What should i do next? Need advice

[Nin]

Hey!

I don't know what to do next. I'm finishing my second undergrad, cGPA will probably be around 3.8/4, I am going to apply next year to Mcgill

1. What are my chances?

2. I don't know what to do next year, research master? Professional master? 1 year master? something else? I honestly don't know what are the best options to be considered as a better candidate for next year application!!

Thank you all for your answers, best of luck!

[Elgar]

15 hours ago, Nin said:

Hey!

I don't know what to do next. I'm finishing my second undergrad, cGPA will probably be around 3.8/4, I am going to apply next year to Mcgill

1. What are my chances?

2. I don't know what to do next year, research master? Professional master? 1 year master? something else? I honestly don't know what are the best options to be considered as a better candidate for next year application!!

Thank you all for your answers, best of luck!

Hello!

McGill looks at a lot more than your GPA, so it's hard to evaluate your chances with only that information. It would be helpful to know if you are you IP, what are your undergrads in (i.e. professional degree, science program), what are your extracurriculars, if you you ever applied to McGill before or did a Casper test/interviews in the past, and so on. Answer to those questions will also help to determine what is the better option for you next year.

[Nin]

True!

IP, First time applying

Casper: I will pass the casper test this year, I haven't done it yet. But when I will apply, it will be the second time.

My first undergrad was a professional degree (gpa too low, about 3.3/4.3), my second is a microbiology program (gpa around 3.8/4 probably)

EC: working as a nurse, some volunteering not a lot per week but since a veeery long time (10+ years), waiting for another possibility too. Few sports quite diverse, as hobbies, not competitive but started a long time ago. Music as a hobby also.

Research: I have a few experience in research (1 summer including a grant, and 8 months (during school)). This summer I should have another internship too. No pubs.

 

I would appreciate your opinions, experiences! Do I stand a chance to even think about it?

Thanks!!

[Elgar]

It's definitely worth applying! McGill will only be looking at your microbiology grades (IF you are in the last year of your program though), so a 3.8 GPA is a little lower than the average IP but is still competitive. You'll get also some extra points on your application for having a professional degree. 

Your ECs seems good, but it's a little harder to predict if that'll be enough to get the interview. I personally didn't do a lot of volunteering, but I had a strong background in research and music. 

To improve you application for next year, I think a Masters can be a good idea (a little more points towards the academic part of your application), and it would get you more research experience, possibly a publication, and many opportunities to get involved in different projects such as student association committees, teaching, scientific communication, etc. 

Good luck!

[Nin]

21 hours ago, Elgar said:

It's definitely worth applying! McGill will only be looking at your microbiology grades (IF you are in the last year of your program though), so a 3.8 GPA is a little lower than the average IP but is still competitive. You'll get also some extra points on your application for having a professional degree. 

Your ECs seems good, but it's a little harder to predict if that'll be enough to get the interview. I personally didn't do a lot of volunteering, but I had a strong background in research and music. 

To improve you application for next year, I think a Masters can be a good idea (a little more points towards the academic part of your application), and it would get you more research experience, possibly a publication, and many opportunities to get involved in different projects such as student association committees, teaching, scientific communication, etc. 

Good luck!

Nice! Thank you for your input, really appreciate!!

Another question. IF i'm incredibly lucky, beyond possible. Let's say they make a mistake, and i'm accepted next year. Is there an alternative instead of dropping the master (after 1 year)? Or can I finish it part time while doing my first/second year? During the summer maybe?

Thanks again!

[Elgar]

3 hours ago, Nin said:

Nice! Thank you for your input, really appreciate!!

Another question. IF i'm incredibly lucky, beyond possible. Let's say they make a mistake, and i'm accepted next year. Is there an alternative instead of dropping the master (after 1 year)? Or can I finish it part time while doing my first/second year? During the summer maybe?

Thanks again!

When you are accepted, you can ask for a deferral of your admission for the next year to finish your master. I haven't heard of anyone finishing their master's part time, except a very few students from professional masters (like physical/occupational therapy) who do their remaining stages during the summer. 

You're welcome  

[SpeedyPotato]

Definitely worth applying, I got in with a 3.8ish GPA. I think the most important thing is to make sure your application stands out in some way, cause there are a lot of people with high GPAs, huge amounts of volunteering and research etc. My advice would be to make sure to highlight the things that make you different in your CV and to try to bind it into a complete story that makes sense. Choose the most important experiences and justify why you think they're important rather than just peppering you CV with things just in order to show you've done a lot. It worked for me anyways so hopefully it will for you too :) Anyways, all this to say that your GPA is not an obstacle at all at this point.

