"Recent" track record recommendations

[Beast11]

Greetings all:

I may be premature in my psychosis over the med apps process. I know, I know-I might not hear anything for months from now, but still-I am gearing up for the worst...

In brief, as a non-trad, I prolly needed to demonstrate a "recent track record" for academics which was lacking in this app. A little of my background story...

I took a massive load of AP credits in high school, and decided to use them in undergrad (i.e. entered as a sophomore with no GPA average for English, Chem 101/102, Bio 101/102, Calc 101/102, History 101/102.). Wait-check that-my AP physics was taught (in H.S.) by a CC physics professor who lobbied the CC to give me college credit for taking the advanced class in high school. I got B's for Phys (calc. based). So I had a transcript entering college (I included the HS phys transcript in this AMCAS) I didn't retake Phys in UG because of my "record"

Fast forward. Since I had 45 credits entering UG, it was difficult to change GPA from 1st semester due to the inertia of total credits. Didn't do bad (A in org and other advanced chem, B in humanities/gen ed., with the resultant 1st GPA of 3.4 which didn't change by more than 0.03 points/semester for the rest of UG and finished with a 3.3). I graduated with the vast majority as upper level classes since I AP'ed out of the 1st year.

Fast forward. I stayed tangentially "ivory tower" (R&D grad degree, R&D career in college town, and taught Kaplan based on my 33 MCAT, sub taught many classes in college). If grad GPA and everything else is just EC (and yes, I have the concommitant clinical, volunteer, rec letter, "other" EC well in hand) then my major weakness is the UG GPA (or age, for which I can do nothing to mitigate )

Fast forward. My current locale (near the "ivory tower" above) means that I can take an informal post-bac (I would prefer to enroll in a SMP but not offered anywhere close )

So-if I need to re-establish an academic track record-should I take the pre-reqs and write letters to ADCOMs noting that my "prior" GPA had no real record of their performance. I feel I can knock the basic BCPM out of the park now.

If this august group agrees that 1 year of establishing a "recent track record" of the any classes (intro or SMP-see below) can make a significant difference for a reapplication, then I have a few questions

1.) I know I can ace Chem101/102 and Phys 101 (mechanics) given that it has been my career for many years. Should I contact the departments and ask to "test out" (and possibly condense the labs quickly-I can do all the work in a week and the reports on the fly). By "test out" I mean take all tests and ask to have the record of the A, but really not take the time for the classes (in other words, I can lobby to have 20 hour semesters because I won't be attending 5-6 hours of classes)

2.) Can I pro-actively ask the ADCOMs to not consider the B's from CC in HS physics because, well, because it was in high school and shouldn't count. I would only do this if I have a real, recent track record of Phys 101/102.

3.) What classes would one take? I welcome any suggestions (not just BCPM)

4.) Should I formally petition ADCOMs (in much the way I am doing here) to address issues? (That said, will ADCOMs be able to tell me why I wasn't competitive this cycle if I asked?)

5.) If a consensus is more towards a SMP rather than pre-reqs-will many of the same arguments apply to "using" the SMP? (For the sake of argument, I will assume I get into med school . So the first year I either "repeat" the SMP classes to pump up the GPA or seek to use some studying time for other ends-shadowing/research/etc.) In other words, is truly going to a SMP whole hog worth it (moving, paying, etc.) given the advantages that would later accrue?

Sorry for the long post-and thanks for the help!

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[FinchHead]

1.) You can of course try, but I doubt it will actually happen

2.) Nah, you can't. Everything goes on the transcript and is calculated into the GPA.

3.) Make sure you have the med schools prereqs done, then take hard science classes if you want to prove you can handle it.

4.) What do you mean address issues? If there are any inconsistencies or weird stuff, you can talk about it during interviews, on your PS, etc...

5.) How many credit hours do you have? If you really have alot, then just taking more classes probably won't budge your GPA. Just figure out how many credits you'd take, and how much it could move your GPA.

You can apply for med schools as normal, and also SMPs with high linkage, and if you get no med schools acceptances, just go to one of the SMPs. Look in the SMP forum for which have high linkages.

 

[Beast11]

3.) Make sure you have the med schools prereqs done, then take hard science classes if you want to prove you can handle it.

