Professional degree GPA calculation

[avocadoc]

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I got my PharmD in May 2016 and I'm applying for the 2017-2018 cycle. I'm wondering how AAMC calculates GPA from my pharmacy courses.

I also don't have a bachelor's degree, because I applied to pharmacy school right after two years of undergrad. I tried doing searches to see if anyone in the past has been in similar situation as me but couldn't find any conclusive results. So I'm very confused now.

For example, I took the first semester of biochem in sophomore year, and the second semester in my first year of pharmacy school. Are both going to count towards my GPA or only the first part I took in undergrad?
Any help will be great!!

 

[Catalystik]

I got my PharmD in May 2016 and I'm applying for the 2017-2018 cycle. I'm wondering how AAMC calculates GPA from my pharmacy courses.

I also don't have a bachelor's degree, because I applied to pharmacy school right after two years of undergrad. I tried doing searches to see if anyone in the past has been in similar situation as me but couldn't find any conclusive results. So I'm very confused now.

For example, I took the first semester of biochem in sophomore year, and the second semester in my first year of pharmacy school. Are both going to count towards my GPA or only the first part I took in undergrad?
Any help will be great!!

Have you taken a look at your pharmacy school official transcript? This thread might help: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/non-traditional.929177/

 

[avocadoc]

This also raises the question that many medical schools require a minimum of 90 undergraduate credits to either apply or matriculate. So you also have to ask the medical school how they handle a PharmD degree without a bachelors degree

I had 20 AP credits and 74 credits from my freshman and sophomore years so I guess that would be considered >90 if the school does take AP credits? Should I contact each individual school to ask if they consider PharmD degree? Or if their admission requirment says "bachelors degree or equivalent", I assume that's good enough?

 

[avocadoc]

1) Are you saying you have 20 credits from AP on your college transcript that have been assigned and an additional 74 credits from regular coursework?
If so, then the 90 credits will count towards the minimum for application/matriculation for all medical schools

2) A separate question is whether a specific school will accept AP to fulfill a specific prerequisite course requirement.

Dont assume AP counting for minimum credits to apply will also count towards an indivdual schools prerequisite.

1) Yes

2) I will definitely check to see whether specific school accepts AP for prereqs or not

Back to the GPA calculation question, my undergrad GPA from the two years is 3.98 and pharmacy GPA from the four years is 3.73 (I also finished my econ minor and some elective classes throughout pharmacy school which are undergrad level) . How is AMCAS going to calculate my GPA? Are all six years taken into account or just the first two years of undergrad?

 

[779163]

Can I ask why you decided pharmacy wasn't right for you? Just out of curiosity.

 

[avocadoc]

Can I ask why you decided pharmacy wasn't right for you? Just out of curiosity.

I'm interested in learning the diagnostic aspects of the medicine. Even though we learned all the pharmacology of medications, we rarely studied the pathophysiology of the disease states the meds are used for. So I personally feel like I'm missing a piece of a puzzle.

From the practice standpoint, I really enjoy direct patient interactions and being a pharmacist doesn't allow much of that. You can argue that there are amb care pharmacists who practice just like mid-level practitioners, with prescribing power and etc. But instead of going through two years of pharm residency, I would prefer to go through med school then residency and become a more well-rounded provider. And hopefully my pharmacy background will add to my competency.

 

[779163]

Back to the GPA calculation question, my undergrad GPA from the two years is 3.98 and pharmacy GPA from the four years is 3.73 (I also finished my econ minor and some elective classes throughout pharmacy school which are undergrad level) . How is AMCAS going to calculate my GPA? Are all six years taken into account or just the first two years of undergrad?

Edit:

This is how AMCAS tabulates GPAs. It's possible that you might be able to get some of those undergrad classes under "post bacc undergrad." You should ask AMCAS.

Edit 2:

While you are a grad school candidate, if you take classes that are not required to earn your degree, you may list them as postbac classes on the AMCAS application and they will be included in the calculation of your undergrad GPA and uBCPM GPA.

