Art School GPA??

[BruceBanner]

This may or may not have been discussed before, but i could not find anything relevant using the search function.

I have a similar dillemma to many others here, with low grades early in life and an upward trend. I attended a CC at about age 17, got a C and a few W's. Several years later I went to a private art school, and graduated with a 3.14. Several years after that I went to another CC to get some basic transfer credits (art school creds have very limited transferability), and got a 3.24 over two semesters. I then transferred to a State U, where I have a 3.6 in my "junior" year (im 25), BCPM ~3.7.

I know the AMCAS averages all grades recieved for college courses, but my question is will all of these grades be lumped into one big UG GPA (which would not look great, to say the least), or will they be seen by adcoms as different phases in my college career? Im a little worried as to how its all going to average out. That fatherly advice is true--scholarly mistakes can haunt you for years... Thanks in advance for any advice or info.

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[LizzyM]

This may or may not have been discussed before, but i could not find anything relevant using the search function.

I have a similar dillemma to many others here, with low grades early in life and an upward trend. I attended a CC at about age 17, got a C and a few W's. Several years later I went to a private art school, and graduated with a 3.14. Several years after that I went to another CC to get some basic transfer credits (art school creds have very limited transferability), and got a 3.24 over two semesters. I then transferred to a State U, where I have a 3.6 in my "junior" year (im 25), BCPM ~3.7.

I know the AMCAS averages all grades recieved for college courses, but my question is will all of these grades be lumped into one big UG GPA (which would not look great, to say the least), or will they be seen by adcoms as different phases in my college career? Im a little worried as to how its all going to average out. That fatherly advice is true--scholarly mistakes can haunt you for years... Thanks in advance for any advice or info.

Your AMCAS is going to display grades in seven columns:
Academic year/BCPM gpa/BCPM credits/AO gpa/AO credits/total gpa/total credits

AO is "all other " (that is, not BCPM).

Each row is an academic year. If you take more than 4 years to finish the initial degree then everything after jr year gets lumped together IIRC into a giant senior gpa. Total undergrad gets its own row then grad school and post-bacc (each its own row)

In the section of the AAMC application where grades are shown, it is displayed with the school name, semester (S1, S2, SS for semester 1, semester 2, summer session, if I understand that correctly) course name, grade, & number of credits.

So, if an adcom member wants all the details, they'll be there.

 

[BruceBanner]

Awesome. Thanks for breaking that down, it makes alot more sense.

So what is the 'trump factor' here...is it overall, BCPM, most recent academic year, or do they all hold relatively equal value??

I know this a subjective question depending on the school and the individual, but I would think there would be some similar 'weed-out' factors when adcoms review apps.