grade replacement

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Stephanopolous said:
I hope this doesn’t delay my application significantly and now I’m freaking out thinking that schools can already see this 2.94 cGPA. This is so frustrating. I knew I was behind the game by having low stats so I tried to compensate by applying ASAP.
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Easy there. Schools can't see anything until June 15th. This is just one small bump in a very long road you (and the lot of us) are on. Keep your chin up. Everything will work out ok here.

Don't let deep neuroticism start sinking in this early in the cycle! 😉
 
Stephanopolous said:
Yes I saw that thank you so much. I guess I have done everything I can at this point. I'll just plan on being on the phone at 9am sharp.
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No problem. Just have all of your calculations put together tonight so that you can talk about it clearly with a representative over the phone. Make a list of ALL of your questions (like what you were wondering about schools being able to see your gpa or not and the overall timeline of re-verifying) and go through them one by one. Keep calm, you'll be okay.
 
MajorUnderDog said:
Easy there. Schools can't see anything until June 15th. This is just one small bump in a very long road you (and the lot of us) are on. Keep your chin up. Everything will work out ok here.

Don't let deep neuroticism start sinking in this early in the cycle! 😉
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Thanks so much I needed to hear that and it's very reassuring knowing they can't see it until 6/15, phew! This just means so much to me but I have to chill and stop being neurotic I know.
 
dexter7788 said:
No problem. Just have all of your calculations put together tonight so that you can talk about it clearly with a representative over the phone. Make a list of ALL of your questions (like what you were wondering about schools being able to see your gpa or not and the overall timeline of re-verifying) and go through them one by one. Keep calm, you'll be okay.
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Thank you so much that's exactly what I did. I'll post tomorrow and let you guys know what happens.
 
Update: I just got off of the phone with AACOMAS. She reviewed my e-mail and calculations and I was correct- there were multiple errors, including:

A repeated course which was counted for credit hours instead of being listed as 0.00 (yes I had listed it correctly when I put the course in)
My Freshman science hours were calculated incorrectly
My Sophmore science hours were calculated incorrectly
My Senior science hours were calculated incorrectly

My Freshman quality points- incorrectly calculated
My Sophomore quality points- incorrectly calculated
Junior quality points were calculated correctly
Senior quality points- incorrectly calculated

This means that my actual GPA (by my calculations) would be cGPA 3.00 and sGPA 3.35

She told me it would take 3-5 business days to resolve and that I would get a series of e-mails, again, after they re-verify.

She did confirm that the schools cannot see my applications until 6/15/15.

I also followed up on the correct LOR situation and was told that it was an issue affecting many applicants and their IT department is still working on a fix.

I hope my situation can potentially help someone else. Is there any way to re-title this post so that others in the same situation can easily search for it?

Thanks again for all the feedback and help.
 
That's great news! It seems all of your gpa issues will be resolved before 6/15.

Idk about how to re-title the post though.
 
That is awesome news! So glad to hear the AACOMAS rep helped you out and they are going to fix it.

What a ride!

🙂

And I think @AlteredScale can fix the title
 
Stephanopolous said:
I haven't had any issues accessing them.

I can send you screen shots of them if you want?

@aspiringMD/DO



http://help.unicas.com:8888/aacomas...-history-2/aacomas-course-subjects/index.html
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I'm so happy to hear they sorted it out for you!! The process of applying is stressful in its own right that having inaccurate gpa calculations would probably throw me off the deep end!!
BTW, can I ask what gpa calculator you used? I have done calculations for AMCAS as per their calculation matrix, but am having trouble finding one for AACOMAS?

I'm wondering if it is because I am on a mac and using Safari to try to open the instructions page? It's just saying that Safari has failed to open the page.
 
I'm using a mac and safari also so I don't think that's it.
Yes it's super stressful but I am relieved that I was prepared to apply early so I have some time now for them to correct the mistakes.

I used a GPA calculator that is popular on SDN, if you search "gpa calculator" in the forum it will come up.

Ultimately though, what I did to check AACOMAS math was to use their grade scale A=4.0, B=3.0...etc, to calculated quality points and then divided that by the credit hours.
 
