GPA Advice

[96er]

Hi Guys,

I struggled during my first two years of undergrad due to undiagnosed ADHD (GPA ~2.9 avg), but after being diagnosed I did well in my last two years (~3.9 avg). My uni's Ombudsperson has suggested that I ask for my 1st and 2nd year grades to be changed to "Passed". This would, theoretically, remove the poor first two years from the GPA calculation and increase my cGPA from ~3.4 to ~3.9, allowing me to be much more competitive GPA-wise for Toronto, McMaster and possibly Ottawa (not sure how they would calculate it).

However, I'm worried about any problems this may cause. My impression is that med schools don't actually look at your transcript and just let OMSAS screen for GPA, but if my transcript is looked at or if OMSAS flags it, it would seem quite odd without any explanation. Could anyone provide some advice? 

[gnatcatcher]

Idk how the passed with distinction stuff works but if that wasn't an option on the table I'd say do a 5th year

[96er]

9 minutes ago, ilikebirds said:

Idk how the passed with distinction stuff works but if that wasn't an option on the table I'd say do a 5th year

Passed with Distinction means any course where I got over ~80% roughly. Since there's only 4 of those courses where I got 80%+ out of the ~18 I took in 1st/2nd year, it probably doesn't help me that much. 

Wouldn't a 5th year only be useful for Ottawa? Assuming that I'm ineligible to apply for Ottawa if I only have 2 years of number-graded courses on my transcript, even with a 4.0 5th year my cGPA would only increase to 3.94 from 3.91.

[Meridian]

Never heard of an Ontario University retroactively modifying a transcript as you describe.   Doubt it is possible or ethical.  

If your 3rd and 4th year are 3.9,  you are already good to go for weighting at Queens, Western.  Maybe even UofT and Ottawa depending on course spread in year 1/2.    A 5th year would advance Ottawa weighting further and add more credit drops for U of T.      

[96er]

22 minutes ago, Meridian said:

Never heard of an Ontario University retroactively modifying a transcript as you describe.   Doubt it is possible or ethical.  

If your 3rd and 4th year are 3.9,  you are already good to go for weighting at Queens, Western.  Maybe even UofT and Ottawa depending on course spread in year 1/2.    A 5th year would advance Ottawa weighting further and add more credit drops for U of T.      

I understand, I haven't either but my university Ombudsperson believes I have grounds for an appeal under the Ontario Human Rights Committee recommendations.

UofT (3.68 wGPA) is only possible through the Academic Explanations Essay, and my wGPA for Ottawa too low at ~3.78. A 5th year is difficult atm due to personal reasons.

[Moonlight2]

12 minutes ago, 96er said:

I understand, I haven't either but my university Ombudsperson believes I have grounds for an appeal under the Ontario Human Rights Committee recommendations.

UofT (3.68 wGPA) is only possible through the Academic Explanations Essay, and my wGPA for Ottawa too low at ~3.78. A 5th year is difficult atm due to personal reasons.

What seems obvious here is that getting a pass/fail system for your first two years will not hurt your chance for Western or Queens (wouldn't matter) and for Ottawa you won't be eligible without a fifth year either way (low GPA or only 2 usable years of grades). For UofT you can only benefit from doing the pass/fail thing unless OMSAS really flags your transcript. I suggest you call UofT and OMSAS with the hypothetical scenario of what they'd do if they receive an application with 1st two years being just pass grades. Keep the question simple so they can give a more straight forward answer. Also you'd be eligible for Dalhousie too as far as I know, if you're interested in casting a wider net! Good luck.

[96er]

23 minutes ago, Moonlight2 said:

What seems obvious here is that getting a pass/fail system for your first two years will not hurt your chance for Western or Queens (wouldn't matter) and for Ottawa you won't be eligible without a fifth year either way (low GPA or only 2 usable years of grades). For UofT you can only benefit from doing the pass/fail thing unless OMSAS really flags your transcript. I suggest you call UofT and OMSAS with the hypothetical scenario of what they'd do if they receive an application with 1st two years being just pass grades. Keep the question simple so they can give a more straight forward answer. Also you'd be eligible for Dalhousie too as far as I know, if you're interested in casting a wider net! Good luck.

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely get on that.