Chances?

[scoobydoo1623]

OMSAS cGPA: 3.67

UofT: 3.76 

Western: 3.88 (conditional)

uOttawa: 3.7 

CARS: 130 

EC: Leadership roles, 1 publication in NEJM 

What are my chances? 

[Olaf]

Hard to guess just based off of that - what did you score on the other MCAT sections? How many hours did you spend in your ECs and what were they? 

[scoobydoo1623]

22 minutes ago, trj03 said:

Hard to guess just based off of that - what did you score on the other MCAT sections? How many hours did you spend in your ECs and what were they? 

I scored 516 overall! I'm going into 4 undergrad! 

My ECs are very research heavy. I've worked in multiple labs over my undergrad, presented at conferences, and even cranked out one publication! Plus, I've volunteered at a clinic for about 200 hours - these are my main ECs. I understand my GPA is not perfect my any means, but I hope some of my research off-sets that! 

[sandorclegane]

I'll offer an honest appraisal of your chances:

Ottawa: I'm afraid your wGPA is not competitive enough to meet Ottawa's minimum cutoff score. I wouldn't bother applying there

U of T: This school actually likes research-focussed ECs (major props for the NEJM publication!!), so you may have a shot here if you describe your experiences well on OMSAS. But the GPA is on the lower side, so it'll be very competitive! I would apply here but don't get your hopes up too much.

Western: You meet the GPA and MCAT requirements (assuming you scored min 127 on the science sections), so you'd probably get an interview! From there, just focus on doing well in your interview...it's the only thing that will be in your control!

I also think you should consider Mac and Queens

McMaster: Your cGPA is a bit lower than the average of the accepted class, but your CARS score does partially offset that. Your chances of getting an interview are quite high if you do well on CASPer. So definitely apply here and invest some time in preparing for CASPer (you can look at school-specific threads to see what people did to prepare for CASPer). 

Queen's: This depends on your most recent 2YGPA. If that is >3.7, then you should apply. Your MCAT score should meet all cutoffs (I also applied with a 516, with a 126 on 1 section and I got an interview). But again, the GPA is on the lower side. I'd say apply, but be reasonable in your expectations.

tl;dr: Don't apply to Ottawa, apply to Toronto and Queen's (but it'll be competitive), definitely apply to Western and McMaster (your best chances are at these schools)

Hope that helps! Good luck with the application process!

[scoobydoo1623]

1 hour ago, sandorclegane said:

I'll offer an honest appraisal of your chances:

Ottawa: I'm afraid your wGPA is not competitive enough to meet Ottawa's minimum cutoff score. I wouldn't bother applying there

U of T: This school actually likes research-focussed ECs, so you may have a shot here if you describe your experiences well on OMSAS. But the GPA is on the lower side, so it'll be very competitive! I would apply here but don't get your hopes up too much.

Western: You meet the GPA and MCAT requirements (assuming you scored min 127 on the science sections), so you'd probably get an interview! From there, just focus on doing well in your interview...it's the only thing that will be in your control!

I also think you should consider Mac and Queens

McMaster: Your cGPA is a bit lower than the average of the accepted class, but your CARS score does partially offset that. Your chances of getting an interview are quite high if you do well on CASPer. So definitely apply here and invest some time in preparing for CASPer (you can look at school-specific threads to see what people did to prepare for CASPer). 

Queen's: This depends on your best 2YGPA. If that is >3.7, then you should apply. Your MCAT score should meet all cutoffs (I also applied with a 516, with a 126 on 1 section and I got an interview). But again, the GPA is on the lower side. I'd say apply, but be reasonable in your expectations.

tl;dr: Don't apply to Ottawa, apply to Toronto and Queen's (but it'll be competitive), definitely apply to Western and McMaster (your best chances are at these schools)

Hope that helps! Good luck with the application process!

Thank you so much!  I really appreciated that. 

Just wondering though: where did you get the Queen's guideline of >3.7? 

[aray623]

I thought Queens wGPA was last two years and not best two years? I might be mistaken though

[sandorclegane]

3.7 is just a rough estimate based on posts from people who received interview invites in past years....it varies from year to year

@aray623 Yeah you are right....I'm mistaken there. Thanks for spotting that! I edited my original post to reflect this

[Sauna]

2 hours ago, sandorclegane said:

3.7 is just a rough estimate based on posts from people who received interview invites in past years....it varies from year to year

@aray623 Yeah you are right....I'm mistaken there. Thanks for spotting that! I edited my original post to reflect this

Woah we can tag people now?? 

@sandorclegane

@aray623 

Does that give you guys a notification?

@Sauna

[aray623]

Yupp I got a notification! Nifty!

 

@Sauna

[sandorclegane]

Haha yeah me too! @Sauna

[lulu95]

On 6/6/2017 at 11:45 PM, scoobydoo0216 said:

Thank you so much!  I really appreciated that. 

Just wondering though: where did you get the Queen's guideline of >3.7? 

I think Queen's cutoff is closer to 3.8 though. I remember looking through the interview invites and thinking that I had one of the lowest GPAs for an undergrad invite (3.81).