Western GPA Question/Concern

[auto_pilot1]

Hi everyone,

I have some concerns regarding my overall application and was hoping for some feedback, insight, & suggestions/advice. 

My undergrad career has been a mountain climb, which is shown by my annual GPA trend:

1st Year: 1.91

2nd Year: 2.17

3rd Year: 2.82

4th Year: 3.68

5th Year: TBD

I will be entering my 5th year and am hoping to score even higher than my 4th year (3.68). 

For some time I had a misconception that Western looks at your two best years and requires the overall GPA to be 3.7 OVER the 2 years. I recently heard that they require 3.7 in EACH of the two best years. (Depressing discovery). I am a SWOMEN student, therefore I do have some advantage (pretaining to enrolment seats and MCAT cutoffs), but my 4th year 3.68 may not allow me to apply to Western. I am already about to begin my fifth year in September, but that will do no good for Western taking into account that they need 3.7 in EACH of the two best years. 

Could you provide some insight regarding what I should consider my options? 

Here are some of my thoughts: I would qualify for Dalhousie medical school assuming I can maintain above 3.65 annual GPA in my fifth year - they require 3.7 but round to the nearest tenth. Therefore I hope to apply there in the 2019 application cycle. For Western, my only option is to do a 6th year and then apply - not sure if anyone has ever done this, or what people's feedback regarding this would be.

Over the past couple of years, I have become more determined to pursue medicine and tried my best to cross challenges in my personal life in order to improve my standing, and I do not want to let my past academic record become an absolute barrier during this pursuit. Mentally, I tell myself that I can be prepared to give extra time towards my undergraduate degree. Please let me know what you think.

Furthermore, do you have any insight regarding American Medical schools, and Ross University? In regards to residency, I understand that coming back to Canada has very slim chances. However, I currently don't see a personal objection to the idea of matching for a residency spot in the U.S. (and working there) - I just don't know about the exact match rate.

I understand I said a lot, but I would appreciate any thought, insight, or advice/recommendation from the PreMed101 community. Thank you!

[Meridian]

As you already know your GPA is holding you back from being competitive for interviews.  Your cumulative cGPA will likely never help you.   You need to look at schools that have a weighted wGPA approach (UWO/Queens/Ottawa).  You really need to achieve +3.85 GPA's in years 5 and 6 to unlock some of those Canadian wGPA schools. 

If you can do that, it might then also open up some USA MD/DO schools that would look at your strong upward trend.  

You are out of province for Dal.  They interview ~ 55 candidates for 9 spots.  To get an interview you need to also write an essay that defines your Maritimes connection.   Browse this forum to understand context and how important it is for OOP applications.  You also have to nail the Casper. After interviews you are then scored (ranked) with your OOP peers only and it is a very very high threshold to get an acceptance.

Realistically you need 2 more years of stellar undergrad.  Plan to write the MCAT after 5 year and see how you do.

You can read on here about the Caribbean schools and how much of a risk it is. 

 

 

[bluepen]

I don't have any insight into any medical schools outside of Canada. That being said, since you are a SWOMEN student, I believe that the best way forward is to really try to get 3.7+ in your 5th and 6th years (with each semester consisting of at least 3 or more courses at the 300+ level - I believe this is the minimum course level requirement for any undergrad years above and including 3rd year? Someone correct me on that if I'm mistaken). As a SWOMEN candidate, your chances at UWO are actually quite good as long as you meet the cutoffs for the GPA/MCAT. I think based off another recent post looking at the admission statistics for SWOMEN applicants, something like a minimum of 60% is the acceptance rate post-interview! One thing is that I'm not quite sure how the process works in doing a 6th year of undergrad, I'm sure someone else will have better insight on that. This is just my opinion though, but considering your upward trend in GPA I believe you should be able to hit 3.7+ in each year. Perhaps others will have differing opinions than I do. Best of luck!

[auto_pilot1]

3 hours ago, Meridian said:

As you already know your GPA is holding you back from being competitive for interviews.  Your cumulative cGPA will likely never help you.   You need to look at schools that have a weighted wGPA approach (UWO/Queens/Ottawa).  You really need to achieve +3.85 GPA's in years 5 and 6 to unlock some of those Canadian wGPA schools. 

If you can do that, it might then also open up some USA MD/DO schools that would look at your strong upward trend.  

Realistically you need 2 more years of stellar undergrad.  Plan to write the MCAT after 5 year and see how you do.

 

 

 

3

Thank you! 

I am planning on writing the MCAT this summer - in August. Do you recommend I hold it off? I was planning to give it a shot. 

 

[auto_pilot1]

1 hour ago, bluepen said:

I don't have any insight into any medical schools outside of Canada. That being said, since you are a SWOMEN student, I believe that the best way forward is to really try to get 3.7+ in your 5th and 6th years (with each semester consisting of at least 3 or more courses at the 300+ level - I believe this is the minimum course level requirement for any undergrad years above and including 3rd year? Someone correct me on that if I'm mistaken). As a SWOMEN candidate, your chances at UWO are actually quite good as long as you meet the cutoffs for the GPA/MCAT. I think based off another recent post looking at the admission statistics for SWOMEN applicants, something like a minimum of 60% is the acceptance rate post-interview! One thing is that I'm not quite sure how the process works in doing a 6th year of undergrad, I'm sure someone else will have better insight on that. This is just my opinion though, but considering your upward trend in GPA I believe you should be able to hit 3.7+ in each year. Perhaps others will have differing opinions than I do. Best of luck!

Thank you for your response! Yes, I am definitely doing a 5th year, and have begun to seriously think about a 6th year. It just seems very atypical for someone to do - but given the circumstances, it seems to be the only route.

[bluepen]

8 hours ago, auto_pilot1 said:

Thank you for your response! Yes, I am definitely doing a 5th year, and have begun to seriously think about a 6th year. It just seems very atypical for someone to do - but given the circumstances, it seems to be the only route.

I believe I've read previous posts on this forum specifically of people having done 6th years in the past! It's definitely not ordinary but also not unheard of. I'd look up those past posts to see if you could get any additional information, and also perhaps e-mail the Schulich Medical Admissions Office as well as talk to your own school's academic advisor about any particular questions you might have.

[Hellobatetaworld]

 

15 hours ago, auto_pilot1 said:

Thank you for your response! Yes, I am definitely doing a 5th year, and have begun to seriously think about a 6th year. It just seems very atypical for someone to do - but given the circumstances, it seems to be the only route.

 

7 hours ago, bluepen said:

I believe I've read previous posts on this forum specifically of people having done 6th years in the past! It's definitely not ordinary but also not unheard of. I'd look up those past posts to see if you could get any additional information, and also perhaps e-mail the Schulich Medical Admissions Office as well as talk to your own school's academic advisor about any particular questions you might have.

I can definitely speak to this! I just finished my sixth year and got accepted, I applied using my fifth and sixth year, first four years were no Bueno. Although there is stigma around spending 2 extra years in undergrad its a workable option, it paid off for me and is definitely feasible for you. You're already at 3.68 so you can make it! Plus another advantage I found was that there were very few required courses after fourth year, so I was able to take what I enjoyed and avoid courses I heard bad things about, that should help you too. If you have any questions/want to discuss it id be happy to share