University changed degree requirements...

[orthomyxo]

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A few days ago I received an email from my university which outlined some major changes in the degree requirements for biology majors. What's most concerning to me is that they are no longer requiring microbiology lecture and lab, which I already took. Long story short, I didn't do very well in the lab component, which really sucks considering I don't even need the damn thing. What I'm wondering is, if I can get my university to delete the crappy lab grade from my transcript, would I still have to report it to AMCAS?

And yes, I searched.

 

[nickmx50]

A few days ago I received an email from my university which outlined some major changes in the degree requirements for biology majors. What's most concerning to me is that they are no longer requiring microbiology lecture and lab, which I already took. Long story short, I didn't do very well in the lab component, which really sucks considering I don't even need the damn thing. What I'm wondering is, if I can get my university to delete the crappy lab grade from my transcript, would I still have to report it to AMCAS?

And yes, I searched.

Yes, you have to report every class to AMCAS regardless of any school concession you may receive. However, I doubt your University is going to delete your grade just because they changed the degree requirements. You still took the class and earned the grade, good or bad.

 

[BushidoBrown]

They're not going to delete it.

 

[thespazz]

They're not going to delete it.

For sure.

 

[orthomyxo]

Yes, you have to report every class to AMCAS regardless of any school concession you may receive. However, I doubt your University is going to delete your grade just because they changed the degree requirements. You still took the class and earned the grade, good or bad.

That's what I thought. I'm pretty sure they would delete it, but I guess it doesn't matter if I have to report it anyway. According to the registrar's website, students entering the university with less than 60 credits are eligible for 15 credits of course repetitions/deletions to remove grades for completed courses in the calculation of their cumulative GPA.

 

[thespazz]

That's what I thought. I'm pretty sure they would delete it, but I guess it doesn't matter if I have to report it anyway. According to the registrar's website, students entering the university with less than 60 credits are eligible for 15 credits of course repetitions/deletions to remove grades for completed courses in the calculation of their cumulative GPA.

It might be removed from GPA calculation, but probably not from your transcript completely. Why not call and ask?

 

[gravitywave]

they're changing major requirements, effective even for people who are still completing the program? that blows, my condolences.

 

[Amalgamate]

Like others have said if you took it, you earned the grade. There's plenty of classes that we take that aren't part of our major, it'd be a loophole if you could stuff deleted because it's not part of your major, especially since most peoples major change 37373 times

If you're worried about it, retake it and apply to both DO schools and MD schools, since DO schools have a retake policy

 

[orthomyxo]

they're changing major requirements, effective even for people who are still completing the program? that blows, my condolences.

Well technically the old requirements are still in effect for my class year, but according to my professors, you can easily get out of taking the newly non-required courses that you're already enrolled in with an academic petition. It's just a really stupid situation overall.

 

[gravitywave]

oh i see. so if you'd waited and hadn't taken micro lab yet, you'd likely be able to petition out of it? yeah that's lame.

 

[masterwares]

A few days ago I received an email from my university which outlined some major changes in the degree requirements for biology majors. What's most concerning to me is that they are no longer requiring microbiology lecture and lab, which I already took. Long story short, I didn't do very well in the lab component, which really sucks considering I don't even need the damn thing. What I'm wondering is, if I can get my university to delete the crappy lab grade from my transcript, would I still have to report it to AMCAS?

And yes, I searched.

I'm in the same boat. My university stopped offering a lab course I got a C in... 🙁

 

[indya]

even if it isn't on your transcript, you are required to report it to AMCAS.

 

[mydogtobbi]

A few days ago I received an email from my university which outlined some major changes in the degree requirements for biology majors. What's most concerning to me is that they are no longer requiring microbiology lecture and lab, which I already took. Long story short, I didn't do very well in the lab component, which really sucks considering I don't even need the damn thing. What I'm wondering is, if I can get my university to delete the crappy lab grade from my transcript, would I still have to report it to AMCAS?

And yes, I searched.

Every grade from every school that you have attended must be reported. There is a database that each school uses that lists all schools that applicants have attended. Students have been caught lying. I have heard of cases where the schools have waited until a student reaches the fourth year to kick the student out. Then, these students are stuck with big loans and no residency to attend. I think the school can bring criminal charges on an individual that does this and attends medical school. It would be for fraud. It is not worth it.

