curious about science GPA

[xraygray]

It seems to me that medical schools are more interested in your science gpa than your overall gpa. right? and for most people overall gpa is often higher than science gpa. so for people who major in a science they will undoubtedly take more advanced(thus more difficult) science courses than those who major in a non science (english, history, etc). so when calculating an applicants BUCM (science gpa) why do amcas and medical schools take into account your entire science curriculum as opposed to only the core/required science classes for medical school? wouldn't this would be a more accurate mode for comparison? just wondering what yall thought.

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[nockamura]

Upper division science courses are similar to med school courses. They are a good indicator of how you will perform in med school.

 

[lumaya]

They also take into account the number of science courses you're taking each semester and I'm sure they factor in the difficulty. I was a psych major and I had to take both science and psych classes. This meant I didn't have as much time to take upper level science classes purely b/c I couldn't fit that many credits into one semester. I spoke to an admissions advisor and he actually commented on the number of science courses(or lack thereof) as a negative. I think the more difficult science courses you can take, the more it'll refelct your performance in medical school. And I'm sure that someone who was a molecular bio major and took tons of those classes would probably be better prepared for the medical school curriculum than I would be.

 

[Hoya11]

If you have a 3.6+ sci gpa they will look to see how many classes are involved. DId you just take the cores and get all As or did you do well in EVERYTHING.

I was a math major so all of those classes factored into my gpa to give me a 3.4
I think that they understood that it was on the low side due to the major. SO that being said I think they give you some leeway in Sci GPA is you are a tough science major.

 

[premed]

I disagree with most of the posts thus far. I don't think medical school adcoms actually sit there and say to themselves...this person had a lower GPA, but s/he was an electrical engineer, so it's ok. Most of the time, a formula is used to determine if you're a potential candidate. Sure there are rare instances when a physical human being might actually look at your app and reason out why your GPA as a biochemistry major may be a little lower than the humanitites major, but I don't think it makes that big of a difference. Just my opinion...

 

[riceman04]

It seems to me that medical schools are more interested in your science gpa than your overall gpa. right? and for most people overall gpa is often higher than science gpa. so for people who major in a science they will undoubtedly take more advanced(thus more difficult) science courses than those who major in a non science (english, history, etc). so when calculating an applicants BUCM (science gpa) why do amcas and medical schools take into account your entire science curriculum as opposed to only the core/required science classes for medical school? wouldn't this would be a more accurate mode for comparison? just wondering what yall thought.

So, I have a question:
What if during your freshman year (first semester especially) you struggled, but then you never received another C in anything after that. How will adcoms look at that?

Ok so I am worried about a few of my grades:
(I really dont like putting myself out here like this, but this is the only way to get some feedback)

1st sem frsh man yr:
G-chem: C- (then I retook during summer and received a B+)
Calc I: C (retook last summer after I graduated back at home and earned a B)
Bio I: B-
hell I even got a C in PE and I was a varsity athelete in high school

Second Sem Frshman yr:
Calc II: C+ (plan on retaking at UPenn Post bacc)

After these two semesters I earned really high grades and did pretty good in Organic chem (I: B+, II: B+, lab: A), ok in Physics (I: B-, and II:B, but planning on retaking phys. I), and well in all bio classes ( i took Human Phys: B+, functional neuroanatomy: A, human str and fcn: A, pathophys: B, intro Bio lab: A-, Biochem: A, intro bio II: A

I did make presidents list a few times too and have showed nothing but a significant incr. in GPA.

Should I retake some of those courses? And does improvement show growth to adcoms?
Please help! Man, I was soooooooooooo calm and collect before I started my med school apps this year. But now I am a mess!

 

[Tre Cool]

i agree with premed for the most part.

riceman04 - i think a significant increase throughout the years will be looked at favorably.

i have a question. my science grades weren't so hot in undergrad for good reasons. i'm in a postbac program now and i'm taking upper-level science classes and doing well in the classes. however, i never retook the classes that i didn't excel at from undergrad. do i need to do that in addition to the postbac or will the postbac suffice? thanks.

 

[nockamura]

I think you'll be fine with a post-bac. As for riceman, I don't know if you're a reapplicant, but what the adcom gets is a printout that shows your cumulative GPA per year (freshman, sophomore, jr., sr.) and the number of credits that that GPA was calculated from. For example, it might show: Freshman-3.7, 28 credit hours, etc. If there is a lot of positive GPA growth, make sure you point it out in your essay and/or interviews.

 

[chaeymaey]

I took some classes concurrently at multiple colleges. Last semester, I took 20 hrs at 3 schools and this term I took 19 hrs at 3 schools (class times at my main campus conflicted with work hours). Do the adcoms see my grades time-wise or school-wise? I mean, will they see that I took 20 hrs last term and made straight A's or will they have to dig around my transcripts to see that? Do adcoms even see your transcripts or do they just go by AMCAS/TMDSAS?

 

[nockamura]

They see it mainly in terms of time, not campus. They do have the opportunity to see classes at all campuses, but it's more accessible as year.

 

[chaeymaey]

They see it mainly in terms of time, not campus. They do have the opportunity to see classes at all campuses, but it's more accessible as year.

Score! I'd rather they focus on each term than each campus. I wouldn't want my 20 hrs terms to go unnoticed. It was frickin' hard!