Questions about retaking classes, Help please

Started by Maryann462
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Maryann462 said:
Hello,
Im a little confused here. Why do people keep telling people with low gpas to forget about MD and to consider D.O? Whats this whole thing that I hear about the D.O. schools taking the second grade after you retake a class? Is that true or am I getting it wrong some how? Also, one more question. Im currently a junior in college. I've only taken 4 prereqs courses for med school. I probably wont finish taking my prereqs until after I graduate. Does it look bad if I take it after I graduate and if I do will it still count towards my cumulative gpa although I graduated?
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I think the average GPA for accepted applicants at MD schools is 3.7 and 3.5 for DO schools.

AAMC (the application for MD schools) averages all your grades, even if you retake a course. AACOMAS (the application for DO schools) will replace your previous grade completely with your re-take grade. So if you got a "D" in chemistry the first time and re-took the course and got an "A," then on your AACOMAS application you'll just be given credit for the "A" - not both "A" and "D".

You need to complete all of the pre-reqs before starting medical school, and the more requirements you have completed before you apply the better. But its fine to apply not having all your pre-reqs done. And, yes, the courses will count to your cumm. gpa.
 
First off thanks Cliquesh for replying so quickly to my question! However Im still a little confused about the whole taking classes after I graduate part. I plan on retaking 2 prereqs and I also plan on taking the prereqs that I didnt take during college after I graduate (all before I apply of course). I switched what I wanted to be so I started this process in my sophmore year. Will the classes I retake or take for the first time after I graduate be counted into my cumulative and science gpa or will it be seperate since it was done after I graduated from college?
 
I was very happy when I learned that AACOMAS takes the better grade for retake classes. It is nice that AACOMAS allows this, especially for someone who had a rocky start to college.

I know plenty of people who took pre-req's after they got their BS/BA. It doesn't look bad, at least not at my school.
 
Maryann462 said:
Hello,
Im a little confused here. Why do people keep telling people with low gpas to forget about MD and to consider D.O? Whats this whole thing that I hear about the D.O. schools taking the second grade after you retake a class? Is that true or am I getting it wrong some how? Also, one more question. Im currently a junior in college. I've only taken 4 prereqs courses for med school. I probably wont finish taking my prereqs until after I graduate. Does it look bad if I take it after I graduate and if I do will it still count towards my cumulative gpa although I graduated?
Click to expand...

See the above poster for info on how the gpas are averaged. That's true. As for finishing your prereqs after you graduate I don't think it'd be a problem, but if you know you want to go to medical school then why not just delay graduation until after you complete all the premed requirements? This is what I did personally and it worked well. If you do graduate and go back, again, I don't think it'd be a big deal.
 
Usually a retake has to be done at the same school...otherwise the course numbers, etc are different and it simply looks like you took a different course (even if the material is the same).

Why take prereqs after you graduate? Why not hurry up and take them before you graduate, or take them over the summer, or maybe even over an extra semester, etc?

What is everyone in such a big rush to graduate even if they're potentially not ready to?
 
The application breaks down your gpa based on freshman, soph, jr, and senior year, as well as graduate and post-bacc. But, to my knowledge, everything gets added together in the totals for Non-science GPA, Science GPA, and Cumm GPA. So any classes you take or retake in the future will count towards your Cumm GPA.
 
The classes you take after graduating will be part of your cumulative undergrad GPA, as long as they aren't taken as part of a graduate degree program. The other thing to look at (if you are taking the classes at a different school) is if the courses "line up". Some schools do the pre-req's with a different timeline, so they are considered different on the application (grades in this case will be averaged). This is rare if you are staying in the same area, but double check with the counselors at the school, and with AACOMAS to be safe.
 
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