The 10-Year Rule: Do Your University Grades Expire?

The Ghosts of Transcripts Past

You are 32 years old. You want to apply for Medicine.

When you were 19, you enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts, rarely went to class, partied every weekend, and graduated with a terrible GPA of 4.0. You recently went back to university, completed a new degree in Nursing, and achieved a brilliant 6.8 GPA.

Will GEMSAS average the two degrees together and ruin your chances? Thanks to the 10-Year Rule, your terrible 19-year-old self is officially erased from the record.

How the 10-Year Rule Works

Most GEMSAS universities enforce a strict currency of prior learning policy: They will only consider university study that was completed within the last 10 years.

The Erasure: If your terrible Bachelor of Arts was conferred 11 years ago, it mathematically does not exist to GEMSAS. They will not calculate it. They will only use your recent, brilliant Nursing degree to calculate your GPA.

The Cut-off Date: The 10 years is usually counted backward from the year of commencement* of the medical degree you are applying for.

The Double-Edged Sword

The 10-Year Rule is fantastic for mature-age students escaping a bad academic past. But it is a nightmare for others.

Imagine you completed a Bachelor of Science 11 years ago with a perfect 7.0 GPA. You have been working in a hospital ever since, and now you want to be a doctor. Because your degree is older than 10 years, your perfect GPA has expired. You are officially ineligible to apply for postgraduate medicine at most universities.

How to Fix an Expired Degree

If your degree is expiring (or has expired), you must "refresh" your academic standing.

Depending on the specific university's rules, you can often do this by completing a Postgraduate Diploma, a Masters, or a Graduate Certificate. By successfully completing postgraduate study, the university will often "reactivate" your old degree, or use the high GPA from your new postgraduate studies as the basis of admission.

Before you apply, carefully audit the dates on your transcripts. Use our GEMSAS GPA Calculator and strictly exclude any subjects outside the 10-year window.