Greetings, I have just read on an advising website that classes that have been retaken can be factored in for GPA in DO apps, while you are basically stuck with the original grade in GPA calculation for the MD apps. Can anyone expand on this for me? (Details, catches, loopholes, etc.) Thanks!
MD app: all grades averaged. DO app: most recent recorded grade for a course used. It pays to retake.
Ok I will give it a shot. On your DO application the retaken grade replaces the original grade, but that grade still shows up on your overall transcript (i.e. you must report it). They just don't factor it in to your overall or science GPA. The MD application uses I think a average grade of the two to determine the grade that gets factored in, but I am unsure about this. There are no real loopholes or catches that I am aware of. I personally recieved a D in a class during my first semester of college and was never asked about it during my DO interviews even though it did show up on the transcript.
Oh, hell yeah. There was two classes that really brought my gpa down (an F and D) and I retook both and got B+'s so that should really help my gpa out. Learn something new (and encouraging) everyday! Adrian
THis is misleading. The retakes are factored into your GPA over the previous grade, but the previous grade will still show up on your transcript, which adcoms look over. What effect this has I don't know -- nobody has ever given an accurate answer. I would imagine, however, that at some schools the retake is basically pointless. Why give someone with a 3.5 who took multiple classes over to get that GPA a spot over someone with a 3.3 or 3.4 with no retakes? Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my take.
Like I said I was never asked about the grade that I recieved when I retook a class. Yes, it does show up on the transcript and on their printout of your application, but I don't think that it is given a lot of weight as long as you weren't consistently retaking classes. Everyone is entitled to a mistake and retaking a class only shows your commitment IMHO.
According to my pre-med advisor, students interested in applying to D.O. schools should only retake courses in which they received a grade of "C-" or lower. Why AACOMAS only counts the most recent courses and AAMCAS does not is not clear. It may have something to do with more older applicants applying to D.O. schools compared to M.D. schools, and D.O. schools' wanting to obtain the most up-to-date assessment of each applicant's academic performance. For example, if an applicant took some pre-requisites in 1984 and received mediocre grades, and then completed a post-bacc in 2003 while retaking some pre-requisites, and receiving all "A's," then their post-bacc grades would probably be a better indicator of their current academic abilities and potential for success in osteopathic medical school.
I should have been more clear, as has been said the original grade still shows up, but is not used in your gpa calculation(for do schools, not md). I had a c- in a class and I repeated it, no one ever asked me about it. I would not repeat any classes that I got a c or higher in though.
