Welcome to part three of the four-part series recapping September’s live Q&A Office Hour: AMA with Applicant Liaison Breanna. Let’s dive into the top trending questions about the PCR!
What is the PCR?
The PCR, which stands for Prescribed Coursework Report, is unique to your TMDSAS application.
Where can I find my PCR?
This document can be accessed from your application portal homepage under "To view
your Application or PCR in PDF form, click on the links below for the entry year"
and will appear as a blue hyperlink. (Please be aware that you may need to turn off your browser's pop-up blockers in order
to view/download the PDF.)
The answer to this question depends on the scenario. Some possible reasons may be due to a pass/fail, satisfactory/unsatisfactory, or credit/no credit grading option for the course.
Don’t worry, this is actually a very common scenario for applicants with Spring 2020 coursework due to the changes in grading options during COVID-19 pandemic circumstances. The medical, dental, and veterinary schools are highly aware of this, and they will take these courses into special consideration when reviewing your application.
There’s a legitimate reason why a course coding was changed when your application was processed by your application liaison. Before reaching out to your liaison for clarification, first check the course listing for your institution here.
- Courses taken P/F/ or S/U
- Courses taken for CR-Credit (except for AP credits)Courses that do not meet the prerequisite requirements. Often times these courses, if taken out of a science department, have been coded as Other Science and marked YES for BCPM GPA inclusion.
- Courses numbers or names may have been entered incorrectly, and the course could not be correctly verified by your liaison during processing. (Double check your coursework entries to ensure accuracy!)
With the exception of certain biostatistics courses, graduate coursework will not meet the prerequisite requirements for the dental, medical, and veterinary schools. Please note that the schools are able to view all of your coursework-- including graduate coursework-- when reviewing your application. Also, your application lists your graduate GPA for the admissions committees to see.
TMDSAS schools will never "toss out" an application. I'm not sure where this narrative comes from; perhaps our innate fear of misunderstanding the "rules" and assuming the worst case scenario will occur? Or maybe we can thank the plot of an all-or-nothing, high-stakes college movie from the '80s? Either way, my hope is that you trust the process and know that you're not walking a tight rope. Deficiencies can be addressed with the schools during the interview process.
That being said, a large number of deficiencies is not ideal for any applicant. You want to show the schools that you've taken (or plan to take) the required biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics coursework to enroll in the dental, medical, or veterinary programs.
Since our team takes a thorough look at each appeal, course appeals can take up to
10-15 days. When filling out an appeal form (found on the TMDSAS website) you'll provide information about the course and any supporting documentation, such
as the course syllabus. (Please note that course appeals are reserved for applicants who are deficient in one
or more course area on their PCR.)
Hopefully I've been able to catch all your questions about the PCR. You can also check out this article by TMDSAS Support How to Read Your PCR (txhes.com). Or feel free to email us at info@tmdsas.com.
About the author: Breanna L. Bietz is an applicant liaison and resource development specialist at TMDSAS. She contributes to the development of resources for applicants and serves as an editor of the Inside Health Education Newsroom as well as the TMDSAS Application Guide. Additionally, she serves as a copywriter and curator of the TMDSAS website. Breanna works with the TMDSAS team to educate, prepare, and support applicants prior to the start of the application cycle and processes applications throughout the duration of the cycle. She participates in various outreach efforts, including on-campus or virtual workshops and applicant webinars. Breanna holds a master's degree from the University of New Orleans and a B.A. from the University of South Dakota.
About the author: The TMDSAS Support team is here to help address your questions about how to get through the application to the schools quickly and easily.
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