Should Graduate degree grades be calculated into GPA...

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UrbanDweller

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I'm an engineer with a master's of science degree in computer and electrical engineering. I'm going to be applying to medical school this year and before I start I'm trying to figure out what my chances are and to which schools to apply to. In order to do that I'm trying to calculate my GPA. Should the grades that I earned in the grad classes be used for GPA calculation. If so, do I need to include any grad science courses in the sGPA?

thank you

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For AMCAS (MD applications) purposes, the undergrad GPA and masters GPA are separate. If you took classes during the masters program that were not required for that degree, however, you may list them as postbac classes, which would be included in the uGPA. The grad science classes will be listed on their own under BCPM GPA (if there were any, as engineering classes are not science, per AMCAS, but math classes would still count).

For AACOMAS (DO applications) undergrad and grad GPAs are initially listed separately, but merged on the last line. Some of the DO schools consider the composite total GPA, and others look mainly at undergrad GPA regardless.

AMCAS BCPM GPA and AACOMAS sGPA includes: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=552026
 
thanks for the reply. So if I understand you correctly the overall uGPA and grad GPA will be separate. BUT if I took any science classes for the grad degree(which I did-MATH) then I will include them in the BCPM GPA.
 
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thanks for the reply. So if I understand you correctly the overall uGPA and grad GPA will be separate. BUT if I took any science classes for the grad degree(which I did-MATH) then I will include them in the BCPM GPA.

My understanding is that ONLY UNDERGRADUATE classes are included in the BCPM. If it was a graduate level course then it won't be included.
 
thanks for the reply. So if I understand you correctly the overall uGPA and grad GPA will be separate. BUT if I took any science classes for the grad degree(which I did-MATH) then I will include them in the BCPM GPA.


Yes, undergrad and grad degres are calculated separately - this is where most people get into trouble becaues they may have a stellar 4.0 GPA in their Master's or PH.D. program but still have a 2.8 GPA in undergrad and medical school place much more emphasis on the undergrad GPA.

Also, for your science GPA, that depends on whther you took the science class as a post-bac class (at an undergraduate college) or as a grad-level class.
 
I most likely will need to do a SMP at some point in order to have any chance in hell of getting into allopathic medical school.

What I wanted to know is how does a SMP work, is the grades separate from undergraduate and how exactly does the SMP work? You start it in the summer and apply to med schools as you begin the program for entrance in the following fall to med school and just keep giving a transcript update as the year progresses to AMCAS?
 
thanks for the reply. So if I understand you correctly the overall uGPA and grad GPA will be separate. BUT if I took any science classes for the grad degree(which I did-MATH) then I will include them in the BCPM GPA.
They will be included in the graduate BCPM space, which is on the line below the cumulative undergraduate BCPM space. The two are not merged for AMCAS.
 
I most likely will need to do a SMP at some point in order to have any chance in hell of getting into allopathic medical school.

What I wanted to know is how does a SMP work, is the grades separate from undergraduate and how exactly does the SMP work? You start it in the summer and apply to med schools as you begin the program for entrance in the following fall to med school and just keep giving a transcript update as the year progresses to AMCAS?
For best results you finish the SMP and then apply to med school. A same-year-as-SMP app is chaotic and late.

But: if you pick an SMP that is aggressive in support of same-year apps (Gtown, Cincinnati, EVMS, etc) you have decent chances of no gap year after your SMP. This is particularly true with SMPs that put a lot of grads into the host med school (Cincinnati, EVMS, Tulane ACP). Assume you need to be very organized, very disciplined, and very persistent. The more you need the SMP to be an acceptable MD applicant, the less MD schools take you seriously during a same-year-as-SMP app cycle.

Best of luck to you.
 
I'm an engineer with a master's of science degree in computer and electrical engineering. I'm going to be applying to medical school this year and before I start I'm trying to figure out what my chances are and to which schools to apply to. In order to do that I'm trying to calculate my GPA. Should the grades that I earned in the grad classes be used for GPA calculation. If so, do I need to include any grad science courses in the sGPA?

thank you

In reference to your title, it would be helpful for a great deal of people if it were included in ugrad gpa. Unfortunately, it's not that way.
 
I do know of one school that counts graduate grades in your GPA: OHSU. (The other posters are correct that AMCAS doesn't count them, but the school does its own separate GPA calculation.)
 
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