Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

advice for a non-trad applicant (aiming for 2021 admission)


Recommended Posts

Hi all,

After a period of life and work experiences, I have decided to buckle down and focus on medical school applications. Will be applying everywhere in Canada, but willing to apply to Ireland as well. It's been a dream of mine to be an MD, but it took me some time to muster up the courage and confidence to really go for it. I would appreciate some conversation and feedback regarding my stats. Any insight regarding the following would be super awesome too:

- chances of getting in?

- schools to consider

- raising a young family during med school (i am a female 30 year old, want kids soon, SO and I considering having children by 2021/22)

Undergrad: BA Psych (graduated in 2013), Highest Honours

Masters: Masters in Counselling Psychology (graduating in April 2019). Professional program - no thesis to defend.

Undergrad cGPA: 3.7, last 3 years of GPA: ~3.8

Missing: MCAT and SCIENCE CREDITS! Will register for Bio and Chem university courses by Sept 2019

Research experience: I've had my research assistant job in the hospital for ~4 years, working occasionally as a coordinator for medical device studies now.

Relevant clinical experience: 8 months of counselling internship - provided 12-session counselling services to university students

Publications: 3 in total, one 1st author journal article in 2015, the rest are 3rd and 4th author pubs. No publications since 2016.

Cheers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, brosejose said:

Currently in Ontario. 

I was part time by my last 2 years of undergrad. Is this going to be an issue? 

Not going to get weighted gpa for Toronto which will unfortunately take you out of the running for them, especially with non thesis Masters. Queens full time you need at least 3 courses per semester. I would look at each schools requirements because they will post it in the academic requirements section. Good luck! Would try Canada a few times before trying to go off to Ireland, both cause of cost/debt, and  automatically being considered an IMG for residency matching here, vs CMG. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, IMislove said:

Not going to get weighted gpa for Toronto which will unfortunately take you out of the running for them, especially with non thesis Masters. Queens full time you need at least 3 courses per semester. I would look at each schools requirements because they will post it in the academic requirements section. Good luck! Would try Canada a few times before trying to go off to Ireland, both cause of cost/debt, and  automatically being considered an IMG for residency matching here, vs CMG. 

Thanks a lot. I'm definitely applying everywhere, but my top realistic choice would be NOSM. McMaster too, but that would be very tough to get in. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/22/2018 at 4:06 PM, brosejose said:

Hi all,

After a period of life and work experiences, I have decided to buckle down and focus on medical school applications. Will be applying everywhere in Canada, but willing to apply to Ireland as well. It's been a dream of mine to be an MD, but it took me some time to muster up the courage and confidence to really go for it. I would appreciate some conversation and feedback regarding my stats. Any insight regarding the following would be super awesome too:

- chances of getting in?

- schools to consider

- raising a young family during med school (i am a female 30 year old, want kids soon, SO and I considering having children by 2021/22)

Undergrad: BA Psych (graduated in 2013), Highest Honours -> Good!

Masters: Masters in Counselling Psychology (graduating in April 2019). Professional program - no thesis to defend. -> Your Masters GPA will count at UBC and Calgary, maybe other places too.

Undergrad cGPA: 3.7, last 3 years of GPA: ~3.8 -> Good! But do know that things are different outside Ontario. For example, I had an OMSAS equivalent of 3.76 and a Calgary equivalent of 8.87 for the same grades.

Missing: MCAT and SCIENCE CREDITS! Will register for Bio and Chem university courses by Sept 2019 -> Many schools don't have science prerequisites: UBC, Calgary, Sask OOP, Queens, Western Ontario, McMaster, NOSM, Dalhousie, McGill. I did not want to do science courses just to apply at 3 more schools, but that's your call.

Research experience: I've had my research assistant job in the hospital for ~4 years, working occasionally as a coordinator for medical device studies now. -> Good.

Relevant clinical experience: 8 months of counselling internship - provided 12-session counselling services to university students -> Good.

Publications: 3 in total, one 1st author journal article in 2015, the rest are 3rd and 4th author pubs. No publications since 2016. -> Good!

Cheers!

Keep in mind that my comments above may be wrong, I tend to forget things when they're not important to me anymore...

You have a great profile! Also, make sure to dig into your other life experiences. Research, clinical experience and publications are not what's most important for many schools, they're just the most common ones! Have you travelled? Volunteered? Do you have hobbies and things you're passionate about? Awards and Scholarships? Any illness or hardship you've gone through? Anything else that you're proud of? No need to answer, but think about it ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, brosejose said:

Thanks a lot. I'm definitely applying everywhere, but my top realistic choice would be NOSM. McMaster too, but that would be very tough to get in. 

Yeah Mac with your gpa would require a high CARS score and above average CASPer score for sure. As for NOSM, are you living in Northern Ontario? Especially a rural area. If you got like 10 years that’ll give you a decent context score, seeing as it’s a third of your application.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, IMislove said:

Yeah Mac with your gpa would require a high CARS score and above average CASPer score for sure. As for NOSM, are you living in Northern Ontario? Especially a rural area. If you got like 10 years that’ll give you a decent context score, seeing as it’s a third of your application.

Because of school and work commitments in Ottawa, I haven't been able to get a chance to live in Northern Ontario. I have some counselling experience working with clients who come from the area though. That would be the caveat to the NOSM application... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, jul059 said:

Keep in mind that my comments above may be wrong, I tend to forget things when they're not important to me anymore...

You have a great profile! Also, make sure to dig into your other life experiences. Research, clinical experience and publications are not what's most important for many schools, they're just the most common ones! Have you travelled? Volunteered? Do you have hobbies and things you're passionate about? Awards and Scholarships? Any illness or hardship you've gone through? Anything else that you're proud of? No need to answer, but think about it ;-)

Thanks for your feedback!I really appreciate it! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, brosejose said:

Because of school and work commitments in Ottawa, I haven't been able to get a chance to live in Northern Ontario. I have some counselling experience working with clients who come from the area though. That would be the caveat to the NOSM application... 

Yeah that will not give you much unfortunately. They want people who have lived there for a substantial amount of time and that’s how you get higher scores. 5 years Is what’s been told by adcom to others as a minimum to get some type of score. You can throw an application their way if you want for experience but unfortunately you won’t get an interview from them. You would literally need to have max score on the other aspects to maybe have a chance with 0 context score.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...