Study Abroad GPA

[TehTeddy]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hello,

So, I know it's early in the semester to be asking/rushing to conclusions, but it's been on my mind.

Let's say you're studying abroad at a foreign institution, and your GPA at the end of the semester is not up to par with the grades you normally receive at home. Once applying through amcas, your grades get factored into your overall gpa (if you go through a us based host), and med schools see this dip in performance (I'm aware they would see them in the end one way or another). Say you have a 3.9 at home, but when study abroad is factored it brings you down to 3.7, for example. My questions are as follows:

1) Would a 3.7 obtained through factoring in study abroad, as opposed to a 3.7 while exclusively remaining at your regular school, be seen any differently to admissions committees?

2) Is it a red flag to see a dip in grades while studying abroad, if this is for one semester (junior year by the way).

For full disclosure, I am studying abroad in the U.K. now, and unfortunately did not strike a good work/fun balance from the start (emphasis on fun, of course). I am trying harder now, but was just wondering how a dip in grades will affect me down the road, if it comes to that.

Thanks!

 

[Lannister]

Will the grades from your study abroad appear on your transcript as letter grades? Or just P/F? If they're just listed as P/F, they won't be calculated as part of your AMCAS GPA.

By transcript, I mean your home institution transcript, not your study abroad transcript.

 

[TehTeddy]

At my home institution it's P/F, but my host is A-F. I've checked with amcas and it will appear on my transcript. That's not really the question I'm asking though.

 

[Lannister]

You're incorrect. I am currently applying, had the same situation. Home institution did pass/fail, host was A-F. On AMCAS you will enter P or F as the grade, and the letter grades will therefore not be calculated into your AMCAS GPA. The AAMC does not accept third party transcripts, so you cannot send them your host institution transcript. Your grades don't matter, as long as you pass. Med schools will never know if you got straight Cs.

 

[TehTeddy]

Are you serious?? That's so confusing. I called to confirm and they said it will be A-F. Then again, that was the second time I called. The first time they said it was P/F.. perhaps I should have called a third time >.>

So let me get this straight. You went through a third party institution (based in the U.S., like arcadia, butler, or some program like that). They gave you a U.S. based transcript with your grades A-F, converted from the foreign scale. Then your regular school converted them to P/F. And you didn't have to send the transcript from your host institution to amcas (requested exception)?

 

[TehTeddy]

Any adcom input as to my original question as well?
@gyngyn @Goro @LizzyM

 

[Lannister]

Are you serious?? That's so confusing. I called to confirm and they said it will be A-F. Then again, that was the second time I called. The first time they said it was P/F.. perhaps I should have called a third time >.>

So let me get this straight. You went through a third party institution (based in the U.S., like arcadia, butler, or some program like that). They gave you a U.S. based transcript with your grades A-F, converted from the foreign scale. Then your regular school converted them to P/F. And you didn't have to send the transcript from your host institution to amcas (requested exception)?

Correct! I got a transcript from IES Chile with A-F, then my regular school put Ps and Fs (well, no Fs, thankfully lol) on my actual transcript. I didn't have to send the IES transcript to AMCAS, in fact you're not allowed to, they won't accept it. I just entered "Pass" for all my study abroad courses. I called the AAMC about this and watched a tutorial video and I'm 100% sure I did it correctly. Although it was kind of confusing when figuring out what to put on AMCAS haha.

So stop wasting time studying and go have fun! You can sit in a classroom or a library in the States, spend your time in the UK doing things you can't do here 😀