"Special classification" of courses in PTCAS-Online AND Repeated

[scrawnyguy]

I recently emailed PTCAS, but I have yet to hear back. I'm hoping one of you has gone through a similar predicament. When entering courses into PTCAS there is a drop down menu for "special classification" of courses. It is my understanding that all repeated courses must be marked as such. The problem I am running into is with my online coursework. There is also a classification for online courses. Years ago while deployed with the Army I took a few online science courses. Here's the rub: many schools (including my first choice) don't accept online prereq coursework. When I left the Army last year I went back to school and redid all of my prereq coursework in person, which of course means that some of those course are repeats. According to PTCAS if a course is repeated then the initial course and the repeat should be annotated as "repeated". The drop down menu for special classifications will only allow for one annotation. I'm not sure how to annotate that the initial coursework was repeated AND online. I want to make sure that my application is accurate, but doing so might also benefit my GPA. I earned an A's in all of my resident prereq courses, but I earned a B in one of the online courses. I believe that if the course is annotated as online it won't be figured into my prereq GPA by the school, thus bumping it up slightly. We're talking about the difference between a 4.0 and a 3.8 or so. I knows that may seem like nitpicking, but Army-Baylor is expecting its most competitive class yet and I want to present the best application possible.

Does this all make sense? I think my best bet is to contact my potential school.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[tcpt]

Contact PTCAS regarding this question.

 

[okramango]

My understanding is that most programs look at your courses and figure out your prereq GPA for themselves, rather than relying on the PTCAS GPA (since they need to verify that you took the correct courses, rather than just relying on applicants to check the correct ones as prereqs). Therefore, I don't think it would make a big difference whether or not you checked the online course as a prereq, as the program would still count whichever courses they want to into your prereq GPA. You might want to ask your program directly if they use the PTCAS prereq GPA or if they determine it themselves.

 

[scrawnyguy]

Contact PTCAS regarding this question.

Roger. I emailed them first thing this morning. If I don't hear back by COB tomorrow I will give them a call.

 

[starrsgirl]

I was in this exact same position. I didn't contact PTCAS...but I went with the "repeated" option. Sure, they are online too but I felt that was less important....and that was clear from my transcripts. Ultimately for me, each of my schools independently verified that I had taken the correct courses I needed in person.

 

[krissybear]

sorry to go off topic, but it is a similar coursework entry situation... before submitting my app I indicated my 'In Progress' Fall 2o15 and Spring 2016 courses (Physics I & II) as Physics 101 and Physics 102. I ended up registering for Physics 201 and 202 in response to some schools recommendations. Since I have already esubmitted, PTCAS says I cannot update my courses until Academic Update in Dec, but I feel that if some of my schools believe that I am enrolled in 101 and 102 they will not be accepted. PTCAS suggested emailing my schools, but how can I be for sure that it will be annotated on my app and not overlooked?

 

[scrawnyguy]

PTCAS replied to my question, but didn't even come close to answering anything. Once again I received a generic response that could be found on their website. Hopefully I have better luck when I call them.

 

[krissybear]

PTCAS replied to my question, but didn't even come close to answering anything. Once again I received a generic response that could be found on their website. Hopefully I have better luck when I call them.

yeah, I would call. But my assumption is that for your first attempt indicate it as "online" and the second attempt as "repeated"

 

[Phyline]

Oh yeah, emailing is useless. They probably copy-paste a genetic template. Definitely better to call. I once emailed about hours verification and received a long instruction about how to check status of recommendation letter.

 

[scrawnyguy]

Just got off the phone with PTCAS. They told me to mark both classes as repeated, because that takes precedence over everything else. When I explained the situation to them in more detail they told me that there is no way to classify a course under two categories. They suggested adding "Online" in parentheses in the course title. I'm going to double check with the school, but I think this will have to do. I have to wonder though if this extra bit of info will be removed during the verification process. According to the instructions courses must be entered EXACTLY as they are on the transcript. Since I am adding something that isn't in the official course title I have a feeling it may not make it through verification.

 

[starrsgirl]

sorry to go off topic, but it is a similar coursework entry situation... before submitting my app I indicated my 'In Progress' Fall 2o15 and Spring 2016 courses (Physics I & II) as Physics 101 and Physics 102. I ended up registering for Physics 201 and 202 in response to some schools recommendations. Since I have already esubmitted, PTCAS says I cannot update my courses until Academic Update in Dec, but I feel that if some of my schools believe that I am enrolled in 101 and 102 they will not be accepted. PTCAS suggested emailing my schools, but how can I be for sure that it will be annotated on my app and not overlooked?

On this question, remember that schools can't count planned courses for anything. All they have to go on is what you've taken already and how you did. They will offer interviews on that info. Once an interview is offered, then they will generally look at your whole transcript and list courses you have to finish before getting accepted. I don't think this will make any difference for you. They can't reject you based on classes you plan to take. Enroll in the right ones this fall and use academic update.

 

[krissybear]

On this question, remember that schools can't count planned courses for anything. All they have to go on is what you've taken already and how you did. They will offer interviews on that info. Once an interview is offered, then they will generally look at your whole transcript and list courses you have to finish before getting accepted. I don't think this will make any difference for you. They can't reject you based on classes you plan to take. Enroll in the right ones this fall and use academic update.

thanks @starrsgirl - I was mostly worried that they would see the wrong class stated as 'in progress' (PHY 101, when really I'm enrolled in PHY 201) and then think "oh, she's not even taking the proper physics prereq so there is no point to offer her an interview" lol I'm a bit dramatic but that was the thought process