Hiding your Previous Matriculation?

[DRIN]

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Help!

I went to an undergraduate school in 2001 and withdrew the 1st semester there to go give my professional ballet career a shot. When that didn't pan out i went to community college for a couple years earning mostly, W's and F's. Sooo five years later when i decided to go the MD route i dropped out of the community college and just started going back to my original undergraduate school. I didn't transfer any community college credits or say i even went to a community college. Since then i have done spectacular. On my transcript i have the W's from 2001 but they don't go count towards my GPA because they were official withdrawals. No big deal.

My question is every where on the AMCAS application they say please list all previous matriculation. But I'm under the impression if i don't say that i went to community college they won't find out. I don't think there's a national database anywhere which AMCAS could look at and see "Oh he went to this community college from 2003-2005". I feel like this is why they stress putting it down, because they cannot check themselves since i did not transfer anything from the community college. Either way I'm going to not put the community college down and see what happens.

Please don't respond and say oh if it says it you have to put it down. I'm looking for some information. Is there someway they could find out about this community college? Have you heard of anyone who tried avoiding a similar situation, was caught, and had to adjust their application?

Thanks for the input.

Yes, they can find out. There is a database, not sure what it's called at the moment, in which many community colleges and universities participate. If they do a search on you for whatever reason, you will not get in. If they find this after you matriculate, you'll be dismissed for lying on your application. If you have your degree and they discover this, they may revoke it. I would definitely be honest about your past.

 

[DRIN]

how about omission of...

downloaded mp3s
times went over the speed limit
occasions spent underage drinking
and so forth.

you know, omission of such pertinent facts would reflect poorly upon your integrity.

They do not ask for this on AMCAS. They do however, ask you to list all previous matriculations. Bad comparison.

 

[Compass]

You cannot explain away forgetting that you entered a community college that conveniently contained Ws and Fs...

 

[MilkmanAl]

This isn't the Jim Rome show, or professional sports. We're not talking about corked baseball bats here. We're talking about cheating in order to get into medical school.

Yes, thanks for that. I'd lost my train of thought for a moment.

Any of you who are taking the idealistic, self-righteous approach to this scenario should go back and re-read your personal statement. Do the phrases "at that moment, I realized..." or "I was absolutely fascinated by..." or some anecdote about how your hospital volunteering cemented your desire to be a physician appear anywhere therein? If so, guess what? You lied on your application! Hey, look at that! Sure, that's not in the same ball park as omitting transcripts (which I'll say again is a terrible idea), but if you're going to come down on the superhero side of things, you'd best be prepared to back it up. Maybe you really are that model student I mentioned earlier, but chances are pretty dang good that you're giving yourself far more credit than you deserve.

 

[wanderer]

Yes, they can find out. There is a database, not sure what it's called at the moment, in which many community colleges and universities participate. If they do a search on you for whatever reason, you will not get in. If they find this after you matriculate, you'll be dismissed for lying on your application. If you have your degree and they discover this, they may revoke it. I would definitely be honest about your past.

http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/secure_area/DVEV/ev_ParticipatingSchools.asp

 

[red10]

Yes, thanks for that. I'd lost my train of thought for a moment.

Any of you who are taking the idealistic, self-righteous approach to this scenario should go back and re-read your personal statement. Do the phrases "at that moment, I realized..." or "I was absolutely fascinated by..." or some anecdote about how your hospital volunteering cemented your desire to be a physician appear anywhere therein? If so, guess what? You lied on your application! Hey, look at that! Sure, that's not in the same ball park as omitting transcripts (which I'll say again is a terrible idea), but if you're going to come down on the superhero side of things, you'd best be prepared to back it up. Maybe you really are that model student I mentioned earlier, but chances are pretty dang good that you're giving yourself far more credit than you deserve.

There's a difference between writing "at that moment i realized" so that you don't have to say "i liked it, but then I went home and thought it over, and then I chatted with people on SDN about it, and then about 4 hours later I thought yea lets do this" and committing fraud with the intention of making the adcoms think you are a better or different student than you are.

Your comparison is like saying "for all of you who think murder is wrong, if you've ever intentionally stepped on a bug, you're a murderer too"

 

[HateTheMCAT]

I'm not going to judge you for taking the risk, although I sure as heck wouldn't. However, from a few posts above, it appears that most community colleges do participate in the clearinghouse data base. And for your sake, I hope that no AMCAS administrators scour studentdoc and contact them to match your info with their application records. But at the same time, that wouldn't completely shock me if they did.

