STUDY ABROAD & AMCAS why why why?

[CaMD]

Silly me, studying abroad. Who knew it would make life so confusing?

I'm hoping someone on here has been in my situation.

I did a semester abroad at a foreign school (no US program affiliation whatsoever) so I need to request a transcript exemption.
--First question. AMCAS makes it sound like they really hate granting exemptions and they rarely do it and you're screwed if they don't grant it etc. Has anyone had an exemption for a foregin school denied?!?!

None of the courses I took at this foreign school matched up with courses at my undergrad, so I instead received generic transfer credits in the appropriate departments (P/F).
--So when it says, "Have you transferred any credit from this program to a U.S. or Canadian Institution?" Should I answer yes?

From doing a search on this topic it looks like everyone has tried every combination, in discussions during the time of entering this stuff, but I haven't found any posts of results.

Can people who're in this situation please comment on how they entered stuff into AMCAS and what trouble, if any, in caused them? I just want my app to go through!

Thanks guys!

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[camstah]

hi...what about making those grades US equivalent? will aamcas let you do that, then enter them as though you had taken them at the foriegn school instead of as generic transfer credits?
check out ierf.org for more info.....

 

[astrisize]

I studied abroad my entire junior year. My program was affliiated with my school. That meant I was registered at home in a "study abroad affiliated program" course. So I put that in AMCAS as my class during that year at NU. Then I also put in the school I attended abroad and requested the transcript exemption - that was not a problem. From looking at my AMCAS now, I believe what I did was simply enter the courses I took abroad without grades (either that or they just took out the grades I put in cuz they didn't know what they meant - sorry, I don't really remember!). I would suggest calling AMCAS to make sure but be prepared to sit on the phone for awhile. I hope this helps a little. Good luck!

 

[dolce doc]

Silly me, studying abroad. Who knew it would make life so confusing?

I'm hoping someone on here has been in my situation.

I did a semester abroad at a foreign school (no US program affiliation whatsoever) so I need to request a transcript exemption.
--First question. AMCAS makes it sound like they really hate granting exemptions and they rarely do it and you're screwed if they don't grant it etc. Has anyone had an exemption for a foregin school denied?!?!

None of the courses I took at this foreign school matched up with courses at my undergrad, so I instead received generic transfer credits in the appropriate departments (P/F).
--So when it says, "Have you transferred any credit from this program to a U.S. or Canadian Institution?" Should I answer yes?

From doing a search on this topic it looks like everyone has tried every combination, in discussions during the time of entering this stuff, but I haven't found any posts of results.

Can people who're in this situation please comment on how they entered stuff into AMCAS and what trouble, if any, in caused them? I just want my app to go through!

Thanks guys!

Hi. You don't have to worry about it at all. I was in a similar situation and I was also very confused. Because the foreign school was not affiliated to a US program you will have your transcript exemption approved, even if you received generic credits for transferred classes. I basically listed the school that I studied abroad with all the courses and credits, but I decided not to list any grades since it was a different system and it would be complicated to convert the grades (you have the option of choosing something like "no need to list grades since AMCAS won't need to verify these grades". You have to answer yes, that you have transferred courses/credits from the foreign institution to the US college. In my case, I did not list the classes that were transferred in my US college information section, since my US college transcript just gave me hour credits for these transferred courses. When AMCAS verifies your application they take care of this for you. Hope this helped!

 

[Barca]

I went through the same experience with my study abroad. One thing you need to make sure is that the transcript that you get is in English. My study abroad program had a transcript that was in Spanish, and I assumed that they would submit one in English to AMCAS. However, they didn't and sent a transcript in Spanish, and I waited months to see if my application would be verified and that BS. Yet, AMCAS says that it's our responsibility for that, and my app sat there for months. Also, calling AMCAS is a b*tch because you're gonna be on hold for about 15-20 minutes each time you call. Plus, they don't have a 1-800 number or at least they didn't last year. So, imagine calling them long distance each time you want to talk while using a cell plan that has limited daytime minutes. My main complaint about AMCAS is that you pay $150 for their service, and they don't tell you if something is wrong with the application even if the transcript request that they get from the school includes your own contact information.

