Hey, so I decided to go into medicine after 2 years of doing theatre and psychology at Sarah Lawrence College, which is kind've an interesting place academically. We didn't take tests, and we got grades, but we never saw them. When I transferred I looked at my transcripts once, but I really couldn't tell you what the overall gpa was. I think it was a 3.4. Anyway, I have a feeling my gpa is going to be seriously different from what it is now with those grades calculated into it.
My question is this...at SLC we were only allowed to take 3 classes at a time. The reason for this is that there was an extra component to the class called conference, in which we met with the professor every other week and worked on a project that was separate from the class. They would suggest additional things to read, and maybe assign papers throughout the semester, and then at the end of the class we would write a comprehensive conference paper(usually 25-35 pages). This was extremely time intensive, and it was almost like taking an entirely different class, so instead of 3 credits like normal classes, we got 5 (or 10 if it was a year long class, which wasn't uncommon). So, I was wondering how these grades would be weighed on the amcas application. I have requested an unofficial transcript from Sarah Lawrence so I can calculate my gpa, but on the calculator it asks for the number of credit hours per class. Should I put those grades in as 5 (or 10) credits? That really makes me nervous because I'm pretty sure I made a lot of B's (I don't even know if they are on the +/- system or not...), and if they are weighed 3 times as heavily as all my other classes, I am afraid it is going to KILL my gpa. I was just wondering if anyone knew how they would weigh these grades, seeing as they are not on a traditional credits system. Also, will they take into account the fact that these grades were made before I decided on medicine? It is pretty apparent when the change happened. I transferred, and also switched the focus of my volunteer work from theatre related to medicine related. Sorry for the long post...I am trying to get everything together to apply as early as possible, and I just realized this little gpa calculation dilemma and kind've freaked out. Thanks in advance for your help!
My question is this...at SLC we were only allowed to take 3 classes at a time. The reason for this is that there was an extra component to the class called conference, in which we met with the professor every other week and worked on a project that was separate from the class. They would suggest additional things to read, and maybe assign papers throughout the semester, and then at the end of the class we would write a comprehensive conference paper(usually 25-35 pages). This was extremely time intensive, and it was almost like taking an entirely different class, so instead of 3 credits like normal classes, we got 5 (or 10 if it was a year long class, which wasn't uncommon). So, I was wondering how these grades would be weighed on the amcas application. I have requested an unofficial transcript from Sarah Lawrence so I can calculate my gpa, but on the calculator it asks for the number of credit hours per class. Should I put those grades in as 5 (or 10) credits? That really makes me nervous because I'm pretty sure I made a lot of B's (I don't even know if they are on the +/- system or not...), and if they are weighed 3 times as heavily as all my other classes, I am afraid it is going to KILL my gpa. I was just wondering if anyone knew how they would weigh these grades, seeing as they are not on a traditional credits system. Also, will they take into account the fact that these grades were made before I decided on medicine? It is pretty apparent when the change happened. I transferred, and also switched the focus of my volunteer work from theatre related to medicine related. Sorry for the long post...I am trying to get everything together to apply as early as possible, and I just realized this little gpa calculation dilemma and kind've freaked out. Thanks in advance for your help!