 

[halekulani]

They do not ask for this on AMCAS. They do however, ask you to list all previous matriculations. Bad comparison.

that wasn't the objective of my post but thanks for trying.

 

[Poliscidoc]

When I first read this post I was kinda on your side. "If they dont know if cant hurt them". But I have thought about this for a day or so now and I think you should tell them. I mean you screwed up and we all have, I think it would be better to show your upward trend. I wish you the best of luck though...

 

[rigel]

If I were an adcom I'd want to admit the person who struggled and still wound up with a 35 and a great GPA than the person who got a 35 and a great GPA because daddy paid for a private tutor since age 5.

yeah, thats what you might think, but as the UCSF dean of admissions explained to me, when you have 100 applications for every spot, and you have two people with similar test scores and who look about equally matched academically, but one has stumbled a bit early on before they got their act together, which do you think is the less risky choice?

i realize that's a long sentence. basically, i wish more adcoms thought like you, but i understand why they dont. (thats why this is my third year applying. feel free to make fun of that, as others have done. it amuses me.)

the stakes are very high for this person, who i notice hasnt chimed in for several days now. They are essentially taking odds that their bad grades will be so slow to be reported that noone will notice when they are.

i think thats a sucker's bet. even the lottery is a better deal, because at least then you're only flushing money down the toilet.



()

 

[MilkmanAl]

Your comparison is like saying "for all of you who think murder is wrong, if you've ever intentionally stepped on a bug, you're a murderer too"

Perhaps a tad extreme? In any case, you can't say lying on your application is wrong but still have it be okay. If you want to say that lying about transcripts is wrong, fine, but to blanket the whole thing is nonsense.

 

[red10]

Perhaps a tad extreme? In any case, you can't say lying on your application is wrong but still have it be okay. If you want to say that lying about transcripts is wrong, fine, but to blanket the whole thing is nonsense.

I think if the intent is to blatantly deceive then it is wrong. A simplification or an accidental omission isn't.

 

[maceo]

Help!

I went to an undergraduate school in 2001 and withdrew the 1st semester there to go give my professional ballet career a shot. When that didn't pan out i went to community college for a couple years earning mostly, W's and F's. Sooo five years later when i decided to go the MD route i dropped out of the community college and just started going back to my original undergraduate school. I didn't transfer any community college credits or say i even went to a community college. Since then i have done spectacular. On my transcript i have the W's from 2001 but they don't go count towards my GPA because they were official withdrawals. No big deal.

My question is every where on the AMCAS application they say please list all previous matriculation. But I'm under the impression if i don't say that i went to community college they won't find out. I don't think there's a national database anywhere which AMCAS could look at and see "Oh he went to this community college from 2003-2005". I feel like this is why they stress putting it down, because they cannot check themselves since i did not transfer anything from the community college. Either way I'm going to not put the community college down and see what happens.

Please don't respond and say oh if it says it you have to put it down. I'm looking for some information. Is there someway they could find out about this community college? Have you heard of anyone who tried avoiding a similar situation, was caught, and had to adjust their application?

Thanks for the input.

i wouldnt put it down. i really wouldnt. if they admit you what are they gonna do throw you out if they find out. Highly doubtful.. I know a girl who didnt report a few years of college for the same reason she is a practicing neurologist

 

[277768]

You cannot explain away forgetting that you entered a community college that conveniently contained Ws and Fs...

BINGO. If it were one C- on a community college transcript, I'd say **** it and don't report. You can always say you forgot if they find out.

There's no database. But, since your conditions are SO EXTREME...if they do find out, you are finished, just finished.

You have to report it. Sorry. If they find out something small after the fact that's ok, but a transcript riddled with f's and w's is something else.

REPORT IT!

 

[277768]

i wouldnt put it down. i really wouldnt. if they admit you what are they gonna do throw you out if they find out. Highly doubtful.. I know a girl who didnt report a few years of college for the same reason she is a practicing neurologist

But her conditions are so EXTREME...it's not one C or one D, it's multiple F's and W's. If she leaves that out, it will certainly look deceitful.

 

[Sciamachy]

I have a 35 mcat and a 3.9 GPA. With that i'm sure if i do reveal a bunch of F's and W's i will not get into any of my top schools. This is why it is an important issue.

