Apply again right away or wait a year?

[Maggie19]

I'm trying to figure out what would be best between applying again for next cycle or waiting a year while going back to school full time to bring my wGPA up a bit? I'm not sure if it's really worth it though. I currently have about 3.88/4.00 (I'm in a CNFS candidate) and doing another full year would bring it to 3.94/4.00 if I were to get 4.0 for the whole year (which is a gamble considering I need to take 5 classes and 3 labs each semester in order to finish my 2nd degree). I already got 2 interviews so this is my last chance and I want to make sure that I put my best foot forward. This year my interview was pretty shitty due to circumstances that were out of my control and I feel like I can do a lot better, especially if I do more prep than I did for the other interviews. Should I risk it with my current wGPA and hope I nail the interview, or go back to school, which could potentially lower my current wGPA?

[Eudaimonia]

I don't have any answer to your question directly, but just wanted to rephrase your situation so that it might help you reappraise it maybe. Remember that the 3 chances is for interviews - if you don't get an interview in the current cycle it won't count and you can reapply the next cycle. You seem to have a good chance getting an interview with your current GPA so it may only help to distinguish yourself from other applicants who interview just as well. Improving your GPA is likely only to impact your overall application if you get waitlisted. So if you nail the interview, your GPA will likely not affect your likelihood of getting in the first round. Sorry if you already considered all this and I'm just repeating everything!

[erythrocyte]

Hi Maggie, 

Have you thought of going back for school, still applying to med, but apply to every school except Ottawa so it’s less of a gamble? 

I know first hand from this past cycle how much a ‘lower’ GPA on the waitlist can kill your chances (3.88 is not low by any means, but Ottawa’s selection criteria makes it seem so). This year I’m ~3.92 and they stopped calls around ~3.93 so far. Next year, I’ll be applying with a 3.98 wGPA (if only they used this year’s marks ), so if I do get an interview again, hopefully I’ll be in a better position. 

If it was your second time, I’d say just try with what you have, however, given it’s your last shot, I definitely agree with putting your best foot forward and finishing a year of coursework.

[His_Love]

Hi Monocyte

If you don't mind me asking: was your time stamp this year at 7:45 or 7:46? If you are at 7:45, then i'm guessing with the trends that we noticed, then you are likely to get an acceptance, no? But if you are 7:46, it may be harder 

[Maggie19]

Thank you

After thinking about it for a few days, I think I'm going to keep working full time and study for the MCAT so that I can apply at other schools, not just Ottawa. Hopefully do my MCAT at the end of August, and if it's good enough, I'll apply broadly this year, if not, I'll retake it and apply next year. I'm going to start my interview prep a lot sooner than I did this year, so hopefully that will help. I also decided to apply for Physician Assistant at all three universities that have the program as a plan B. 

[Donald_Duck]

You should def apply that GPA is competitive for the CNFS stream. Even if you dont go to school this year you should still try.

Mr Duck