Incomplete Acceptable Grading Easy Class Horrible Professor- Now Affecting Overall GPA, Big Problem

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

I recently began taking the required courses for pre-med after almost completing an bachelors in Humanities and Communications at another institution (these credits are “frozen” due to financial aid issues, not transferred to current school). During my first semester at the current university I decided to repeat some of the courses to see if how it went. After realizing the Communications department lacked a competitive edge, and was not challenging me, I made the decision to purse a pre-med career which was always another goal of mine.

Jump to my current semester. I currently have A’s in Chem, Chem Lab, Biology and Bio Lab, as well as a Social Science. I am a perfectionist (a little too much at times, but it doesn’t get in the way). This semester is about to end, and here I am thinking I have a great GPA, and I’ll be able to switch faculties as soon as I take Calculus. Well, to my surprise, as I am searching through paperwork today, I find a list with my classes written by a counselor helping me pick next semester’s classes. I notice that next to the Intro to Communications class I took last semester it says C. I immediately refer to the grades I could see on my student homepage. When the grades came through last semester I noticed that class had IC, and in the legend IC meant ‘Acceptable.’ Being new to the school, I assumed Acceptable was between A and B. I am extremely disappointed right now, baffled and concerned. First, that class was extremely easy, also considering I took it before. Second, the professor was extremely incompetent, and decided to use the “I’m not going to teach, just give out group presentations, and not do anything for the entire semester.” Despite this, my presentations were actually good and done perfectly compared to the seventh-grade-style presentations where the entire group is reading aloud. Third, I was basically the only student that participated in class. The rest of punctuation was based on Blackboard exams (I highly doubt my scores added up to a C). Finally, I completed everything so I have no idea where the Incomplete part comes from.

So, now I have two issues. There’s the problem of appealing the grade. Because I didn’t know IC implied literally a C, I didn’t talk to the professor at the end of last semester. It has officially been six months. I don’t know if its too late to salvage or beg for a reconsideration. I don’t know if I should just go straight to the dean and student affairs, and file an appeal. I mean, I wasn’t even notified of preliminary grades to have the option of dropping the class. Ideally, I would be given a reconsideration or have the option of eliminating the grade. I feel this is very unlikely.

The other issue concerns a summer research program I applied to. I haven’t sent the transcript yet because I need to have these semester’s grades included. The program requires a 3.00 gpa and it is highly competitive. I thought I was going to be in for sure, but now I’m really doubting if I’ll be chosen, all due to that super easy class that’s not even required for pre-med. I also have to apply next August to the science faculty which is also competitive. I would not “whine” so much about this if it weren’t due to the fact I’ve been so dedicated to keep my grades all A’s and now I see this*… it really sucks. Specially, in a class that was supposed to be a secure good grade. Overall, if the online calculator works, I have a 3.74 GPA… I just hope it is good enough. If anyone can advise me on how I should go about the appeal it would be incredibly helpful. Also, has anyone been accepted to research programs at IV leagues with a C in a non-science course?

2

First you have a number of issues to deal with, but I’m going to start with most serious–

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For medical school application, you need to get this resolved ASAP. Why? Because AMCAS requires you to report all grades from every college-level class you’ve ever taken and provide official transcripts from every institution you’ve ever attended.

Summer research programs have similar requirements–they don’t just want to see this semester’s grades. They want grades ALL your courses from ALL of your previous colleges, not just the current one.

(BTW, not reporting grades & providing transcripts from all schools is called making a fraudulent application and can get you permanently barred from ever applying to med school.)


I have no idea if you have a basis for an appeal because I have no idea what school you attend nor what that school's policies state.

My guess would be no. You made a whole bunch of unfounded assumptions. (Your assumption that "acceptable = A-B" is purely your own. In nearly every case, acceptable means passing and passing means a C.)  You also didn't do your due diligence by reading your college's student handbook and informing yourself about grades and policies at your new college. Lastly, you had 6 months in which to appeal and you didn't. All the fault I see here is squarely on your shoulders. 

Going to the Dean now is going place you in very unflattering light (grade grubbing pre-med and/or special snowflake). Take the C and move on.

RE: your “highly competitive” summer research program. I wouldn’t hold my breath about getting accepted. Not so much because you have C in a communications class, but more because the acceptance rates are very low. (Acceptance rates range between 3 and 30%, depending on which program you applied to.) Also because many PIs are looking for students who have had more laboratory experience than just one semester of bio and one semester of chem.



[quote]
After realizing the Communications department lacked a competitive edge, and was not challenging me, I made the decision to purse a pre-med career which was always another goal of mine.

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This is probably one of the worst reasons I've seen for going into pre-med. (Either that or you're expressing your reasons very poorly....)

