Multiple Acceptances and Fall Semester Grades

[GliaGirl]

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1) So I've had some of my interviews. A couple of acceptances will (hopefully) start coming in soon.

Then what? I have a few weeks to reply, and then I hold on to them until the revisit and pick then? How many schools can I do this for (assuming I get into more than one place... or more than 0 )? Do you have to put a down payment to hold a spot at each place you get accepted, or is it free?

2) I am getting extremely disheartened about my grades this semester. From a personal standpoint, I am not proud of the work that I am doing due to all of the traveling. From an academic standpoint, I think my GPA will be about a B+ this semester (something like 3.25 maybe). I know this sounds stupid and whiny, but I'll ask anyway, since I honestly don't know the answer. Do schools care about that? Upwards trends are so important, and I know some of the places I've interviewed (ex Baylor and all of the places I'm interviewing in January) won't make a decision about me until next semester. Will my grades from this semester have any bearing on whether or not I get in somewhere? Also, how do I report my grades for the fall semester? Just send a new transcript to AMCAS, or is that not necessary?

Thank you for your replies! 😀

 

[britishmafia]

1.) As I understand, you can hold as many as you'd like until the deadline set by AAMC. However, I heard that it is recommended you hold no more than 3 acceptances at a time to be fair to other applicants?

2.) This shouldn't matter, unless you are waitlisted and choose to send in your scores to help put yourself over the fence. Just don't fail your courses 😉

 

[URHere]

Hey Glia,

1) What you have to do to hold an MD/PhD spot varies from school to school. Some will ask for a deposit, others will be free. If a school does ask for a deposit, it is usually refundable until May 15th so that you can get your money back once you make a decision. You can hold on to spots at as many places as you want (as long as you have the money to afford all of the deposits).

As for second visits, most schools offer them, although not all will have a separate revisit component for MD/PhD applicants. Some will pay for you to travel back out to the school, others won't. All of these things vary from school to school and the only way to find out the policy for a specific school is to ask.

2) Your semester grades will probably have very little impact on whether or not you are offered an acceptance. As BM mentioned, those grades will not be included on your AMCAS grade listing so schools really won't know about them directly. To be honest, many schools will only pay minimal attention to specific grades anyway - they are far more interested in overall numbers than whether you received an A or a B in a specific course.

That being said, your course schedule could come up in conversation during an interview (especially since you should have listed the courses you planned to take on your application). It wouldn't be out of the question for an interviewer to ask you which grade you received in a specific course (yes, this actually happened to me). At that point, how much your grade matters depends on your interviewer.

If you do decide to update schools about your fall grades (no, you don't have to), it is most common to send update letters to schools individually. The update letter is also a great time to reaffirm your interest in the specific schools.

One final message. Once you are offered an acceptance and decide to attend a school, you will need to submit a transcript that includes your final grades - so it would be a good idea not to fail anything.

 

[BNSN]

I am in a similar situation. I have a 3.95 overall, but my grades will take a hit this semester because of the application process. I may even end up with a C in a 400 level engineering course.

URHere, it is wonderful to know they won't require updates. How sure are you that they don't?

 

[GliaGirl]

OK, so since posting this, I have been accepted at 2 places, both of which were clear in their letters that C and below were not OK, and if I got anything of the sort, I would be reevaluated...

****.

I am currently poised to get a D in one class. I'd better ace the final next week...