I just wish there were some answers. People say things like SSN, backround check's, and the existence/non-existence of databases. Does anyone really know anything about this?

Not sure but I think I have an idea of who you are. In any event, someone will find out about what you've done and they will probably tattle. Why? because successful hardworking people did it without cheating and in general don't like it when others do as well by cheating.

One girl in my organic class, skinny little thing, I remember her cheating the entire way through and crying during the final. Lawl, she got an A though and nobody said anything. Maybe you'll be just as lucky.

-------------------------
Why should you be excused for past poor performance if everyone else isn't. Frankly, I HATE PEOPLE LIKE YOU.

BTW:

cGPA: 3.9+
BCPM: 3.9+

NO CHEATING and I support myself

-------------------------
Deceitful people don't belong in medicine let alone a top medical school. Here let me show you the door, don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out.

 

[277768]

you will be known as the pre-med bernie madoff

outside: shine and polish
inside: FRAUD

now that i know you're doing this I'm determined to figure out who you are. be careful, it will be hard to sleep at night

 

[mipp0]

Revealing such information IS character.

Quoted for Truth.

Good man. Good character.

 

[maceo]

you will be known as the pre-med bernie madoff

outside: shine and polish
inside: FRAUD

now that i know you're doing this I'm determined to figure out who you are. be careful, it will be hard to sleep at night

what are you threatening this girl? whats the matter with you? You know there are internet laws. Stop being judgemental and judge yourself. In medicine they make mountain out of mole hills thats why she is not telling. She is not lieing she just chooses not to mention it.

 

[277768]

what are you threatening this girl? whats the matter with you? You know there are internet laws. Stop being judgemental and judge yourself. In medicine they make mountain out of mole hills thats why she is not telling. She is not lieing she just chooses not to mention it.

Yes, she is not lying. That's why AMCAS says to send all transcripts of post-secondary institutions and she is deliberatly trying to mislead them.

That's like saying you're sitting in a classroom taking a curved exam and all your classmates around you are cheating. Why judge them? Judge yourself.

Unbelievable. If they make mountains out of a mole-hill, they'll make Mt. Everest out of lying about F's and W's

 

[mmmcdowe]

The OP hasn't responded in a long time, I think that we've said enough.

 

[Compass]

what are you threatening this girl? whats the matter with you? You know there are internet laws. Stop being judgemental and judge yourself. In medicine they make mountain out of mole hills thats why she is not telling. She is not lieing she just chooses not to mention it.

That's like John Doe neglecting to mention that he had neglected to mention he was convicted of sexual assault in Whateverland. AMCAS specifically states ANY/ALL. It means ANY/ALL, not ANY/ALL that you WISH to disclose.

That's equivalent to being asked at the airport whether anyone gave you a package to bring on board an airplane. You not mentioning it if it HAS occured CLEARLY isn't lying, right? No one could ever find out... right? Right?

 

[redrower]

im kinda torn between what to suggest.

depends on how much the Fs are going to bring down your gpa. to a 3.6 or lower, it MIGHT be worth the risk. on the otherhand, if it brings your 3.9 down to a 3.85 or even a 3.8, i wouldnt risk it. there is a very insignificant difference between a 3.9 and a 3.8 and i wouldnt say its worth fraud. but its your call, obviously.

but whats more confusing to me is this national clearinghouse business: do people actually think schools are going to go through over 200 students they accept to check all of their courses?? theyre barely willing to check amcas to see our courses.
thoughts on this? i mean im sure they could go through the trouble of using everyones ssn to find every course/college theyve attended, but is it worth it to them?

thoughts?

 

[Compass]

im kinda torn between what to suggest.

depends on how much the Fs are going to bring down your gpa. to a 3.6 or lower, it MIGHT be worth the risk. on the otherhand, if it brings your 3.9 down to a 3.85 or even a 3.8, i wouldnt risk it. there is a very insignificant difference between a 3.9 and a 3.8 and i wouldnt say its worth fraud. but its your call, obviously.

but whats more confusing to me is this national clearinghouse business: do people actually think schools are going to go through over 200 students they accept to check all of their courses?? theyre barely willing to check amcas to see our courses.
thoughts on this? i mean im sure they could go through the trouble of using everyones ssn to find every course/college theyve attended, but is it worth it to them?

thoughts?