[Nin]

1 hour ago, SpeedyPotato said:

Definitely worth applying, I got in with a 3.8ish GPA. I think the most important thing is to make sure your application stands out in some way, cause there are a lot of people with high GPAs, huge amounts of volunteering and research etc. My advice would be to make sure to highlight the things that make you different in your CV and to try to bind it into a complete story that makes sense. Choose the most important experiences and justify why you think they're important rather than just peppering you CV with things just in order to show you've done a lot. It worked for me anyways so hopefully it will for you too Anyways, all this to say that your GPA is not an obstacle at all at this point.

Thank you for your advice, veeery helpful! If I can ask, what kind of highlight did you use to make yourself stand out? Was it clinical, or more like a hobby?

Thank you again everyone!

[SpeedyPotato]

On 1/5/2020 at 8:11 PM, Nin said:

Thank you for your advice, veeery helpful! If I can ask, what kind of highlight did you use to make yourself stand out? Was it clinical, or more like a hobby?

Thank you again everyone!

Hey! Sorry for the delay, I don't come here that often anymore! Overall a bit of both, I just made sure to give a purpose to everything I put there, even to put a spin to simple things like hobbies and such, just to show I'm a well rounded applicant. I also think that unless it is something that's absolutely unique and outstanding in your CV, you should probably not put too much emphasis on older experiences (more than 5 years). It is a personal opinion though and let's say this one amazing thing you did 10 years ago makes you totally unique, I would include it, but I just don't think putting let's say you first year undergrad research project is worth if you've done a master's and published 2 or 3 times since then. Use that space for something else, show how well rounded you are!

[TomorrowsMD]

On 1/4/2020 at 1:03 PM, Nin said:

True!

IP, First time applying

Casper: I will pass the casper test this year, I haven't done it yet. But when I will apply, it will be the second time.

My first undergrad was a professional degree (gpa too low, about 3.3/4.3), my second is a microbiology program (gpa around 3.8/4 probably)

EC: working as a nurse, some volunteering not a lot per week but since a veeery long time (10+ years), waiting for another possibility too. Few sports quite diverse, as hobbies, not competitive but started a long time ago. Music as a hobby also.

Research: I have a few experience in research (1 summer including a grant, and 8 months (during school)). This summer I should have another internship too. No pubs.

 

I would appreciate your opinions, experiences! Do I stand a chance to even think about it?

Thanks!!

I'm currently doing my 2nd UG in nursing (honor) with a GPA of 3.800/4.000 after 2 years and I'll have 2 reserch experiences only. Got waitlisted for interview this year (first time applying) and got a spot 2 days later. I had my interview a couple of days ago. I'd say your GPA, while below the average, is competitive. Working as a nurse will give you great clinical knowledge, make sure to show that in your CV with the canmeds framework competencies.

 ( https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.royalcollege.ca/rcsite/documents/canmeds/canmeds-full-framework-e.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj0-JSDnvPnAhXnm-AKHesTBxIQFjABegQIBxAC&usg=AOvVaw3rTBi7SjGRL8nFyMZN-YNy )

In a way, your application looks like mine. I'd say prepare well for the CASPer (i personally bought a book) and make sure your CV is well explained with detailed explanation on what your experience gave you (using keywords in canmeds competencies). I think you have some serious chances for interview. After, it all depends on your MMI score and your PrereqGPA. But i've seen in the past treads of Premed101, even a low (3.1) PrereqGPA has chances with a strong MMI in the top 30 for example. Don't give up!!

[Nin]

23 hours ago, TomorrowsMD said:

I'm currently doing my 2nd UG in nursing (honor) with a GPA of 3.800 after 2 years and I'll have 2 reserch experiences only. Got waitlisted for interview this year (first time applying) and got a spot 2 days later. I had my interview a couple of days ago. I'd say you're GPA, while below the average, is competitive. Working as a nurse will give you great clinical knowledge, make sure to show that in your CV with the canmeds framework competency. In a way, your application looks like mine. I'd say prepare well for the CASPer (i personally bought a book) and make sure your CV is well explained with detailed explanation on what your experience gave you. I think you have some serious chances for interview. After, it all depends on your MMI score and your PrereqGPA. But i've seen in the past treads of Premed101, even a low (3.1) PrereqGPA has chances with a strong MMI in the top 30 for example. Don't give up!!

Hello!

