Question about GPA trends

[premedicine555]

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Hi,

I had a question regarding AMCAS/transcript section. When schools look at your application, do they look at your science gpa or culmGPA? And do they look at it year by year, or quarter by quarter?

I'm a bit worried because I did great my first year, a bit lower my second year (bio is not my strength, and that's where I didn't do great), and for my third year so far, this past fall quarter was my worse quarter because of personal/family circumstances that I don't mind explaining.. These next two quarters are definitely looking up though with the classes I'm in (hopefully)..

 

[OhioDoc]

Hi,

I had a question regarding AMCAS/transcript section. When schools look at your application, do they look at your science gpa or culmGPA? And do they look at it year by year, or quarter by quarter?

I'm a bit worried because I did great my first year, a bit lower my second year (bio is not my strength, and that's where I didn't do great), and for my third year so far, this past fall quarter was my worse quarter because of personal/family circumstances that I don't mind explaining.. These next two quarters are definitely looking up though with the classes I'm in (hopefully)..

Schools are going to be interested in your science GPA as well as your cumulative GPA, if either of these are on the lower side of the spectrum, there's a good likelihood that they'll ask about them. They will probably also be interested in particularly rough quarters and/or years. One of the most important things in a situation like this is to analyze why you didn't do well (without making excuses) and be able to articulate what you've learned from that instance and how you've incorporated it into future behaviors to ameliorate your performance.

 

[jm192]

They're definitely going to be interested in both GPA's. And they're definitely going to know if you've trended up or down or even if you had a random bad semester.

Like the above poster said, be able to explain it, but don't make excuses.

 

[premedicine555]

thanks for the response. yeah I can't keep blaming myself for this past fall quarter. it happened, and I can't really change that.

and as for the trend thing, if you've done great your freshman year for example, then there's no where to go but down, for example, if you get 1-2 B's..

anyone who got accepted yet had a "bad quarter" and a gpa trend that went down? gah i'm really worried now..

 

[deleted357625]

They look at both cGPA and sGPA

If you have a overall good upward trend you will be fine.

 

[premedicine555]

I don't have a good overall upward trend.. as I mentioned, I did great freshman year, did a bit lower freshman year because of 1-2 B's from biology (not my strength), then this past quarter was pretty much my worse due to family stuff... and i'm done with science prereqs almost, except physics/1 other science class.. I don't think it's fair that my downward trend is looked down upon because of family stuff. >.<