Nope, just the ones with unexplained gaps in education, probably. It's kind of hard to lose a SEMESTER's worth of time to memory.

 

[redrower]

Nope, just the ones with unexplained gaps in education, probably. It's kind of hard to lose a SEMESTER's worth of time to memory.

yea i guess so. unless she can explain it with some volunteering and a job or something she did concurrently...in which case she would go undetected?? idk i feel like its a tough situation to give advice on without being in the situation yourself, or knowing definitively what the outcome will be. i hope for OPs sake she has a better source of advice than a bunch of self-righteous SDNers 🙁

 

[Compass]

yea i guess so. unless she can explain it with some volunteering and a job or something she did concurrently...in which case she would go undetected?? idk i feel like its a tough situation to give advice on without being in the situation yourself, or knowing definitively what the outcome will be. i hope for OPs sake she has a better source of advice than a bunch of self-righteous SDNers 🙁

I'm pretty sure no med school would EVER find out about my minor academic misconduct. Not substances, not cheating, not misdemeanor/felony. Meh. Read and bleed, adcoms.

 

[Qcumber4life]

For the past 48 hours i have read and thought deeply about the situation. Firstly, i would like to thank everyone for their two cents, it has been very helpful. Even those of you that were a little harsh lol. Really harsh even. I'm sure these are probably those students who have worked hard their whole life towards the goal of becoming a physician and wouldn't want their dedication to go way side because of some person who omitted information from their application. You guys have a minimum of friends(that aren't on SDN) and/or real life experiences which realistically puts yourselves at a disadvantage personally. But the AMCAS application doesn't ask questions like. Did you remain in your dorm all day, every day during college? Or were you that smelly kid that had no friends because of your blind, obbsession with compeition in the classroom?

On top of that, i think it is possible for them to find out. If you were convicted of a misdemeanor/felony a school would probably discover this around 95% of the time.Yet, a school omission probably more like only 5% of the time.Very small indeed, but a RISK at that.

Still, at the end of the day when i did receive a couple semesters of F's and W's i was doing what i loved at the time, and that was ballet. And if i explain this i think it would be a reasonable explanation for why i was careless in regards to school and my record; even though it was just some community college i wasn't taking seriously and didn't even think about medicine as a option. So i did add it to my amcas record. From my personal calculations it dropped my oGPA from a 3.9 to ~3.65.......It sucks. It's not horrible, but it sucks.

Before this i think somewhere in the top twenty was attainable; now im not sure. But to quote what a few people mentioned earlier, its not worth it to go through your career living a lie. Even if that lie is rather insignificant. I don't wanna be the story where "Someone knew this girl who was in her 3rd year of an MD program and they found she lied and kicked her out of school; Now she works at Sonics". As a result, i'm going to bite the bullet. And i would encourage anyone with a similar dilemma to do the same or at least read this entire post and think hard about what it means to be a doctor. And how substantial honesty is...

Thanks again for the advice. Even though some of you are real lonely jerk offs lol

 

[sdguy2008]

If you think that it's unfair for you to have to live with your older poor academic record, then what do you say to the student who has worked their rear end off and done extremely well only to be bypassed by someone who had a previous shot and didn't take advantage of it? Your academic record, regardless of age is your academic record. What would not be fair would be for you to be able to "do over" and the person who has worked diligently from day one to be penalized for their excellent record.

What most people seem to forget is that you live with the consequences of your actions no matter how long ago those actions took place. In today's world of very expensive tuition and limited academic resources for many students who are begging for a chance, you essentially get one shot at your academics and you have to do your best. Education is a precious commodity and many people foolishly didn't take advantage of it when they had the chance. No matter how much you want to reinvent yourself, bad grades follow you forever.

sometimes i seriously question whether or not you are a real adcomm. your posts are so ridiculous. everything is 'one and done' with you. It's the end of the world if you made mistakes in the past, it's the end of the world if you take the mcat more than once. sorry, but life happens!

maybe your journey into and through medicine was pristine, but you don't seem to understand that other people had other circumstances that may have had a significant impact on their paths. and by your logic they don't deserve to earn their way back. how about that perseverence that is supposedly so important for people to have in order to get into medicine? not everyone had the best advice from the get go, and surely there are some serious circumstances that have affected other people's lives and schooling. someone with your experience should understand that things aren't so black and white. although i know many surgeons, and they are known to be asses, so maybe that can be your excuse.