So you'll have the benefit of improvement in numbers as well as a positive psychological impact.

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/taking-undergraduate-classes-in-graduate-school.714354/

 

[Catalystik]

It's possible that you might be able to get some of those undergrad classes under "post bacc undergrad."

If one doesn't have a bachelors degree, it might be hard to legitimately claim to have post-baccalaureate credits.

 

[779163]

If one doesn't have a bachelors degree, it might be hard to legitimately claim to have post-baccalaureate credits.

So what do these classes go under?

 

[Catalystik]

So what do these classes go under?

They'd be Undergrad and where you'd place them would depend on the timeframe in which they were taken. The AMCAS Instruction Manual tells you how to break your credits down into FR, SO, JR, or SR coursework.

 

[avocadoc]

They'd be Undergrad and where you'd place them would depend on the timeframe in which they were taken. The AMCAS Instruction Manual tells you how to break your credits down into FR, SO, JR, or SR coursework.

So in my case, I will need to calculate the GPA based on all the courses I've taken in the six years and put all my pharmacy courses and non-BCPM under "AO"?

 

[Catalystik]

So in my case, I will need to calculate the GPA based on all the courses I've taken in the six years and put all my pharmacy courses and non-BCPM under "AO"?

Often the earlier courses taken at a pharmacy school "count" as undergrad classes, as they lay a foundation for later, typical pharmacy coursework.

You don't need to calculate the GPAs. AMCAS will do that for you, based on their own policies.

Did you look at your transcript to see how your pharmacy school categorizes the classes you took?

 

[avocadoc]

Often the earlier courses taken at a pharmacy school "count" as undergrad classes, as they lay a foundation for later, typical pharmacy coursework.

You don't need to calculate the GPAs. AMCAS will do that for you, based on their own policies.

Did you look at your transcript to see how your pharmacy school categorizes the classes you took?

The courses are not really categorized on my transcript. They are simply listed based on each semester. So my pharmacy GPA is calculated with the pharmacy core courses plus the undergrad-level electives I took.

I also called AMCAS earlier today and they weren't able to provide me with a conclusive answer either. They said they need to consult their supervisor and get back to me tomorrow. I'll update when I hear back.

 

[Catalystik]

The courses are not really categorized on my transcript. They are simply listed based on each semester. So my pharmacy GPA is calculated with the pharmacy core courses plus the undergrad-level electives I took.

I also called AMCAS earlier today and they weren't able to provide me with a conclusive answer either. They said they need to consult their supervisor and get back to me tomorrow. I'll update when I hear back.

Sounds good; I'd like to know. Regardless of their response, your GPAs are good whether they allow you to break out some of the pharm school classes (using your best judgement of what might qualify as a typical college class, like Biochem II) and call them undergrad, or not.

 

[avocadoc]

The AMCAS rule would be what the course was used for

so any course, graduate or undergraduate, that was used to count in anyway towards your PharmD degree, would be grad GPA. How did they track your fulfillment of degree requirements? are courses listed by course number that indicate grad vs undergrad?

Yes they did. All my pharm courses are labeled PHRM with number in the 800's. The other electives I took during pharmacy years are labeled just like a regular undergrad course (i.e. ECON 419 Managerial Economic).

 

[avocadoc]

were those electives/non pharm courses counted in anyway towards fufilling PharmD degree?

Great quetsion! That just reminds me our school did require 12 credit hours of electives during pharmacy. I had a total of 18 credit hours of electives from the four years so I guess 6 would be considered "outside of curriculum?" This just adds more complication to my case lol

 

[avocadoc]

I presume there was some specific point in time when you officially started the PharmD. It also sounds like everything you took after that point is part and parcel of the PharmD degree. therefore all of that work would be towards a grad degree and would be grad GPA. only courses prior to formally starting the PharmD program would be undergrad GPA for AMCAS

Just got a call back from AMCAS and they confirmed your theory 🙂

 

[avocadoc]

Theory implies I was speculating

oops excuse my poor choice of word 🤔 but thank you so much for your help😍 at least now I have one less thing to worry about