college won't release transcripts

[drDOOMm]

ok... so I took a few classes at a community college just for fun and there is a billing dispute. They won't release my transcripts. The classes I took amount to basket weaving and are irrelevant to everything.

How will the amcas or TMDSAS handle this? is it strictly taboo for an applicant to leave any classes off? even in a case such as this?
help!

thanks.

 

[DbDan]

You need to list ALL classes since high school. Better settle that billing dispute.

 

[rHinO1]

Pay your bill, you MUST send all transcripts to AMCAS. No exceptions.

 

[drDOOMm]

OUCH!

that's dismal. who would have thought being flippant about pottery making would cost me getting into med school?

two Fs brings my already less than stellar GPA down to a 3.0

thanks for the info.

 

[Dianyla]

Pay your bill, you MUST send all transcripts to AMCAS. No exceptions.

This. It's time to be an adult.

 

[Dianyla]

that's dismal. who would have thought being flippant about pottery making would cost me getting into med school?

two Fs brings my already less than stellar GPA down to a 3.0

Pottery making? Were these classes graded A-F or P/F? If they're P/F, those F's will not count against you.

 

[WorldChanger36]

Pay them. They did their jobs now you do yours. Better list them too. I take other classes at two different insitutions mostly because I am maxed out on aid and I need that extra boost in GPA. Not only that the classes are awesome. I have always paid my bill even if that meant weeks of day labor.

 

[drDOOMm]

yeah. I mean I owe them $50 on a technicality. I'm not exactly stealing from the poor here. Cool your jets.

AFTER graduating, I took 2 classes for the hell of it. To better myself and occupy my time or whatever. Towards the end of the semester, a great opportunity arose--- I figured the classes were no big deal (how stupid of me to think that no one would care about some ancillary classes at an obscure community college), ---and so by the time finals rolled around, I was out of the country.

Irresponsible? I mean... on some planets, maybe. That's not to say those planets aren't valid though..

And the best part is... the year I studied abroad--taking ridiculously hard classes and making As... These classes don't count towards the GPA.

I'm just going to go kill myself right now. If I bungle it, maybe I'll see one of you.

Thanks.

 

[rafflecopter]

I'm just going to go kill myself right now. If I bungle it, maybe I'll see one of you.

Thanks.

Not a good thing to say on SDN.

 

[NickNaylor]

yeah. I mean I owe them $50 on a technicality. I'm not exactly stealing from the poor here. Cool your jets.

AFTER graduating, I took 2 classes for the hell of it. To better myself and occupy my time or whatever. Towards the end of the semester, a great opportunity arose--- I figured the classes were no big deal (how stupid of me to think that no one would care about some ancillary classes at an obscure community college), ---and so by the time finals rolled around, I was out of the country.

Irresponsible? I mean... on some planets, maybe. That's not to say those planets aren't valid though..

And the best part is... the year I studied abroad--taking ridiculously hard classes and making As... These classes don't count towards the GPA.

I'm just going to go kill myself right now. If I bungle it, maybe I'll see one of you.

Thanks.

b&

 

[getright]

There are so many suicide references on these forums...I'm sure that most are jokes, but they really aren't in good taste.

 

[drDOOMm]

sorry! no cause for alarm.
but seriously. this is depressing. I made a 38 on the MCAT, have great extracurriculars, and am otherwise a good candidate.

But no... I made an F in pottery making, and an F in astronomy.
I guess I'm not qualified to be a doctor.


Is there no way out of this????

 

[drDOOMm]

OK. So I'm an as$ for not paying the community college their 50$. And what I write is in bad taste. Whoa. so sorry, dude.

IS THERE ANYONE WITH ANYTHING USEFUL TO SAY?

my life is falling apart on a technicality and you people are criticizing me for poor choice of words??

now.. i'm sure i'll be labeled a troll and banned from the forum.
awesome. justice prevails again. BUT it bears repeating...

Anything USEFUL?
Is there anything I can do?
Maybe take the classes over again?
How would AMCAS approach that?

I appreciate it

 

[BigBoosting]

If you have a 38 MCAT not many schools will care about an F in pottery and astronomy (Unless you only want to go to a top 10). They might ask what happened in which case you can explain. If this happened a couple years ago and you've had good grades since, worry about it even less. But in short, pay the bill and send in the transcript

 

[Dianyla]

If you have a 38 MCAT not many schools will care about an F in pottery and astronomy (Unless you only want to go to a top 10). They might ask what happened in which case you can explain. If this happened a couple years ago and you've had good grades since, worry about it even less. But in short, pay the bill and send in the transcript

This is very true.

