Replacing Quarter Sequence With Semester Sequence

[sausalito]

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I did do an SDN search and couldn't find a definitive answer🙁

I'll probably end up sending an email to AACOMAS anyway, but I wanted to hear from here first. Has anyone successfully replaced a quarter sequence of prereqs with a semester series of prereqs?

I was a biochem major at a quarter university once upon a time and got C's in all three gen chem courses due to not reading and having no desire to be in school at the time (100% my fault). I'm retaking the series now at my semester university, not only for grade replacement, but for MCAT prep and so that I have a better grasp of the subject before starting O chem in the fall. Regardless of the answer, I'll finish the series and move onto o chem and biochem, but was just wondering if it had to be on a 1:1 ratio, or more of a unit ratio.

The gen chem at the quarter campus was 4 units of lecture, 1 unit of lab, and 0 units of discussion, yielding one grade for lab and one grade for discussion. The gen chem at my semester campus is 5 units of lecture/lab/discussion, yielding one combination grade.

 

[coolingglasses]

The golden rule is that the class you're replacing has to have the same or fewer credits than the one you just took.

The AACOMAS app instructions contain a table for converting quarter units to semester units.

 

[sausalito]

Yeah, that I'm aware. The courses I took at the quarter-system school were fewer in credits (5 quarter credits [3.3 semester credits] vs 5 semester credits).

What I don't get is if my two semesters of Chem 1A+1B will entirely replace three quarters of Chem 1A+1B+1C lecture grades, and, if so, the three lab grades as well. So confusing.

 

[hallowmann]

Yeah, that I'm aware. The courses I took at the quarter-system school were fewer in credits (5 quarter credits [3.3 semester credits] vs 5 semester credits).

What I don't get is if my two semesters of Chem 1A+1B will entirely replace three quarters of Chem 1A+1B+1C lecture grades, and, if so, the three lab grades as well. So confusing.

What's Chem 1A, 1B, 1C? I've never heard of it being broken up like that. Is that some weird west coast thing?

 

[sausalito]

What's Chem 1A, 1B, 1C? I've never heard of it being broken up like that. Is that some weird west coast thing?

Surely. UC Riverside precisely. Gen Chem 1 in three quarters (A, B, C).

 

[coolingglasses]

Yeah, that I'm aware. The courses I took at the quarter-system school were fewer in credits (5 quarter credits [3.3 semester credits] vs 5 semester credits).

What I don't get is if my two semesters of Chem 1A+1B will entirely replace three quarters of Chem 1A+1B+1C lecture grades, and, if so, the three lab grades as well. So confusing.

Man, that's confusing.

Although, it looks like it meets the criteria for replacement. Worst case scenario, you try marking the replacements as needed and AACOMAS says no and just adjusts it how they want it.

 

[hallowmann]

Surely. UC Riverside precisely. Gen Chem 1 in three quarters (A, B, C).

Why would they do it in such a non-standard way? So you spend 3/4 of a year in Chem 1? Its like they are trying to cause you issues when you apply somewhere else .

Anyways, like coolingglasses said, try to label them properly as replacements, and as long as they don't break the main rules for replacements (i.e. they are similar and the replacement has more credit hours than the previous course), AACOMAS probably won't have an issue with it.

 

[wooki]

this happened to me for o-chem. so what happens is using the rule the credit rule, you can only replace the lectures. the labs will stay.. so yes they essentially get counted twice. my semester 1 orgo retake replaced my quarter 1 B orgo and my semester 2 orgo retake replaced my quarter 1 C orgo. none of the labs got replaced.

hope that helps.

 

[dsoz]

What's Chem 1A, 1B, 1C? I've never heard of it being broken up like that. Is that some weird west coast thing?

Surely. UC Riverside precisely. Gen Chem 1 in three quarters (A, B, C).

Why would they do it in such a non-standard way? So you spend 3/4 of a year in Chem 1? Its like they are trying to cause you issues when you apply somewhere else .