Make sure that the study abroad program can send a "school of record" transcript to AMCAS because they wouldn't accept my study abroad program as the transcript provider. Usually, most US-college affiliated programs will issue such a transcript. In my case, I took the study abroad program classes and a foreign university class too. The grade from my class was placed on the study abroad program's transcript, but the foreign university was listed anyways as foreign and exempt.

AMCAS sucks in terms of service. If we all just stayed at home and took classes here, then we wouldn't have to worry about foreign school transcripts and such. The TMDSAS application doesn't require study abroad transcripts because they were transferred to my transcript already. AMCAS wants duplication or so BS like that. I hope that all made sense.

 

[dolce doc]

I believe that CaMD will have her transcript exemption granted because she attended a foreign school that is not affiliated to a US program. AMCAS won't need the transcript because these grades don't have to be included in the AMCAS gpa calculation. The only exception is the grades for classes that were transferred to a US college (which should appear in the US college transcript under your transferred courses). AMCAS will take in consideration the letter grades for the transferred classes listed in your US college transcript, not in the foreing school transcript.

 

[Bluemirage]

While we are on the this subject, I did my bacehlor's degree in a foreign country and had 92 credit hours of the degree put onto a UT transcript under "transfer credit" with no grades. The University had their own grading system and so an attempt to convert to the American GPA system would be very messy. Do I need to include foreign transcripts or can I just fill out exemption form? (It would be best if I did not need to...my grades were horrible back then and I would hate to have them counted in my GPA...I really just want my credit hours earnt to count for bachelor's degree requirement) I'm doing all my prereqs here in the US. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LA:)]

the impression i got was that if my home university (ucla) gave me credit for the class, amcas would accept the ucla transcript as verification. i listed the foreign universities, courses & grades, but only submitted the ucla transcript --> after the courses were on record at ucla. i didn't get any flack for it.

however, i had a friend who studied abroad 3rd year, applied during his 4th year, but was still waiting for the german university to send ucla his grades during amcas & this held up his app forever.

feliz cinco de mayo

 

[dolce doc]

While we are on the this subject, I did my bacehlor's degree in a foreign country and had 92 credit hours of the degree put onto a UT transcript under "transfer credit" with no grades. The University had their own grading system and so an attempt to convert to the American GPA system would be very messy. Do I need to include foreign transcripts or can I just fill out exemption form? (It would be best if I did not need to...my grades were horrible back then and I would hate to have them counted in my GPA...I really just want my credit hours earnt to count for bachelor's degree requirement) I'm doing all my prereqs here in the US. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

If your foreign institution is not affiliated to a US program then you can fill out an exemption form. AMCAS won't need your foreign transcript, only your US college transcript showing these transfer credits. However, you still have to list your foreign school in your AMCAS. Like I said before, I only listed the courses and credits taken at my foreign institution, but I did not list the grades I received. I believe you don't even have to list courses and credits from your foreign school.

 

[freaker]

Do you have to send in transcripts from a foreign school if your own institution converts the grades and puts them on your transcript?

 

[Bluemirage]

Originally posted by Dolce Doc

If your foreign institution is not affiliated to a US program then you can fill out an exemption form. AMCAS won't need your foreign transcript, only your US college transcript showing these transfer credits. However, you still have to list your foreign school in your AMCAS. Like I said before, I only listed the courses and credits taken at my foreign institution, but I did not list the grades I received. I believe you don't even have to list courses and credits from your foreign school.

Dolce Doc....thank you very much for that reassuring info! Now my next question is since the UT system only recognized 92 credit hours of my undergrad degree from The University of Sydney, will the adcoms consider me as having completed a bachelor's degree? (I have completed a M.S. Degree here in the US with GPA 3.7...perhaps this can play into my favor?) This whole process is so confusing for people who have completed foreign credits or degrees. Thanks again for any input.

 

[CaMD]

Thanks very much for the info! Very helpful.

I will check that it's a foreign, unaffiliated school, and that I did have credits transfer to a US school.

Do I have to list each of the courses I took at the foreign school? The thing is, it's wierd, because it was really a giant series of seminars, like 1 topic a week for 15 weeks, so I'd have to list 15 courses under 1 semester and I think that adcoms looking at it are going to be puzzled. Also there wasn't any such thing as credit hours, which has the required astrisk next to it.

I repeat: argh!

(Thank you again )