you can obviously see by my mdapps that someone like me would get crucified by you if you were looking at my application, so i seriously hope i didn't apply to any of your schools, because your holier than thou attitude is a huge turnoff.

sorry to derail the thread. OP, just be honest, you probably have nothing to worry about with those previous grades.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

I'm sure these are probably those students who have worked hard their whole life towards the goal of becoming a physician and wouldn't want their dedication to go way side because of some person who omitted information from their application. You guys have integrity and an unblemished track record of academic achievement which realistically puts yourselves at an advantage personally. I'm bitter now because I have to admit to this string of F's, not because I want to but because you convinced me I will likely get caught. I'm going to take out my frustration by making nonsensical assumptions of the forum users in general.

fixed, and agreed. glad you see the light somewhat but you're still a b!tch.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

For the past 48 hours i have read and thought deeply about the situation. Firstly, i would like to thank everyone for their two cents, it has been very helpful. Even those of you that were a little harsh lol. Really harsh even. I'm sure these are probably those students who have worked hard their whole life towards the goal of becoming a physician and wouldn't want their dedication to go way side because of some person who omitted information from their application. You guys have a minimum of friends(that aren't on SDN) and/or real life experiences which realistically puts yourselves at a disadvantage personally. But the AMCAS application doesn't ask questions like. Did you remain in your dorm all day, every day during college? Or were you that smelly kid that had no friends because of your blind, obbsession with compeition in the classroom?

On top of that, i think it is possible for them to find out. If you were convicted of a misdemeanor/felony a school would probably discover this around 95% of the time.Yet, a school omission probably more like only 5% of the time.Very small indeed, but a RISK at that.

Still, at the end of the day when i did receive a couple semesters of F's and W's i was doing what i loved at the time, and that was ballet. And if i explain this i think it would be a reasonable explanation for why i was careless in regards to school and my record; even though it was just some community college i wasn't taking seriously and didn't even think about medicine as a option. So i did add it to my amcas record. From my personal calculations it dropped my oGPA from a 3.9 to ~3.65.......It sucks. It's not horrible, but it sucks.

Before this i think somewhere in the top twenty was attainable; now im not sure. But to quote what a few people mentioned earlier, its not worth it to go through your career living a lie. Even if that lie is rather insignificant. I don't wanna be the story where "Someone knew this girl who was in her 3rd year of an MD program and they found she lied and kicked her out of school; Now she works at Sonics". As a result, i'm going to bite the bullet. And i would encourage anyone with a similar dilemma to do the same or at least read this entire post and think hard about what it means to be a doctor. And how substantial honesty is...

Thanks again for the advice. Even though some of you are real lonely jerk offs lol

oh one more thing. sod off.

 

[Compass]

For the past 48 hours i have read and thought deeply about the situation. Firstly, i would like to thank everyone for their two cents, it has been very helpful. Even those of you that were a little harsh lol. Really harsh even. I'm sure these are probably those students who have worked hard their whole life towards the goal of becoming a physician and wouldn't want their dedication to go way side because of some person who omitted information from their application. You guys have a minimum of friends(that aren't on SDN) and/or real life experiences which realistically puts yourselves at a disadvantage personally. But the AMCAS application doesn't ask questions like. Did you remain in your dorm all day, every day during college? Or were you that smelly kid that had no friends because of your blind, obbsession with compeition in the classroom?

I personally don't care what you decide. Care as in whichever way you pick. Not as in I don't care. Just to be clear. I do care that you make your decision based on what people say and that you think about it. But your choice is yours alone, and I'm not going to sit there dogging you to change it after you've decided.

I will not hunt you down to the ends of the earth to let the schools know. I may not respect your decision, but I will not stop you. Whatever you decide is your decision and yours alone. Whether you can live with your decision is your burden as well. Whether or not you get into medical school, or inadvertently push me out of a slot into medical school, I am not concerned with. I hold everyone I meet to a high standard, and while I know that many do not care, I'd appreciate it if they at least tried to listen, which you have done.

On top of that, i think it is possible for them to find out. If you were convicted of a misdemeanor/felony a school would probably discover this around 95% of the time.Yet, a school omission probably more like only 5% of the time.Very small indeed, but a RISK at that.

Risks versus benefits. Sometimes decisions are made that will dog you for the rest of your life. What if?

