Can I withhold a prerequisite?

[MBPB]

I am retaking one or 2 prerequisites this fall, does anyone know if I can say a prerequisite is in progress if I already have credit for it?
I pretty much just have 2 C's in 5 and 4 credit classes that bring my pgpa down quite a lot.
However, my plan is to retake 2 of the classes in the fall and count them as "in progress" on my applications.
Since I will not have 9 credits of C's dragging down my pga, my pgpa will rocket from roughly a 2.9-3.1 in most cases to about a 3.7-3.8.

Has anyone tried this and had results?

It seems like a loophole to get around a poor pgpa fast if it works in my case.
Thanks!

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[ACPTWannabe]

I am retaking one or 2 prerequisites this fall, does anyone know if I can say a prerequisite is in progress if I already have credit for it?
I pretty much just have 2 C's in 5 and 4 credit classes that bring my pgpa down quite a lot.
However, my plan is to retake 2 of the classes in the fall and count them as "in progress" on my applications.
Since I will not have 9 credits of C's dragging down my pga, my pgpa will rocket from roughly a 2.9-3.1 in most cases to about a 3.7-3.8.

Has anyone tried this and had results?

It seems like a loophole to get around a poor pgpa fast if it works in my case.
Thanks!

I would suggest contacting each school you plan to apply to and ask them how to indicate that you are retaking courses on your application. Since each school deals with things slightly different this will be the best way to make sure that you do what is right for each school.

 

[MBPB]

I would suggest contacting each school you plan to apply to and ask them how to indicate that you are retaking courses on your application. Since each school deals with things slightly different this will be the best way to make sure that you do what is right for each school.

I have been trying to get in contact with my short list but it is like pulling teeth, let me tell ya!

The general consensus is that "in progress" looks substantially better to them (they said it shows I am driven to succeed) and that it would also look better numbers-wise for my pgpa.

 

[nd_dpt]

I am retaking one or 2 prerequisites this fall, does anyone know if I can say a prerequisite is in progress if I already have credit for it?
I pretty much just have 2 C's in 5 and 4 credit classes that bring my pgpa down quite a lot.
However, my plan is to retake 2 of the classes in the fall and count them as "in progress" on my applications.
Since I will not have 9 credits of C's dragging down my pga, my pgpa will rocket from roughly a 2.9-3.1 in most cases to about a 3.7-3.8.

Has anyone tried this and had results?

It seems like a loophole to get around a poor pgpa fast if it works in my case.
Thanks!

You have to put ALL classes you have taken up to this point. There’s no loophole around that. You can’t withhold information just to make yourself look like a better candidate.

 

[MBPB]

I

You have to put ALL classes you have taken up to this point. There’s no loophole around that. You can’t withhold information just to make yourself look like a better candidate.

I guess the title of this thread was of poor quality / misleading of what I had meant.

I am not trying to withhold that I took the class. I just will not be claiming the ones I have as C's will be retaking the classes before I start school, I will just be putting "in progress" for them instead since most allow up to 9 credits. I just was curious if it made the app look worse than C's to have those instead. It is, however, a difference of 9 credits worth of C's for 2 classes so substituting "in progress" will send my pGPA from about 3.1 to about 3.6-3.8. I was under the impression we got to pick and choose our prerequisites. Is that not true?
My cGPA is 3.2x. I am going to be submitting my full transcripts anyway. I just don't see why people wouldn't just put they are going to retake all their classes that they have C's in so their pGPA is boosted.

 

[SATXDPT]

I think you need to look at:
Coursework & Professional Transcript Entry (PTE)

Every class needs to be described by "Subject":

Subject
Select from the dropdown list the subject that best describes the content of the course. PTCAS will use course subjects in the calculation of your GPAs. If the subject is not on this list, search for another subject area related to this course and select it from the list. The subject must be chosen from the list provided.​

If you entered CHEM 101 and then failed to indicate that it is a CHEM course, I think that you would not pass their verification process:

Coursework Verification
PTCAS will verify your self-reported coursework against your official transcripts. PTCAS will not enter your courses for you unless you pay an additional fee. PTCAS will return your application to you for corrections or explanation if there are a significant number of course discrepancies or omissions. Your application will be placed on hold until the corrections are fixed. If you fail to properly enter all of your courses when you first submit your application or do not make timely corrections as requested, your application will be delayed in processing and you may jeopardize your chances for admission.​

They will be comparing your transcripts to your entries for accuracy. If it doesn't match as they think that it should, it will delay the completion of your application.

