grade replacement

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gonnif said:
I dont think the policies have changed; the issue is a new staff/vendor that is not experienced in AACOMAS processing and has oversimplified the rules to the customer service people. Call back AND write email at per guidelines, Insist to speak with manager/supervisor (be nice, be professional) and, if need be, insist it be followed up with application services director at AACOM.

Please post replies/responses here
Click to expand...
Tried emailing again:
"Good morning,

Thank you for contacting AACOMAS. You can use any course to replace any other
course as long as it is equivalent, but it does not have to have equivalent
credits."

That's the third time I've heard the same thing. Can anyone else confirm?
 
So to sum up, nothing changed, new application system is new.
 
There's a reason why AACOMAS tells you to input whether your courses use Semester and Quarter format. They use their own calculations based on unit conversions to come up with a retake grade. Many people are probably trying to replace one with the other and are most likely being rejected on units alone. There is no actual "honor" policy because a 2-unit semester course with a A won't replace a 4-unit semester course with a D. It hasn't happened in all these years and they won't change this policy because it simply doesn't make sense. The courses are NOT equivalent. Hopefully that clears things up. Prefixes matter. Course titles, and course content matter. Units matter too. Hopefully this clears things up. This comes from after discussing with an AACOMAS rep who I've had the pleasure of being in contact with past app cycles who has experience with the retake policy (with the "old" system and the new one... though they are pretty much the same).
 
gonnif said:
I dont think the policies have changed; the issue is a new staff/vendor that is not experienced in AACOMAS processing and has oversimplified the rules to the customer service people. Call back AND write email at per guidelines, Insist to speak with manager/supervisor (be nice, be professional) and, if need be, insist it be followed up with application services director at AACOM.

Please post replies/responses here
Click to expand...
Two things:
1) what email guidelines?
2) not to be annoying, but can you read my previous few posts in this thread outlining what my particular situation is. Bec I was told it will not be a problem, until I again called in May, and they said they changed their policy. Please read my situation tho- I wanna be sure we are talking about the same thing.
 
ILOVEMED123 said:
Two things:
1) what email guidelines?
2) not to be annoying, but can you read my previous few posts in this thread outlining what my particular situation is. Bec I was told it will not be a problem, until I again called in May, and they said they changed their policy. Please read my situation tho- I wanna be sure we are talking about the same thing.
Click to expand...
Gonnif has posted a few times the email guide lines...look through the thread.

This is a long thread...did you look through it first to see if it answered you questions?

Edit: maybe you are unaware this is a merged thread now with a lot of useful info....take advantage of that and read through it
 
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@ILOVEMED123


by @gonnif:
1) Via email where you can keep a record of communication
2) Do so in a professional manner that expresses the urgent nature of the issue
3) clearly the specific issue and note from the above official instructions that you are fulfilling the requirements.
4) include school name, course title, term taken, credits given, grade received for both original and retake
5) include course description from both original and retake linking/referring to school's catalog/website

Examples would be :

"I am following up for the 3rd time my issue of a replacement grade for my general chemistry course"
"I originally took the course at Fall, 2012 term at XYZ school with title "general chemistry" for 4 credits and then repeated at University ABC in Spring 2014 with the title of "introductory chemistry."
"as per the AACOMAS instructions Courses retaken at the same school or a different school for a higher grade are considered “Repeated.” "
"Descriptions from each school's website shows they both are equivalent as general introductory chemistry."
 
Well after being on hold for about an hour, the best I could get was that my email has been forwarded to the verification team and the manager will look at it...

I asked for this managers name and extension but he kept dodging the question and saying all the communication will go through him, and that anything to do with gpas has to be in written form, so talking to the manager wouldn't do any good.

Then the rep said I should check back next Thursday....Geeze

And then he said June 15th is when schools will receive the primary.

