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raising your GPA after undergrad?


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2 hours ago, SomeGuyOverThere said:

what about doing a year of science courses after finishing undergrad to boost GPA and get some science background to prep for MCAT? is a year of such courses enough for that? or is a whole second degree necessary? 

Also a bit curious about this. I have taken some bio and chem but after my undergrad, which will be done soon, I am planning to take physics,  bio chem  and maybe orgo (to help prep for the MCAT), and anatomy/physiology just to get more exposure. I think 1 year is enough but it probably depends how you do them. Most definitely it would have to be online through Athabasca or something. You can finish faster since it's self paced. But as far as doing the actual lab components of the courses you're out of luck I believe unless you live close to the campus. So as long as you don't plan to apply to med schools which have pre requisites+labs you should be fine. Can anyone else please weigh in on this though?

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7 hours ago, VigoVirgo said:

Also a bit curious about this. I have taken some bio and chem but after my undergrad, which will be done soon, I am planning to take physics,  bio chem  and maybe orgo (to help prep for the MCAT), and anatomy/physiology just to get more exposure. I think 1 year is enough but it probably depends how you do them. Most definitely it would have to be online through Athabasca or something. You can finish faster since it's self paced. But as far as doing the actual lab components of the courses you're out of luck I believe unless you live close to the campus. So as long as you don't plan to apply to med schools which have pre requisites+labs you should be fine. Can anyone else please weigh in on this though?

Good point on the lack of lab work if doing online courses. I work full-time so online courses could be more manageable with my schedule. At same time attending physical classes with other students has its positive aspects for learning (in my case.) I’ve done no science since grade 11 and would need some for MCAT and also could use GPA boost

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13 hours ago, SomeGuyOverThere said:

what about doing a year of science courses after finishing undergrad to boost GPA and get some science background to prep for MCAT? is a year of such courses enough for that? or is a whole second degree necessary? 

Depends on your situation. In addition to the above point about looking at specific requirements for schools and number of years they look at, you need to look at the number of credits you’d take relative to the number you already have, as well as the GPA you think you’re likely to achieve in this subsequent year. What magnitude of GPA increase do you want and what you think you’ll realistically be able to achieve? Then calculate if that will be enough. 

Often the reason a second degree is suggested is because a year of extra classes just won’t do it.

For example, if you’ve already done 120 credits and have an 75% average, and then you do another 30 credits and get an 85% average, your overall GPA will increase by only ~2%. Which probably still isnt high enough. Or, if you already have a have an average of 85%, it’s going to be tough to meaningfully pull up your score more than a fraction of a percent unless you’re going to be able to pull off a >90% average, and is that really realistic or worth it?

In terms of MCAT prep, an extra year can definitely be helpful if you haven’t taken any/little science in university. I self-learned much of the MCAT material, but the science pre reqs that I went back to take gave me a foundation that made figuring stuff out on my own a lot easier.

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56 minutes ago, frenchpress said:

In terms of MCAT prep, an extra year can definitely be helpful if you haven’t taken any/little science in university. I self-learned much of the MCAT material, but the science pre reqs that I went back to take gave me a foundation that made figuring stuff out on my own a lot easier.

Did going back for the science prereqs boost your gpa? And was that your intention (or one of them) for doing those prereqs?

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3 hours ago, SomeGuyOverThere said:

Did going back for the science prereqs boost your gpa? And was that your intention (or one of them) for doing those prereqs?

I only got a small boost  (I think <1%?) because I already had a lot of credits between my undergraduate and graduate degrees, so the 18 credits I took didn’t make much of a dent. My GPA was on the lower end, so it’s possible that made the difference in acceptance, but I don’t really think it mattered.

I did the courses because at the time they were required to apply to UBC, and I stopped taking them when UBC dropped their science pre requisites. It was a lot of time and money to take them, and it wasn’t really worth it. The only benefit from my perspective was decreasing the time to study for the MCAT.

If you’re doing this mostly for the GPA boost, it’s worth doing the math to see if another year of courses is likely to change YOUR gpa based on your existing credits and the grades you’re likely to achieve. Otherwise you might be wasting your time.

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2 hours ago, frenchpress said:

I only got a small boost  (I think <1%?) because I already had a lot of credits between my undergraduate and graduate degrees, so the 18 credits I took didn’t make much of a dent. My GPA was on the lower end, so it’s possible that made the difference in acceptance, but I don’t really think it mattered. 

Your GPA was on the lower end but it made the difference in acceptance? What do you mean?

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1 hour ago, SomeGuyOverThere said:

Your GPA was on the lower end but it made the difference in acceptance? What do you mean?

What I was trying to say was that it is possible that the tiny GPA boost I got from taking science pre reqs made a difference — my GPA was in the low 80s, and I don’t know what formula UBC uses to rank applicants, so maybe if my GPA has been a half a percent lower I wouldn’t have made the cut? But I really don’t think that’s likely.

Which is why, in my particular situation, I don’t feel like taking all those science courses was worth it for the GPA boost.

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7 minutes ago, frenchpress said:

What I was trying to say was that it is possible that the tiny GPA boost I got from taking science pre reqs made a difference — my GPA was in the low 80s, and I don’t know what formula UBC uses to rank applicants, so maybe if my GPA has been a half a percent lower I wouldn’t have made the cut? But I really don’t think that’s likely.

Which is why, in my particular situation, I don’t feel like taking all those science courses was worth it for the GPA boost.

understood. well, in my case then, if i took more undergrad science courses it would be to better prepare for the MCAT, though I'm aware there are other ways of doing that  

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1 hour ago, SomeGuyOverThere said:

understood. well, in my case then, if i took more undergrad science courses it would be to better prepare for the MCAT, though I'm aware there are other ways of doing that  

You definitely may find courses valuable for the MCAT, especially if you haven’t taken science since high school. Although as you said, there are alternative routes. Good luck!

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