Before you make this leap, you need to spend some shadowing physicians and doing some clinical volunteering so you can get  a feel for what you're getting yourself into.
3

Concerning my previous school, those credits are not transferrable. When there is a financial aid issue you cannot transfer your credits out, and cannot continue studying at the institution. The system simply freezes everything. This is the reason I couldn’t complete my final semester, and was forced to start from the beginning at another school (as if I were first year.) I would have no issue providing the grades if I had the opportunity to do so. Basically, all that coursework is lost, and does not even apply to my current transcript. There even is no evidence presented in any application whatsoever. I am placed in my current school as a first year student, “I never attended another school.” If you are familiar with getting a school that has your transcript blocked to overpass their policies and release my transcripts, well it would be helpful.

“You need to get this resolved ASAP” means paying more than 15,000 I do not have and my parents do not have. So either I sit around starring at my face, or I move on and begin at another school.

Second, there is such a thing as a student with an interdisciplinary outlook pursuing pre-med. Actually, med schools recently have a trend of accepting students that not only excel at sciences, but also show interest and progress in other faculties. Most people, like yourself, assume that you “have no good reasons” to study pre-med once they realize I studied Humanities. The reality is it doesn’t matter, and actually gives me many advantages over the typical ‘science-only’ student. It seems you overpass how an Interdisciplinary background (comm, humanities and sociology classes) is seen as having people skills essential for future physicians. I mean the MCAT itself includes sociology and psychology. Anyways, it seems you have not had experience investigating for non-science courses, it is quite similar to the preliminary process of developing a hypothesis. Further, possessing writing skills is as important. I feel you are being extremely elitist in claiming only students with “shadowing or clinical” experience can do pre-med. I basically grew up at my grandmother’s physiatrist office, and will start my shadowing next semester. 90% of first year pre-med have no experience, except a deep desire to be future doctors. You don’t realize that when your 22 years old pursuing pre-med is not an easy decision considering your age. So, yeah, I did give comm and humanities another chance before taking the leap. If I could go back and just do pre-med after I graduated high school, I would, and save myself a bachelors almost completed that’s blocked and basically non existent. But that’s not possible. I’ll just overlook your response on my reason to study pre-med. Adding to this, how boring and expected is yet another person that “has a passion for science ever since someone in their family who was a doctor got a life threatening disease, or been interested in being a doctor ever since I was little.” Give me a break.

Concerning the research program, I was actually told to apply by students who got in after their first year with no research experience. In an orientation I was told some programs actually prefer students with no research experience because they can recruit them for future summers so they can continue the same investigation.

Your response was incredibly not helpful. People like you are why students stay in fixed boxes, and are too afraid to take risks and find opportunities. If my professor from last semester made a mistake giving me a C, I have a right as a student to ask and find out why this happened, no “grade grubbing,” just common sense. Yeah it was my bad for assuming acceptable was between A or B, but it is hard to believe you got a C in such an easy class you excelled at. People are human, and I still have a right to know why I was given that grade. If I take my C, well I still have A’s in all my other classes, I’ll live. But wow, will I meet people like you in the future that basically see the world as a pessimistic hole where everything is black and white, and you must be afraid of even breathing in the academia or else your “look bad.” That’s just unrealistic, and it does the opposite of making you stand out from the millions of other students stressed and afraid of actually making moves.

4

I understand that, but those are the rules that AMCAS (and AACOMAS) enforces when you apply for med school.

AMCAS/AACOMAS will search a national student clearinghouse database and will be able to see any school where you have taken college coursework. You are required to list all coursework taken and send official college transcripts from all you have ever colleges attended–even for dual enrollment classes taken during high school, even if you did not transfer credits to your current institution.

If you want to read the rules for yourself, go here:

https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/68/35/68356c03-a7da-48dc-96a2-49cefdb39bc9/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf

Read pp- 19-22.

And, please, don’t lecture me about interdisciplinary approaches to medicine. I have 2 children–one a medical resident, one in med school. Neither majored in your typical pre-med subject. I personally know students who have been accepted to med school, are in med school or have graduated from med school in huge variety of majors–including agriculture, geography, mathematics, Spanish, Italian, English lit, sociology, electrical engineering and musical performance.

RE: Summer programs-- different program have different expectations. Most REUs and summer fellowships are geared towards rising juniors and seniors. Because these program typically offer students the opportunity to complete a research projects and present a poster, PIs often prefer students who have already developed lab skills since teaching a newbie from scratch is time-consuming and they may not be able to complete the project that PI has designed. YMMV, of course depending on which “highly competitive” summer program you applied to.

5

Yes, and when you apply to different college, you are still required to disclose that you had previously attended another college unless you are attending a open-enrollment type of school that doesn’t ask. (And even some open enrollment colleges requires this information because it affects the types of financial aid available to you.)

