Do Med Schools Only See Your Official Transcript?

[PanRoasted]

My school has a policy where if you retake a class, you can "overwrite" your old grade completely and replace it with your new one. I was wonder whether or not med schools would take the same approach. If it is rewritten as the new grade according to my university, does this mean that med schools will only see the new grade, or will they somehow have access to EVERY grade i've ever had? What I'm really getting at is how exactly do med schools see your grades?

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[MilkmanAl]

MD schools factor in all grades for classes you've retaken, but if your school only reports the newer grade, I don't see how they'd know the difference. In other words, they will only see the grades listed on your official transcripts, so unless you're insane and go out of your way to report your presumably worse older grades, you'll be fine.

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

Schools see your transcripts. If your undergrad literally erases the old grade and only includes the new one, then that's what they see. If it lists both the original and the retake, but only use the new one to calculate gpa, then schools will see both. Take a look at your transcripts, but my bet would be the second scenario.

 

[azide10]

Interesting. I never new this! I figured every grade needs to be reported and it would be fairly easy to find if a grade was "left off", which would be an app ruiner. Too bad every grade is shown on my official transcript. That F that I retook for an A would push me over the GPA I want. Oh well.

It would make me feel much less honest and make me completely neurotic that I would be discovered if I did that so I never would anyway.

 

[Catalystik]

Take a look at your transcripts, but my bet would be the second scenario.

You might consider ordering an official transcript for yourself. The one available to you on-line probably doesn't look the same, and the application service will be seeing the "official" version.

 

[rHinO1]

Just so you know, the amcas instructions require you to report both the original and the retake, even if your school does not. If they find out you lied, then you're done, game over.

 

[dramaqueen14]

Just so you know, the amcas instructions require you to report both the original and the retake, even if your school does not. If they find out you lied, then you're done, game over.

I thought we are just required to list our grades as they appear on the transcript...My school has a strange policy where you can't possibly get a grade lower than a C. So if you get a grade that would be lower than a C, the class never appears on your transcript..it's like you never took it. So then you're free to retake the class and only the C or better grade will show up. My premed advisor told us to only list the grade for the retake.

 

[FlowRate]

For the record, it is entirely possible that the official transcript includes only the single grade. For example, my school has a very detailed internal transcript system, but the official transcripts are much more simplified, to the point of excluding courses not taken for credit, it sums ap credits, etc.

 

[FlowRate]

I thought we are just required to list our grades as they appear on the transcript...My school has a strange policy where you can't possibly get a grade lower than a C. So if you get a grade that would be lower than a C, the class never appears on your transcript..it's like you never took it. So then you're free to retake the class and only the C or better grade will show up. My premed advisor told us to only list the grade for the retake.

Brown right?

 

[dramaqueen14]

Brown right?

No, not Brown. Its a small engineering school

 

[rHinO1]

I thought we are just required to list our grades as they appear on the transcript...My school has a strange policy where you can't possibly get a grade lower than a C. So if you get a grade that would be lower than a C, the class never appears on your transcript..it's like you never took it. So then you're free to retake the class and only the C or better grade will show up. My premed advisor told us to only list the grade for the retake.

I guess you will have to read this and consider your situation:

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/131750/data/2011amcasinstructions.pdf.pdf

From page # 34:

"When entering course work, you must include information and corresponding grades for every
course in which you have ever enrolled at any U.S., U.S. Territorial, or Canadian post-secondary
institution, regardless of whether credit was earned. This includes any courses removed from
your transcripts or GPA as a result of academic bankruptcy or institutional forgiveness policies.
This includes, but is not limited to:​

•

​

​

Courses from which you withdrew.

• ​

​

​

Courses for which you received a grade of "Incomplete" and for which no final grade has​

been assigned.

​

​

• ​

​

​

Courses that have been repeated.

• ​

​

​

Courses that you failed, regardless of whether they have been repeated.

• ​

​

​

Courses in which you are currently enrolled or expect to enroll in prior to entering medical​

school.

​

​

• ​

​

​

Remedial/developmental courses.

• ​

​

​

College-level courses you took while in high school even if they were not counted toward​

a degree by any college.

​

​

• ​

​

​

Courses taken at an American college overseas.

• ​

​

​

Courses removed from your transcripts or GPA as a result of academic bankruptcy,
forgiveness, or similar institutional policies."​

 

[PanRoasted]

I just checked with the administration at my school, and they report both my grades. However, my official GPA will only include the course that I got credit for most recently, effectively raising my GPA by a ton. Would I be able to report THAT GPA as my official, or would I have to recalculate it?

 

[PressPforPi]

I just checked with the administration at my school, and they report both my grades. However, my official GPA will only include the course that I got credit for most recently, effectively raising my GPA by a ton. Would I be able to report THAT GPA as my official, or would I have to recalculate it?

