Taking extra classes after graduation to boost sGPA?

[paintbucketgreen]

I am a fourth year undergraduate student at UC Irvine (CA resident). I'm applying to med schools in June 2018, and my sGPA will be 3.43 by the end of my last academic quarter. How would MD med schools view me taking extra courses at UCI over the summer AFTER I graduate to boost my undergraduate GPA? Of course, I would only take rigorous upper division science courses (not retaking any previous courses). I was hoping that I could get my sGPA up to around 3.49 if I load up on the units in the summer, and that taking upper division courses/labs would help demonstrate that I am able to handle material at that academic level despite my low science GPA. My first two years were pretty bad in terms of grades acceptable for MD schools, but I have a solid upward trend, with ~3.55 my junior year and 4.0 my senior year (so far and planning to continue trend). Is it a good idea to try and demonstrate a further continuation of this trend by taking a last 20 or so units in the summer at UCI? (I am fairly confident I can handle the load since my previous low grades were due to lack of motivation/effort rather than understanding of the material :/) I know there are actual post-bacc programs designed for this very purpose but they are very expensive so I am trying to avoid that route.

Also, some have told me that I should request my transcripts as early as May instead of waiting for my spring quarter grades to come in b/c the transcripts take so long to be ready. I know that generally speaking, a 0.02 difference in GPA would not make a difference to med schools, but in my case it actually does, since its the difference between a 3.3 something and a 3.4 something If i were to order them early, would I be able to input my spring grades into my app before med schools see it? or will they see the 3.3 something gpa?


Sorry for the long post and any help is greatly appreciated!

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[DetroitDoc1993]

Whats your mcat like? I see no problem in taking more classes but I just know that the gpa barely goes up it like creeps slowly because of how many credits you have accumulated and its especially true if you are going to graduate because its like a 120credits+. Just make sure to get A's and try to figure out how many A's it would take to get your gpa up. I know people who have done the 20 credits of upper level science courses after graduating and after doing well in those classes they were accepted into medical schools (one friend was accepted into a DO program and the other accepted to an MD) so anything is possible.

Also, about the transcript thing, my school had my transcript uploaded to AMCAS within a week so It did not take long but maybe that depends on your school so call your registrars office and see how long it takes. I would assume they would not see your new grades unless you upload a new transcript with your new grades...call AMCAS and ask them how that works?

 

[Goro]

I am a fourth year undergraduate student at UC Irvine (CA resident). I'm applying to med schools in June 2018, and my sGPA will be 3.43 by the end of my last academic quarter. How would MD med schools view me taking extra courses at UCI over the summer AFTER I graduate to boost my undergraduate GPA? Of course, I would only take rigorous upper division science courses (not retaking any previous courses). I was hoping that I could get my sGPA up to around 3.49 if I load up on the units in the summer, and that taking upper division courses/labs would help demonstrate that I am able to handle material at that academic level despite my low science GPA. My first two years were pretty bad in terms of grades acceptable for MD schools, but I have a solid upward trend, with ~3.55 my junior year and 4.0 my senior year (so far and planning to continue trend). Is it a good idea to try and demonstrate a further continuation of this trend by taking a last 20 or so units in the summer at UCI? (I am fairly confident I can handle the load since my previous low grades were due to lack of motivation/effort rather than understanding of the material :/) I know there are actual post-bacc programs designed for this very purpose but they are very expensive so I am trying to avoid that route.

Also, some have told me that I should request my transcripts as early as May instead of waiting for my spring quarter grades to come in b/c the transcripts take so long to be ready. I know that generally speaking, a 0.02 difference in GPA would not make a difference to med schools, but in my case it actually does, since its the difference between a 3.3 something and a 3.4 something If i were to order them early, would I be able to input my spring grades into my app before med schools see it? or will they see the 3.3 something gpa?


Sorry for the long post and any help is greatly appreciated!

This is the whole idea behind reinvention. You won't be penalized to taking more classes.

 

[paintbucketgreen]

Whats your mcat like? I see no problem in taking more classes but I just know that the gpa barely goes up it like creeps slowly because of how many credits you have accumulated and its especially true if you are going to graduate because its like a 120credits+. Just make sure to get A's and try to figure out how many A's it would take to get your gpa up. I know people who have done the 20 credits of upper level science courses after graduating and after doing well in those classes they were accepted into medical schools (one friend was accepted into a DO program and the other accepted to an MD) so anything is possible.

Also, about the transcript thing, my school had my transcript uploaded to AMCAS within a week so It did not take long but maybe that depends on your school so call your registrars office and see how long it takes. I would assume they would not see your new grades unless you upload a new transcript with your new grades...call AMCAS and ask them how that works?

Yeah ill get on looking the specifics of that up..lets say I do take the extra courses over summer and get straight As. How will the schools know I did this if I already submitted my app? Would I list it on my initial application in June as something I plan to do, or should I wait to mention it in my secondaries if i get any?

 

[paintbucketgreen]

Yeah ill get on looking the specifics of that up..lets say I do take the extra courses over summer and get straight As. How will the schools know I did this if I already submitted my app? Would I list it on my initial application in June as something I plan to do, or should I wait to mention it in my secondaries if i get any?

Whats your mcat like? I see no problem in taking more classes but I just know that the gpa barely goes up it like creeps slowly because of how many credits you have accumulated and its especially true if you are going to graduate because its like a 120credits+. Just make sure to get A's and try to figure out how many A's it would take to get your gpa up. I know people who have done the 20 credits of upper level science courses after graduating and after doing well in those classes they were accepted into medical schools (one friend was accepted into a DO program and the other accepted to an MD) so anything is possible.

