Question About Grading Option

[OregonResident]

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Hello,

I have a quick question about grading options. I am an anthropology premedical major. I am taking mainly anthropology classes and the pre-medical requirements which I am taking for a letter grade. However, I want to take a few science classes for fun such as anatomy, neurophysiology and cell biology. However, I don't want it to harm my GPA and was wondering if I can take these pass/no pass.

However, I was wondering if one knows how medical school admission committees look upon this and whether it will have any bearing upon medical school admission. I am not sure if it is worth noting - but my science GPA is ~3.55-3.65 and my overall GPA is 3.7 exactly.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[sector9]

Hello,

I have a quick question about grading options. I am an anthropology premedical major. I am taking mainly anthropology classes and the pre-medical requirements which I am taking for a letter grade. However, I want to take a few science classes for fun such as anatomy, neurophysiology and cell biology. However, I don't want it to harm my GPA and was wondering if I can take these pass/no pass.

However, I was wondering if one knows how medical school admission committees look upon this and whether it will have any bearing upon medical school admission. I am not sure if it is worth noting - but my science GPA is ~3.55-3.65 and my overall GPA is 3.7 exactly.

Thanks so much for your help!

Those sounds like some real "fun" electives 😛

Anyway, as long as you're 100% sure that you meet the prereqs for ALL of the schools you want to apply to (for example, Ohio State has anatomy as a prereq so you'd want to do that one for a letter grade if you want to apply there) then I don't see any harm in taking them P/F.

Of course, it also depends on where you want to apply to since a 3.55 BCPM might be considered "low" at top schools, in which case you'd want to raise your GPA a little more by taking them for a grade

 

[OregonResident]

Thanks so much for your response! - in terms of the "science GPA" is math counted in that category? Or does it depend case by case?

 

[sector9]

Thanks so much for your response! - in terms of the "science GPA" is math counted in that category? Or does it depend case by case?

Math does count in the BCPM calculation used by AMCAS (MD application). Math doesn't count toward the science GPA calculation used by AACOMAS (DO application).

Usually, people say sGPA/science GPA/BCPM interchangeably here (since this is the pre-allo side of the premed forums, after all) but sometimes your AACOMAS sGPA and your AMCAS BCPM GPA can be quite different, depending on your grades for math and engineering courses.

Oh, and just to be clear, a 3.55 BCPM is not low. It's right around the average for accepted students of 3.61. I'm just saying that it could be a little low for top-ranked schools.