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Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum so I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right spot, but I'm currently entering my third year at Western and have only now realized I really want to pursue medicine. That said, my first two years were pretty bad, and I'm not sure what to do or how to improve my chances. I have pretty solid extracurriculars and work experience, so my main concern is having a GPA that's competitive enough for an interview, because I was uninformed and didn't realize that GPA was king and I focused so heavily on bolstering my non-academics. My first semester of first year wasn't bad (I had a 3.9)– it was my second semester that tanked because of a 56 in physics 2. Then, the summer after first year, I decided to try and fast-track but due to personal reasons, I also tanked those courses, obtaining a 56 and 64 in the two 0.5 credit classes I took. Upon entering second year, I retook one of the summer courses and physics 2, getting a new grade of 76 in the summer course (it was orgo so definitely not my strong suit), and getting a 92 when I took physics 2 again. I've been super confused with how each different med school in Canada calculates their respective adjusted GPAs (if applicable), but so far my first year GPA including the 56 in physics is a 3.44 on the 4.0 OMSAS scale (would be a 3.71 without physics). Those two second year courses I took in the summer after first year have also tanked my GPA, but I'm not sure if they'd be considered part of my first year or second year GPA (if someone could help me out with this I would appreciate it). I took a full 5.0 courses in first year, and in second year, I took 5.0 courses as well (but repeated 2 half courses). I'll give a summary/breakdown here: Year 1 GPA: 3.44 (with physics), 3.71 (without) Year 1 SUMMER GPA: 1.65 (not sure if this is separate or gets tacked on to the GPA of a full year) Year 2 GPA: 3.53 (did pretty bad first semester due to personal issues that continued from the summer, but I had managed to 3.9 second semester after working on tackling my personal issues) What's clear here is that my current grades and GPA are not by any means competitive for medical school, or even close to many cutoff requirements. However, given that I started university with the necessary grades and made improvements after getting hit with personal issues, I know I have the capability of obtaining 3.85 to 4.0 in each of the next three years (I am planning on doing a fifth year to raise my cGPA). I've learned that many medical schools are not so forgiving of hiccups like mine, and my main worry is that the 3 terrible courses I've mentioned might really ruin my chances at med, because a majority of my other courses were 80s and 90s with few high 70s. I know I still have a shot at Western med, but I'm not too sure about other med schools. I'm also willing to take 1.5 courses for each of the next two summers if necessary to raise my GPA and/or overload during the year. At this point I've considered a sixth year or a second undergrad, because I know I want med and I know I can get the grades in the NEXT three years, but I really messed up the first two. I have not written the MCAT yet (currently studying for it), but my main concern is meeting GPA cutoffs with my first two years dragging me down. If anyone has insight on what to do in this situation, or strategies to get my GPA up to a competitive level (ex: second undergrad or master's), or info on schools I might be eligible for, please let me know.