Still, at the end of the day when i did receive a couple semesters of F's and W's i was doing what i loved at the time, and that was ballet. And if i explain this i think it would be a reasonable explanation for why i was careless in regards to school and my record; even though it was just some community college i wasn't taking seriously and didn't even think about medicine as a option. So i did add it to my amcas record. From my personal calculations it dropped my oGPA from a 3.9 to ~3.65.......It sucks. It's not horrible, but it sucks.

You can explain a 3.65 away. You cannot explain a 3.9 and missing Ws and Fs away.

Before this i think somewhere in the top twenty was attainable; now im not sure. But to quote what a few people mentioned earlier, its not worth it to go through your career living a lie. Even if that lie is rather insignificant. I don't wanna be the story where "Someone knew this girl who was in her 3rd year of an MD program and they found she lied and kicked her out of school; Now she works at Sonics". As a result, i'm going to bite the bullet. And i would encourage anyone with a similar dilemma to do the same or at least read this entire post and think hard about what it means to be a doctor. And how substantial honesty is...

Look down the road. Let's say 20-30 years. You're a doctor. Do you think anyone will care where you went to medical school? Would a Rank 31 Med School make people look at you like you crawled out of a sewer and turned into a doctor? No. Means to an end, means to an end. The goal of applying for med school is to get INTO medical school. Getting into medical school where you want is nice, but the point is to get into a place that will teach you to be a doctor. If you explain this to your interviewer, I guarantee they will empathize with you. Life is about integrity. If you can't trust yourself, no one else can trust you.

Thanks again for the advice. Even though some of you are real lonely jerk offs lol

No problem. I've sent you the bill via snail mail.

 

[277768]

You guys have a minimum of friends(that aren't on SDN) and/or real life experiences which realistically puts yourselves at a disadvantage personally. But the AMCAS application doesn't ask questions like. Did you remain in your dorm all day, every day during college? Or were you that smelly kid that had no friends because of your blind, obbsession with compeition in the classroom?

Bitter, bitter, bitter. It's no one else's fault that you are considering something dishonest. About 95% of people on this forum have something in their academic record they wish they hadn't.

We all don't run from our problems.

 

[ksmi117]

Let's try and keep it civil in here. No need to throw around insults.

 

[Compass]

Bitter, bitter, bitter. It's no one else's fault that you are considering something dishonest. About 95% of people on this forum have something in their academic record they wish they hadn't.

We all don't run from our problems.

Play nice. This is a valid ethical/moral issue that can make or break someone's dreams. The fact that the OP asked this shows that she has considered the question and recognized that it needed objective/subjective addressing. Even if she didn't disclose the information in the end, the fact that she asked peers about it shows that she does recognize the dilemma as one that cannot be easily dealt with alone.

 

[adeline]

Play nice. This is a valid ethical/moral issue that can make or break someone's dreams. The fact that the OP asked this shows that she has considered the question and recognized that it needed objective/subjective addressing. Even if she didn't disclose the information in the end, the fact that she asked peers about it shows that she does recognize the dilemma as one that cannot be easily dealt with alone.

Like everyone else who asks these stupid questions, she wanted to know if she could get away with it.

Don't try to front.

 

[cky2kenndel]

While everyone is here i had a question, I took a course at one college my first semester and got an F "excuses here" retook the course at a different community college 1.5 years later in the USMC, got an A.

My question is, does that A factor out the F because it was the same course? Eng 111 if that matters.

 

[adele87]

oh one more thing. sod off.

pretty sweet to give the girl advice then malign her for taking it... Even though she did throw a few unnecessary, baseless insults at "some" posters in her follow-up post, at least she attempted a valid risk assessment and settled on the choice that was most safe and morally sound. I highly doubt that most people in the same situation would report the grades if they were close to 100% certain they would never get found out.

 

[277768]

I'm bitter now because I have to admit to this string of F's, not because I want to but because you convinced me I will likely get caught. I'm going to take out my frustration by making nonsensical assumptions of the forum users in general.

Did she edit this from her reply statement?

A serious ethical quandry does not involve making decisions on the basis of "Will I get caught?"



Just my two cents.

 

[red10]

While everyone is here i had a question, I took a course at one college my first semester and got an F "excuses here" retook the course at a different community college 1.5 years later in the USMC, got an A.