So there is still some miscommunication going on within AACOMAS when schools will revive our apps. Steph was told late June by a manager, but the regular reps are still saying the 15th
 
Grace184 said:
Gonnif has posted a few times the email guide lines...look through the thread.

This is a long thread...did you look through it first to see if it answered you questions?

Edit: maybe you are unaware this is a merged thread now with a lot of useful info....take advantage of that and read through it
Click to expand...
That's not my issue. I am not sure if what I am having an issue with in terms of grade replacement is what everyone else is having an issue with. If you can please my previous posts in this thread id be rlly appraciative. Bec I think in my case, the reason AACOMAS is no longer allowing it starting it this cycle, is bec they rlly did change their policy. (Again, regarding my specific grade replacement situation)
Grace184 said:
Gonnif has posted a few times the email guide lines...look through the thread.

This is a long thread...did you look through it first to see if it answered you questions?

Edit: maybe you are unaware this is a merged thread now with a lot of useful info....take advantage of that and read through it
Click to expand...
 
swollcat said:
You should really heed the advice given by @Grace184 as I among several others have already answered your question. It seems like you're just waiting for someone to give you an answer you want to hear.

Instead of stating what it says on your transcript, you referenced the registrar which is not helpful in the slightest. What anyone says doesn't mean squat; its all about how its listed on your TRANSCRIPT. If the course is listed as a single 5 unit class on your transcript then its a COMBINED CLASS. If its clearly partitioned into a 3 Unit lecture AND 2 unit lab then they are SEPARATE. So which is it?
Click to expand...
Huh?? It was originally a combined 5 credit class. But I was told by accomas that if I had my registrar mailed to them and outlining the breakdown of how those 5 credits were distributed - 3 for lecture and 2 for lab - then I can go ahead with my grade replacement.
Did u read my previous posts? I'm not making believe anything. This is the procedure I was told to do by accomas up until May when they said I can no longer do this bec of them changing their policies or something this cycle.
 
I don't think your understanding.
Even if a lecture and lab are combined, if you call your registrar they can tell you how the credits are distributed.
How many are the lab and how many are the lecture.
Get it?
 
ILOVEMED123 said:
I don't think your understanding.
Even if a lecture and lab are combined, if you call your registrar they can tell you how the credits are distributed.
How many are the lab and how many are the lecture.
Get it?
Click to expand...


And we dont think you understand that this has never been allowed as a general rule. Sure there has probably been a few exceptions where students were able to get letters from their Uni to explain why they should be exempted from the general rule. But the rule has always been that the credits for a retake needs to match or exceed the class you are repeating. So either you got bad information (it happens) or you misunderstood what they were telling you. I think what is most likely is that they told you that you could attempt to try and get it replaced by submitting a letter from your registrar and you took this to mean that it would be allowed full stop. I will be honest I can't see them accepting a 3 unit class for a 5 unit class, if it had been a 4 unit for a 5 unit you might have a good chance with a compelling story but you are basically asking them to accept a repeat that only has %60 of the work of your first class. I simply dont believe they will let you do that. But it doesn't hurt to try just dont go in expecting it to happen.
 
MajorUnderDog said:
Well after being on hold for about an hour, the best I could get was that my email has been forwarded to the verification team and the manager will look at it...

I asked for this managers name and extension but he kept dodging the question and saying all the communication will go through him, and that anything to do with gpas has to be in written form, so talking to the manager wouldn't do any good.

Then the rep said I should check back next Thursday....Geeze

And then he said June 15th is when schools will receive the primary.

So there is still some miscommunication going on within AACOMAS when schools will revive our apps. Steph was told late June by a manager, but the regular reps are still saying the 15th
Click to expand...

So I'm not sure if this will help you at all, but I wouldn't trust the verification team AT ALL. When the problem with my sGPA arose I called & followed the guidelines & sent an email to verification. They didn't even look at it until I called 1.5 weeks later to be like have there been any updates???