 

[newdoc2013]

Every grade from every school that you have attended must be reported. There is a database that each school uses that lists all schools that applicants have attended. Students have been caught lying. I have heard of cases where the schools have waited until a student reaches the fourth year to kick the student out. Then, these students are stuck with big loans and no residency to attend. I think the school can bring criminal charges on an individual that does this and attends medical school. It would be for fraud. It is not worth it.

yes, be scared... medical schools will wait until you're almost done and then AHHH ... kick you out.

 

[mydogtobbi]

A few days ago I received an email from my university which outlined some major changes in the degree requirements for biology majors. What's most concerning to me is that they are no longer requiring microbiology lecture and lab, which I already took. Long story short, I didn't do very well in the lab component, which really sucks considering I don't even need the damn thing. What I'm wondering is, if I can get my university to delete the crappy lab grade from my transcript, would I still have to report it to AMCAS?

And yes, I searched.

Every grade from every school that you have attended must be reported. Their is a database that each school uses that lists all schools that applicants have attended. Students have been caught lying. I have heard of cases where the schools have waited until a student reaches the fourth year to kick the student out. Then, these students are not eligible to do a residency. I think the school can bring criminal charges on an individual that does this and attends medical school. It would be for fraud. It is not worth it.

I wouldn't worry about it; it is just a lab grade. Lab grades are usually not that many points. When I attended college, each lab grade was only worth a point.

 

[newdoc2013]

Every grade from every school that you have attended must be reported. There is a database that each school uses that lists all schools that applicants have attended. Students have been caught lying. I have heard of cases where the schools have waited until a student reaches the fourth year to kick the student out. Then, these students are stuck with big loans and no residency to attend. I think the school can bring criminal charges on an individual that does this and attends medical school. It would be for fraud. It is not worth it.

but for real.. you cant have grades deleted.. and you have to report all the classes youve taken. period.

 

[raltima07]

This situation sucks

 

[orthomyxo]

This situation sucks

🙁

My school is an epic troll. "OK guys, you need to take all these classes in order to graduate.....[1 year later] LOL JK!!!"

 

[orthomyxo]

One more question:

Assuming I can, which the registrar seems to suggest, what exactly would be the point of deleting a grade if you have to report everything to grad schools and professional schools anyways? Sure it would raise my institutional GPA, but there's really no need for that unless bragging rights and being able to meet requirements for graduating with honors are of major concern.

 

[Etorphine]

Owned. Happened to me too 🙁

 

[naijapikin]

I think we are forgetting something here....How can you report a grade to AMCAS when they won't be able to confirm that grade on your transcript (I'm assuming it won't be in the transcript sent to AMCAS by OP's school)?...Not saying you shouldn't report the grade, but........

 

[orthomyxo]

I think we are forgetting something here....How can you report a grade to AMCAS when they won't be able to confirm that grade on your transcript (I'm assuming it won't be in the transcript sent to AMCAS by OP's school)?...Not saying you shouldn't report the grade, but........

I'm actually not quite sure how this whole deletion thing works exactly. The registrar's site clearly says that the deleted grade will be excluded from the student's GPA calculation, but remains ambiguous in terms of what will actually appear on the transcript. What's clear is that the course will still show up. I'm just not sure whether the grade I earned will. Either way, I wouldn't really want to be dishonest on AMCAS no matter how much being honest will hurt my app.

In other news, my brain just exploded from looking at your MDapps profile.

 

[naijapikin]

Ohhhhhh, if it will be on your transcript.....report it son!!!! No way outta that.

In other news, thanks........I take what you said as a compliment. Just thankful I could get in at all tho.

 

[235009]

if it's deleted from your transcript you do NOT have to report it to AMCAS. anyone telling you otherwise on SDN is either uninformed or simply trying to screw you over.

on the other hand med schools who frequently get applications from your undergrad school might know that your school has this extraordinarily unusual policy of deleting classes at a student's request and might look down on applicants from your school because of it.

 

[orthomyxo]

OK, now I'm ridiculously confused. If I delete, and they call it administrative blah blah, AMCAS says it's an F. If I delete and no grade is shown, I don't report the grade to AMCAS, but look like a bum. If I delete and a grade is shown, I report it to AMCAS anyway, and I look like a bum. If I do nothing, I look like a bum. 😡😡😡😡😡

As far as I know, people from my undergrad get into professional schools, and at least one guy got into HMS from here. So hopefully you're wrong about the stigma thing. It's not my fault my school has ******ed policies. 🙁

 

[courtnes]

OP, it sounds like you should contact your school's registrar to see what will happen to your transcript if you can get this grade removed.

