Study Abroad GPA Question

[amoss5]

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I'm looking at studying abroad in a a year and a half. I really want to do it and am even going to delay graduating a year to do it. However, I'm worried about how it might affect my GPA. I have a 4.0 right now. When I take classes abroad, my home institution only counts them as pass/fail and just adds the credit hours, so my GPA isn't affected by the classes. But, will AMCAS recalculate my GPA with the classes abroad (I guess I'm asking too do they look at the classes as they appear pass fail on my home institution transcript or will they look at the transcript I'll get from the university abroad)? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[fizzgig]

uhh go to the aamc site and find that big pdf of instructions for the amcas - that is where you'll be sure (or get enough info to know exactly what to ask your home institution).

as i understand it though, no they will not require that you take the actual letter grade from the foreign institution if you go thru an american university program of some sort. they will take the american university's grade. i went thru an american university that gave me letter grades for the actual classes i took abroad. my home university gave me pass/fail credit for the HOME univ classes that it considered equivalent to my abroad classes. i was required to submit the transcript from the american program i went thru to AMCAS and they took the letter grades. i was not required to send a foreign transcript at all. hope that helps some.

 

[coyotelime]

I'm in London with IFSA Butler and they calculate letter grades and all my credits count towards my GPA. Depending on where you study, make sure you are prepared to do some serious work. Some schools are not a cakewalk; if anything, I think UCL beats my home institution, especially in terms of sheer material.

 

[Catalystik]

AMCAS does not accept foreign transcripts. Whatever your US college puts on your official transcript when the credit is transferred is what will be factored into your application GPA.

 

[amoss5]

Ok great. That's what I wanted to hear. I will get a letter grade from the abroad institution, but I think my home institution just makes sure it's passing and puts pass/fail on my transcript. That will be a load of my mind and give me some more time to travel! Thanks!

 

[Catalystik]

Check with your registrar's office to be sure, as we've seen some GPAs destroyed by study abroad programs when students didn't understand the foreign grading system.