If I were you I would call and ask for updates every day & if verification doesn't give you the answer you want then ask to speak to Michelle & be like APPS ARE BEING TURNED IN MONDAY I NEED HELP AHHHHHHHHH. & Definitely mention THE WEBSITE SAYS THIS WHY DOESN'T VERIFICATION FOLLOW WHAT THE PUBLISHED RULES ARE

Also in my emails to verification I kept asking for the manager name & number and they never ever gave it to me and kept dodging it as well. Calling the hotline & asking for a manager/supervisor there is your best bet.
 
Abraxas65 said:
And we dont think you understand that this has never been allowed as a general rule. Sure there has probably been a few exceptions where students were able to get letters from their Uni to explain why they should be exempted from the general rule. But the rule has always been that the credits for a retake needs to match or exceed the class you are repeating. So either you got bad information (it happens) or you misunderstood what they were telling you. I think what is most likely is that they told you that you could attempt to try and get it replaced by submitting a letter from your registrar and you took this to mean that it would be allowed full stop. I will be honest I can't see them accepting a 3 unit class for a 5 unit class, if it had been a 4 unit for a 5 unit you might have a good chance with a compelling story but you are basically asking them to accept a repeat that only has %60 of the work of your first class. I simply dont believe they will let you do that. But it doesn't hurt to try just dont go in expecting it to happen.
Click to expand...
I did not misunderstand them. I called them at least 6 times before and after I took the retake to clarify the procedure.
But ok, thanks for the input!
 
ILOVEMED123 said:
I did not misunderstand them. I called them at least 6 times before and after I took the retake to clarify the procedure.
But ok, thanks for the input!
Click to expand...


Honestly your best bet is to just go ahead with what you were told I just wouldn't expect it to count. It sucks. I am in a similar situations where I have a 4 unit virology and a 4 unit bacterial physiology class I would love to retake but my work schedule makes it impossible and I can't use online retakes because they are all 3 unit classes.
 
UPDATE:

I called today twice AND finally got through to Vicky who is the customer service manager. She overlooked my email and said all of my retakes will be fixed and gpa updated today...

Well, it got updated alright BUT they still are NOT counting the class that was taken AT THE SAME UNIVERSITY WITH THE SAME PROFESSER all because the Zoology Dept. changes names to the Biology Dept.

I even asked Vicky before we hung up, if I should have a document from my school emailed over telling this, and she stated that "no it shouldn't be a problem right now".

Well, it is. Here is the email I received AFTER they re-calculated my gpa this afternoon:

For Repeat #, AACOMAS is only able to replace a grade for a course taken again
at the same institution if the course prefix is identical. Since the course
prefix changed from 'ZOO 3333' to 'BIO 3333' the grades and credits for both of
these courses will be included into your GPA.


Man, this just keeps going on....So looks like Monday I am going to have to get back on the phone again and get this last repeat taken care of...

I mean, this policy is NOT written anywhere for applicants to see, and even it is against total common sense. Its THE SAME UNIVERSITY
 
I mean, IF they had just said, "Yes send in a document today". I could have easily done it and had all of this fixed by Monday when applications get released. BUT no I have to continue with this battle.
 
Abraxas65 said:
Honestly your best bet is to just go ahead with what you were told I just wouldn't expect it to count. It sucks. I am in a similar situations where I have a 4 unit virology and a 4 unit bacterial physiology class I would love to retake but my work schedule makes it impossible and I can't use online retakes because they are all 3 unit classes.
Click to expand...
I mean each time I called they confirmed what they previously said to me was going to work (again with letters mailed to them) up until May when I called and they said they now have a new app service so it may no longer work. I'm just not sure if that's actually the case bec now I'm seeing all these posts in this thread stating that nothing did in reality change this cycle so technically what they told me previously should still hold true
 
Abraxas65 said:
Nothing makes sense in medical school applications.
Click to expand...

Lol. True. I'm just super frustrated and anxious about this now. Especially with our primaries being released Monday.

