Course Credits

[georgie339]

---

Members do not see this ad.

...

 

[DreamDVM]

I have the same situation. I didn't even know what credits were at first because my undergrad school requires you to take a certain number of classes instead of a certain number of credits. It depends partly on your undergrad institution and partly on the school that you're applying to. My undergrad college says on the transcript that for application purposes every class is worth four credits. However, I think its more standard that science classes with lab are four credits and non-lab science and humanities classes are three credits. Therefore, if the school you are applying to wants 6 credits in humanities, that would be two courses.

As long as you have completed the prerequisites including labs as indicated by the school you are applying to, you should be fine. I don't think it will be a new situation to them.

LeAnne

dreamdvm.blogspot.com

 

[bunnity]

Don't stress out too much; every school is a little different and even those that have multiple credits per class will use different amounts sometimes. The VMCAS forum has an answer to a similar question:

http://vmcas.myfreeforum.org/Credit_hours_course_hours_plus_lots_of_other_questions_about46.html

If that doesn't help, I believe sumstorm said her undergrad had the one-credit-per-class system; you could try asking her.

 

[sumstorm]

Don't stress out too much; every school is a little different and even those that have multiple credits per class will use different amounts sometimes. The VMCAS forum has an answer to a similar question:

http://vmcas.myfreeforum.org/Credit_hours_course_hours_plus_lots_of_other_questions_about46.html

If that doesn't help, I believe sumstorm said her undergrad had the one-credit-per-class system; you could try asking her.

Yes, I attended a lib art private college with a 1 class = 1 credit regardless of the requirements of the course. The only excpetions were a few half credit pass/fail programs. It also had a trimester system.

First, contact your school and make sure they don't have a conversion system. Some do. If they do, you will have to use that, because they will provide that to the vet schools you are applying to, generally along with transcripts. This can be a signficant issue. For example, my college said all classes were worth 3.3 credit hours. So, if I needed 8 credits in something like organic chem, I was 1.4 credit hours short. Just to make it more dramatic, we were on a three term system (not quarters, not semesters.)

Then I contacted each of the schools I was applying to and explained the situation. Every single school said it wasn't an issue. My undergrad also has a 96% placement rate for grad and professional school programs, which is well publicized. So I then wrote a brief letter of explanation along with copies of htat information from my undergrad and sent that to the schools. I also wrote a very brief explanation statement in the VMCAS, that basicly explained that the courses listed were the equivalents to the required courses despite differences in credit hours due to variations in credit hour calculations. None of hte schools I applied to had issues with this. My lower GPA and the lack of grade inflation were issues.

Good luck!

 

[VAgirl]

First, contact your school and make sure they don't have a conversion system. Some do.

If you have an official copy of your transcript (or know anyone who has an official copy of theirs), printed in light colored ink on the back is often a whole bunch of notes about how to interpret grades, etc. I also went to a school where one class = one credit, and was shocked to find when I applied to vet school that my undergrad college provides the conversion to credit hours (plus a ton of other random info) on the back of every transcript. Who knew?

You should have an official transcript knocking around somewhere because I think most schools send one out to you at the end of every quarter/semester with grades. (Hmmm...or maybe they don't do that anymore, but they did when I was in undergrad a decade ago...😉)

 

[aspiringDVM]

Don't stress out too much; every school is a little different and even those that have multiple credits per class will use different amounts sometimes. The VMCAS forum has an answer to a similar question:

http://vmcas.myfreeforum.org/Credit_hours_course_hours_plus_lots_of_other_questions_about46.html

LOL, I find it rather hilarious that a question I asked on another forum (under a different name) is being referenced here. Small world I guess 😀

Anyways, as the forum answer states, VMCAS wants you to list credits as they appear on the transcript. Your transcript should list the conversion method on the back, but I'm planning to include a short blurb in my explanation statement. I contacted each of the schools I'm applying to (Auburn, NCSU, and UPenn) and none of them had issues with it, though NCSU did want me to list the number of credit hours per class as "4" on the supplemental application (as directed by my transcript).
Really, don't worry about it too much.

Out of curiosity, what is the accepted number of classes per semester at everyone else's one credit/one class school? At mine it's four, and it's practically impossible to take more than two science courses per semester due to scheduling and requirements for graduation (liberal arts). Lately I've been getting grief from people who went to schools where you take at least five or six classes per semester and who think that four classes, only two of which are science courses, won't prepare you for vet school. This really gets under my skin, and I would love for somebody to debunk this theory 😡.
Sorry, didn't mean to go on such a random rant

 

[bunnity]

Out of curiosity, what is the accepted number of classes per semester at everyone else's one credit/one class school? At mine it's four, and it's practically impossible to take more than two science courses per semester due to scheduling and requirements for graduation (liberal arts). Lately I've been getting grief from people who went to schools where you take at least five or six classes per semester and who think that four classes, only two of which are science courses, won't prepare you for vet school. This really gets under my skin, and I would love for somebody to debunk this theory 😡.
Sorry, didn't mean to go on such a random rant

For my undergrad five classes (which was usually 15 credits) was the average you needed to graduate on time. 12 was the minimum to be full time and above 18 you had to pay more and have special permission. I never had much of an issue scheduling classes but it was a huge school with a heavy pre med focus so they made the schedules accordingly. And since we're on the subject of pet peeves, mine is when people brag about their 24 credit semester that really turns out to be 6 classes instead of the 8 it would have been at my school (they would never let you do it though). I think we can all agree that the randomness in schools' credit assignment is annoying.

I should add that my pet peeve stems from the pre-allo forum and is not referencing anyone here on the vet section.

 

[variegata]

I had fun this week calling all the schools to discuss quarter to semester conversions. Mathematically, it's quarter unit x 0.67. Unfortunately, all my school's classes are 4 units, making 2.67. Which is less than 3, which is the requirement for most normal semester schools it seems. I called them all, emailed some when they told me to, and I've fit the requirements for each school without taking additional courses, with the exception of Tufts, which I haven't heard back from yet.

They're pretty understanding, just call. It's easier than email.

 

[georgie339]

...

 

[sumstorm]

Thank you so much everyone! I am glad that I am not the only one in this boat! FYI, the normal number of courses taken per quarter per student is four. I usually take five though since I decided to do pre-vet late and need to catch up a bit!! 😀

4.5/term typically. for pre-med majors, 2-3 science courses and 1-2.5 other courses. Max at 5. 3 terms a year. optional summer programs such as internships, research programs, independent study, etc. 2 credit max, and it wasn't a quarter system.

Last year, when I asked vmcas, they told me to convert since my school offered a conversion. also, the only official transcript I was given by my school was at graduation. otherwise grades were reported via internet.