Transcript question

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clutzie16

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Hey guys,

I know its a very hectic time, interviews, applications, etc. but i was wondering what you think i should do, heres the situation:

I applied for fall 2007, im going to have all my prerequisites and some extra classes completed by August 2007. I have extensive experience, i worked for an opthalmology as a tech for 3 years, shadowed 2 optometrists, and worked for an optometrist. Im having 5 LORs sent into each school. My GPA now is 3.47, although i am not quiet sure what it will be after this semester because i am taking 5 science classes. However, my problem is that this college is the third one that i attended. My GPA in the previous two was a 2.4, plus i got about 12 W's, this all happened because i had too many things going wrong in my family, and other circumstances. I was also dismissed for a semester, and reinstated, i dont think that will be in the transcript though. At least its not showing up in the student copy.

Although i took care of all the problems, and got everything straight, i know that the two transcripts are definitely holding me back. I dont know what i am supposed to do. I wrote a strong personal essay, but did not include any of this in it, i felt it still wouldnt get my point across, and they would just stop reading it.

Now i am thinking of sending in another letter that describes in detail what the problem(s) ihad were, and the reason as to why i didnt do well in my classes.

Do you think i should write the letter, or i should just leave things the way they are? Under the section in "special circumstances" i briefly mentioned this, but again not in detail.

Thank you for your advice!

good luck to all that are applying!!!

JG. :luck:
 
I think I would write the letter. There is a chance they may not welcome a letter, but I suspect that they actually do see applicants as people who can go through difficult periods, and your writing a letter to clarify your rough patch may impress them. Your writing the letter might show you really want to go to optometry school. Additionally, you have a lot of good experience and a pretty good GPA. Also, I think they will pay more attention to how you have done recently, as opposed to earlier in your college career. You seem to be on an upward slope, so I think you will be fine. Good luck with whatever you decide. :luck:
 
One final note, I wouldn't write the letter as an excuse, but as an explanation, if that makes any sense- it might result in more empathy.
 
I would write a letter explaining what happened. Good luck.

I have a question also about grades...does anyone know, which schools take the highest grade of a course that has been retaken? There is one class that I had to take twice and if 2 grades are included, it greatly affects my GPA. 🙁
and also, what is the minimum GPA required for an admissions. I have taken the OAT's and scored pretty high. All I am worried about are my grades.
Thanks.
 
I would write a letter explaining what happened. Good luck.

I have a question also about grades...does anyone know, which schools take the highest grade of a course that has been retaken? There is one class that I had to take twice and if 2 grades are included, it greatly affects my GPA. 🙁
and also, what is the minimum GPA required for an admissions. I have taken the OAT's and scored pretty high. All I am worried about are my grades.
Thanks.


Does your school include both grades in your GPA? I know here at JMU and at a lot of other schools, they only include the grade for the repeat, even if it's lower than the first time you took it. But, both grades still show on the transcripts (at least here anyway).

There's no set minimum GPA. There have been people that have gotten into various optometry schools with something below a 3.0, due to excellent OAT scores and extracurriculars, experience in the field, etc.
 
Does your school include both grades in your GPA? I know here at JMU and at a lot of other schools, they only include the grade for the repeat, even if it's lower than the first time you took it. But, both grades still show on the transcripts (at least here anyway).

There's no set minimum GPA. There have been people that have gotten into various optometry schools with something below a 3.0, due to excellent OAT scores and extracurriculars, experience in the field, etc.

My undergrad school includes only the better grade in GPA, but the two grades are listed on the transcript. So, it's relatively high. I called the admissions counselors and most of them said they will count all the grades when calculating GPA. Only one school will consider the highest grade, Boston, I believe. 🙁
 
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