Comment about GPA from High School on Secondary?

[phunky]

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[hubriz]

I wonder if this is being too neurotic, given that they will already see the GPA breakdown.

Yes.

 

[Doctorman45342]

What do you mean by 10th percentiles?

 

[phunky]

What do you mean by 10th percentiles?

The MSAR provides 10th and 90th percentiles for gpa and mcat

 

[Doctorman45342]

so you'd be in the 10th percentile of applicants or admitted students?

 

[phunky]

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[compstomper]

I took a lot of undergraduate classes in high school. I entered college with almost 50 credits. I started taking these classes when I was 16. My high school actively encouraged students to push themselves, take upper division university classes, and not focus on grades as much as the experience.

I had about a 3.3 in the undergraduate classes I took in high school. As an undergrad, I focused a lot more on getting good grades and ended up with about a 3.77, but because I took so many units in high school, my cGPA is dragged down to about a 3.64.

Is it worth mentioning this situation in the "additional information" section of secondaries? I am focusing on research-oriented schools on my application, and my MCAT score is great, but I'm worried that these high school classes drag my GPA towards a lot of my target schools' 10th percentiles on grades.

I wonder if this is being too neurotic, given that they will already see the GPA breakdown.

I'm a bit confused and perhaps you can elaborate on this. All colleges I know of counts AP taken in high school as P/F classes, without taking into account the grade received in the class itself. As far as I can remember, you don't need to submit high school transcripts to AMCAS, only your college transcript is needed. In other words, AMCAS has a separate system in place for calculating college level grades independent of how your college counts those grades. Your AP classes will only be counted as pass or fail.

But if you actually took those classes in an actual college, i.e. some sort of dual enrollment program, you were in a similar situation to second degree students, then your grade would be counted. You'd need to come up with a convincing explanation on why your GPA was so low, adcoms will see the grade breakdown but it's not their job to make excuses for you, you'd have to explain yourself. And unfortunately, unless you have some extenuating circumstances (URM, low socioeconomic background, military service, etc.), you're on the low end of the pool of applicants to research heavy schools, by which I take it you mean highly ranked schools.

Apply early, focus on bolstering your EC, and let the chips fall where they may.

 

[phunky]

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[familyaerospace]

I think you might be getting a little neurotic. They'll know you took it in high school.

If you must say something, maybe you can say in the "anything else we should know" section state you were a dual enrolled student and so started college at 16 and that you kicked it into gear once you were out of your parents house or something. I don't know, but I am sure there is a way to spin it although realistically you probably are ok.

 

[el_duderino]

Yeah, don't sweat it at all. Your GPA is high enough you're not going to get screened out, and if it gets to the point where they're critically reading your PS then they're completely aware of your GPA trends and that you took college classes before being enrolled.

tl;dr don't mention it, it'll be obvious, don't worry about it. If your MCAT is "great" and your ECs are good you shouldn't have much to worry about.

Project confidence, don't be apologetic. Focus on the positives and don't make excuses.