My school has an academic forgiveness policy as well. I believe you're supposed to average the two grades. However, I calculated that my currently low 3.08 in which I'm retaking a class that I made a C in (along with my current semester classes) would shoot my gpa up to a 3.46. Still have to report those C's though 🙁

 

[orthomyxo]

I thought we are just required to list our grades as they appear on the transcript...My school has a strange policy where you can't possibly get a grade lower than a C. So if you get a grade that would be lower than a C, the class never appears on your transcript..it's like you never took it. So then you're free to retake the class and only the C or better grade will show up. My premed advisor told us to only list the grade for the retake.

Wtf? Do you go to clown school?

 

[2012mdc]

Just so you know, the amcas instructions require you to report both the original and the retake, even if your school does not. If they find out you lied, then you're done, game over.

+1

I didn't realize this when I applied and it caused my primary application not to go through and by the time they notified me it was the end of December and most of the app deadlines had passed. Ended up taking an extra year off and applying the next cycle.

Don't know if it's changed but before that's definitely how it was

 

[organdonor]

I just checked with the administration at my school, and they report both my grades. However, my official GPA will only include the course that I got credit for most recently, effectively raising my GPA by a ton. Would I be able to report THAT GPA as my official, or would I have to recalculate it?

It doesn't matter what GPA your undergrad gives you, AMCAS takes all of your classes you ever took anywhere and calculates your GPA for you. This accounts for variables like the academic forgiveness programs or people who took classes at more than one institution so that credits weren't taken into GPA consideration by their degree-granting institution.

This means that your AMCAS calculated GPA and your undergraduate GPA could be significantly different (especially if you took high school AP credits or took classes at other institutions which your degree granting instituion didn't factor into your GPA.)

I guess you will have to read this and consider your situation:

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/131750/data/2011amcasinstructions.pdf.pdf

From page # 34:

"When entering course work, you must include information and corresponding grades for every
course in which you have ever enrolled at any U.S., U.S. Territorial, or Canadian post-secondary
institution, regardless of whether credit was earned. This includes any courses removed from
your transcripts or GPA as a result of academic bankruptcy or institutional forgiveness policies.
This includes, but is not limited to:​

•

​

​

Courses from which you withdrew.

• ​

​

​

Courses for which you received a grade of "Incomplete" and for which no final grade has​

been assigned.

​

​

• ​

​

​

Courses that have been repeated.

• ​

​

​

Courses that you failed, regardless of whether they have been repeated.

• ​

​

​

Courses in which you are currently enrolled or expect to enroll in prior to entering medical​

school.

​

​

• ​

​

​

Remedial/developmental courses.

• ​

​

​

College-level courses you took while in high school even if they were not counted toward​

a degree by any college.

​

​

• ​

​

​

Courses taken at an American college overseas.

• ​

​

​

Courses removed from your transcripts or GPA as a result of academic bankruptcy,
forgiveness, or similar institutional policies."​

Nice find and it looks like it definitively answers the OP's question.

 

[rHinO1]

I just checked with the administration at my school, and they report both my grades. However, my official GPA will only include the course that I got credit for most recently, effectively raising my GPA by a ton. Would I be able to report THAT GPA as my official, or would I have to recalculate it?

You don't actually report your GPA, AMCAS calculates it for you, and they will include both the original and retaken grade. See organdonors post for further explanation.

Unfortunately, this is a very common misunderstanding.

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

You don't actually report your GPA, AMCAS calculates it for you, and they will include both the original and retaken grade. See organdonors post for further explanation.

Unfortunately, this is a very common misunderstanding.

Didn't realized people were asking about the amcas; thought this was a post-acceptance concern relating to transcripts that you are required to send directly to schools. Anyway, rhino1 held it down nicely. With amcas, basically everything counts.

 

[dramaqueen14]

Wtf? Do you go to clown school?

um no...lol. I go to a normal school

 

[TFS]

this happened to me. my undergrad does grade replacement and deletes the original grade so they don't have a record of it. i could have lied, but ultimately it's about having some integrity.

 

[DrHouse579]

It doesn't matter what GPA your undergrad gives you, AMCAS takes all of your classes you ever took anywhere and calculates your GPA for you. This accounts for variables like the academic forgiveness programs or people who took classes at more than one institution so that credits weren't taken into GPA consideration by their degree-granting institution.

This means that your AMCAS calculated GPA and your undergraduate GPA could be significantly different (especially if you took high school AP credits or took classes at other institutions which your degree granting instituion didn't factor into your GPA.)



Nice find and it looks like it definitively answers the OP's question.

Wait, AMCAS takes into account AP credits when determining GPA? How exactly?