 

[StudyShy]

That blows. Sorry man. 🙁

 

[orthomyxo]

shameless self bump

 

[235009]

shameless self bump

not sure what more you're looking for ....sometimes the internet doesn't have all the answers and you will have to go out and speak to actual human beings. go get clarification on the policy from the registrar and talk to a pre-med adviser at your school or upperclassmen who are pre-med. you've been given the answer to all possible scenarios and now it's up to you to figure out what "deleting" a class actually means (i.e. is it completely deleted to make it seem you never took the class? is only the grade deleted? is the grade replaced with something that AMCAS might count as an F?).

 

[Amalgamate]

Every grade from every school that you have attended must be reported. There is a database that each school uses that lists all schools that applicants have attended.

This is true, I know someone that signed up for a semester at a community college, then dropped all classes... They still made him send a blank transcript from the school because he was recorded as attending

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

Can you get a retroactive withdrawal on the course (so that only a W shows up on the transcript) or have it turn into a P/F scenario where you get a P? That way, you can still report it on AMCAS but not have it screw you over.

 

[emsdan]

That's what I thought. I'm pretty sure they would delete it, but I guess it doesn't matter if I have to report it anyway. According to the registrar's website, students entering the university with less than 60 credits are eligible for 15 credits of course repetitions/deletions to remove grades for completed courses in the calculation of their cumulative GPA.

This hasn't been brought up, so I am probably wrong, but the way I read this as you wrote it, it says that students transferring to your school with less than 60 credits may petition for removal of 15 of those transfer credits from their gpa calculation.

My school did not include transfer credits in the GPA at all, so I may be way off the mark with this. However, my suspicion is the same as all of the other posters - the grade would not be included in your GPA but would still be listed with a footnote.

My personal opinion - I am assuming you didn't fail the lab since that would usually imply also failing the lecture portion, of which you would be much more concerned. Regardless, you took this course (as it was required of you at the time) and earned a grade, and you should have to stick with that grade. Life happens, requirements change, and you still are accountable for what you did or in this case what you earned. I don't think that this will magically go away, and really I hope that it does not.

It seems the best way to not be a bum is to accept what you earned. We all have/had blemishes on our applications and this should be one of yours.

 

[phltz]

While it's a good personality trait for a doctor to want to try to make everything as perfect as possible, it's absolutely undesirable for him to want to cover up his mistakes so that it looks like things were perfect when they weren't. You took the class. It didn't go great. Accept it. Sometimes you just have to take your lumps and move on. One or two mediocre grades won't be the end of you.

 

[Limetime]

Here is another thought. It may look weird that you have the lecture grade and then some odd footnote for the lab grade removal. You took the lecture/lab set and I assume did well in the lecture since you didn't mention it. I really don't think it is that big of deal to have one credit of C on your transcript when I presume the rest of your transcript looks great. Nearly the same thing happened to me in undergrad...got a less the stellar grade in a hard lab that was an elective I didn't need, reported it, and all turned out well. One credit hardly touches your GPA...maybe a couple hundredths of a point? I also think you will feel better just dealing with it, even though it sucks. Plus, double check with your advisor what "rules" you are under. It is often the program when you entered/declared, but that usually protects students from new additional reqs. Anyway, good luck!

 

[acromonkey]

In other news, my brain just exploded from looking at your MDapps profile.

What is this MDapps profile thing you are talking about? I can't find it

 

[orthomyxo]

This hasn't been brought up, so I am probably wrong, but the way I read this as you wrote it, it says that students transferring to your school with less than 60 credits may petition for removal of 15 of those transfer credits from their gpa calculation.

I would have copied and pasted from the site, but a simple google search of the text shows my school as the first result. Anyway, it's not just for transfer students. From the way it's stated, it seems like anyone except transfers with more than 60 credits can petition for removal of up to 15 credits of coursework. Personally, I don't understand the policy, but hey, I didn't make it up.

I have an upcoming appointment with my academic adviser, so I guess I'll ask for details then. Considering the AMCAS policies on grading, I'm probably not going to do anything unless the grade disappears completely or if I can somehow turn it into a W.

What is this MDapps profile thing you are talking about? I can't find it

Link under his avatar.