Chances for clueless applicant from US college

[cluelesscanadian]

I'm a Canadian citizen who has lived in the US for 10+ years and a 4th year student at UPenn. I'm mostly applying to US med schools but applied to some in Canada despite not knowing much of the ins and outs. I've heard UT is extremely competitive and near impossible for students from the US, so I wanted to know what my chances are for just an interview:

OMSAS GPA: 3.91, wGPA: 3.93

MCAT: 522 (131/130/129/132)

ECs (since 16, although vast majority were during undergrad): 2000+ hours research (3 full time summer programs), 5th author publication in a low-impact journal and 2nd author on an abstract, doing a senior honors thesis

400+ hours volunteering in clinical settings, 500+ hours in other settings, 70 hours shadowing

Small leadership roles in my volunteer activities + exec board positions for various clubs (2 in college for 2 years each)

No substantial awards in college, random interesting hobbies

 

I think I'm well balanced but nothing outstanding. Should I just not expect to hear anything from UT?

Thanks for your time and feedback! Good luck to everyone  

[JohnGrisham]

You can definitely get to the interview stage at a number of Canadian medical schools, where did you apply? 

[cluelesscanadian]

Just Toronto, UBC, and Queen's

[DrOtter]

UBC has a strong preference for In-Province applicants, but UofT and Queen's definitely don't care and I don't think they even make a distinction between students from here or the US, except for your A and A+ counting as 4.0 in the US-scale, but OMSAS would convert your A to a 3.90 instead. But despite that, your GPA and MCAT are solid so you stand just as good a chance of getting invited as everyone else with those stats in Canada to UofT and Queen's! But honestly, only that much is known. Queen's is notorious for having really non-transparent admissions practices and seems to be very EC-based. Your GPA is a little bit on the lower side for UofT but I still think you're really competitive with decent ECs and research.

That GPA from UPenn is great though! So I don't doubt you'll be getting into a first-tier school in the States anyway?

Good luck!

[pyridoxal-phosphate]

On 11/11/2019 at 1:42 PM, cluelesscanadian said:

Just Toronto, UBC, and Queen's

xx

[JohnGrisham]

2 hours ago, cluelesscanadian said:

Just Toronto, UBC, and Queen's

Thats unfortunate you didn't apply to Western, though the new change with ABS, they pretty much gauranteed you an interview. Saskatchewan with your stats should also be a gauranteed interview.

That said the 3 schools you picked are EC heavy and subjective, so i wouldnt be surprised if you didn't get an interview, but also not surprised if you did get interviews. Mixed bag.

Sounds like you also applied to US medical schools, I assume you've started going on interviews already or have already completed interviews by this point?

[cluelesscanadian]

Thanks for everyone's input!

@JohnGrisham Yeah I've had a couple interviews, still waiting on most schools. Haven't really thought much about Canadian schools until now since they interview so late.

[Medase]

Does the wGPA work for US university students? I called the UofT admissions office and they said they don't give US grads wGPAs, as I actually did my first year in the states before transferring to a Canadian university. (But I get partial wGPA for the Canadian years)