Prospective Non-Traditional Applicant For Ubc Med

[HermioneG]

Looking to get some advice/perspective on whether my academic and non-academic qualifications are competitive for UBC Med.

 

I graduated with a BSN 4 years ago with a GPA of 83%. Since then I have worked a at a major hospital and finished my critical care post grad certificate/diploma (not sure if they look at GPA from that but I achieved 90%). I currently work (FT) on a specialized intensive care unit. 

 

During Nursing school I had an focus of interest in Public Health, specifically with the DTES (Downtown Eastside) population of Vancouver. I spent over 2 years weekly volunteering at a harm reduction clinic. I also spent time with a local harm reduction group in the DTES and helped organize various small programs during my rotation there. I have a few other various volunteer experiences from before Nursing School as well as a couple small bursary awards I received during school.

I have also been a member of a non-profit society for over 12 years (Well over 1000 hours of community service, award received).

 

Despite this, my biggest obstacle is probably going to be the MCAT and my lack of core science courses. I am thinking of taking the TRU online course for an introduction to Organic Chem (I took Chem 12). Glancing through the MCAT content I feel that the rest of the subjects, besides Physics, I can self study for as I have taken various bio courses, psych and pathophysiology during Nursing school and university. I am hoping to write the MCAT at the end of the summer. I’m not sure if I’m on the right track here or whether I am completely deluded. 

 

Any advice, strategy or information would be greatly appreciated!

[canucks_14]

Hey! I think you have a good GPA and a couple great experiences. The long term commitments are excellent and I think they will be excellent portions of your UBC med application. But for this upcoming cycle, I'm not sure if your experiences will make up for your GPA. Your GPA isn't bad, it's just the average is closer to 87-88. But luckily I still think you can get in. But first,

 

-is your 83% after you use the AGPA calculation that is used by UBC med school to drop the lowest year? Also did you calculate your GPA using the conversion charts on the UBC med website (if transcript does not show percent), rather than a value that your school for your nursing degree gave you?

[MountainAmoeba]

I also have a nursing degree, but managed to successfully write the mcat with a good result. You can do it with effort.