I know I had to disclose all my previous enrollments when I applied to college and grad school, and I had send official transcripts for every university I’ve attended. I even had to send a official transcript for a single summer class I took over 40 years ago at a local school even though the course and grade transferred to the college I graduated from.

If you were asked if you had ever been previously enrolled in college when you applied to current college and did not answer that truthfully–that’s fraud. And that will tank any chance you have for med school. Medical schools place a very high value on truthfulness and ethical behavior and any hint of unethical behavior–whether it’s copying 3 sentences of lab report or cheating on your income taxes or failing to disclose information on an college application form–will prevent you from getting admitted to med school.


How do you get the school to release your transcripts if you owe them money?

Your best chance is to contact the school and arrange for a repayment plan. Most schools will be happy to work with you to set up such plan; some may even offer to negotiate to lower your debt if you can pay in full immediately.

Since your parents don't have the money to pay *your* educational debt, then you need o consider finding a job, any job--either part-time while you're attending classes, or full-time while taking a year or more off--to start paying off what you owe.

Please don't tell me it's not possible to work full or part time while attending college. Hundreds of thousands of students do so every year.
6

You can still email the prof from the previous class and ask about the grade. To go straight to the Dean without making any attempt to communicate with the prof would be silly. There might be a simple explanation involving an error.
Also, you asked if readers knew the way to get your transcripts from your previous university and the answer is to pay the bills.

7

Just wanted to chime in (as a 6th year MD/PhD student) that everything WOWMom has said is absolutely right, especially including the shadowing/clinical exposure stuff that you seem to think is extremely unimportant (and you are wrong) and the idea that “I’m pursuing medical school because communications wasn’t challenging enough” is something you should never write or say to anyone at a medical school.

Best of luck getting into your intravenous league (or is it four league?) research program. What schools are part of the IV league? I’ve never heard of it before.

8

I was not saying shadowing/clinical exposure is unimportant at all. I am saying it does not solely define one’s decision to go into pre-med, and starting your first semester without it does not make you less worthy of pursuing a career as a physician. Anyways, I’m going to start a shadowing program next semester which was incredibly hard to find in my country. So yeah, that’s that. Maybe then I’ll earn your approval.

“I’m pursuing medical school because communications wasn’t challenging enough”… I wasn’t under the impression I had to write a med school application essay in this miscellaneous forum. Yes, taking classes where you don’t have to study, and feel like you’re basically learning nothing is a part of why I made the decision to switch to pre-med, but do I really have to go in the million other personal reasons why I chose to pursue that path here? The answer is no. Why do think people willingly choose such a sacrificing and long career? Just because? Obviously, there are other more important reasons, I just didn’t think people in this forum are so willing to jump the gun and find any little thing to push people away from going into medicine. That’s not very supportive of future physicians who are supposed to encourage their professional community.

“Also, you asked if readers knew the way to get your transcripts from your previous university and the answer is to pay the bills.” -not everyone has 15,000 just lying around, or can afford to waste years of an education to get that amount of money. The money I make at my job supports my family and my personal expenses that include transportation to school and other work related things. If no one has noticed we are in a recession, and the working class in my country is truly struggling. My family is basically just getting by. It’s quite ignorant to just expect someone to pay just like that in the current economic situation. Do you read the news?

Thanks for the advice of going straight to the professor. I’ll definitely do that first. Now that was a helpful, realist answer to my problems.

9

You’re pretty snarky for someone in this position. Maybe tone down the derision. You’ll get more out of the help being given to you that way.

10

There are so many wrong assumptions done here on so many levels. Assuming I don’t have a job. Assuming my ONLY reason to go into pre-med is my experience last semester with comm classes. Assuming I haven’t contacted my previous school, and tried to lower the debt millions of times. Assuming I want to grade grub or be a special snowflake. Assuming I find shadowing/clinical experience unimportant. Assuming I want to commit fraud by not showing my grades (which show I had a 3.9 gpa, why wouldn’t I want applications to see that?) Or are you assuming that I failed so therefore want to hide my transcript? Assuming I will have more than 15,000 lying around. Assuming everyone in the world is so fortunate to not have these types of economic problems. God, get a grip. If your purpose for writing in these types of forums is to think negatively of students, assume everyone is an idiot, and there is only a standardized answer to everything, then you have no business helping others.

11

I wish you well in your future endeavors.
Also you might find Student Doctor Network a more friendly and responsive website than “this miscellaneous forum.”
http://www.studentdoctor.net/

12

Come on…you didn’t bother finding out what your grade was for SIX MONTHS, and you’re full of excuses about why it’s not actually your fault. Why ask for advice if all you want is for people to tell you how perfectly justified you were in assuming “incomplete/acceptable” meant “A”?

13

What is your country? Are you a US citizen or permanent resident?