Question about retaking courses for DO med schools

[StellarRay]

So I looked it up in the course calendar (it's a little dated.. will have to ask my academic counsellor soon) and from what I understand the exact words were:

- Students may not re-register for credit in a course they have they have already passed that course.

- Where students may not register in courses for credit, they may register in them as extra courses. In such cases, both registrations in the course are shown on the student's record but the second grade is not included in the student's GPA nor does the course count towards the degree.

So if I'm reading this right, I'm able to retake courses I did poorly in but passed. It's just that the GPA won't count towards my cGPA and I won't
get a credit for it.

So my question is, because I don't get a credit for retaking a course I've passed, do the DO med schools still take the GPA of the retaken course if I do better in it?

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[Chocolate Bear]

For your AACOMAS GPA, you don't need to worry about the GPA calculated by your school. Nor do you need to worry about the total number of credit hours on your transcript. As long as the course has a title, course number, number of credit hours (>0), and a grade (all of these printed on the transcript), AACOMAS will want you to list it. That means it will get accounted for by AACOMAS. Sounds like you're fine.

Anybody have evidence to the contrary, in this specific situation?

 

[JaggerPlate]

For your AACOMAS GPA, you don't need to worry about the GPA calculated by your school. Nor do you need to worry about the total number of credit hours on your transcript. As long as the course has a title, course number, number of credit hours (>0), and a grade (all of these printed on the transcript), AACOMAS will want you to list it. That means it will get accounted for by AACOMAS. Sounds like you're fine.

Anybody have evidence to the contrary, in this specific situation?

Chocolate Bear is one of the most dead on and helpful people in these threads ... but I would personally be careful about this. Most undergrads are weird about retaking a course you've already passed and I would be concerned that if you retook the course and got an A, but your records say it was worth 0 units ... that AACOMAS might have no choice but to use the previous grade. I'd recommend emailing AACOMAS. I'm sure your situation is quite common. Best of luck!!!

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Chocolate Bear is one of the most dead on and helpful people in these threads ... but I would personally be careful about this. Most undergrads are weird about retaking a course you've already passed and I would be concerned that if you retook the course and got an A, but your records say it was worth 0 units ... that AACOMAS might have no choice but to use the previous grade. I'd recommend emailing AACOMAS. I'm sure your situation is quite common. Best of luck!!!

Thanks, and I agree this will not work if you get 0 units/credits/hours for the class. Be sure of your plan on both the university side, as well as AACOMAS', before you waste time, money, effort, and expectations.

 

[StellarRay]

Thanks guys! I'm actually a Canadian so I don't think we actually list "credit hours" anywhere. So I guess I'll check with my academic admin this Monday and I'll give AACOMA's an email.

By the way, if any of you have read my thread in the Pre-Allopathic forum, someone brought up a point that I wonder if anyone here in the Pre-Osteopathic can answer. Basically, I have a horrible academic record thus far, multiple suspensions, bad grades, failed courses.. everything. I was wondering, if I do retake courses and re-do everything and score reasonably high on both my new degree and on the MCAT then would I have a shot at the DO med schools or would my past academic history kill any possible deals? I've heard of how a strong upward trend or coming 180 academically is a very positive influence during the interview here in many Canadian med schools.. but State-side with the DO med schools, would I still have a shot? =\

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Thanks guys! I'm actually a Canadian so I don't think we actually list "credit hours" anywhere. So I guess I'll check with my academic admin this Monday and I'll give AACOMA's an email.

By the way, if any of you have read my thread in the Pre-Allopathic forum, someone brought up a point that I wonder if anyone here in the Pre-Osteopathic can answer. Basically, I have a horrible academic record thus far, multiple suspensions, bad grades, failed courses.. everything. I was wondering, if I do retake courses and re-do everything and score reasonably high on both my new degree and on the MCAT then would I have a shot at the DO med schools or would my past academic history kill any possible deals? I've heard of how a strong upward trend or coming 180 academically is a very positive influence during the interview here in many Canadian med schools.. but State-side with the DO med schools, would I still have a shot? =\

Perhaps they're called something other than "credit hours." There should be some way of denoting how much weight a class carries when calculating your GPA.

Turning your academic life around is, of course, well accepted. However, I really don't know what your chances are or how best to approach the situation. I guess if I were in your shoes I'd speak with a few admissions advisors at schools you're very interested in. Explain the situation and ask them for an honest assessment. Your fastest way to bring up a bad GPA is by retaking classes you did poorly in. This will get you started on proving your academic worth to med schools. However, it'd be a lot of work to do this before even knowing if admissions committees will give you a shot.