Thank you! Yes you are right we have a similar pathway, it's really encouraging to see and I will try to highlight my nursing experiences for sure! I won't have points for professional degree unfortunately, but I hope it will still be enough.Thank you for the tip on casper, what book did you use? Would you say it helped?

I hope everything goes well for you since you just did your interviews! Good luck!

Thank you all for your help it's seriously reeeaaallly encouraging

 

[TomorrowsMD]

On 2/26/2020 at 12:29 AM, Nin said:

Hello!

Thank you! Yes you are right we have a similar pathway, it's really encouraging to see and I will try to highlight my nursing experiences for sure! I won't have points for professional degree unfortunately, but I hope it will still be enough.Thank you for the tip on casper, what book did you use? Would you say it helped?

I hope everything goes well for you since you just did your interviews! Good luck!

Thank you all for your help it's seriously reeeaaallly encouraging

 

I don't know if your professional will count or not since it's not your degree for basis of admission but it's possible they'll still count it?

I can't tell you the book here because it's not permitted, but go on Amazon et look for casper (and mmi interview) books there are plenty! (Mine's blue and orange).

I don't necessarily recommend mine or any of them in particular. But i bought it because i had never written the CASPer and i really didn't know what to expect. The book helped me in that sens, it made me on an equal playing field with others who had already done it! So i suggest any book.

For the interview, same thing. Never done one so the book helped me know what to expect.

 

Also this helped too:

 

And this also:

https://www.themedicportal.com/e-learning/interview/mmi-questions/

 

I hope it helps you!

Good luck! And I'll tell you my interview results so you have a better idea. Just remember, if it's not this time, It'll be another year! Don't give up!

[Nin]

On 2/26/2020 at 7:27 AM, TomorrowsMD said:

I hope it helps you!

Good luck! And I'll tell you my interview results so you have a better idea. Just remember, if it's not this time, It'll be another year! Don't give up!

It's helping for sure! Thanks I would appreciate to have your impression of your results  since we have a similar pathway, thank you so much for your help. Good luck!

[TomorrowsMD]

23 hours ago, Nin said:

I would appreciate to have your impression of your results  since we have a similar pathway

If i'm refused I'll ask for my rankings (you can only ask them when refused form what i understand). It will show you how high it's possible to rank. If i get in it's because the MMI went well and i would have ranked high (probably top 30 i guess) since I have a low prereqGPA (3.1 or 3.2) and from what i've seen in past treads, a 3.1 or 3.2 prereqGPA tends to lower your rank by 50-60 spots.

Obviously It's different from year to year, it's just a general rule. If they accept the first 75 (generally the number of people accepted) then i would need about a top 30 to get in the 75 people without waitlist. And from what i've seen, in the past years, the waitlist IP University moves by around 20 spots in average (15-30). Now let's keep in mind this is just a rough approximation to give an idea, it would mean i could technically score around top 40-50 in MMI (so top 20 waitlist) and still get in but by the waitlist. But again, this is varying so much from year to year, someone told me in the past a 51 MMI (with 3.2 prereqGPA) resulted in top 40 waitlist which was too high.

All this to say, if I can't provide rankings because i'm in or on the waitlist then this happened and it can still give you an idea.

See you on the 25th of march with, hopefully, good results!

[Nin]

On 2/27/2020 at 9:46 PM, TomorrowsMD said:

If i'm refused I'll ask for my rankings (you can only ask them when refused form what i understand). It will show you how high it's possible to rank. If i get in it's because the MMI went well and i would have ranked high (probably top 30 i guess) since I have a low prereqGPA (3.1 or 3.2) and from what i've seen in past treads, a 3.1 or 3.2 prereqGPA tends to lower your rank by 50-60 spots.

Obviously It's different from year to year, it's just a general rule. If they accept the first 75 (generally the number of people accepted) then i would need about a top 30 to get in the 75 people without waitlist. And from what i've seen, in the past years, the waitlist IP University moves by around 20 spots in average (15-30). Now let's keep in mind this is just a rough approximation to give an idea, it would mean i could technically score around top 40-50 in MMI (so top 20 waitlist) and still get in but by the waitlist. But again, this is varying so much from year to year, someone told me in the past a 51 MMI (with 3.2 prereqGPA) resulted in top 40 waitlist which was too high.

All this to say, if I can't provide rankings because i'm in or on the waitlist then this happened and it can still give you an idea.

See you on the 25th of march with, hopefully, good results!

Wish you the best of luck Hope you get accepted!!