Man that's rough.....hope everything works out for you. (Mostly just commenting and sending condolences so I can follow this thread haha) Good luck and hopefully my apps don't run into the same problem!
 
Thank you- I would encourage everyone to double check their apps after verification. This started out by me foolishly interpreting my non-sci GPA as my cGPA, but in the process I discovered multiple errors so it was overall a blessing. I realize they process thousands of applications and so there are going to be errors, I'm just surprised by how many I found.
 
Wow, that's really bad to have that many errors. Glad you brought this up. I will be eagle-eying my application after they verify it for any errors
 
Never mind...crazy stuff.

Lesson learned: Don't trust AACOMAS to correctly calculate GPAs.
 
Stephanopolous said:
I hope this doesn’t delay my application significantly and now I’m freaking out thinking that schools can already see this 2.94 cGPA. This is so frustrating. I knew I was behind the game by having low stats so I tried to compensate by applying ASAP.
Click to expand...
What is your MCAT?
 
Update: I am on day three now since discovering the issues with my verified GPA calculations.

Today I received an e-mail from AACOMAS stating that they are working on "most of this" (what does that even mean?). They then preceded to explain how their calculation of my Junior science GPA was correct, and leaded with the following calculation:

"4 credits x 4 (grade-A)= 12"

They also advised me that my repeated attempt at Biology II will not be counted, stating the following reason:
"However for your General Biology II, a repeat course the same institution needs
to have the same prefix in order for us to mark them as repeat."

The first course was ABIO111Z (lecture and lab combined for 4credits)
The repeat was done 5 years later and at that time they changed the name of the prefix (course description stayed the same) to ABIO 121 (3 credit lecture) and ABIO123Z (1 credit lab).

I had already verified with a representative before applying that this would be acceptable as a replacement. I wrote down her name and the date and time I had called.

I am at a loss at this point. I feel like my confidence in their ability to do this correctly is dwindling down. Each time I have called the rep tells me "wow this is a lot you should really talk to just one person who knows all of the details".
At this point I am waiting on a phone call back. With a total of five business days left to correct this I am really starting to get nervous that it won't be done by the time schools can see my application.
 
Wait... the repeats won't count even if it is a similar course at a different university? Ex. Organic Chemistry at Institution A might be called CHEM 215, then if you retake at Institution B, it might be like CHEM 3770. Your post makes it sound like they would only count a repeat if it is at same university with same prefix. So confused.
 
yes_sir_44 said:
Wait... the repeats won't count even if it is a similar course at a different university? Ex. Organic Chemistry at Institution A might be called CHEM 215, then if you retake at Institution B, it might be like CHEM 3770. Your post makes it sound like they would only count a repeat if it is at same university with same prefix. So confused.
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Yes that's exactly what they told me in that e-mail. I quoted it verbatim from the e-mail I received.

In my case it wasn't a different university, and the one course which I did repeat at a different university was allowed, even though the prefix was different.
 
Stephanopolous said:
Yes that's exactly what they told me in that e-mail. I quoted it verbatim from the e-mail I received.

In my case it wasn't a different university, and the one course which I did repeat at a different university was allowed, even though the prefix was different.
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Maybe they mean if the course is repeated at same institution, then prefix and name have to match?
 
Yes that is what they mean. However, I had already verified with a representative that it would count, since the course descriptions were the same. There is no other "version" of biology II there, it's just that they changed the prefix number.
 
Stephanopolous said:
Yes that is what they mean. However, I had already verified with a representative that it would count, since the course descriptions were the same. There is no other "version" of biology II there, it's just that they changed the prefix number.
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You might need to get some kind of note from your school's registrar office to explain to AACOMAS that it really is the same exact course. I'm sorry you have to go through all of this 🙁
 
I am not a fan of aacomas gpa policy. My school does not offer minuses, only pluses so technically is is A, AB, B grading scale. My school uses A, B+, B, etc. They will only count B+ as 3.3 when my school uses 3.5 because it matches the half step grades with a different letter.