So since this won't be fixed by Monday, I'm going to have to contact the schools individually to make them aware of the problem and hopefully prevent them from auto screening me out.
 
Wow. If def. did NOT say that last week. So they changed the policy right in the middle of the application cycle, and even after hundreds of applications have been submitted and paid for.
 
That was recently added. I have screenshots of the previous instructions from last week.
 
WTH.jpg
 
Sneaky. Do the support lines still have long wait times? They haven't responded to my email from last week. My 11th and final transcript got sent to the Podiatry team. The DO team got it back from them, but they forgot to mark it as received, so my app is still set to awaiting material. Another week goes by....
 
ChiTownBHawks said:
View attachment 192942
Click to expand...

People were freaking out because some of their retakes weren't being accepted. Some of the retakes that were being rejected were done at institutions which were different from the institution of the original class. Also some of the rejected retakes had different course names (or changed their names) than the original course names. I think some people are getting this resolved by submitting appeals/etc. I doubt the aacomas will stop taking retakes all together....it seems like they're just being a bit more strict on which classes they accept as retakes.
 
Sophmiester said:
People were freaking out because some of their retakes weren't being accepted. Some of the retakes that were supposedly being rejected were retakes that were done at different institutions from the original class. Also some of the rejected retakes had different course names than the original course names. I think some people are getting this resolved by submitting appeals/etc. I doubt the aacomas will stop taking retakes all together....it seems like they're just being a bit more strict on which classes they accept as retakes.
Click to expand...
Yes, I follow what's going on.
 
Sophmiester said:
People were freaking out because some of their retakes weren't being accepted. Some of the retakes that were being rejected were done at institutions which were different from the institution of the original class. Also some of the rejected retakes had different course names (or changed their names) than the original course names. I think some people are getting this resolved by submitting appeals/etc. I doubt the aacomas will stop taking retakes all together....it seems like they're just being a bit more strict on which classes they accept as retakes.
Click to expand...

It was a joke
 
Saw a post earlier on the last page stating that credits have to exactly match. Just want to say that this is not true, and according to AACOMAS honor policy, which has been stated by several in-the-know people here, the class credit doesn't have to be exactly the same (assuming if class was taken at different institution) so long as the general description of the classes match.

Just wanted to point that out, as there seems to be confusion about that on prior page.


UnderDog, that is a load of some crap that they are really forking you because of a prefix. Have you checked if the school can change that on your transcript? I know that if you haven't graduated with a degree with a transcript, it is still able to be tinkered with, legally speaking.
 
Chubaka31 said:
Saw a post earlier on the last page stating that credits have to exactly match. Just want to say that this is not true, and according to AACOMAS honor policy, which has been stated by several in-the-know people here, the class credit doesn't have to be exactly the same (assuming if class was taken at different institution) so long as the general description of the classes match.

Just wanted to point that out, as there seems to be confusion about that on prior page.


UnderDog, that is a load of some crap that they are really forking you because of a prefix. Have you checked if the school can change that on your transcript? I know that if you haven't graduated with a degree with a transcript, it is still able to be tinkered with, legally speaking.
Click to expand...

So basically I think I am going to have to do the exact same thing @Stephanopolous had to do for her retake to go through. First thing Monday morning I am going to go down to my school's Biology Dept. and get an official letter stating that these two are equivalent and Exactly the same. And then I'll either email or fax the letter Monday to AACOMAS and hopefully that will resolve this issue. Steph's got her approved so I should be able to follow suit, hopefully...

What also irks me is that now Monday the schools I selected will see my lower than 3.0 gpa. So I will have to do damage control to make sure none of them autoscreen me out.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Sneaky. Do the support lines still have long wait times? They haven't responded to my email from last week. My 11th and final transcript got sent to the Podiatry team. The DO team got it back from them, but they forgot to mark it as received, so my app is still set to awaiting material. Another week goes by....
Click to expand...

