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Need some insight with my GPA


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I am currently going into my final year of sciences with a sup par GPA.

First year -2.7 planning to get this dropped when I apply 

Second year- 2.9

Third year- 3.7 

MCAT cars -130 

As you can see there was a huge leap in GPA. I have had to work alongside my undergrad to support myself and it was overwhelming for the first two years but as I matured I understood how to manage it and it dramatically increased my GPA.

ECs include- volunteer trip abroad to Africa, volunteering with private clinic for 4 years, research, sexual assault hotline worker, captain of a soccer team, creating a club 

I know for a fact my fourth and final year will be my strongest as I've been much more diligent as well but I don't think Calgary will have those marks in time. What do you guys suggest? Is it possible for someone with my criteria to get in? Should I take another year to increase my GPA? Should I go into masters?

Please feedback would be really appreciated. 

 

 

 

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Just my $0.02 but for now I would focus on nailing your senior year. A 4.0 puts you around a 3.5 which is low but would keep you in the fight for UofA and UofC. A masters won't do anything to improve your GPA at UofA or UofC, so I would try to decide if you feel a small increase in your GPA from one more year of undergrad would outweigh a year dedicated to improving your ECs.

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8 hours ago, ballsortahard said:

Just my $0.02 but for now I would focus on nailing your senior year. A 4.0 puts you around a 3.5 which is low but would keep you in the fight for UofA and UofC. A masters won't do anything to improve your GPA at UofA or UofC, so I would try to decide if you feel a small increase in your GPA from one more year of undergrad would outweigh a year dedicated to improving your ECs.

Well that's not true. UofC will count the GPA from your masters as the equivalent of a single undergraduate year in calculations.  UofA says "All coursework completed as part of a thesis-based graduate program to which a grade and course weighting was assigned will be included in the calculation of cGPA." But I agree. If GPA is the weakest part of an application (which is the case for you), it's a lot better to do an extra year of undergrad than spend 2-3 years on a masters. One advantage though, if you would be open to considering doing your masters at UofC, is the leaders in medicine program. I'll let you look into it yourself, but the jist of it is that you can keep applying every year to the MD program while you're in the masters and if you get into MD partway through the masters they let you defer by whatever period of time you will need to complete your masters before matriculating into the MD program. This maximizes your chances of getting in because you potentially get multiple applications cycles as compared to if you did your masters at a different university you would only be eligible to apply in the cycle by the end of which you would have your masters degree conferred to you.

The biggest barrier for you currently is getting your wGPA up. Your ECs are decent, but perhaps not good enough to overcome your GPA (unless there are some elements I'm missing or you're a phenomenal writer who can really sell themselves in the Top 10). The 130 CARS will help you, but that's only 10% of the file review (and 5% of the overall admissions score) for UofC. If you can get a 4.0 in your final year, I encourage you to apply, but a 3.5 wGPA is still on the low end. If you don't get in that cycle, I would suggest a follow-up 5th year. Another 4.0 then should make you more competitive (3.65wGPA; which is still not great tbh but certainly a lot better than a 3.5).

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