Happy new Year, High school

Happy new Year!

From time to time I read posts from aspiring High School students.

An important thought came to mind today.

High school GPA will not matter for Medical School admission.

High school GPA will count for which college they will attend.

Does it matter which college one will attend? In the end any University with any major and the
Premed prereqs is what matters, How high the over all College GPA , Volunteering, Patient contact,shadow experience, and how high the MCAT is the main formula to success.

AP college credit and taking college courses while in High School is not an advantage in my opinion. Why? Simple, all college work will count, Bio, Chem, Physics are offered in High School as courses in High School, while watered down and basic, its still an intro and a chance to find out how well you can do without it ever affecting your chances for admission into medical school. If a High school student takes a college course at a college and fails the course. It will have to be reported to AMCAS and averaged into the AMCAS GPA used to decide and know the the Applicants GPA.

Simple definition of AMCAS GPA: All grades ever earned, if retake first and second grade, averaged together for a new GPA ignoring the college's GPA will be used for application GPA to medical school.

Link to AMCAS


This is from the 2012 application instructions, information every High School student should understand before they start College, since this is how your GPA will be calculated for Medical School, no mystery, and when you talk to Counselors you will know if they truly understand this.

"AMCAS GPAs are almost always different from those calculated by the school(s) you have attended."

Grades and GPA Calculations

After your application is verified, your AMCAS GPA is calculated. GPA calculations are

represented by BCPM codes (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math), by AO codes (All Other),

and by Academic Status. You will also be able to view your Cumulative Undergraduate GPA and

your Graduate GPA when AMCAS processing is complete.

AMCAS GPAs are almost always different from those calculated by the school(s) you

have attended. Therefore, AMCAS does not in any way attempt to compare our

calculations with those appearing on your official transcripts.

AMCAS reports to the medical schools a GPA for each Academic Status (HS, FR, SO,

JR, SR, PB, and GR), subdivided into courses listed as "BCPM" or "All Other" in the

BCPM/AO columns.

Any course with Semester Hours and an AMCAS Letter Grade is calculated into the

AMCAS GPA, regardless of whether the credit is counted toward a degree or has been

counted toward a school-calculated GPA.

AMCAS counts grades and hours assigned by the school where the courses were

originally taken, not by any school that might have granted transfer credit. The only

exceptions to this rule are foreign course work transferred to a U.S. or Canadian

institution and course work taken through an official study abroad program. See Section

Four: Course Work for full details.

Courses with the AMCAS grades listed below are not included in the GPA calculations.

Instead, the total hours for each of these categories are reported to medical schools

under the heading Supplementary Hours.

o Pass/Fail - Pass

o Pass/Fail - Fail

o Advanced Placement (AP) Credit

o College Level Examination Program (CLEP) Credit

AMCAS counts all "+" or "-" grades, even if your school does not. At some schools, a "+"

or a "-" counts as n.3 or n.7, at others they count as n.5. Please note that AMCAS

assigns the same weight (4.0) to grades of A+ and A.

Post baccalaureate (PB) course work is included in the "Undergraduate Total" GPA as

well as in a separate "Post baccalaureate" GPA.

AMCAS counts all attempts of a repeated course, even if your school does not.

Grades of "IF" or unauthorized/unofficial/administrative withdrawal may be treated as "F"

in the GPA depending on how they are considered by your school.

Grades and credit hours for all failed courses will be included in the AMCAS GPA, even if

they are not included in the GPA calculations of the transcript-issuing institution.

Grades that Do Not Affect the AMCAS GPA

The following AMCAS grades do not have a weight or value in computing the AMCAS GPA:

G Used to indicate AP credit not assigned a letter grade

L Used for CLEP or USAFI/DANTES credit not assigned a letter grade

P Used for courses taken in a Pass/Fail system, which are Passed

N Used for courses taken in a Pass/Fail system, which are Failed

For the following types, no entry should be made in the AMCAS Grade Column. These courses

have no value or weight in the AMCAS GPA.

AU Audited courses

CC Courses which are currently being taken or which you expect to take

DG Multi-term courses (incomplete series)

EX Exempt courses

NR Courses for which there is no recorded grade because of school error

W Courses from which the applicant has officially withdrawn or "dropped"

If grades are entered on the application, but not listed on the official transcript at the time of

verification, they will not be included in the AMCAS GPA. Conversely, if grades are not entered

on the application at the time of verification, but appear on the official transcript on file at AMCAS,

they will be included in the AMCAS GPA.

Also every counselor and even AMCAS have "Timelines" Ignore this, its BS. There is no time line, your GPA and MCAT score are more important than if it takes 4 or 5 years of College until you are ready to apply, there is no such requirement to apply during the 3rd year of college.

The real disadvantage is how low or high the GPA and MCAT are.

Good Luck