Chances for 3rd year applicant with weak ECs

[ubcstudent]

Hi,

I want to get some feedback on my chances for UBC Med for the next application cycle and if I should even bother applying?

Here is some general information about me:

- Currently a 2nd year UBC Student (IP)

- Planning to write the MCAT in the summer of this year and apply for the next application cycle as a 3rd year applicant (this will ultimately depend on how I feel about my chances and to a lesser degree, the feedback I receive from others)

- ~95% overall average currently and aiming to get it to ~96% by the end of 2nd year (Full course loads only)

Extent of ECs, work experience, and leadership:

- Part-time Tutor for English and Math (paid)

• 5 years/ 1000's of hours

- Retail Sales Associate (paid)

• 1 year/ 100's of hours

-BC Elections Voting Officer (paid)

• 2 days/ ~20 hours

- UBC Research Assistant for recruiting patients (paid)

• a few months / ~50 hours

-Volunteering for a local green team (event recycling and garbage disposal)

• 5 years/ ~ 50 hours

-Volunteering for a summer program for foreign students

• 2 months/ ~ 50 hours

-Volunteering for a hospital ED program (would say this is my strongest clinical experience)

• ~1 year/ ~ 250 hours

-Volunteering for a University Peer Program

• ~1 year/ ~ 100 hours

-A lot of performance based awards and scholarships from high school and UBC (~$10000 in total)

- High school ice hockey athlete (captain at one point)

- Active Lifestyle (gym, dieting, helping family/friends be more healthy)

- Helping friends, family, and strangers (homework help, giving car rides, helping others navigate personal affairs)

 

Overall, I feel that my GPA is strong but my ECs are really holding me back from being an exceptional applicant at any Canadian medical school especially UBC. From now until the start of applications, I will continue building on my ECs but any new activities that I start won't have much of an impact in the upcoming application cycle. Most of the things I've done so far are things that I'm passionate about and enjoy participating in.

What are your guys thoughts on my chances? If I word my limited ECs in a compelling manner, do you guys think I can get an interview invite?

 

 

[Bambi]

I have no idea on your chances, you have to throw your hat in the ring to find out!

However, the experience of applying will be most valuable to you, regardless of the outcome. Good luck.

[pyridoxal-phosphate]

xx

[Neurophiliac]

Definitely agree with @Bambi that you never know until you know.  Medical school applications are quite unique relative to others, so no matter if your chances are high or low, it's worth it to apply just for the experience and to see where you lie.  Your GPA is quite competitive so that will be to your advantage.  The ECs can definitely improve, so it's good that you're considering to expand them.  I would suggest you invest a good chunk of time to prepare for your MCAT, and put any time that you have (apart from courses) on volunteering and building experiences for your non-academic activities -- even if it's minor, it's still better than nothing.

[ubcstudent]

Solid advice. Thanks.

[hvem]

@ubcstudent   Your GPA is amazing which speaks to some great work ethic and time management.  I would work a lot more on your ECs though  - You're on the right track with ECs so far.  How you write about these ECs in your application is also really important. I'm going off a pretty basic description so it's hard to accurately judge your level of involvement in your ECs. Full Disclaimer: Only going off what worked for me and what kind of ECs I've heard of my med classmates doing. Not involved with the admission committee. 

1)  Try to step into a leadership role. Think about how you would love to make a difference

2)  Take your hobbies to the next level, or make sure you're continuing them even now. E.g. If you were a hockey player in high school (yay so was I), you can keep playing in undergrad. It helps to think how you'll fit into our class - ooo this girl/guy could on the med team. If you like playing the cello, I heard that one of my classmates was the star of an orchestra. One of my classmates composes music and won awards for doing so. 

3) Get more clinical experience. Volunteering in an ED sounds pretty cool, but I encourage you to find more chances to emerge yourself into medicine. It's helpful to have a source of motivation "ah this is why I want to study medicine". 

4) I'm impressed by the amount of scholarships you've won but FYI I think you can only list your top 5 awards ( I could be recalling the wrong number). Just so you know the rest of them can't go on your app for UBC med.   

5) I personally think research is really important (this is a controversial opinion because there are also people in my class that didn't do much research) so I think putting more time into your research would be beneficial. 

Good luck!

 

[Salty_Ruin]

I think you should definelty apply! With your average you don’t need a high NAQ score to get an interview, and even if you don’t you at least see where you stand and how far you are from an interview. 

