nole014 Posted May 30, 2020 Report Share Posted May 30, 2020 A little about me: 1) Undergrad GPA 3.5 - cum laude. Recipient of a leadership based scholarship too. 2) Did Masters in Occupational Therapy (course based 2 year program). Worked in a community setting for 1 year doing home visits. Almost 1 year at a hospital (acute medicine, ICU, cardiac care, etc) providing rehabilitation in an acute setting. I've been working during this pandemic in the frontlines full-time and recently went part-time to study for MCATs as well (schedule to write in early Sept) 3) 2 research publications + 2 research projects 4) Extensive leadership experiences including organizing national level conferences, as well as student leadership experiences. 5) Had a past student placement funded by NOSM in Thunder Bay for 2 months, and a student delegate for an international leadership experience with the dean of health sciences during my Masters. 6) I can get a good reference letter from the dean of health sciences, as well as my manager at the hospital, plus one of my past research supervisors I submitted a med school app 2 years ago and did not get an interview. I had a very low MCAT score. Any advice on my chances of getting in? Hoping to study for CARS only and write the entire exam. What would be my chances? is it worth it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrOtter Posted May 30, 2020 Report Share Posted May 30, 2020 Unfortunately Mac is very mechanical in their pre-interview assessment, which simply comes down to GPA, CARS and CASPer. Your personal experiences, incredible as they may be, will be very difficult to showcase before coming to the interview. You can try to demonstrate some of it in the CASPer test but even then, given only 5 minutes/station to tackle 3 questions, the scope of your discussion will be severely limited. A cGPA of 3.5 is unfortunately not very competitive either, with McMaster not allowing for any weighting or special circumstances. McMaster does give you a 1% bonus for having a Masters but that is inconsequential compared to GPA. The most likely place you have a shot at would be UofT, given the 7 essays you get a chance to write to discuss your extensive life experiences, as well as an academic explanation essay for you to explain the special circumstances (if any) of why you had a low GPA and depending on your case, UofT might allow weighting. There have been people who get in with a cGPA of 3.6+ which indicates the impact these essays and holistic assessment have on your chances. You will be placed in the graduate applicant pool, which is separate from the 3.9+ undergrad pool. As well, UofT only treats MCAT as a cut off with 125 minimum and allowance of 124 in one section. All of these bode well with the strengths and weaknesses of your application as is. reginageorge 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nole014 Posted May 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2020 do you predict any upcoming changes due to MCAT cancellations (not sure how this pandemic will end up - but the dates keep getting cancelled). Yes, I'll be applying to UofT as well. Thank you DrOtter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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