Lastly, I have heard at least one Canadian say that US DOs can have some difficulties gaining licensure in Canada. Also, this shows international practice limitations of DOs. Are you sure you will be able to meet your goals as a US DO in Canada?

 

[StellarRay]

Our "credit hour" system at my school works on the basis that a 1 semester course is worth 0.5 credits and a full year course (2 semesters) is worth 1.0 credit. So if you were to take 5 courses in the Fall and 5 courses in the Winter semesters then that would be 10 x 0.5 credits for a total of 5.0 credits.

From what I'm reading in the course calendar, I can retake previously passed courses as "extra courses" and they will show up on my transcript along with a mark but the mark will not go towards my cGPA and will not go towards my degree. Definitely need to call some schools about this. Speaking of which, do you have any good DO schools that you'd recommend? Especially for someone in my situation? Someone else gave me this link, not sure if it lists all the DO or even all the MD med schools in the states. Even if I filter it for just DO schools there's 40 odd to pick from and to be very honest I'm not sure where to start with DO schools. I don't know which ones are considered "better" (very subjective, I know), more prestigious, more "safe", etc etc. So any pointers would be great. >_<

If I'm unable to work in Canada it's not too big of a deal. Patients are patients afterall. But I think it was Bucchas (sorry if I got your name wrong if you see this >_<) that sent me a link and pretty much a DO is recognized equally as a MD everywhere in Canada with the exception of Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island.. so no biggy there.

What actually just caught my eye when I was researching DO was that DOs earn less than MDs.. is this true? According to wiki (great source, I know..), DOs typically make less than MDs unless DOs get into MD residency placements. Also DOs have a 3x greater failure rate when writing the USMLE.

 

[ShyRem]

When I applied, the rule was if the course is usually a certain number of hours, that's the number of hours you must put down on your AACOMAS. For example, I had a very old transcript with a few failing grades. That transcript listed the courses with no credits. AACOMAS made me put down 4 credits for each of them as that was the usual credit value assigned to those courses.

In a nutshell, just put on your AACOMAS the retake and the original credit value. What your transcript says doesn't matter as long as it says you retook it and the grade you got for it.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

When I applied, the rule was if the course is usually a certain number of hours, that's the number of hours you must put down on your AACOMAS. For example, I had a very old transcript with a few failing grades. That transcript listed the courses with no credits. AACOMAS made me put down 4 credits for each of them as that was the usual credit value assigned to those courses.

In a nutshell, just put on your AACOMAS the retake and the original credit value. What your transcript says doesn't matter as long as it says you retook it and the grade you got for it.

Interesting. So AACOMAS just took your word for it? That just doesn't sound like them. I believe you, but it just sounds odd.

 

[ShyRem]

All courses at that particular school were 4 credits, chocolate. I think they still are.

And I think my second paragraph needs a little clarification. Your transcript needs to say you retook the course and your retake grade. It doesn't matter if there are credits assigned to it or not (and I think especially if it's the EXACT SAME course at the same institution).

 

[StellarRay]

Ah.. I was going to ask, what happens if I go to another school and lets say I retake Organic Chem even though I passed it and have a credit for it from the previous school? So it'd be the same course but it's not at the same school.

Also how strict are DO schools about part-time students and distance/online courses? Because I'm suspended, I'm thinking of making the time productive by working and doing some online courses at say Athabasca University (it's accreditted).

 

[ShyRem]

No problem about same course/different school. Still counts as a retake. Lots of folks do that.

Part-time shouldn't be a problem, but some schools have a thing about online courses. check with the individual schools.

 

[StellarRay]

Oh ok, thanks!

I'm actually kind of new with DO med schools and pretty much any med schools in the States. I was wondering if anyone can point me in the direction to some comparison info or maybe just share what they know? I know most people are thinking that I should be happy to get into anywhere.. but I would like to know some basic comparative info that I can't really just get from each of their own individual sites since they usually just boast how great they are. And some of the worst schools can have the best websites.. so..

Any DO schools you'd recommend to somebody like me?

All I've got is this site (http://www.medschoolready.com/app/medstatistics.asp) but there's like 40 odd DO schools so I'm not sure where to start or who to start calling. =|