My school does 'grade forgiveness'. Will Med schools accept this?

[AestheticGod]

I was reading the requirements for grade forgiveness for my university and they said:

The University of South Florida's Grade Forgiveness Policy permits you, as an undergraduate or non-degree seeking student, to repeat a course and have that grade computed in your grade point average in place of your original grade.

So if my school REPLACES that grade, will MD schools honor that when calculating your GPA? Or will they use the original grade+New grade and use the average of the two grades?

Source: http://www.registrar.usf.edu/regurl/os/earned

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[rain4venus]

Does the original grade show up on your transcript, but just is not calculated in your GPA?

ETA: Answered my own question:

All attempts at courses and grades will remain on your USF academic transcript.

sounds likely that the original grade will also be used in calculating your AMCAS GPA

 

[sinombre]

It only counts for the school's calculation of your GPA, which is irrelevant. What matters is your AMCAS GPA, which is calculated based off of all grades earned for all classes taken. This might help someone applying for some kind of job or internship (where the person doing the hiring is only looking at the GPA on the transcript), but it won't help for med school admissions.

Edit: by "it won't help for med school admissions" I meant that the grade won't be replaced. It will be averaged though, so a good grade will still help.

 

[AestheticGod]

It only counts for the school's calculation of your GPA, which is irrelevant. What matters is your AMCAS GPA, which is calculated based off of all grades earned for all classes taken. This might help someone applying for some kind of job or internship (where the person doing the hiring is only looking at the GPA on the transcript), but it won't help for med school admissions.

Hmm, i see, ok thanks you.
I'm thinking about retaking the classes I have C's in for the year I study for the Mcat. It'll allow me to make straight A's and give me 'room' to study for the Mcat.

Does this sound like a good idea?

 

[sinombre]

Hmm, i see, ok thanks you.
I'm thinking about retaking the classes I have C's in for the year I study for the Mcat. It'll allow me to make straight A's and give me 'room' to study for the Mcat.

Does this sound like a good idea?

I think it sounds good, but you might want to try and find out how an admissions committee would view re-taking C's. I can't imagine it hurting if you do well, but I'm not on an admissions committee.

 

[TheWeeIceMan]

Doesn't change AMCAS GPA, but it will help if you are applying DO.

 

[AestheticGod]

I think it sounds good, but you might want to try and find out how an admissions committee would view re-taking C's. I can't imagine it hurting if you do well, but I'm not on an admissions committee.

I will look into that, thanks! I too don't see how in any way it could hurt you.

 

[AestheticGod]

Doesn't change AMCAS GPA, but it will help if you are applying DO.

From what I know, DO schools replaces the original grade with the new grade to calculate your GPA. This is another reason why I want to retake the classes I received a C in, it'll at least make me a lot more viable for DO schools since the grade replacing it will have a VERY good chance of being an A.

 

[rain4venus]

I will look into that, thanks! I too don't see how in any way it could hurt you.

The only reason I could see it hurting you is that adcoms may want to see you learning new things, rather than using your chance to take higher-level electives to retake classes you already did okay in in order to inflate your GPA. I base this partly on a post from Goro a couple weeks ago suggesting that adcoms pay attention to what classes you take in your junior and senior years and expect to see you challenging yourself.

 

[ruedjgtc]

Hmm, i see, ok thanks you.
I'm thinking about retaking the classes I have C's in for the year I study for the Mcat. It'll allow me to make straight A's and give me 'room' to study for the Mcat.

Does this sound like a good idea?

I think Sinombre answered it pretty thoroughly. But, concerning your plan to retake the classes, if you don't already know the policy, it would be a good idea to check your university's policy for retaking courses. I only say this because at my old university you couldn't register to retake a class unless you had a C-; however your situation might be completely different than mine. In my earlier years at my university I had to request a C- instead of a C from my professor so I could later retake it in my career. Hopefully your school doesn't have the same policy.

And like Rainvenus said, I would imagine admissions committees are also interested in what you did later in your academic career. I think they expect some people to retake a course, hopefully it's a rare event. But, they also want to see you how you do in upper levels courses because those are presumably more challenging courses. For example getting a C in General Chemistry isn't great, but if your rock the Orgo series that's probably more telling than one C in General Chemistry.

 

[Plecopotamus]

I too don't see how in any way it could hurt you.

If you go from a C to a B-, that does not look good. I don't know if it will hurt you per se, but it doesn't really help. Nobody goes into these situations counting on doing poorly, but there's a reason you got the C in the first place, and if it hasn't been remedied, retaking the course may not be the best option.