BCMP vs. AO vs. Total GPA

[OBGYN2010]

Do schools pay close attention to the AO GPA? Or is it mainly just the BCMP and Total GPAs? My all other (AO) gpa is a lot lower than my bcmp and total!

Thanks!

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[rtmcad2319]

Do schools pay close attention to the AO GPA? Or is it mainly just the BCMP and Total GPAs? My all other (AO) gpa is a lot lower than my bcmp and total!

Thanks!

Same here! I would assume that this is the least important GPA, but who really knows how adcoms judge your application.

 

[willthatsall]

Well I would think the total/BCPM are the most important. Afterall, the AO GPA is taken into account in the total, and obviously the number of hours you have taken is reflected in how much it affects the total. Here's what I mean, and why I think the AO is probably not very important. Say you are a science major and have taken 80 hours in the BCPM and 20 AO hours. You could have a 3.8 BCPM GPA, but you messed up a couple of classes outside of the sciences and your AO GPA is only 3.1. Your total GPA is still 3.66, even though your AO GPA is low. That's why I think the BCPM (obviously they care how you do in the sciences, no matter how few/many you have taken) and total (shows the overall package, and accurately weights non-science courses) GPA matter more than AO. AO is kind of a strange GPA for AMCAS to keep track of, IMO.

 

[jessimai1]

I think it totally depends on the rest of your application. I had a 3.71 total GPA. My science GPA was about a 3.5, my AO GPA was a 4.0. I am now a fouth year at my first choice medical school. For me, my AO GPA was a benefit to me, even though I took some knocks in my science classes. I took some difficult non science classes like Modern American Literature because I thought they were interesting. Also, explaining why you recieved a B in Organic is much easier than explaining why you had a low grade in a non-science class.
That being said, great science grades at the expense of some non-science classes sometimes happens as well. It is hard to study for those history finals, when you are spending hours in the lab getting an A in Organic Lab!
All in all, just be prepared to explain anything to the adcom.
Good Luck. 😉
And please, for the anal ones reading this, do not attempt to reconcile the math in my GPA. I no longer remember how many hours of what I took during my bio major liberal arts days, luckily I remember very little from what I learned/did in undergrad,except for the previously mentioned American Lit.