Will taking science prereqs at the same university be factored into my cumulative GPA?

[30smedschooldreams]

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Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I'm 34 and starting the path to med school with a less than great cumulative GPA. I have an interesting situation, however, and I was wondering if any of you have any experience with how cGPAs are calculated.

I noticed on my student record that my degree GPA was a 3.27. But since I sort of always "knew" that eventually I would go for a career in medicine, I opted to return to the same university to take some classes under their nursing program as a second bachelor's degree. As it turns out, when I look at my academic record, even though I graduated in Spring of 2004 and started nursing curriculum in Fall 2004, I didn't get a clean slate. That Fall 2004, I essentially had my very first panic attack DURING my Anatomy final and then was unable to take 3 out of 5 final exams that semester. I tried to request a retroactive withdrawal due to medical reasons, but it was rejected.

Anyway, that semester knocked my 3.2 down to a 2.75. I am so bummed out about this. But I am hoping that by taking my science prerequisites at the same university, since I will still be considered an undergraduate student that I can get my GPA to a 3.5 if I maintain a 4.0 GPA for the 60 credits I'll need to get all my sciences done.

So my question is, are cumulative GPAs calculated in this way for every university? Or is it unique to each one? Apparently, my additional undergrad coursework at George Mason University was still being calculated against all of my coursework prior to graduation. Obviously, this would be what I would hope for so that I could increase my cGPA and rock the sGPA and MCAT. This would definitely raise my hopes of making the MD a reality finally. Any thoughts or advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[DrMidlife]

All college grades count. Doesn't matter where you took them. Doesn't matter if you change schools. It also doesn't matter what GPA your school says you have - a transcript GPA is completely ignored. When you apply to med school you enter every college course you ever took, line by line, and then the app service verifies your entries against official sealed transcripts.

In Texas you can get a clean slate, but that means your entire college record is wiped out and you start over. For DO schools you can retake a class and have only the new grade counted in your GPA. Otherwise, everything counts.

Search SDN for "low GPA" for commentary and advice. You'll find plenty here in nontrad, as well as in reapplicants and postbac.

Best of luck to you.

 

[30smedschooldreams]

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[30smedschooldreams]

All college grades count. Doesn't matter where you took them. Doesn't matter if you change schools. It also doesn't matter what GPA your school says you have - a transcript GPA is completely ignored. When you apply to med school you enter every college course you ever took, line by line, and then the app service verifies your entries against official sealed transcripts.

In Texas you can get a clean slate, but that means your entire college record is wiped out and you start over. For DO schools you can retake a class and have only the new grade counted in your GPA. Otherwise, everything counts.

Search SDN for "low GPA" for commentary and advice. You'll find plenty here in nontrad, as well as in reapplicants and postbac.

Best of luck to you.

DrMidlife - thank you so much for that information! It's quite the revelation that med schools have their own app service to calculate these things, and don't just go by what my university says my cGPA is at the bottom of my transcript. Thanks again!