4.) What do you mean address issues? If there are any inconsistencies or weird stuff, you can talk about it during interviews, on your PS, etc...

5.) How many credit hours do you have? If you really have alot, then just taking more classes probably won't budge your GPA. Just figure out how many credits you'd take, and how much it could move your GPA.

You can apply for med schools as normal, and also SMPs with high linkage, and if you get no med schools acceptances, just go to one of the SMPs. Look in the SMP forum for which have high linkages.

Thanks for the quick reply-you crystallized my thoughts. Briefly-I can do hard science-I have grad degree in it which is (apparently) nothing more than an EC-sheesh. I want to try to do something retroactively to my transcript to put it in the best light . My main point was that I have credit, but no grade for lots of pre-reqs. I wonder if there is precedent that I could take the pre-reqs, then request that my UG not give me the AP credit for them (remove them from the transcript). In that way (replacing "empty" AP credits with honest to goodness grades) I can move the GPA. (Note for bumping: Found this calc was conceptually wrong. I can move GPA doing post-bac since the AP wasn't figured by AMCAS. However, the AP class shows on transcript-so I am worried that "retaking" may not look great-in essence even though there was no grade for said pre-req.)

If no formal way to do this-can a PS truly be a forum to show that my "recent track record" is the best indicator?

Thanks again

 

[gman33]

Did you apply to any DO schools?
They might be more fogiving of your overall GPA.
You might even have time to apply to some for this cycle, it's pretty late, but I think some of the deadlines are still to come. You could be starting med school at the same time you would be starting a SMP.

If not, try to find a SMP that has a good linkage program.

 

[Beast11]

Forgive me for bumping myself, but I have been redoing calcs and have hit an impasse-see the italicized comments earler in the thread which clarified what I think is right (at least, right now ). I had a GPA in my head which was based on the UG transcript number. I think AMCAS actually calcs their GPA in a manner that is a little more advantageous for me. Basically, if I understand AMCAS correctly, right now I have an empty line for post-bacc. If I were to get 28 hours or so of 3.6-3.7 informally then I would move my GPA from 3.28 to 3.42 (of course, I shoot for the 4.0 in classes and a 3.5 all around). Basically, my question is what looks acceptable. I want to get it done in a year (I think that I can get my UG to get the transcript submitted for 28 hours a year from now in plenty of time for June AMCAS submission)

1.) Can I "retake" just the class portion of the intro sciences (I didn't do badly-they just show up as AP credit with no grades) and ignore the labs? That will move BCPM and total GPA roughly equally. Labs get in the way of scheduling some other 3.0 credit classes. My worry is the same type of worry for "retaking an MCAT" even though it was probably good enough.

2) Should I take "interesting classes" (and make sure I get the 4.0). Suffice it to say, they will prolly be lower level. I can move total GPA, but leave BCPM at about 3.33 (i have grad level science to prove ability. My BCPM was low because of M mainly!)

3) Should I take upper level, "pre-med" classes that I haven't taken before? Problem here is scheduling to make sure I can get enough hours. I don't want to take more than 1 year.

Is any sort of track record acceptable if one is really just trying to get GPA up?

Thanks!

 

[Blade28]

Not sure what you mean by "ignore the labs," but as was stated above, all of your grades will show up on an AMCAS transcript.

 

[Beast11]

Not sure what you mean by "ignore the labs," but as was stated above, all of your grades will show up on an AMCAS transcript.

Sorry for making a long post longer. In my undergrad U, the labs were a separate section from the class. So when I got AP credit, I got one section (say) for Chem101 (AMCAS says G for 3 credits) and one section for Chem101 lab (AMCAS grade G for 1 credit). So the classes are shown on the transcript, but no grade. In my ideal world, if I retook Chem101 as post-bacc, then the Chem101 AP line would dissappear. The grade from the retake would count and likely move my GPA. My only worry is that a informal post-bacc could "look funny"-irrespective of any grades earned since the class line has shown up prior. Similarly, are post-baccs ever screened for content rather than just a track record of superior academic performance?

Hence, my rationale for "skipping the lab" means that the AP lab line was left (to fulfill ADCOM requirements) but the AP class dissappeared. By not taking that one lab I free up my schedule for 3 credit classes (which is needed to move the GPA)

Make sense?