AboutJay Cutts Expertise Preparation for LSAT, GRE, MCAT, GMAT. Personal statements, letters of recommendation, graduate application process, practice tests.
No Questions about Undergrad Admissions Please (unless you are planning to go to law, business, medical or grad school eventually).
Note that I change private questions to public so they are available to others. If you have something that is truly private, let me know.
Experience Over 18 years full time graduate entrance exam prep with over 1500 students nationally and internationally.
Education/Credentials BA, Linguistics with Honors and Distinction, University of Michigan
MA, Special Education with an Emphasis in Learning Disabilities and Giftedness, with Honors, University of New Mexico
Question Hi, I doubt you remember me, but I asked you a question a few months ago and I first wanted to thank you for your quick and informative answer. My name is Conor and I am just finished my sophomore year at Fordham University as a chemistry major. My question this time deals with some specifics about transferring undergraduate schools and what medical schools will be looking at between the two schools. If you cannot help me I completely understand. I am looking to transfer from Fordham University in the Bronx, to Kansas University. I am doing this mostly because of money, but I am hoping I can also gain some sort of an advantage when applying to medical schools. When I transfer, I am thinking about not transferring certain classes I had to take at Fordham as “core requirements” because they will serve no other purpose at KU other than to bring my gpa down. If I do not transfer certain credits, or even decide to retake certain classes for a better grade, will medical schools look at one or the other? Should I bother with retaking classes or not transferring classes? If you cannot answer this I apologize for wasting your time. I hope I have more pertinent questions when I am closer to applying. Thank you so much for your time.
Answer Hi, Conor.
Med schools will see all of your grades from both schools and the GPA that they go by will include all of the lower grades as well. You can't escape the low grades by transferring. It's true that your Kansas GPA may not reflect the lower Fordham grades but the med schools will be looking at a combined GPA that includes everything.
You should check directly with AMCAS to see how retaking classes would affect the GPA they will report to you. Their guidelines may be different from the guidelines of either school and they are the ones that calculate your GPA for med school admissions purposes.
As far as your overall plan, next summer will be the time that you will devote to the MCAT and application, so be sure to leave next summer as free as possible. It is good to start an ongoing science review for the MCAT no later than January.
I do work with people on the MCAT. I focus on the critical timing, testing and problem solving strategies that are necessary for a strong score. Commercial MCAT programs do not teach these strategies to any extent. They are ok for science review but I question whether that alone is worth the money, as it's not that hard to organize your own science review.
Please be sure to sign up on my free MedTrack email planning list if you haven't already done that. You can read about it at:
It helps you plan what you need to do. Feel free to let your friends know about it as well. It's free.
As a chemistry major, you will need to make sure you have plenty of biology classes so you will be competitive with biology majors. Most med school applicants are biology majors.
I hope this helps. We can be in touch through MedTrack.
