doubt the grade will get transferred into the amcas gpa. What do you think?

For example, I have a PE class that was required, although doesn't count as credit hours. So I put in my S for satisfactory and that's it. They only look at the course list, but the grade doesn't get transferred in. I don't know about premed2003's situation, though.

 

[Premed2003]

Thanks so much everyone for trying to help. Does anyone know for sure what to do? Has anyone had a similar situation?

I took that art class in a community college in high school and I know that counts, and I would figure it does since I went to the class at the college and did get a transcript. I remember receiving my grade in the mail way back when...6 years ago! But this high school thing is baffling me b/c I don't know how it could be considered a college class, but what if AMCAS finds out I took this high school Spanish and it is in fact considered a college course? Would they find out, and if it were a college course, would I get in trouble? I don't think it's a college class, but what if it is? I'm so worried to do something wrong

 

[mpp]

Does the university have a transcript for this class? If they have a record that you took a class at their university then you are required to put it on the AMCAS application and send in a transcript. If the university does not have any record then do not put it on the application. Call admissions and records at the university to see if they have any record of you being a student there. It shouldn't take more than a two minute phone call.

 

[deva]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Premed2003:
•
But this high school thing is baffling me b/c I don't know how it could be considered a college class, but what if AMCAS finds out I took this high school Spanish and it is in fact considered a college course? •••••It really doesn't sound like it was a college course. Did you pay the state university tuition for that course? Did the course have college students or just high school students? If you didn't pay tuition and didn't receive a transcript, then it was not a college course. If you are really paranoid, do what mpp said and see if you are in the records. I wouldn't want an A- on my transcript either.

 

[Premed2003]

Thanks. They were all high school students and I didn't pay anything to the college b/c my high school was public. Okay good so it sounds like this is definitely not something to worry about.

Thank you so much you guys. You're the greatest!

 

[appomattox]

Also, can I just ask how AMCAS would find out about this class-not-class of yours, were you not to put it on?

They may be a two-bit monopoly extorting mass cash from freaked out college students, but they are not the CIA. This process is not The Panopticon. Illegitimi non carbonandum, as they say.

 

[kmnfive]

If you didnt take any college classes in high school, do you have to submit a high school transcript anyways?

 

[TTSD]

I just put AP courses as listed by my college transcript, as a pass and just inserted units. AMCAS seems to accept that.

 

[ewing]

Honestly people, I know doctors/med students who left all kinds of things off of their AMCASes. Like entire years of education. Nobody knows/cares as long as you show up with a normal transcript from a 4-year college. No one will be like "but wait, I googled you and found that you took a college-level cooking class in Bangkok."

I deliberately was very gentle on detail and coursework on my AMCAS since I want my essay and regular grades to be the center of attention, not various random crap that will just waste time at interviews.

On the same subject, if your parents have cool jobs (e.g. military intelligence, media executive), don't list them on applications. It will just distract interviewers from *you*; I have this one friend who was interviewed by a psychiatrist and all the guy wanted to talk about were his parents. I guess old habits die hard.

 

[TripleDegree]

I'm reactivating this thread, because I have the same question now....

If someone just took a class for a few *days* about 10-15 years ago, and then dropped it getting a grade of W - do you think AMCAS really cares that it should be included?

In any case, how would they find out? I agree with an earlier poster that you don't want to distract the interviewer with detail that is not germane to the overall application