You may be right that you get to indicate whether that CHEM class is a prerequisite or not (if you have taken several several different), but if the class is "General Chemistry" and you don't select it as a pre-requisite, I think it will look fishy to them.

I would bet $$$ that PTCAS would not allow you to skew your answers to your benefit, but give it a try and let us know if it works out for you...

 

[MBPB]

I think you need to look at:


Every class needs to be described by "Subject":

Subject
Select from the dropdown list the subject that best describes the content of the course. PTCAS will use course subjects in the calculation of your GPAs. If the subject is not on this list, search for another subject area related to this course and select it from the list. The subject must be chosen from the list provided.​

If you entered CHEM 101 and then failed to indicate that it is a CHEM course, I think that you would not pass their verification process:

Coursework Verification
PTCAS will verify your self-reported coursework against your official transcripts. PTCAS will not enter your courses for you unless you pay an additional fee. PTCAS will return your application to you for corrections or explanation if there are a significant number of course discrepancies or omissions. Your application will be placed on hold until the corrections are fixed. If you fail to properly enter all of your courses when you first submit your application or do not make timely corrections as requested, your application will be delayed in processing and you may jeopardize your chances for admission.​

They will be comparing your transcripts to your entries for accuracy. If it doesn't match as they think that it should, it will delay the completion of your application.

You may be right that you get to indicate whether that CHEM class is a prerequisite or not (if you have taken several several different), but if the class is "General Chemistry" and you don't select it as a pre-requisite, I think it will look fishy to them.

I would bet $$$ that PTCAS would not allow you to skew your answers to your benefit, but give it a try and let us know if it works out for you...

I am not trying to change the PTCAS calculation for science and math. I will be verifying all courses when I am inputting them. When it comes to prerequisites for the individual schools, I am planning on selecting the in progress courses for the two once that I have C's in instead, unless the individual school asks that I input both the original score and retake score. I guess I'll find out as the process goes along.

 

[Airkerz]

From personal experience, if it’s a pre requisite course you will have to select it as such. When I applied, I selected both classes, the completed class and the in progress class. Then I just updated my grade in PTCAS when I completed the class. Honestly, it all comes down to the schools you are applying to. Some schools average a retake on a course to calculate your pGPA and other schools will use your high grade. I would research which schools use the higher grade. Either way, you will have to indicate that it’s a pre requisite when putting in your grades, this shows schools that you have taken the class and are retaking it, which also shows that you are working towards getting a better grade. I sent in my application as such, and got some acceptances because they saw I was working on those classes again and with some schools that don’t review until January or later, they got to see my updated grades, which I also got acceptances because I did better in the class. I also contacted schools after I got my new grades in and made sure they had them on file, so they could calculate a higher pGPA for me. Hope that helps

 

[MBPB]

From personal experience, if it’s a pre requisite course you will have to select it as such. When I applied, I selected both classes, the completed class and the in progress class. Then I just updated my grade in PTCAS when I completed the class. Honestly, it all comes down to the schools you are applying to. Some schools average a retake on a course to calculate your pGPA and other schools will use your high grade. I would research which schools use the higher grade. Either way, you will have to indicate that it’s a pre requisite when putting in your grades, this shows schools that you have taken the class and are retaking it, which also shows that you are working towards getting a better grade. I sent in my application as such, and got some acceptances because they saw I was working on those classes again and with some schools that don’t review until January or later, they got to see my updated grades, which I also got acceptances because I did better in the class. I also contacted schools after I got my new grades in and made sure they had them on file, so they could calculate a higher pGPA for me. Hope that helps

That changes the game if they make you select it for prerequisites regardless. I’ll do some more research and also see if I like any non-PTCAS ones:

 

[Airkerz]

It depends on the school too, because under each school, you will select which classes complete their pre requisites. Such as, some schools require that you take a psychology class but give you the option between a few, if you have taken more than one, you can definitely choose the higher grade class. But subjects such as anatomy and physiology or chemistry, they usually only have one class that fills that. So you would have to choose that specific class. If a school that averages grades sees that you didn’t select a class that you took but only a selected a class that is progress, I assume they would not look highly on trying to tuck a grade under the rug. Plus when inputting grades, it will ask you if that grade is a retake or not.

