Anirudh Chaudhary, a pre-business freshman, thought he had it all figured out: Fail math, retake it with the Grade Replacement Opportunity, and say hello to law school.

In theory, Chaudhary's plan sounds secure; unfortunately, it's completely misguided.

The UA is among a few schools across the country that offer the GRO, which allows students to retake up to 10 credits and replace the original grades if they were a "C," "D" or "E." That causes grade point averages to increase significantly, an attractive option for students applying to medical and law schools.

But most students who enroll in GRO classes aren't aware of the long-term consequences.

Terry Sue Holpert, assistant dean of admission at the James E. Rogers College of Law, said the law school admissions process is fraught with misunderstanding.

"When students apply to law school, their GPAs are calculated by the LSDAS," she said. "Since not every school offers GRO, they standardize the grades to make them comparable."

That means the Law School Data Assembly Service will see a student's transcript and recalculate the GPA using the original grade and the GRO. The new GPA is then submitted to the Law School Admissions Council.

"As a national council, we do not want to interpret a student's transcript," said Anne Bradt, associate executive director for education and pre-law programs at LSDAC. "We simply want to make process fair for all students."

Verlaine Walker, the UA's pre-law adviser, said she believes the GRO is worthless in most circumstances.

"Retaking the course takes time and effort away from other courses," Walker said. "Consequently, the student does not do as well for the semester as they would have done had they not GRO'd a course."

Because the LSDAS will eventually factor into both the old and new grade, Walker recommends that aspiring law school students take other classes in which they are confident they will do well.

When Chaudhary found out about the policy, his only response was, "Oh man, I'm dumb."

That sentiment is likely shared by students applying to medical school. Medical schools across the country depend on a similar organization, the American Medical College Application Service. According to the official AMCAS Web site, the organization also considers both grades when recalculating a student's GPA.

Lili Fobert, director of admission at the UCLA School of Medicine, said UCLA does not deal with the calculation of GPAs and only considers what AMCAS sends them.

"We would rather not see a GRO because we want access to a student's most accurate transcript," said Chris Leadem, senior associate dean of admissions for the UA College of Medicine.

The policy for the UA College of Nursing is slightly different. According to Adele Kelch, academic advising coordinator for the UA College of Nursing, the GPA with the higher average is considered even though the GRO does appear on the transcript.

"We note which classes had ÎD,' ÎE' and were GRO," Kelch said. "A student with no ÎD,' ÎE' or GRO would be more competitive, all other factors being equal."

Graduate schools around the country also vary on the subject. Unfortunately for students, it's difficult to tell which schools accept the new grades and which ones do not.

Despite the confusion, there are benefits to utilizing the GRO.

"The pros for using GROs are that they may help the GPA overall," said Robin Rarick, chemistry adviser. "It's a good option for students who may have issues meeting the graduation requirements or maintaining certain scholarships that are GPA-based."

Martin Kroeger, a mechanical engineering sophomore, said he is glad he used a GRO for his chemistry course.

"I just did it to boost my GPA for prospective jobs," he said students who are considering using the GRO are strongly encouraged to speak to an adviser to see if it is the right decision for them. The filing deadline for the GRO is Feb. 10 at the Office of Curriculum and Registration.