On AMCAS they will differentiate this but not for AACOMAS.
 
ananasmed said:
You might need to get some kind of note from your school's registrar office to explain to AACOMAS that it really is the same exact course. I'm sorry you have to go through all of this 🙁
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That's a good idea. I already e-mailed AACOMAS with the prior and current course descriptions for Biology II at that university. I called the registrar at my undergraduate university to explain and the rep there is going to send me a PDF document confirming that these courses are indeed the same, they just changed the prefix number.
 
Repeating courses at different uni's affords you some leeway since its almost guaranteed that course title and description will differ.

If you retake at the same school, there has to be a 100% match unless they did some updating to their catalog and thereby started altering titles and course descrips

Are you sure your school just recategorized the course and didn't amend it in any way? Double check and if its the same class with the only change being combining lecture/lab, call the bio department and have them get you a course verification.

Something like this happened at my school where they changed the course code, but they made sure to put an asterisk at the end of the course description in the catalog stating that the new course was commensurate to the old one
 
I verified with the registrar at my undergraduate university and it is the same course, just a different prefix number since they only recategorized but the course itself stayed the same.

I realize that issue with the retakes which is why this is so frustrating.
 
Stephanopolous said:
I verified with the registrar at my undergraduate university and it is the same course, just a different prefix number since they only recategorized but the course itself stayed the same.

I realize that issue with the retakes which is why this is so frustrating.
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Breath. Im happy that your school is already on it as opposed to waiting until next week to help you out. You're gonna be okay.
 
swollcat said:
Breath. Im happy that your school is already on it as opposed to waiting until next week to help you out. You're gonna be okay.
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Thank you, I hope you are right. I was doing a good job of just relaxing while they worked this out but after finding out this morning that no progress was made AND they rejected my repeat course, it's hard to relax.
 
Stephanopolous said:
Thank you, I hope you are right. I was doing a good job of just relaxing while they worked this out but after finding out this morning that no progress was made AND they rejected my repeat course, it's hard to relax.
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I bet. Lets us know and best of luck with everything
 
These posts make me feel nervous about my English requirement. My registrar counts Chinese Cinema as English, but AACOMAS may say differently.
 
Dang. Never seems things can be straight forward when it comes to these things unfortunately.

I think having patience here in this will be paramount. You still have plenty of time to get all this straightened out. Much better to get all this taken care of slowly and precisely than to rush it and more mistakes are made.

So take a deep breath and keep making your case. You are in it for the long haul, so this one test of many more to come that you will get through.
 
Thanks @MajorUnderDog, I just got off the phone with AACOMAS.

I now have one point person to deal with there- a huge relief since explaining this long scenario over and over is exhausting.

THANKFULLY, I printed out my application after I paid and submitted but before it was verified. I say thankfully because after talking to the rep today she told me that unless I could prove that I had entered the courses correctly, they would not be able to count the biology course because the prefix was different. This, to a certain degree still doesn't make sense to me, but luckily I had printed the application and I had entered the repeated courses correctly.

I will hear back from her today regarding the decision to count the course or not. She confirmed that my sGPA was calculated incorrectly and they are still working on this. She is hopeful that that part will be fixed by the middle of next week.

If it is not corrected by Friday of next week she said we will look into options for holding my application so that it cannot be seen by schools until the errors are fixed.
 
Stephanopolous said:
Update: I just got off of the phone with AACOMAS. She reviewed my e-mail and calculations and I was correct- there were multiple errors.
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So you just called and they were able to review all the errors while on the phone??
 
No.

I was verified Wednesday, noticed the errors when I self calculated against their math, and sent in the the e-mail they require in order to dispute the GPA calculation. That e-mail took me one hour and I had to break down each calculation that you did against theirs.

Thursday I called to follow up, the rep confirmed a few of my calculations, confirmed that yes my calculations were correct and theirs were wrong, this triggered a re-verification.

Today she was just again, confirming that the calculations on their end were wrong and this was being worked on.
 
What calculator are you using, exactly, to figure out your cGPA and sGPA?

Or what method, if you aren't using a calculator? Want to calculate all my grades before I submit.
 
Geezh, that's scary. Good thing you had resolved the issue for the better. Thanks for the fast response!
 
