Do med schools care about irrelevant transcripts? I took a few courses after college.

[eatsleepdoc]

The courses taken were art history, dance, architecture, and computer science. I was really lost in college and didn't know what to do with my life. I graduated from a UC with a humanities BA a year early to figure things out and enrolled in these courses at a local community college. I didn’t finish some of them because of my time-consuming jobs (leaving me with a few W’s and a D). I’m now planning to pursue a post-bac certificate.

I wasn't inspired to go into medicine until earlier this year, but I'm utterly enthralled by it and determined to get into a MD/DO program. There has been nothing I've been more set on since my seven years of being lost (3 years of college + 4 years of working/exploring). I know AMCAS requires us to send in all post-secondary transcripts and I'm wondering: will the W's and D really hurt my application? If so, what's the best thing I can do to alleviate this?

Any help is appreciated--thank you!

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[Eccesignum]

They will hurt, particularly since they're recent.

Do note that DO schools practice what's called grade replacement, which means that if you go back and retake any course for equal or greater credit, DO schools will only consider the second grade. So if you were in a position to retake those classes and get As, your DO GPA will reflect that instead of the Ds/Ws. MD schools will average the grades, so there you'll still take a hit.

What is your current cGPA and sGPA?

 

[DrMikeP]

All transcripts and classes must be reported. DO schools are likely to be more forgiving.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[CyrilFiggis]

You'll be fine. None of those classes will count towards your BCPM grade. Do well in your post-bac. When it comes time to apply, some schools ask about Ds, Fs and Ws. Just explain that these grades came after you graduated during a time when you were trying to explore all your career options.

In 2009, I took Intro to Culinary Arts at a local CC because I wanted to learn some knife skills and basic recipes. I had to withdraw with 3 weeks left because I got a new job on the other side of LA and wouldn't be able to make the class. Jump forward to 2015, I'm back at the CC taking OChem 2 because one school required both 2 sections of OChem and 1 BioChem. So when I submitted my transcripts, it had that W and I had to discuss it. In one of my interviews, I got asked if my cooking skills had gotten better in the last 6 years. I looked puzzled and he mentioned my W. I started to explain and he laughed, cut me off and said it was the most hilarious W he had ever seen on a transcript.

 

[eatsleepdoc]

They will hurt, particularly since they're recent.

Do note that DO schools practice what's called grade replacement, which means that if you go back and retake any course for equal or greater credit, DO schools will only consider the second grade. So if you were in a position to retake those classes and get As, your DO GPA will reflect that instead of the Ds/Ws. MD schools will average the grades, so there you'll still take a hit.

What is your current cGPA and sGPA?

Thank you for the advice, Eccesignum! I'll definitely take this into consideration. My cGPA is 3.295 and sGPA is 3.0 without my post-bac work. I definitely lacked direction during my undergrad years but, four years later, I'm much more determined.

 

[eatsleepdoc]

You'll be fine. None of those classes will count towards your BCPM grade. Do well in your post-bac. When it comes time to apply, some schools ask about Ds, Fs and Ws. Just explain that these grades came after you graduated during a time when you were trying to explore all your career options.

In 2009, I took Intro to Culinary Arts at a local CC because I wanted to learn some knife skills and basic recipes. I had to withdraw with 3 weeks left because I got a new job on the other side of LA and wouldn't be able to make the class. Jump forward to 2015, I'm back at the CC taking OChem 2 because one school required both 2 sections of OChem and 1 BioChem. So when I submitted my transcripts, it had that W and I had to discuss it. In one of my interviews, I got asked if my cooking skills had gotten better in the last 6 years. I looked puzzled and he mentioned my W. I started to explain and he laughed, cut me off and said it was the most hilarious W he had ever seen on a transcript.

You have no idea how much hope this gives me. That's definitely my plan—to do as well as I can in my post-bac. The funny thing is, my D is in Intro to Dreamweaver (not sure if this program is still used) and the class was super easy. I couldn't continue the class because of work (I worked a series of different journalism jobs, which are not the most stable in this day and age so I was scrambling and commuting everywhere to make rent.) I will keep your story in mind—thank you!