 

[rHinO1]

I thought we are just required to list our grades as they appear on the transcript...My school has a strange policy where you can't possibly get a grade lower than a C. So if you get a grade that would be lower than a C, the class never appears on your transcript..it's like you never took it. So then you're free to retake the class and only the C or better grade will show up. My premed advisor told us to only list the grade for the retake.

I reconsidered your post, and I think the best case scenario would be if your school considers the original "failed" course as a withdraw, since no grade is assigned. If that is the case, you can list the original course grade as a "W," and therefore it won't impact your amcas gpa.

 

[organdonor]

Wait, AMCAS takes into account AP credits when determining GPA? How exactly?

You'll have to bear with me as I never took an actual "AP" class. Do you not get college credit and a letter grade for AP classes? My high school offered only one class for college credit through a local community college. I had to report this class to AMCAS along with the grade I got in it even though I didn't attend the community college for any other classes.

It is these college credit classes taken while in high school to which I was referring. People screw themselves often by not caring about these classes because "they're just high school classes" but they can come back to bite you if you get a low grade in them.

 

[farrago]

But AMCAS checks your grades against the clearinghouse, and if the clearinghouse doesn't have your grade because your school deleted it, how the hell will anyone know that the grade existed in the first place? Unless the information they get is never updated, in which case their records would show old grades...which just makes no sense.

 

[PanRoasted]

Ok, this thread officially has me flipping the **** out.
- - - - - Beginning of Non Degree Programs Record - - - - -

Fall 2009 (2009-08-31 to 2009-12-19)

Program : Early College Experience

Plan : Early College Experience Specialization

ENGL 1011 Seminar Writing thr Literature 4.00 4.00 C+ 9.200

MATH 1131Q Calculus I 4.00 4.00 B 12.000

PHYS 1201Q General Physics 4.00 4.00 B 12.000

STAT 1100Q Elem Concepts of Stats 4.00 4.00 A- 14.800

TERM GPA : 3.000 TERM TOTALS : 16.00 16.00 48.000


CUM GPA : 3.000 CUM TOTALS : 16.00 16.00 48.000


Spring2010 (2010-01-19 to 2010-05-08)

Program : Early College Experience

Plan : Early College Experience Specialization

MATH 1132Q Calculus II 4.00 4.00 B 12.000

PHYS 1202Q General Physics 4.00 4.00 C+ 9.200

TERM GPA : 2.650 TERM TOTALS : 8.00 8.00 21.200


CUM GPA : 2.883 CUM TOTALS : 24.00 24.00 69.200

Non Degree Programs Career Totals

CUM GPA : 2.883 CUM TOTALS : 24.00 24.00 69.200

These are all the classes I took in high school that I got credit for in college, minus APs. These classes were affiliated with the university I currently attend, but I didn't commute to the university to take them. I was specifically told that I could choose whether or not to include these on my official transcript. Are you guys telling me that these will have to be reported anyway? Even though I took them AT my high school with a HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER?

The way I see it, if these grades ARE included I will have a 3.85 max sGPA and 3.8 max cGPA. Assuming I ace every semester from now until I graduate. Someone please prove me wrong...

 

[rHinO1]

Yes, you will have to include them.

But, don't freak out. A 3.8 GPA is more than good enough to get you into medical school.

I took 8 units of autoshop while in high school (taught at my HS), and it was affiliated with a CC. I never went to class, and as a result got all D's. Despite the fact I got straight A's for four years of undergrad, my AMCAS cGPA was dragged down to ~3.8, because of the autoshop grades. I was still offered multiple acceptances, and those grades never came up at a single interview.

Just keep getting good grades and you will be fine.

 

[obscurehero]

From personal experience, they incorporate all the grades even if your undergrad doesn't. For example, I had a family crisis (a lot of cancer and a death in the family) during biochemistry II and I ended up having to take an F in the class. I retook it the following year and got a A. AMCAS decided they'd average the two for my cGPA and sGPA.

Personally, I think its unfair but I totally understand the reason why. If you have any bad grades at all, it helps to distinguish you from the guy who didn't need to retake the class, regardless of a family crisis. I still got in, so no harm done...however, I think I would've had an easier time had my GPA not been pulled down by that. Doesn't seem right to punish me for things that were out of my control, but whatever the case its a downer...but don't freak out...its just life.

 

[obscurehero]

um no...lol. I go to a normal school

how is your school even accredited? Is it in the 'no-consequences' division of undergrads that give you fake degrees? Talk about grade inflation...grade deletion...must be nice.

 

[dramaqueen14]

how is your school even accredited? Is it in the 'no-consequences' division of undergrads that give you fake degrees? Talk about grade inflation...grade deletion...must be nice.

Jeez.. no it's not a fake degree. My school is ranked just outside the top 50 in the US News Rankings so it is a legitimate school..