gpa craziness!?

[msjl33]

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okay to start off, i have a poor sci undergrad gpa. so i applied to smp and enrolled into umdnj-newark masters program in biomedical science. my grades are very strong here but i just found out that these grades won't affect my "undergrad gpa" on my amcas.

however, "post bac" grades DO count as "undergrad gpa" on amcas, according to the instructions.

so my questions are:
1) am i right about my grades at umdnj not being applied to "undergrad gpa" on my AMCAS? or is umdnj-newark biomedical science program still consider a postbac program? please confirm.
2) if i take classes as a "visiting student" or "non-degree student" at a local unversity, can i enter these grades on my AMCAS as "undergraduate coursework/grade" ?


i would appreciate an answer to #2 asap since i am looking into enrolling classes as non-degree spring 2010 semester and deadline is like end of this week.

thanks a bunch.

 

[deleted248403]

Your SMP grades dont change your undergrad GPA cos an SMP is a grad program.

I think you'd have a hard time convincing med schools as to a good reason why you took a step backwards from doing well in grad school to return to undergrad.

Now that you've done grad school classes, you shouldnt take UG classes IMO

 

[msjl33]

Your SMP grades dont change your undergrad GPA cos an SMP is a grad program.

I think you'd have a hard time convincing med schools as to a good reason why you took a step backwards from doing well in grad school to return to undergrad.

Now that you've done grad school classes, you shouldnt take UG classes IMO

i was surfing through sdn and found some blogs about phD's applying to med school with a poor undergrad gpa but superb grad gpa and lot of the suggestions were made about him taking some undergrad level classes, which doesn't make sense to me either. but considering that undergrad gpa is valued more when it comes to med school admission and since "post-bac" classes are counted in your undergrad gpa on the AMCAS, but SMP grades does not seem to, I was wondering if i should take some undergrad classes at a local college. But first I want to make sure that those classes I take as a visiting part-time student will be viable on my AMCAS as "undergrad"

if that makes any sense...

 

[DrMidlife]

But first I want to make sure that those classes I take as a visiting part-time student will be viable on my AMCAS as "undergrad"

Undergrad is undergrad. Postbac undergrad is undergrad. You can take more undergrad anytime you want to amend your existing undergrad GPAs. The only edge case I know of is when you're enrolled in a grad program, any undergrad coursework you take as part of that grad program gets counted as grad work.

You haven't given us any numbers to work with, but if either your cumulative or science undergrad GPAs are under 3.0, that's a very difficult position to be in, regardless of your SMP performance. One year of academic strength doesn't protect you from adcoms looking at every grade you ever received and expecting you to explain anything less than a B. (Which feels like having a dumptruck full of dog poo backed onto you, btw.)

Best of luck to you.