[moman2448]

Is 95% not the highest possible average one can have? (Assuming you have all A+'s in every course). What do you mean you're working on getting it to a 96% in the coming year... I'm confused. But with an extremely high AQ score that you'll receive I think even the decent ECs that you have should give a very strong chance at getting an interview

[frenchpress]

19 minutes ago, mtkilla456 said:

Is 95% not the highest possible average one can have? (Assuming you have all A+'s in every course). What do you mean you're working on getting it to a 96% in the coming year... I'm confused. But with an extremely high AQ score that you'll receive I think even the decent ECs that you have should give a very strong chance at getting an interview

UBC gives grades out of 100%

edit: to clarify, I realized you must be confusing the conversion equivilency with the actual grading system at UBC. Students there get % grades. A letter grade is also assigned, but it is not used in the GPA calculation.

So when you apply to UBC from an outside school, your letter grade is converted to the middle of the % range for the GPA calculation. An A+ is anything 90-100 (so converted to 95), A is 85-89 (converts to 87), and so on.

[ubcstudent]

On 3/14/2019 at 10:39 PM, frenchpress said:

UBC gives grades out of 100%

edit: to clarify, I realized you must be confusing the conversion equivilency with the actual grading system at UBC. Students there get % grades. A letter grade is also assigned, but it is not used in the GPA calculation.

So when you apply to UBC from an outside school, your letter grade is converted to the middle of the % range for the GPA calculation. An A+ is anything 90-100 (so converted to 95), A is 85-89 (converts to 87), and so on.

This is why I 100% recommend going to UBC for undergrad instead of SFU or UVic for local students if you are aiming for UBC Med.

[frenchpress]

13 minutes ago, ubcstudent said:

This is why I 100% recommend going to UBC for undergrad instead of SFU or UVic for local students if you are aiming for UBC Med.

I don’t know that it makes a huge difference in the end, and the differences tend to wash out. Outside students can be disadvantaged, but so can UBC students. If you’re always at the end of the grade range as a UBC student (e.g. 80%, 85%, 90%) you could have the exact same letter grades an an outside student (A-, A, A+) and you’d have a lower GPA for the application (85% vs 88%).

[ubcstudent]

5 hours ago, frenchpress said:

I don’t know that it makes a huge difference in the end, and the differences tend to wash out. Outside students can be disadvantaged, but so can UBC students. If you’re always at the end of the grade range as a UBC student (e.g. 80%, 85%, 90%) you could have the exact same letter grades an an outside student (A-, A, A+) and you’d have a lower GPA for the application (85% vs 88%).

Oh, I didn’t look at it that way but I agree with you. If you are an excellent student, there are a lot of opportunities to get 95+ in core science courses and gpa boosters at UBC. 

[moman2448]

On 3/16/2019 at 2:35 PM, ubcstudent said:

This is why I 100% recommend going to UBC for undergrad instead of SFU or UVic for local students if you are aiming for UBC Med.

Would it still not be easier to go to a smaller school and get a 90 in all your courses (95 equivalent) than get a 95% in all UBC courses with class sizes of like 300. I'd have to disagree in it being easier to do UG at UBC for getting into med... could be just me though

[DoctorArts]

SFU and UVic are not small enough to be small. Class sizes are still huge. And I would argue, if your class is scaled, that larger classes mean more A+ grades to give out. The best students will succeed anywhere, but for the rest of us, strategy helps. 

[ubcstudent]

On 3/25/2019 at 11:11 AM, mtkilla456 said:

Would it still not be easier to go to a smaller school and get a 90 in all your courses (95 equivalent) than get a 95% in all UBC courses with class sizes of like 300. I'd have to disagree in it being easier to do UG at UBC for getting into med... could be just me though

Unless you are familiar with grading schemes of the smaller schools, I would consider it a gamble. At UBC, I know exactly how my grade will calculated for every single course I take (90+ = A+). At SFU, I hear the letter grades vary from department to department or course to course so an A+ may be a 90 in one class and 97 in another.

[wannabemedkid]

hey i'm thinking of applying as well during 3rd year but my ec's are weak, how did your application go?

[HugeEuge]

On 3/16/2019 at 2:35 PM, ubcstudent said:

This is why I 100% recommend going to UBC for undergrad instead of SFU or UVic for local students if you are aiming for UBC Med.

UVic does percentage grades, so your average will convert directly over to UBC. Not sure what SFU does though, but UVic is the same as UBC by using percentages rather than letter grades.

[neurologist19]

You definitely have a great chance for UBC, considering your GPA. Your EC look fine to me tbh. You knocked off the hospital volunteering (patients exposure) and the teaching experience. However, your community service (your other volunteering activities) look a bit directionless to me if I am being honest. I guess you would be been better off of you had a more solid one in that arena rather than small 20-50 hours. You can also start joining a lab if you want to gain research experience. But saying again, I think you can get an interview for UBC easily right now without further improvements. I also assume a 520+ MCAT would be a piece of cake for you considering your GPA, so it would even help further.