Anyways, like coolingglasses said, try to label them properly as replacements, and as long as they don't break the main rules for replacements (i.e. they are similar and the replacement has more credit hours than the previous course), AACOMAS probably won't have an issue with it.

It is not weird... Ok maybe it is, but it is how many schools do it on the west coast. All of my undergrad is in quarter credits. It is the same length of time, just in three different chunks rather than two. Summer session is technically a quarter, but it is also a term for those on semester systems. Do you need to take summer school classes? Neither do people in the quarter system.

Why all the hate for quarter system?

dsoz

 

[sausalito]

this happened to me for o-chem. so what happens is using the rule the credit rule, you can only replace the lectures. the labs will stay.. so yes they essentially get counted twice. my semester 1 orgo retake replaced my quarter 1 B orgo and my semester 2 orgo retake replaced my quarter 1 C orgo. none of the labs got replaced.

hope that helps.

*weeping at the bolded*

Thanks for the helpful response. What about the grade for quarter 1 A orgo? Remained the same?

 

[sausalito]

Thanks for the responses everyone. My confusion has reduced.

 

[TriagePreMed]

I have heard two stories from this. In one, it replaces the entire sequence. In the other, it only replaces 2 of 3.

 

[hv92]

I have heard two stories from this. In one, it replaces the entire sequence. In the other, it only replaces 2 of 3.

You can designate which of the 3 you would like to replace right? I want to replace the A and B portion of my o-chem classes at the UC I attend. Is that fine? Has anybody done so? For instance, I plan on using the first semester of organic chem to replace my ochem A class and the second semester to replace the ochem B portion. What do you guys think?

 

[TriagePreMed]

You can designate which of the 3 you would like to replace right? I want to replace the A and B portion of my o-chem classes at the UC I attend. Is that fine? Has anybody done so? For instance, I plan on using the first semester of organic chem to replace my ochem A class and the second semester to replace the ochem B portion. What do you guys think?

In theory, that's correct.

 

[hallowmann]

It is not weird... Ok maybe it is, but it is how many schools do it on the west coast. All of my undergrad is in quarter credits. It is the same length of time, just in three different chunks rather than two. Summer session is technically a quarter, but it is also a term for those on semester systems. Do you need to take summer school classes? Neither do people in the quarter system.

Why all the hate for quarter system?

dsoz

I just don't understand why they would turn a semester course (like Chem 1) into a 1.5 semester course (did I understand that right?). I have seen/heard of quarter semesters, but usually the courses correlate to the same amount of time. In other words Chem 1a and 1b in a quarter system would be equal to Chem 1 in a semester system. Making it some awkward 3/4 of a year course just seems like they're trying to be different at the expense of a lot of students.

I went to a school where all the science labs were 4 credits (of course making them impossible to replace), but at least it made sense in that each lab equated to that many credit hours and counted as an equivalent to both Lab 1 and 2 at most other places. Its annoying, but at least its easily converted to the standard adhered to by most schools.

Don't worry though, its cool for me to cut up on the quarter system out west, because my wife is a product of the UC system 😉. At her school apparently the college/department you were in had nothing to do with your major. What's up with that?

 

[sausalito]

I have heard two stories from this. In one, it replaces the entire sequence. In the other, it only replaces 2 of 3.

That's what I saw when I did an SDN search too. Funnily I asked an ADCOM back in November and she didn't have an answer. She forwarded it to another ADCOM and I haven't heard from either since. Tricky issue.

 

[hallowmann]

That's what I saw when I did an SDN search too. Funnily I asked an ADCOM back in November and she didn't have an answer. She forwarded it to another ADCOM and I haven't heard from either since. Tricky issue.

It doesn't surprise me that adcoms don't know the answer. Most of them just base their analysis of the app on whatever AACOMAS writes/calculates. If someone already did the work, most schools won't go out of their way to recalculate things. How could they when they have thousands of apps to sort through?