 

[MBPB]

It depends on the school too, because under each school, you will select which classes complete their pre requisites. Such as, some schools require that you take a psychology class but give you the option between a few, if you have taken more than one, you can definitely choose the higher grade class. But subjects such as anatomy and physiology or chemistry, they usually only have one class that fills that. So you would have to choose that specific class. If a school that averages grades sees that you didn’t select a class that you took but only a selected a class that is progress, I assume they would not look highly on trying to tuck a grade under the rug. Plus when inputting grades, it will ask you if that grade is a retake or not.

My question for that is, when they say you can have x number of outstanding prerequisites, I am required to use the ones I have rather than future planned ones? Some schools seems to specify on their ptcas page that they will average them, some say that they will use highest grade. In the case of highest grade, I would think it would be beneficial to me to use a future planned course just to not detract from pgpa.

 

[Airkerz]

My question for that is, when they say you can have x number of outstanding prerequisites, I am required to use the ones I have rather than future planned ones? Some schools seems to specify on their ptcas page that they will average them, some say that they will use highest grade. In the case of highest grade, I would think it would be beneficial to me to use a future planned course just to not detract from pgpa.

Each program says that they calculate their own pGPA for each student. So even if you were to put both classes, your lower grade and your higher grade, they would use the higher grade if they use the higher of the two. And as for your question about having x amounts of prerequisites, they will most likely go through your transcripts either way and see the classes. You are just helping them by selecting the right classes for them. You wouldn’t want them to miss it and then come back to it later and say they missed it because you didn’t put it own and then have them pull an acceptance. Better safe than sorry

 

[SATXDPT]

My question for that is, when they say you can have x number of outstanding prerequisites, I am required to use the ones I have rather than future planned ones? Some schools seems to specify on their ptcas page that they will average them, some say that they will use highest grade. In the case of highest grade, I would think it would be beneficial to me to use a future planned course just to not detract from pgpa.

The fact is, that you can't call them "outstanding prerequisites" because you did take the course and got a passing grade. You are retaking the courses to improve your grade. A lot of people think this is a sum-total game and the person with the highest GPA wins. The problem, is that these are required prerequisite courses because you really need to to know this stuff to be successful in a DPT program. You have to prove to them that you worked hard to earn a seat at the table. Lots of applicants got a few low grades and had to re-take classes. No shame in that.
The only thing that you are proving by trying to game the system is that you don't want to play by the rules.

 

[MBPB]

The fact is, that you can't call them "outstanding prerequisites" because you did take the course and got a passing grade. You are retaking the courses to improve your grade. A lot of people think this is a sum-total game and the person with the highest GPA wins. The problem, is that these are required prerequisite courses because you really need to to know this stuff to be successful in a DPT program. You have to prove to them that you worked hard to earn a seat at the table. Lots of applicants got a few low grades and had to re-take classes. No shame in that.
The only thing that you are proving by trying to game the system is that you don't want to play by the rules.

I wouldn't say you I don't want to play by the rules. I would say it's more of critical thinking. But that's just my thoughts.

That said, here is a response I got to my inquiry.
"It is encouraged to have any retaken course completed before having me submit your application if you want that grade to count towards your GPA. If you have a course with a C grade or higher that can fulfill one of the categories, Admissions will use the completed course grade for GPA calculations, even if you have a course pending as a retake.


If you want to ensure your Physics course would count towards your GPA by taking a course to complete earlier than December, offers Physics courses (). I know it may be a little more expensive by not going through a local CC, but these are almost half the cost of University of Phoenix and since they are self-paced online, they can be completed within a few weeks (3-5). You would still have time to complete these and submit for Spring 2019."