Gpa

[sunshine02]

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At my school, an A is a 4.0 but an A- is a 3.6. I understand that other colleges have their own system as well. Will med school adcoms factor this in? I know at some colleges an A- is a 3.8. Will they recalculate GPA?

 

[Doctor Strange]

AMCAS will calculate their own GPA based on the letter grades that are sent in your school transcript.

 

[sunshine02]

But will they see the gpa on your transcript first before they calculate it? I'm worried that it might affect what they think even before they re-calculate..

 

[BLACKMD]

That's nerve wracking. So will we be able to see what they calculate our GPA to be? So all of us posting our stats here could be completely wrong! At my school an A- is a 3.7 and a B+ is a 3.3. HUGE drop and I never knew why.

 

[Doctor Strange]

But will they see the gpa on your transcript first before they calculate it? I'm worried that it might affect what they think even before they re-calculate..

The AAMC has no bearing on a school's decision, so it doesn't matter what they think about your pre-AMCAS-calculated GPA. They're there to process the information in your primary application. As far as the admissions process goes, school's will only see the GPA reported by AMCAS and nothing else. The might see your school calculated GPA when you send a final transcript in after you're accepted, but, at that point, it's meaningless.

That's nerve wracking. So will we be able to see what they calculate our GPA to be? So all of us posting our stats here could be completely wrong! At my school an A- is a 3.7 and a B+ is a 3.3. HUGE drop and I never knew why.

Yes, you'll be able to see the re-calculated GPA. You can do it yourself through the AAMC GPA calculator.

 

[sunshine02]

@BlackMD exactly! I never understood why an A- at my school automatically drops you down to a 3.60, which I gather is pretty low for med school admissions standards, although an A- isn't too bad a grade right? :/

 

[BLACKMD]

@BlackMD exactly! I never understood why an A- at my school automatically drops you down to a 3.60, which I gather is pretty low for med school admissions standards, although an A- isn't too bad a grade right? :/

No... I think an A- is pretty damn solid. I'm going to use the GPA calc posted above and see how far off it is from my university GPA.

 

[pachewisc]

At my school, an A is a 4.0 but an A- is a 3.6. I understand that other colleges have their own system as well. Will med school adcoms factor this in? I know at some colleges an A- is a 3.8. Will they recalculate GPA?

How your UG calculates GPA is completely independent of how AMCAS does it. They have set standards that apply equally to every applicant from every UG. I believe they use the following scale:

A+/A = 4
A- = 3.7
AB = 3.5
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7
BC = 2.5
...and so on

 

[lcm2020]

How your UG calculates GPA is completely independent of how AMCAS does it. They have set standards that apply equally to every applicant from every UG. I believe they use the following scale:

A = 12/3 or 4.0
A- = 11/3 or 3.67
B+ = 10/3 or 3.33
B = 9/3 or 3.0

...and so on



Note: feel free to correct this if it's incorrect.

It's actually:
A = 4.0
A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7
...

 

[Temerit]

What about schools that don't use letter grades and instead assign grades on a 4.0 scale?

What does the AAMC do with that?

 

[earf]

It's actually:
A = 4.0
A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7
...

I think pachewisc is right in that an A- is a 3.67 rounded from 11/3 for most undergraduates with a +/- grade system, but for AMCAS they use the above quoted scale. A simple google search will tell you this along with how AMCAS calculates all the other trading systems (see page 3):

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/181676/data/

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

The AAMC has no bearing on a school's decision, so it doesn't matter what they think about your pre-AMCAS-calculated GPA. They're there to process the information in your primary application. As far as the admissions process goes, school's will only see the GPA reported by AMCAS and nothing else. The might see your school calculated GPA when you send a final transcript in after you're accepted, but, at that point, it's meaningless.



Yes, you'll be able to see the re-calculated GPA. You can do it yourself through the AAMC GPA calculator.

Med schools can absolutely see your whole transcript. How else do you think they manage to look at credit hours per semester, the kinds of classes you've taken, if/how many W's you have, and fulfillment of school-specific pre-reqs?

 

[pachewisc]

It's actually:
A = 4.0
A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7
...

I think pachewisc is right in that an A- is a 3.67 rounded from 11/3 for most undergraduates with a +/- grade system, but for AMCAS they use the above quoted scale. A simple google search will tell you this along with how AMCAS calculates all the other trading systems (see page 3):

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/181676/data/

Thanks! I'll edit my previous post so it's accurate with info from that link 🙂

 

[pachewisc]

Med schools can absolutely see your whole transcript. How else do you think they manage to look at credit hours per semester, the kinds of classes you've taken, if/how many W's you have, and fulfillment of school-specific pre-reqs?

It's listed verbatim on your AMCAS and in a much more organized, calculated fashion than transcripts offer.

 

[earf]

Med schools can absolutely see your whole transcript. How else do you think they manage to look at credit hours per semester, the kinds of classes you've taken, if/how many W's you have, and fulfillment of school-specific pre-reqs?

Med schools can see your whole transcript as reported by AMCAS to standardize them. As you might recall, you never send your school's transcripts to the school until after you're accepted. Rather you send your transcripts to only AMCAS.

 

[Lamel]

What if your school does it like this...

A = 4
B+ = 3.5
B = 3
C+= 2.5
C = 2
D+ = 1.5
D = 1
F = 0



So would the B+ I get at my school be a 3.3 according to AMCAS, and not a 3.5?

 

[Doctor Strange]

What if your school does it like this...

A = 4
B+ = 3.5
B = 3
C+= 2.5
C = 2
D+ = 1.5
D = 1
F = 0



So would the B+ I get at my school be a 3.3 according to AMCAS, and not a 3.5?

Yes.

 

[Lamel]

Yes.

What a bunch of crap.

Its the half step AB system. But instead of writing AB, they write B+, and BC = C+.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

It's listed verbatim on your AMCAS and in a much more organized, calculated fashion than transcripts offer.

Med schools can see your whole transcript as reported by AMCAS to standardize them. As you might recall, you never send your school's transcripts to the school until after you're accepted. Rather you send your transcripts to only AMCAS.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. I thought the guy I was replying to meant that schools never see your course history, i.e. transcript.

 

[pachewisc]

What if your school does it like this...

A = 4
B+ = 3.5
B = 3
C+= 2.5
C = 2
D+ = 1.5
D = 1
F = 0



So would the B+ I get at my school be a 3.3 according to AMCAS, and not a 3.5?

Yes.

Sorry Dr. Stange, but it's actually a No.

If you click on the link earf posted, you can see that the grading scale you described is the 4th type under the ABCD/F with Halfstep Grades Grading Scale Type. It would be the same as every other Halfstep grading system and the grades AMCAS assigns will be identical to how you school assigns them..

 

[Doctor Strange]

Sorry Dr. Stange, but it's actually a No.

If you click on the link earf posted, you can see that the grading scale you described is the 4th type under the ABCD/F with Halfstep Grades Grading Scale Type. It would be the same as every other Halfstep grading system and the grades AMCAS assigns will be identical to how you school assigns them..

Whoops, didn't read that post carefully enough.

 

[csx]

How your UG calculates GPA is completely independent of how AMCAS does it. They have set standards that apply equally to every applicant from every UG. I believe they use the following scale:

A+/A = 4
A- = 3.7
AB = 3.5
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7
BC = 2.5
...and so on

What's this "AB/BC" thing you speak of..?

 

[CD1989]

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