Wow. So sorry to hear all that man. Gosh this all just plain sucks
 
the fax number they gave me for the letter isn't working. does anyone have the correct fax number? I asked them and they gave me two different ones, neither of them work.

could anyone give me the right one? or I guess I'll just wait until Monday to call again.
 
Does this mean that if the courses name has changed they wont count it as a replacement? I was under the impression a note from the university saying it is the same class will work?
 
Here is the problem;

Once the AACOMAS app is transmitted tomorrow, schools will already have it. I'm not sure if any changes to the GPA would be transmitted to the schools later. Their system might not automatically update when AACOMAS is updated.

When I called about this, they did not clarify this for me.

EDIT:
This is what AACOMAS instructions said:

You CAN make updates to your coursework section for newly completed or planned courses using a system called Academic Update. AACOMAS Academic Update will be available during three time periods throughout the application cycle:
  • September 1- October 15, 2015
  • January 1- February 15, 2016
  • March 15-April 15, 2016
It looks like they won't send the GPA updates until later in the cycle. AACOMAS should clarify about this.
 
Last edited:
mathnerd88 said:
Here is the problem;

Once the AACOMAS app is transmitted tomorrow, schools will already have it. I'm not sure if any changes to the GPA would be transmitted to the schools later. Their system might not automatically update when AACOMAS is updated.

When I called about this, they did not clarify this for me.

EDIT:
This is what AACOMAS instructions said:

You CAN make updates to your coursework section for newly completed or planned courses using a system called Academic Update. AACOMAS Academic Update will be available during three time periods throughout the application cycle:
  • September 1- October 15, 2015
  • January 1- February 15, 2016
  • March 15-April 15, 2016
It looks like they won't send the GPA updates until later in the cycle. AACOMAS should clarify about this.
Click to expand...

Wait, @Stephanopolous claims that they wont be sending to schools until late June.
 
Gandy741 said:
Wait, @Stephanopolous claims that they wont be sending to schools until late June.
Click to expand...

Yeah, she claimed that a while ago. They're still shooting for June 15th. Stephanopolous got that from one AACOMAS person, probably trying to get her off her back and giving her the usual runaround.

I have called many times to AACOMAS and even asked this past Friday. I also talked to medical schools and they're also saying June 15th.

Think about it...if it was delayed, wouldn't you think AACOMAS would have made an announcement by now? And not wait until the day they were supposed to transmit those apps?
 
mathnerd88 said:
Yeah, she claimed that a while ago. They're still shooting for June 15th. Stephanopolous got that from one AACOMAS person, probably trying to get her off her back and giving her the usual runaround.

I have called many times to AACOMAS and even asked this past Friday. I also talked to medical schools and they're also saying June 15th.

Think about it...if it was delayed, wouldn't you think AACOMAS would have made an announcement by now? And not wait until the day they were supposed to transmit those apps?
Click to expand...

Ah fair enough.. But I thought she quoted an actual announcement from their website or so she said I believe.
 
Gandy741 said:
Ah fair enough.. But I thought she quoted an actual announcement from their website or so she said I believe.
Click to expand...

No she never quoted an actual announcement. It was just from someone telling her on the phone.

EDIT:
Stephanopolous said:
Both Vicky and Nicole reviewed the course descriptions, agreed that they do match, but apparently they are bound by the rules on what they can and cannot accept.
She also told me that they found out TODAY, that the schools will not be receiving the applications until the END OF JUNE, not JUNE 15th as previously thought. There is no specific date yet, just "the end of June".
She offered that if my school will not change the transcript for me, that I could just contact each school individually (24 in my case) and request that they accept the course as a repeat and subsequently calculate a new GPA.
Click to expand...
 
mathnerd88 said:
No she never quoted an actual announcement. It was just from someone telling her on the phone.

EDIT:
Click to expand...

Ah fair enough. Well I hope my app gets verified soon enough then. I had to resubmit it because of paranoia.
 
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