Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion random question about early University courses

This might be a dumb question (I don't know anything about medical school interviews!) but wouldn't any application to graduate school have room for explanation of prior college experiences? In my DS's case he is taking a class (and expects to take future classes) with an objective of getting a particular license so these classes would not be on his "normal" degree-program college transcript, but if/when he applies to college and grad school, wouldn't his community college transcript be viewed in light of the circumstances? Or are those kinds of programs just straight "hard numbers" without consideration of context? Does it make a difference if he does not ask to be granted credit for these classes when he is an undergrad?

Thanks!

There is room for explanation on college applications; however, on medical school/graduate school applications, there is no designation or space to explain the circumstances of taking a course, except if it is tied into the "why I want to persue this career" short essay (which might be the case if the license directly applies to that career). They tend to be more of a "hard numbers" application, unfortunately.

Transcripts from every college attended is also a requirement, which can be a huge pain if a long period of time has passed since taking the community college courses (not on current file...). I would imagine that not being granted credit when an undergrad would solve some of the problems, but the application service, as well as the school at which one matriculates for medical school, will still require the transcripts. In addition, many of the pre-med advisors/guidance counselors had no clue as to what was required for the grad/med school applicaitons with respect to courses taking before matriculating into college full-time or graduate courses taken as an undergrad. If he ends up in a situation requiring previous transcripts, find out EARLY, as it was very difficult for me to get the proper transcripts...

It is conceivable that it's different in the US, but in my experience in the UK, routine application processing may be done by administrators who might just be rule-following but nevertheless there is a responsible academic who goes by a title like Undergraduate Admissions Tutor. In a case where someone has an unusual background that may need to be looked at carefully, I'd recommend writing an email to that person, preferably before putting in the application. They can advise on what info to put where, or if necessary simply fish out the application before it gets wrongly dealt with by a bureaucracy it doesn't fit. I feel fairly confident that here, that would ensure that a strong candidate didn't get accidentally rejected for this kind of reason.

Most med schools use an algorithm to determine which applicants to consider. Some even publish their numbers. Knowing someone might get you past that initial cut, but just an email and an unusual background won't do it. Sometimes a second application (after you don't get in the first year) will trigger a closer look. Ironically, the very, very best schools are sometimes willing to look past low numbers, perhaps because they don't need to worry about rankings.

Personally, I think that appropriate, timely education is far more important than perfect grades, even if it means the difference between admission at the best medical school and admission at the tenth-best (or even the fiftieth-best). The important thing, IMO, is being able to do what you love. And I know very well that perfect grades aren't essential for that.

I guess I fall into this camp too - my DS is doing something that is really into and is getting a lot out of it, which for now takes priority over potential future complications/explanations needed.

But it is good to know to be thinking about that issue so at least we can manage it the best we can. Thanks for all the feedback!