sportsMD23 Posted April 8, 2020 Report Share Posted April 8, 2020 Hello there! Hope everyone is doing well and most importantly safe! As a 4th year student, I was supposed to graduate after this term. Unfortunately, I did not get any interviews this year and I am currently studying for MCAT (re-taking it sometimes this summer). My initial plan after graduating was to get a full-time job related to my science degree and make some money while I wait for application cycles. However, given the coronavirus pandemic circumstances, I am concerned with finding jobs with my science degree. Regardless of working full-time or not, I still need to come back to school to take some pre-requisite courses so that I can apply more broadly next cycle. I will be taking the pre-requisite courses on a part-time basis (only need 1-2 courses really). I am worried about red flags that may be raised if admissions committees see that I did not graduate on time even though I already have more than enough credits and will only be taking 1 course. So I am debating between graduating and returning as a non-degree student or postpone graduation and stay for a 5th year. I came up with pros of each option and I would really appreciate any advice and suggestions. Pros of graduating and returning as a non-degree student -DEGREE (hopefully it will get me full-time jobs, fingers crossed) -I was notified that I was a runner-up for Valedictorian for this year's graduation and not graduating means I may lose this "title" next year. -not sure about this one, but I would assume non-degree student taking 1 course looks more favourable than staying as a 5th year student taking 1 course (please correct me if I am wrong!) Pros of not graduating and returning as a 5th-year student -a possibility of being the president of a club that I am passionate about (you must be an undergraduate student to be the president, you can't as a non-degree student) -a possibility of being selected as a Valedictorian (I will be running for it again if I return as a 5th year, you get selected based on a speech) -a possibility of doing NSERC USRA (you must be enrolled in an undergraduate program prior to submitting the application, you can't as a non-degree student) -can work on-campus part time jobs (my boss does allow you to work 1 term after graduating, but being a 5th year student means that I can work all-year around from September to April) As you can see, the majority of pros of not graduating is a possibility and uncertain. I have no idea whether I would actually get NSERC award, become the president of the club or be selected as a Valedictorian. I am returning to school next year to take a few pre-requisite courses, NOT to boost my GPA (cGPA is 3.95>). If anything, I am looking to strengthen my ECs and become eligible to apply to more schools by completing the pre-requisite courses. I just hope taking 1 course won't be looked down upon by admissions committees. Thank you for reading my post and have a great week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meridian Posted April 8, 2020 Report Share Posted April 8, 2020 Can you attain the missing prerequisites this summer/fall online ? Many schools do not include summer courses in GPA calc so no worry about impacting your excellent GPA. Sounds like you need to focus 150% on CARs from now til you write MCAT in late summer. Open up as many schools as you can to apply to. You don't need a 5th year to bring up GPA. sportsMD23 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sportsMD23 Posted April 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2020 32 minutes ago, Meridian said: Can you attain the missing prerequisites this summer/fall online ? Many schools do not include summer courses in GPA calc so no worry about impacting your excellent GPA. Sounds like you need to focus 150% on CARs from now til you write MCAT in late summer. Open up as many schools as you can to apply to. You don't need a 5th year to bring up GPA. I tried to look for the missing pre-reqs online, but no luck I have been definitely focusing on CARS since I started studying for MCAT this year. I am not doing a 5th year to bring up my GPA but just to take the pre-reqs and strengthen my ECs. I am not sure I should do a non-degree or stay for a 5th year given the pros of each option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conditional knockout Posted April 11, 2020 Report Share Posted April 11, 2020 Also consider OSAP, cuz if you’re not longer enrolled you have to start paying back. My only regret is that I went on to improve other areas that were not as critical as my weak CARS score... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sportsMD23 Posted April 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2020 14 hours ago, conditional knockout said: Also consider OSAP, cuz if you’re not longer enrolled you have to start paying back. My only regret is that I went on to improve other areas that were not as critical as my weak CARS score... Fortunately, I was able to pay off all my loans already and so OSAP is not my concern as of now. I am working hard to practice CARS everyday but really not sure what I should do for next year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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