My question is, does that A factor out the F because it was the same course? Eng 111 if that matters.

If the credit transfered and they actually count as a retake of the same class then I think you just average out the grades so it'd be basically a C

 

[adeline]

If the credit transfered and they actually count as a retake of the same class then I think you just average out the grades so it'd be basically a C

Allo counts both, osteo takes the 2nd grade.

 

[Qcumber4life]

To follow up on this. Now that i have disclosed negative information to medical schools, will this follow me to my residency match? Do they factor in undergraduate GPA or MCAT's when trying to competitively match you to a program? Thanks.

 

[bakanoisha]

oh one more thing. sod off.

edit: Apparently sod off is British for buzz off. So "sod off" is not "sawed-off" 😀

 

[TopSecret]

To follow up on this. Now that i have disclosed negative information to medical schools, will this follow me to my residency match? Do they factor in undergraduate GPA or MCAT's when trying to competitively match you to a program? Thanks.

Undergraduate GPA and MCAT's are not used in matching to a residency program. The main factors are class rank, USMLE Step 1 (and Step 2 to a lesser extent), LOR's and school reputation, in that order.

 

[bakanoisha]

Yes, thanks for that. I'd lost my train of thought for a moment.

Any of you who are taking the idealistic, self-righteous approach to this scenario should go back and re-read your personal statement. Do the phrases "at that moment, I realized..." or "I was absolutely fascinated by..." or some anecdote about how your hospital volunteering cemented your desire to be a physician appear anywhere therein? If so, guess what? You lied on your application! Hey, look at that! Sure, that's not in the same ball park as omitting transcripts (which I'll say again is a terrible idea), but if you're going to come down on the superhero side of things, you'd best be prepared to back it up. Maybe you really are that model student I mentioned earlier, but chances are pretty dang good that you're giving yourself far more credit than you deserve.

Great point. And, on top of that how many people "embellished" their volunteer record? I know more people than I would have every hoped who just made crap up for the volunteering portion of the application because they knew nobody checked.

 

[adeline]

Did you mean "sawed-off [shotgun]"? If

sod off=buzz off in british english

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Did you mean "sawed-off [shotgun]"? If so, that's totally ridiculous and I'd advise any admissions committee to take someone like her over someone like you any day of the week. Just think about it for a second: desperate person makes stupid decision that ultimatey doesn't hurt anybody but is morally questionable vs. guy who encourages person to kill herself for trivial matter. Gee... I wonder which is worse.

If that's not what you meant, my apologies.

lolwut?

 

[Compass]

Did you mean "sawed-off [shotgun]"? If so, that's totally ridiculous and I'd advise any admissions committee to take someone like her over someone like you any day of the week. Just think about it for a second: desperate person makes stupid decision that ultimatey doesn't hurt anybody but is morally questionable vs. guy who encourages person to kill herself for trivial matter. Gee... I wonder which is worse.

If that's not what you meant, my apologies.

This Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.

 

[Looking Glass]

To follow up on this. Now that i have disclosed negative information to medical schools, will this follow me to my residency match? Do they factor in undergraduate GPA or MCAT's when trying to competitively match you to a program? Thanks.

No it will not. Residency match uses your USMLE scores, class rankings, recommendations, etc. from your time in medical school. They don't really care how you did as an undergrad unless you were convicted of academic dishonesty (another reason why you should disclose your previous community college records) or committed a serious crime. This is another reason why you should disclose your previous string of F and W's - even if you graduate from medical school without incident, if this type of omission gets found out during residency, there are going to be some serious questions about your professional integrity.

 

[mmmcdowe]

OP, I think that despite the old grades you are going to find yourself with a bunch of interviews in the top 20s and a few from the top 10 even. Your final GPA isn't that bad, in fact its barely below average at many schools. You have an enormous positive trend since those F's, and you are not going to be hurt as much as a person would if they had gotten that 3.65 over four years, rather than some mistakes made as a young person.

 

[bakanoisha]

But don't you think it makes for a much better story to say "look I struggled and I overcame it because I am a strong person and I fought for what I have" ? So yea it sucks that they're bad grades on there but then again, it shows that you didn't have an easy path and yet you figured it out and came out better because of it.

I agree 100%. I was just saying that people who have done exceptionally well for several years who are being dragged down by extremely old grades have my sympathies. However, I'd still encourage them to follow the rules.