Does anyone know what happens if your school implements minus grades midway?

[sling787]

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I go to the University of Florida and for the past three years, we have been on a halfstep grading scale. This means that we only have A,B+,B,C+,c...etc. And each is worth 4.0,3.5,3.0,2.5,2.0 respectively.

Starting this coming summer, the school is changing its grading policy to include minus grades which changes the value of plus grades to x.33 rather than x.55.

Now, this doesn't affect my previous grades, but I'm curious as to how AMCAS will register these grades. Does AMCAS give you an option to change the value of a grade depending on the semester? Of do they force you to use the same grading scale when entering your grades for every semester? In other words will I be forced to register my previous plus grades as x.33 rather than x.5? Or can will I be able to register my previous classes as x.5 but use x.33 for future grades?

 

[flip26]

I am pretty sure you don't get to "choose" anything.

It is all explained in the AMCAS PDF...read it.

 

[student1799]

I go to the University of Florida and for the past three years, we have been on a halfstep grading scale. This means that we only have A,B+,B,C+,c...etc. And each is worth 4.0,3.5,3.0,2.5,2.0 respectively.

Starting this coming summer, the school is changing its grading policy to include minus grades which changes the value of plus grades to x.33 rather than x.55.

Now, this doesn't affect my previous grades, but I'm curious as to how AMCAS will register these grades. Does AMCAS give you an option to change the value of a grade depending on the semester? Of do they force you to use the same grading scale when entering your grades for every semester? In other words will I be forced to register my previous plus grades as x.33 rather than x.5? Or can will I be able to register my previous classes as x.5 but use x.33 for future grades?

As the previous poster said, you don't have any say in this matter. When you apply to med school, you enter your grades as they originally appeared on your transcript (i.e. A, B+, etc.), and they convert them to point values based on their interpretation of your school's grading system. AMCAS is fairly robotic, so I'd bet that they would code your old + grades as 0.33, because that's what the new ones are worth. However, your situation is out of the ordinary, because UF has changed its grading system during your undergrad career. I think the only way to get a definitive answer is to call the AMCAS helpline and ask.

 

[sling787]

Ok, I contacted AAMC and the person I spoke to wasn't sure about the answer to my question, so she spoke with a supervisor and responded through email with the following response:

"I spoke with my supervisor about your school's grading system. AMCAS will use the conversion system that your school used during the years you attended. In other words, if the school switched to a new grading system while you were there, AMCAS would use both conversion systems (the old and the new).

Additionally, if your school is changing to a new system and all of your work reflects the previous system, then AMCAS will not, obviously, use the new system. "

So just for future reference, AMCAS will use a combination of the old grading system along with the new grading system for your more recent grades. I hope this is helpful for any students in a similar situation as myself.

 

[TexasPhysician]

That is interesting. When I applied 3 years ago, they did not include +/- conversions to my gpa. i.e. It used to be an A- was an A and B+ was a B.