Also, about the transcript thing, my school had my transcript uploaded to AMCAS within a week so It did not take long but maybe that depends on your school so call your registrars office and see how long it takes. I would assume they would not see your new grades unless you upload a new transcript with your new grades...call AMCAS and ask them how that works?

Forgot to say this in the previous reply, my MCAT is a 514. I believe if I wait until my spring quarter grades are in, which would be June 14th, by the time I request my transcripts and have them sent out (takes about 3 days at UCI), then wait about 10 days (probably longer) for AMCAS to verify my transcripts, that means my application won't officially be verified until June 27th at the earliest...I'm worried that will be too late for me with my low GPA Shouldn't someone with my stats be applying the very soonest possible? (early june)

 

[DetroitDoc1993]

Forgot to say this in the previous reply, my MCAT is a 514. I believe if I wait until my spring quarter grades are in, which would be June 14th, by the time I request my transcripts and have them sent out (takes about 3 days at UCI), then wait about 10 days (probably longer) for AMCAS to verify my transcripts, that means my application won't officially be verified until June 27th at the earliest...I'm worried that will be too late for me with my low GPA Shouldn't someone with my stats be applying the very soonest possible? (early june)

514 is good so good job there! June 27th is still pretty early in the application cycle if you ask me. And I honestly don't know about how schools's will see your grades after you submit your AMCAS application because ones its submitted you can't alter it and I would assume that any school would need to see an official transcript for new grades. So my suggestion is to call AMCAS or call a school of your choice and ask them if you are taking classes after you submit AMCAS how can you send them an updated transcript and they should tell you (call both AMCAS and a medical school).

 

[DBC03]

Forgot to say this in the previous reply, my MCAT is a 514. I believe if I wait until my spring quarter grades are in, which would be June 14th, by the time I request my transcripts and have them sent out (takes about 3 days at UCI), then wait about 10 days (probably longer) for AMCAS to verify my transcripts, that means my application won't officially be verified until June 27th at the earliest...I'm worried that will be too late for me with my low GPA Shouldn't someone with my stats be applying the very soonest possible? (early june)

Schools won’t even receive your application by June 27th if you submit June 1st, so you won’t be behind.


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[paintbucketgreen]

Schools won’t even receive your application by June 27th if you submit June 1st, so you won’t be behind.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

That is true, although I'm mostly worrying about not making it by that June 30th cut off. June 27th would be the earliest, and its very likely that everyone will be sending in transcripts mid June, so the verification time could be even longer than 10 days. If I don't make it by the June 30th cut off, wouldn't I be at a slight disadvantage since I'd technically be a July applicant then? Even a disadvantage as small as this feels like a lot for me since my GPA is my weakest point of the application, and as you can probably tell I am obsessing over it, probably unnecessarily too!Basically right now I am trying to weigh the options:

1. submitting early June with a 3.38 sGPA
2. wait until late June (at risk of submitting in July) with a 3.43 sGPA.

 

[paintbucketgreen]

514 is good so good job there! June 27th is still pretty early in the application cycle if you ask me. And I honestly don't know about how schools's will see your grades after you submit your AMCAS application because ones its submitted you can't alter it and I would assume that any school would need to see an official transcript for new grades. So my suggestion is to call AMCAS or call a school of your choice and ask them if you are taking classes after you submit AMCAS how can you send them an updated transcript and they should tell you (call both AMCAS and a medical school).

thank you for your advice I will do that

 

[paintbucketgreen]

That is true, although I'm mostly worrying about not making it by that June 30th cut off. June 27th would be the earliest, and its very likely that everyone will be sending in transcripts mid June, so the verification time could be even longer than 10 days. If I don't make it by the June 30th cut off, wouldn't I be at a slight disadvantage since I'd technically be a July applicant then? Even a disadvantage as small as this feels like a lot for me since my GPA is my weakest point of the application, and as you can probably tell I am obsessing over it, probably unnecessarily too!Basically right now I am trying to weigh the options:

1. submitting early June with a 3.38 sGPA
2. wait until late June (at risk of submitting in July) with a 3.43 sGPA.

--scratch that. just checked my school's academic calendar and official transcripts would not be available until June 25th. There would be no way I'd make it by June, so I would definitely be a mid-July applicant if I waited. I probably can't afford to do this right? I just really didn't want to drop into the 3.3 range :/

 

[DetroitDoc1993]

--scratch that. just checked my school's academic calendar and official transcripts would not be available until June 25th. There would be no way I'd make it by June, so I would definitely be a mid-July applicant if I waited. I probably can't afford to do this right? I just really didn't want to drop into the 3.3 range :/

From my experience, and I am not adcom but when I was applying I met with admissions advisers and they told me they thought applying early July versus late july really did not make much of a difference. I ended up applying in beginning of august because I was obsessing over my essays trying to make them perfect. So I can't give you a clear answer, again call up a medical school or meet with an adviser it can't possibly hurt! If you ask me I would rather a 3.43 over a 3.33 but then again I think your mcat is pretty darn solid so in my opinion submitting in july will not effect your application by much I think. I always had the idea that June is when all the people with very high mcat's and very high gpa's applied maybe its a false preconception but I don't think applying in July is bad its still relatively early, applying in late August now that is kind of late. I am not as critical but there will be others that think July is late which I think is kind of ridiculous so your best bet is to call schools and talk to admissions advisers directly!