Hey, a lot of us have been through worse. I had the distinct pleasure of getting to pay several thousand dollars (that I didn't know about) in order to release a 15-year-old transcript that contained 3 Incomplete-to-Fs on it (that I didn't know about). All three of those were in science classes, too.

There isn't much you can do about this that you haven't already done (get good grades otherwise, rock the MCAT, etc). You're just going to have to eat this one, and it's going to hurt your cumulative GPA. At least the Pottery class won't affect your science GPA.

 

[drDOOMm]

Thanks everyone for the info!

I've done a little research and it seems that if you retake the class, DO programs will only use the the most recent grade.

This is good. Looks like I'm going to learn a hell of alot about kilns and solar spectra.

Dianyla, if you don't mind me asking, how did you over come all of the Fs? and how old were you when you applied to med school??

 

[rHinO1]

I was going to suggest applying to DO schools, but it looks like you found that solution on your own. After you retake, you should be very competitive (assuming you have the usual ECs to go with your 38 MCAT). Make sure you get a LOR from a DO, which is required by many DO schools.

I would also apply to some MD schools, but a 3.0 GPA will make it more of a long shot. Definitely worth a try though.

You could also petition for a retro-active withdrawal from the CC classes. However, in my experience, CCs are less likely to grant them than private school (or public 4 years). Again, worth a shot, but don't expect too much.

 

[Salient]

sorry! no cause for alarm.
but seriously. this is depressing. I made a 38 on the MCAT, have great extracurriculars, and am otherwise a good candidate.

But no... I made an F in pottery making, and an F in astronomy.
I guess I'm not qualified to be a doctor.


Is there no way out of this????

I have two Fs from my first year of university where I simply stopped going to classes because I was playing too much Starcraft and didn't feel like dropping them.

Nobody even mentioned them at my interviews. Just be honest and tell them what happened. It's no big deal.

 

[NickNaylor]

OK. So I'm an as$ for not paying the community college their 50$. And what I write is in bad taste. Whoa. so sorry, dude.

IS THERE ANYONE WITH ANYTHING USEFUL TO SAY?

my life is falling apart on a technicality and you people are criticizing me for poor choice of words??

now.. i'm sure i'll be labeled a troll and banned from the forum.
awesome. justice prevails again. BUT it bears repeating...

Anything USEFUL?
Is there anything I can do?
Maybe take the classes over again?
How would AMCAS approach that?

I appreciate it

 

[kdburton]

Were the classes paid for with any sort of financial aid or did you pay out of pocket?

 

[Dianyla]

I've done a little research and it seems that if you retake the class, DO programs will only use the the most recent grade.

Retake if you want to, but I wouldn't retake an elective that I'd done poorly in. If this were a core pre-requisite class, you would want to show them that you can do better. Then again, I'm applying MD-only so there's no advantage of grade replacement for me.

Dianyla, if you don't mind me asking, how did you over come all of the Fs? and how old were you when you applied to med school??

These were from 15 years ago during my first attempt at college that was interrupted by severe family/financial issues. I returned to school in my late 20s, and am now applying this cycle at the age of 33. It's going well so far. The important thing to remember is that in AMCAS your GPA gets sliced and diced into science/non-science and broken down by academic year of college. So AdComs will see that all of your grades are otherwise solid and it's just a few odd bombs that are dragging down the average. So, although my cumulative science GPA is 3.0 (ouch) it's very obvious looking at the year-by-year breakdown that everything aside from the freshman disaster year is 3.5 and above.

 

[Dianyla]

BTW, definitely check out the LOW GPA Success Stories thread, it's got loads of good information.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

Another entitlement thread. Even the topic title smells of it. Perhaps the name of the title should be Student Won't Pay His Bills. Why would store clerk let you have an item if you don't fork over money for him/her to put in the register. Higher education isn't your right and neither is access to your transcripts. Pay for it.

 

[JJMrK]

This thread has been reported by several members due to statements about self-harm. SDN takes such statements seriously and we would like to remind all posters that SDN should not serve as a place to obtain counseling or other advice regarding significant psychological issues. Anyone who is contemplating harming themselves should immediately seek professional counseling advice, not rely on SDN or other non-professional resources.

At this time, given the nature of the thread and the concerns expressed, the moderation staff of SDN will close this thread.