Chubaka31 said:
What calculator are you using, exactly, to figure out your cGPA and sGPA?

Or what method, if you aren't using a calculator? Want to calculate all my grades before I submit.
Click to expand...


credit hours x grade hours = quality points
quality points/credit hours = gpa
they do multiple calculations, including, but not limited to: freshman science, freshman non science, cumulative, etc

Their conversion chart for letter grades to grade hours is on their instructions page for the application.
 
SlugMD said:
Chem 1A and 2A are departmental course designations. This doesn't matter, only the actual title of course is what matters in order to be replaced. For example, I'm taking "general microbiology" at the CC to replace "microbiology" that I already took at my 4 year college. Notice, I didn't mention anything about it being called Micro 101 or Biol 119 because they are arbitrary registrar abbreviations. AACOMAS will look to replace based on its full title not the number after the prefix.
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Just sharing my experience, but I found the above to be INCORRECT.

I took BIO II three times, the first two semesters spring 2007 and spring 2008 it was designated as ABIO111z, a 4credit course which included biology lecture and biology lab

The final attempt was in Spring of 2012, at the same university, same class name Bio II, but the university had changed the prefix (course description stayed the same) and split the class into a 3cr lecture and 1cr lab (I took both). I am now appealing a decision by AACOMAS to not count this as a repeat, their reason being that the PREFIX CHANGED and therefore they will not accept the course.
 
Stephanopolous said:
Just sharing my experience, but I found the above to be INCORRECT.

I took BIO II three times, the first two semesters spring 2007 and spring 2008 it was designated as ABIO111z, a 4credit course which included biology lecture and biology lab

The final attempt was in Spring of 2012, at the same university, same class name Bio II, but the university had changed the prefix (course description stayed the same) and split the class into a 3cr lecture and 1cr lab (I took both). I am now appealing a decision by AACOMAS to not count this as a repeat, their reason being that the PREFIX CHANGED and therefore they will not accept the course.
Click to expand...

Did you get the same grade in the split lecture and lab retake?
 
MajorUnderDog said:
Dang. Never seems things can be straight forward when it comes to these things unfortunately.

I think having patience here in this will be paramount. You still have plenty of time to get all this straightened out. Much better to get all this taken care of slowly and precisely than to rush it and more mistakes are made.

So take a deep breath and keep making your case. You are in it for the long haul, so this one test of many more to come that you will get through.
Click to expand...

Major, your also awaiting verification for a bunch of repeats correct? Without obviously getting specific, can you let us know how that goes? Would very much appreciate it man.
 
Update- I just received an e-mail from AACOMAS stating the following:

Afternoon Stephanie

I have confirmed again with my manager we CAN NOT verify this as repeated. At
the SAME school it MUST have the same prefix and number when it has the same
prefix and number we can verify it as repeated. Here's the instructions to help
clarify: While AACOMAS allows applicants to classify similar coursework from
separate schools as repeated, the verification staff is not responsible for
determining whether the content, course level, and credit hours are equivalent.
AACOMAS staff can only correct incorrectly classified repeated coursework from
the same school. In order for repeated coursework across institutions to be
verified as repeated, the applicant must enter the initial attempts as 0.00
credits and mark each attempt repeated during Transcript Review.
 
Per the instructions she sent in her email

"the verification staff is not responsible for
determining whether the content, course level, and credit hours are equivalent.
AACOMAS staff can only correct incorrectly classified repeated coursework from
the same school. In order for repeated coursework across institutions to be
verified as repeated, the applicant must enter the initial attempts as 0.00
credits and mark each attempt repeated during Transcript Review."

I sent her proof that I had entered them correctly. Am I missing something. As per the bolded text since it was from the SAME SCHOOL they should be able to correct it???? I feel like I'm in the twilight zone right now. Meanwhile this means my cGPA will sit at 2.94 which I'm guessing will kill my chances at many schools.
 
I didnt read all this thread but this sounds like an application NIGHTMARE
 
Well, damn. Same thing is happening to me.

I just got my verification email around 1. Checked my Gpa and hour later and I dropped from a 3.1 sgpa to a 2.47
 
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