 

[wooki]

*weeping at the bolded*

Thanks for the helpful response. What about the grade for quarter 1 A orgo? Remained the same?

You can designate which of the 3 you would like to replace right? I want to replace the A and B portion of my o-chem classes at the UC I attend. Is that fine? Has anybody done so? For instance, I plan on using the first semester of organic chem to replace my ochem A class and the second semester to replace the ochem B portion. What do you guys think?

so since there's only 2 semsters for the chem retake, you can only designate 2 out of the 3 classes in the sequence. my chem A score was okay, so i opted to do B and C. AACOMAS will tell you that they cannot discuss with you which courses you should replace, so just pick your lowest grades.

this was all a confusing matter for me too when i went through it this cycle. AACOMAS is really helpful though, they spent quite some time with me on the phone. so give them a call if you are still not sure.

 

[busyBeee]

this happened to me for o-chem. so what happens is using the rule the credit rule, you can only replace the lectures. the labs will stay.. so yes they essentially get counted twice. my semester 1 orgo retake replaced my quarter 1 B orgo and my semester 2 orgo retake replaced my quarter 1 C orgo. none of the labs got replaced.

hope that helps.

Can you please clarify this for me. At my undergrad I had an o-chem lecture (4 credits, C grade) and a separate o-chem lab (3 credits, A- grade). At my post-bacc, I had a combined lecture/lab (5 units, A grade). Will AACOMAS replace the undergrad lecture grade (4 credits) with the post-bacc combined lecture/lab grade (5 credits) and leave the undergrad lab grade (3 credits) as is? Or will replacement not work at all? Sorry if that was confusing.

 

[deleted492904]

Can you please clarify this for me. At my undergrad I had an o-chem lecture (4 credits, C grade) and a separate o-chem lab (3 credits, A- grade). At my post-bacc, I had a combined lecture/lab (5 units, A grade). Will AACOMAS replace the undergrad lecture grade (4 credits) with the post-bacc combined lecture/lab grade (5 credits) and leave the undergrad lab grade (3 credits) as is? Or will replacement not work at all? Sorry if that was confusing.

Hey busyBeee,

I was almost in that situation where I was going to replace a class that has only the lecture with another that has both the lecture and the lab. I ended up taking another class that was less confusing for the replacement process though. However, I did call AACOMAS and what they told me is that your school has to write a letter that states the fact that the lecture portion is worth 4 credits. So, I think you would have to call your undergrad and they might compare the coursework from your post-bacc to see if the lecture portion from your post-bacc is similar to the lecture in your undergrad and that it's worth 4 credits. Sorry if I'm not much help, I didn't really go through with the whole process. Just give AACOMAS a call and ask them about this, they are pretty helpful.

 

[JDMcNugent]

I'll share an aacomas grade replacement story of mine that will hopefully shed some light on your situation. I took Physics 1 which included lab at a community college that was listed as PHYS 110a, PHYS 110b, and PHYS 110c and the a & b portion were in quarter 1 and the c portion was in quarter 2. I got a "D" in each one and the total for the 3 was 5 credits. I re-took at my state university but the lecture was listed as PHYS 1110 for 4 credits and the lab was listed as PHYS 1154 for 1 credit. I got a "B-" in PHYS 1110 and a "B" in PHYS 1154. Because I did not receive the same grade in both PHYS 1110 and PHYS 1154, AACOMAS could not combine the 2 and thus, could not replace the "D's" in PHYS 110a,b,&c.

So, if the original had a combined lecture and lab listed as 1 course total and you re-take where the lecture and lab are separate, then you need to get the same grade in both the lecture & lab re-take to replace the original.

 

[busyBeee]

I understand. My situation is somewhat reversed though. I had a separate lecture and lab with different grades. I'm trying to use a combined lecture/lab to replace just my old lecture grade.