First Year GPA

[breakingcycle]

Hey everyone,

I am not sure how to properly word my question, but I was wondering what a good GPA is for first year if I want to go to medical school. I am sort of stressing because I don't think I will be able to get a 4.0 GPA this year, but I should end up with a 3.9+. I know that many schools in Ontario (except McMaster) have wGPA or take away some of your bad marks depending on the school, but I'm planning to apply to medical school during third year, so none of that would apply to me. So if hypothetically, I end up with a 3.9 GPA is this bad? I was looking at the median GPAs and U of T is like 3.97, so I am not sure how much fist year will impact my GPA

Also, I am fairly new to this country and I would love any help from anyone regarding medical school in general. If you are currently in medical school or an applicant, how was your first-year in university? Is there any advice you would give to yourself if you could talk to your first-year self? Anything is appreciated. Thank you so so much.

[BernieMac]

-

[DrOtter]

1 hour ago, breakingcycle said:

Hey everyone,

I am not sure how to properly word my question, but I was wondering what a good GPA is for first year if I want to go to medical school. I am sort of stressing because I don't think I will be able to get a 4.0 GPA this year, but I should end up with a 3.9+. I know that many schools in Ontario (except McMaster) have wGPA or take away some of your bad marks depending on the school, but I'm planning to apply to medical school during third year, so none of that would apply to me. So if hypothetically, I end up with a 3.9 GPA is this bad? I was looking at the median GPAs and U of T is like 3.97, so I am not sure how much fist year will impact my GPA

Also, I am fairly new to this country and I would love any help from anyone regarding medical school in general. If you are currently in medical school or an applicant, how was your first-year in university? Is there any advice you would give to yourself if you could talk to your first-year self? Anything is appreciated. Thank you so so much.

I wouldn't worry too much yet, buddy  You're in your first year and there is still plenty of time to "fix" your GPA. With that said, with the except of UofT with their astronomical wGPA, and McMaster with their low cGPA, most other Ontarian schools either look at your best two years (Western), your most recent 3 with weighting for latter years (Ottawa), or your most recent 2 (Queen's looks at both cGPA or 2YGPA, depending which is higher). And even with UofT, as long as you maintain full course load for all your undergrad years, you qualify for wGPA that drops your lowest FCE per year, which is part of the reason their average GPA is so high. I'd focus on gaining ECs and studying for the MCAT, rather than worrying about GPA if I were you.

[breakingcycle]

Thank you so much for the reassurance. Just to clarify, UofT drops the lowest FCE per year even if I have only completed two years by the time i apply? 

Also, I shouldn’t worry about receiving a 3.9 in first year right? I feel like I’m overthinking this, but I just want to have a good shot at applications as a third year student.

 

thank u so much again

[IMislove]

15 minutes ago, breakingcycle said:

Thank you so much for the reassurance. Just to clarify, UofT drops the lowest FCE per year even if I have only completed two years by the time i apply? 

Also, I shouldn’t worry about receiving a 3.9 in first year right? I feel like I’m overthinking this, but I just want to have a good shot at applications as a third year student.

 

thank u so much again

https://applymd.utoronto.ca/gpa-and-gpa-weighting

[Elijah989]

You've got lots of time to improve GPA still, don't sweat this too much!  Work on identifying your weaknesses and how to improve them for next semester. And remember there's more to application than just GPA, e.g., volunteering, research, extra curriculars, letters of references, MCAT etc. There's some good advice here on how to handle low GPA for med school - read the part for "after first year". 

although 3.9+ doesn't sound low to me lol i think you're ok

[drdaydream]

On 11/3/2019 at 6:00 PM, breakingcycle said:

Hey everyone,

I am not sure how to properly word my question, but I was wondering what a good GPA is for first year if I want to go to medical school. I am sort of stressing because I don't think I will be able to get a 4.0 GPA this year, but I should end up with a 3.9+. I know that many schools in Ontario (except McMaster) have wGPA or take away some of your bad marks depending on the school, but I'm planning to apply to medical school during third year, so none of that would apply to me. So if hypothetically, I end up with a 3.9 GPA is this bad? I was looking at the median GPAs and U of T is like 3.97, so I am not sure how much fist year will impact my GPA

Also, I am fairly new to this country and I would love any help from anyone regarding medical school in general. If you are currently in medical school or an applicant, how was your first-year in university? Is there any advice you would give to yourself if you could talk to your first-year self? Anything is appreciated. Thank you so so much.

Lots of people in your shoes! My first year of university was okay but was definitely a wake up call. Advice I would give to my first year-self: You're not alone! Talk to others. Form study groups. Join the premed community at your school. It helps so much to know there's other people on the same journey as you. Good luck

[breakingcycle]

Do you think 3.9 is not good to start with?

[drdaydream]

7 minutes ago, breakingcycle said:

Do you think 3.9 is not good to start with?

I actually think 3.9 is very good, but some people want to keep improving so I gave advice accordingly! 

[breakingcycle]

On 11/19/2019 at 12:16 PM, drdaydream said:

I actually think 3.9 is very good, but some people want to keep improving so I gave advice accordingly! 

Thanks!!