Endless Dilemma

[RunnerChick]

Hello everyone, so here's the deal. I graduated from ucsd last june and was a poli. sci. major. I had originally gone to college thinking I would be pre-med and all...well, that changed after a couple of chem classes. anyway, i got really interested in the legal field, majored in poli. sci., volunteered with innocence projects and did a ton of resident advisor stuff while in college. I did well in all of my poli. sci. classes, A+'s, As, Bs. However, the few pre-med classes that I did take I did poorly in, B's and C's. Anyway, I took the lsat and am applying to law schools but I still can't shake this pre-med bug. I am currently thinking that maybe I should have pursued medical school. I am curious to know if my prior performance is a serious deal breaker. For example, how would it reflect upon my application if I returned to school to finish my pre-med courses with my transcript already scarred with the C's from before? Would they be factored into my GPA for med school if I went to another college for my pre-med classes? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ravi]

Hello everyone, so here's the deal. I graduated from ucsd last june and was a poli. sci. major. I had originally gone to college thinking I would be pre-med and all...well, that changed after a couple of chem classes. anyway, i got really interested in the legal field, majored in poli. sci., volunteered with innocence projects and did a ton of resident advisor stuff while in college. I did well in all of my poli. sci. classes, A+'s, As, Bs. However, the few pre-med classes that I did take I did poorly in, B's and C's. Anyway, I took the lsat and am applying to law schools but I still can't shake this pre-med bug. I am currently thinking that maybe I should have pursued medical school. I am curious to know if my prior performance is a serious deal breaker. For example, how would it reflect upon my application if I returned to school to finish my pre-med courses with my transcript already scarred with the C's from before? Would they be factored into my GPA for med school if I went to another college for my pre-med classes? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Your GPA is still considered. If you can prove that you can do better this time in prereqiusite classes, you will be good. Changing the field is NOT a big no no, but you should have a good answer for that. Good luck .

 

[RunnerChick]

I heard that after a certain period of years the previous pre-med courses one has taken are not calculated into the new gpa because they kind of "expire." Meaning that the courses I took my freshman year of college will not be a part of my GPA if I return to school to retake some courses. And the courses that I take for the first time (Ochem, physics, biochem) will be calculated alongside the retaken courses with the grades from the second time around, not the first time around. I hope I am making sense. But if anyone has any info on this question I would greatly appreciate it. I am also going to speak with the admissions committees at local med schools and some post-bac programs. I have never taken the MCAT so I think that is a plus because I won't have two scores. Anyway, all advice is welcome!

 

[Skaterbabe74]

Sorry Runnerchick, but I don't believe that's how it works.

After a certain number of years (average ~7) previous premed courses won't be considered as fulfilling the prereqs, but will still be counted in your gpa for AMCAS. You'll need to retake the courses still to get them to count as fulfilling your prereqs, and both grades will be reflected in your gpa calculation.

Now for the DO application you are somewhat correct, only your most recent grade in any particular course will be counted in the gpa caclculation (although they will still see your original grades since you have to submit all your transcripts).

Also, your undergrad gpa will be calculated separately from your post-bacc gpa will be calculated separately from your grad gpa, etc.

 

[Skialta]

I think the 7 year rule is only for a few select schools. When I applied some of my science core classes were 9 years old and it never came up. Good Luck!

Skialta MS2

 

[Law2Doc]

I heard that after a certain period of years the previous pre-med courses one has taken are not calculated into the new gpa because they kind of "expire." Meaning that the courses I took my freshman year of college will not be a part of my GPA if I return to school to retake some courses.

Sorry, but Skaterbabe is correct, the old courses don't get wiped out of the GPA. I had a bunch of prerequisites that "expired" and so years later in a postbacc program I retook them. Both sets of grades get calculated into your AMCAS science grades, and AMCAS further breaks out undergrad versus postbacc science and non-science GPAs, so there's really no hiding from old grades. But you can obviously raise your cumulative GPA through averaging in additional courses (repeats or new).

Different schools have different requirements as to how many years can go by before the scores "expire" and must be retaken to count as a prerequisite. In my case (after more than a decade), on the advice of my postbacc program, I retook all the sciences but not the English or Calculus.