Grade Replacement Policy
How are repeated courses treated when calculating GPAs?
AACOMAS (D.O Medical): Only the last instance of a repeated course is included in the GPA
calculation.
AACPMAS (Podiatry): AACPMAS will calculate both the original course and the repeated course
grades in your GPA.
AADSAS (Dental): All courses that appear on your official transcript (s) and for which a grade and
credit were ever assigned will be included in the AADSAS GPA calculations, even if they are not included
in the GPA calculations of the transcript-issuing school. This includes, but is not limited to courses that
have been repeated. Both grades from repeated courses are used in calculating the ADEA AADSAS GPA,
even if this is not the policy of your college/university.
AMCAS (M.D Medical): AMCAS counts all attempts of a repeated course, even if your school does
not.
CASPA (Physician Assistant): CASPA must standardize applicant information throughout the country,
and therefore does not recognize individual school or state academic “forgiveness” policies in regards to
repeated courses, as each college treats these situations differently. Some schools average the two
grades together, others factor in the higher grade, some take the second grade even if it’s lower than
the first, and others do not recognize repeated courses at all. Therefore, CASPA must factor both grades
into your CASPA GPA. Once your application arrives at the schools you are applying to, they may or may
not recalculate your GPA depending upon their individual policies.
OPTOMCAS (Optometry): Repeated courses taken at the same school will be marked as repeated
under special classification. The final attempt will have full credit value and will be included in the GPA
calculations. All prior attempts will have a credit value of 0.0 and will not be included in the GPA,
although the course and grade will be listed in the coursework. Repeated courses taken at a different
school will be counted as a normal course and will be included in the GPA calculations.
PHARMCAS (Pharmacy): All courses with credit hours and a PharmCAS Grade are calculated into the
PharmCAS GPAs, regardless of whether the credit counts toward a degree or counted toward a
college/university GPA. PharmCAS will include ALL initial AND repeated course work in its GPA
calculations (including those repeated under freshman forgiveness, academic bankruptcy, and other
related institutional policies).
PTCAS (Physical Therapy): You must include ALL attempted courses, including failed, repeated, and
withdrawn college courses.
SOPHAS (Public Health): If you have repeated any coursework with the intention of improving or
replacing an earlier grade or attempt at the course, you must enter it using the following guidelines,
regardless of the repeated-course policy of the school at which the coursework was taken. Courses such
as Phys-Ed, Choir, or Art that you simply enrolled in multiple times are not considered repeated courses.
For normal repeated courses (failed or low grade on first attempt): Mark the final attempt with a Special
Classification of "Repeated," but keep all other attempts listed with a Special Classification of "Not
Applicable". Mark the credit values for all initial attempts as 0.00, but list full credit for the final attempt.
List all grades as stated on the transcript. For courses you withdrew from and then attempted again:
Mark the final attempt with a Special Classification of "Repeated," but keep the initial, withdrawn course
listed as "Not Applicable." Keep all credit values and grades as stated on the transcript. For courses
where you first received an incomplete and then attempted again: Mark the final attempt with a Special
Classification of "Repeated," mark the initial, incomplete attempt as "Incomplete," and keep all credit
values and grades as stated on the transcript. Any course with a credit value of 0.00, a grade of W, or a
special classification of "Incomplete" will not be calculated into your GPA, so entering your repeated
coursework correctly will result in only your most recent grade being calculated into your GPA.
VMCAS (Veterinarian): List each time you took the course as it appears on your transcript. You should
choose "Repeat Course" for each attempt (including the first) until the final attempt, when you will
choose "Completed".