How will my grades for postbacc coursework be calculated?

[Clovers]

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Hi Everyone,

I graduated from college last year but is still taking science classes at a local university. They are undergrad classes such as histology, micro, and immunology. I wanted to know if my grades for those classes will be calculated with my undergrad GPA on AADSAS or will they have a separate portion for postbacc work?

BTW, anybody here managed to A's any semester taking 3-4 upper division science classes and work part-time? Is it possible? 😱

 

[Comet208]

AADSAS will calculate a GPA for undergrad courses, another one for Graduate level, and another one for all of them combined. In another words, your undergraduate courses will be averaged with your undergrad courses and the Graduate levels will be in a graduate catagory. (each catagory above will also have sci, BCP, non-sci, and cum also).

It is possible to work part time and do well. Its all about time management.
Best of luck.

 

[faridm]

Q: How are AADSAS GPA's calculated?

A: AADSAS reports a variety of GPA calculations to the dental schools. The grade conversion table and rules used to calculate GPA's can be found in the AADSAS Instructions.

AADSAS reports: overall GPA (undergraduate, graduate and combined); and these undergraduate GPA's: biology-chemistry-physics GPA (BCP); science GPA (all science courses including math, natural sciences and BCP; non-science GPA.

 

[Clovers]

So you are saying that the courses that I am taking right now will be lump into my horrid undergrad grades 🙁 . I thought otherwise. Since I am taking these classes after I've obtained my bachelors, I thought AADSAS will calculated these these into the postbacc GPA. Is there even a section on AADSAS for postbacc coursework?

So it's better to do a master's instead of postbacc? Since master's get its own section on AADSAS 😕

AADSAS will calculate a GPA for undergrad courses, another one for Graduate level, and another one for all of them combined. In another words, your undergraduate courses will be averaged with your undergrad courses and the Graduate levels will be in a graduate catagory. (each catagory above will also have sci, BCP, non-sci, and cum also).

It is possible to work part time and do well. Its all about time management.
Best of luck.

 

[Comet208]

So you are saying that the courses that I am taking right now will be lump into my horrid undergrad grades 🙁

sadly enough, yes (as long as they are also undergrad courses

Is there even a section on AADSAS for postbacc coursework?

I dont think so.

So it's better to do a master's instead of postbacc? Since master's get its own section on AADSAS 😕

It depends on your background. If you have a sci background, do a one year masters. Your graduate courses will have their own GPA ( there will also be ANOTHER GPA averaging everything)

 

[jmac44]

So you are saying that the courses that I am taking right now will be lump into my horrid undergrad grades 🙁 . I thought otherwise. Since I am taking these classes after I've obtained my bachelors, I thought AADSAS will calculated these these into the postbacc GPA. Is there even a section on AADSAS for postbacc coursework?

So it's better to do a master's instead of postbacc? Since master's get its own section on AADSAS 😕

AADSAS forwards all of your grades, so it doesn't really matter if you have a seperate Postbacc GPA or not.

I had a 2.96 undergrad GPA and brought it up to a 3.22 by taking postbacc courses:Gen chem II, Physics II, English, Bio I & II, Orgo I & II, Anatomy, Physiology, Biochem, Microbio, genetics, and psych.

They really just care about your cumulative GPA and Sci GPA for their stats. Also since they see all of your grades and when you took everything, they can see if your GPA was low at the beginning and then got better as you went on.

Getting a Masters does look nice because it can improve your overall GPA and it adds to your accomplishments by having one more degree, where as postbacc can just improve your GPA. Just keep working hard and knock the DAT out of the park and you'll be fine.

 

[Clovers]

Thanks Mac for the advice! Did you get all A's in you postbacc work to bring your GPA up to a 3.22? That's impressive!

AADSAS forwards all of your grades, so it doesn't really matter if you have a seperate Postbacc GPA or not.

I had a 2.96 undergrad GPA and brought it up to a 3.22 by taking postbacc courses:Gen chem II, Physics II, English, Bio I & II, Orgo I & II, Anatomy, Physiology, Biochem, Microbio, genetics, and psych.

They really just care about your cumulative GPA and Sci GPA for their stats. Also since they see all of your grades and when you took everything, they can see if your GPA was low at the beginning and then got better as you went on.

Getting a Masters does look nice because it can improve your overall GPA and it adds to your accomplishments by having one more degree, where as postbacc can just improve your GPA. Just keep working hard and knock the DAT out of the park and you'll be fine.

 

[jmac44]

Thanks Mac for the advice! Did you get all A's in you postbacc work to bring your GPA up to a 3.22? That's impressive!

Yes I did. 😀 It did help that I was 28 and married when I decided to go back to school. It's a lot easier to do well when you aren't thinking about parties, varsity sports, girls, and having excessive fun plus school work. I was also much more focused when I decided to go back to school to pursue dentistry since I had a specific goal. It's all about time management. Good luck with your application. Just apply early and nail the DAT and you can make up for a low GPA.

 

[Far Cry]

where did you do your postbac? what school and was it a specific program or just post grad classes you signed up for?

 

[jmac44]

where did you do your postbac? what school and was it a specific program or just post grad classes you signed up for?

No specific program. I just took the necessary classes as a non-degree seeking student at my local state school, Florida Atlantic University.

 

[Clovers]

JMAC, how many science classses did you take per quarter/semester? You DAT scores are awesome! How long did you study for it? What sources did you use?

No specific program. I just took the necessary classes as a non-degree seeking student at my local state school, Florida Atlantic University.

 

[Dentist2be]

AADSAS reports: overall GPA (undergraduate, graduate and combined); and these undergraduate GPA's: biology-chemistry-physics GPA (BCP); science GPA (all science courses including math, natural sciences and BCP; non-science GPA.

Do you know what category Kinesiolgy courses would fall under?

 

[jmac44]

JMAC, how many science classses did you take per quarter/semester? You DAT scores are awesome! How long did you study for it? What sources did you use?

Fall 04 - Gen Chem II, Bio I, and English
Spring 05 - Physics II, Bio II, Orgo I
Summer 05 - Orgo II, Anatomy & Physiology I, Kaplan for DAT
Fall 05 - Biochem, Micro, and Genetics

As for the Dat, I took the Kaplan course and slowly ramped up my studying until the test which I took a week after the course ended. If I remember the course was about 8 weeks long. I would try to stay current with the assginments from the book and then did several practice tests. Going into this whole process I knew I was going to have to do well on the DAT, so I really made an effort to learn the material from BIO, gchem, and orgo as I took the classes. That way I was just reviewing with Kaplan. I didn't really study for the PAT portion because four years of working as a mechanical engineer had prepared me for that. The best advice I can give is to set a reasonable schedule and keep to it. Without Kaplan I would have procrastinated and not done as well. I liked all the Kaplan study materials, except the actual PAT was more difficult than the Kaplan PAT practice.