B or C range study abroad grades

[bwc]

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How much will getting B or C grades during my study abroad experience haunt me when I apply to dental school? I am taking serious coursework, with no blow off classes, at a very competitive university where its home students only study (like that is literally their only activity) and set an extremely difficult curve. After midterms, it seems like I have no chance at getting A grades, and that I can only hope for at least B grades.

The other exchange students here are in the same situation for comparable courses, but none of them are pre-health, so all they need to do is pass. My home institution awards transfer credit for grades of C or above, there is no effect on the GPA, and none of the information (including the names of the courses transferred back) will be posted to the official transcript. As a result, the only way for a dental school to evaluate my academic performance during my study abroad experience is by requesting the actual foreign transcript.

I did ask a few dental schools whether or not they require study abroad transcripts and unfortunately, some of them did say that they will require that I send in the foreign transcript. AADSAS itself will not require my foreign transcript, and will not factor my study abroad coursework into my GPA if it is not posted to my home institution's official transcript. Regardless, will B and C grades obtained while abroad really cause significant harm to my application when seen by dental schools?

I read somewhere that getting sub-A grades while studying abroad can sometimes lead to people assuming that you slacked off too much and/or were not academically focused. To what extent is that true for applying to dental school?

 

[KristenD77]

You're fine.

 

[bwc]

Alright, I really need advice here. Are you sure a study abroad transcript with B and C grades won't come back to haunt me? I'm working so hard just to hope for B grades, and I really don't know how I would be able to convince adcoms that I was not just on vacation the entire time. Even the professors at the abroad institution admit that the courses (math and engineering) are too competitive for foreigners to be taking for a grade, thus that is why my home institution does not transfer back the grades and therefore does not factor the study abroad grades into my GPA.

Also, I feel that it is important to have some decent level of work/life balance while I am abroad, otherwise I might as well have stayed at my home institution.

 

[confidentandgood]

As long as you have a strong cGPA/sGPA and DAT score at the time of application, one semester of poor grades will not come back to haunt you.

 

[gucci]

i thought study abroad was supposed to be easy

 

[bwc]

i thought study abroad was supposed to be easy

That is only if you are taking blow off humanities and social science classes, which is not the case for me. That is why my home institution transfers grades back for study abroad programs through the liberal arts school, but not for those through the engineering school. My program is through the engineering school, and most people in the program with me are taking one or two blow off class and two or one STEM classes, whereas I am taking three STEM classes in order for every class to count towards something in my degree. My peers all say that if they get any A's, it would be in their blow off classes, and that they are fine with getting C's in their STEM classes since that is all they need for the credit to transfer back. Because we are competing with some of the top students in China in our STEM courses, trying to get at least a B is much more difficult than people typically anticipate, and that is probably why my home institution chose not to have the grades transferred back. Engineering grad programs and employers are typically very understanding of this (if they even ask an applicant for the abroad transcript), since the GPA standard for "good" in the field is 3.0, but I'm not sure if dental schools will be understanding.

My GPA (both overall and science, not so much BCP) for my US coursework is fine. I know for sure that AADSAS is not going to factor my abroad coursework into my AADSAS GPA because it does not appear on any US or Canadian transcript.

 

[tryingmybest123]

How much will getting B or C grades during my study abroad experience haunt me when I apply to dental school? I am taking serious coursework, with no blow off classes, at a very competitive university where its home students only study (like that is literally their only activity) and set an extremely difficult curve. After midterms, it seems like I have no chance at getting A grades, and that I can only hope for at least B grades.

The other exchange students here are in the same situation for comparable courses, but none of them are pre-health, so all they need to do is pass. My home institution awards transfer credit for grades of C or above, there is no effect on the GPA, and none of the information (including the names of the courses transferred back) will be posted to the official transcript. As a result, the only way for a dental school to evaluate my academic performance during my study abroad experience is by requesting the actual foreign transcript.

I did ask a few dental schools whether or not they require study abroad transcripts and unfortunately, some of them did say that they will require that I send in the foreign transcript. AADSAS itself will not require my foreign transcript, and will not factor my study abroad coursework into my GPA if it is not posted to my home institution's official transcript. Regardless, will B and C grades obtained while abroad really cause significant harm to my application when seen by dental schools?

I read somewhere that getting sub-A grades while studying abroad can sometimes lead to people assuming that you slacked off too much and/or were not academically focused. To what extent is that true for applying to dental school?

Which schools require you to send in a foreign transcript?

 

[shwayne]

I've heard that you need to submit an official transcript from ALL universities attended.. furthermore, I've also read that the grades you receive abroad are factored into your cGPA.

 

[bwc]

Which schools require you to send in a foreign transcript?

I did hear from Pitt, Rutgers, and Tufts that they will require the foreign transcript as part of their application immediately after they receive your AADSAS application. Many other schools may request it if you make it to the interview stage, where they will need to have it in your file by your interview date.

I've heard that you need to submit an official transcript from ALL universities attended.. furthermore, I've also read that the grades you receive abroad are factored into your cGPA.

Study abroad grades are not factored into your AADSAS GPA if they were not posted to a US or Canadian transcript. In my case, they were not.

 

[bwc]

I just got my grades back, and my prediction about what my grades would be turned out to be correct. I ended up with two B's and a C...my first C in my entire college career. I am a ~3.6 student at my home institution, and I'm really worried about how this semester abroad would reflect on my application. I actually tried my best academically and put in much more effort than the other exchange students in my program, but the foreign institution was just too competitive (and that is why my home institution does not allow grades to be transferred back for this program). I really was not just fooling around all summer. How can I explain this to dental schools?

 

[bwc]

Bump

 

[Orka]

i thought study abroad was supposed to be easy

LOOOOL

 

[Michael_Scott]

If it's a not a pre-req you should be fine... Nowadays a lot of schools are requiring B's in all the pre-Reqs... So before you apply consider if the course is a pre-req for that school.

 

[bwc]

None of the courses are pre-reqs, but they are all engineering and math (i.e. "other science") courses.