What are my chances and advice?

[Carraway]

Hello! I’m a long time lurker, wanted to know what my chances would be esp. at schools such as UofT and how I could make my application stronger (especially in terms of EC’s). I appreciate any thoughts!

GPA 3.7
MCAT 515
Not URM
First person in my family to graduate high school and go to college
Non-Ivy, top 100 college
Engineering major

Shadowing:
- 40 hours General Surgery
- 25 hours in Radiology
( hope to gain another place next year, would add about 30 hours )

Volunteering:
- 360 hours in a hospital (Clinical Volunteering)
- 150 hours in a clinic (Clinical Volunteering)
- 80 hours tutoring (Non-clinical)
- 70 hours in a shelter (Non-clinical)

Extracurriculars:
- One sport in college (not competitive level, only as a hobby)
- Committee of two clubs (language one, STEM one)
- Member of two more clubs (cultural one, another STEM one)
- Language courses completed with certificates (fluent in multiple languages)

Research:
- 400 hours in an engineering lab, two publications

[youbesee]

I'm assuming you are an international applicant?

I would think your chances of getting into canadian medical schools will be significantly lower than domestic students, given the very limited spots. Canadian students already have it hard enough!

Your GPA probably isn't competitive. The average GPA for those going into U of T is like 3.95+, and being an international applicant makes this even more competitive. I'm not sure how much you can raise your GPA without doing another degree.

Canadian schools don't really take your background into account, but you could write about your experiences in the essays/explanation essays if applicable.

Shadowing holds no bearing in Canada. They will most likely ignore your shadowing hours completely.

Your volunteering/extracurriculars are fine but nothing spectacular. Again, you probably need stand out extracurriculars to get in as an international applicant. You could use more activities demonstrating leadership.

Research is pretty good.

 

While I do not have much experience with international applicants, my impression is that you probably aren't competitive given your GPA.

[Psych]

I was just about to say the same thing as youbesee- shadowing is not even allowed in Canada, so as they said those hours are pretty much irrelevant and I'm not even sure it's a good idea to put them on your application (although I don't know too much about this so perhaps someone else can chime in). MCAT and ECs look decent to me, but I also agree that GPA is your biggest barrier. Unfortunately you really don't have a hope at u of T with that GPA- so you'd either need to raise it or look into other Canadian schools. I'm not sure if it's the same for international students but western has a 3.7 cut-off above which GPA doesn't matter so much, so you might have a shot there- and Queen's takes your best 2 years so if that raises your GPA that could work too. Hope that helps!

[INTJ-A]

Forgive my straightforwardness, but your chances for anywhere in Canada are practically zero if you are not a permanent resident/citizen.

If you completed your undergrad in the UK, your best bet for med school are there or somewhere else in Europe.

I know that AMCAS does take shadowing into account and quite a few schools accept international students, so I'd recommend looking into American programs as well.

[MedicineLCS]

1 hour ago, Carraway said:

GPA 3.7 OMSAS scale? What's your Ottawa/Toronto/Western/Queens cGPA/wGPA?
MCAT 515 What subsection scores? A 515 with a 123 CARS score is a non-starter. 
Not URM Doesn't matter in Canada unless you're Indigenous/Black.
First person in my family to graduate high school and go to college
Non-Ivy, top 100 college Doesn't matter. 
Engineering major Only a small number of schools care

Shadowing:
-Doesn't matter and some schools will red flag this. 

Volunteering:
Kinda cookie cutter to be honest, but people get in with that sometimes. 

Extracurriculars:
Good, but languages/clubs are not going to make a huge difference

Research:
Good. 

Do you have any real-world (outside the non-Ivy tower) work experience? Calculate your different GPAs and you'll have a better idea, but if you're not a Canadian/PR you're not likely to be competitive. 

[Carraway]

6 hours ago, MedicineLCS said:

Do you have any real-world (outside the non-Ivy tower) work experience? Calculate your different GPAs and you'll have a better idea, but if you're not a Canadian/PR you're not likely to be competitive. 

I do have a lot of work experience (most non-medical, some in related areas) from every summer since 2015 and as term time part-time jobs since 2018. I haven't calculated my weighted GPAs so that would be something I'd need to do.

[Carraway]

11 hours ago, youbesee said:

I'm assuming you are an international applicant?

I would think your chances of getting into canadian medical schools will be significantly lower than domestic students, given the very limited spots. Canadian students already have it hard enough!

Your GPA probably isn't competitive. The average GPA for those going into U of T is like 3.95+, and being an international applicant makes this even more competitive. I'm not sure how much you can raise your GPA without doing another degree.

Canadian schools don't really take your background into account, but you could write about your experiences in the essays/explanation essays if applicable.

Shadowing holds no bearing in Canada. They will most likely ignore your shadowing hours completely.

Your volunteering/extracurriculars are fine but nothing spectacular. Again, you probably need stand out extracurriculars to get in as an international applicant. You could use more activities demonstrating leadership.

Research is pretty good.

 

While I do not have much experience with international applicants, my impression is that you probably aren't competitive given your GPA.

Thank you for your reply! Yes, I'm an international applicant and am considering applying to Canada as well as other countries. The I listed GPA isn't weighted so that would change the number. How many hours would I need to aim for in my volunteering/EC's? And would joining more committees be a good thing?

[ottawa1234]

8 hours ago, Carraway said:

Thank you for your reply! Yes, I'm an international applicant and am considering applying to Canada as well as other countries. The I listed GPA isn't weighted so that would change the number. How many hours would I need to aim for in my volunteering/EC's? And would joining more committees be a good thing?

Having a lot of hours is good. But I think you’re missing the point.

Other applicants will also be on a number of committees and also have a lot of volunteering hours. So what makes you special and unique compared to the thousands of other applicants? Why would the admission committee choose your application? These are all questions you need to reflect on.

Your accomplishments on those committees/clubs, the awards you’ve won and the issues that you’ve advocated for are more meaningful than simply joining more committees or adding more hours without a goal. 

 

[youbesee]

9 hours ago, Carraway said:

Thank you for your reply! Yes, I'm an international applicant and am considering applying to Canada as well as other countries. The I listed GPA isn't weighted so that would change the number. How many hours would I need to aim for in my volunteering/EC's? And would joining more committees be a good thing?

Ottawa1234 addressed your question about ECs very well. More is always better, but more doesn't necessarily make you a unique applicant.

Regarding GPA, it is certain that weighting will improve your GPA, but to what degree? Unless your transcript is composed of A+ across the board plus a few Fs that drag you down, or all your worst grades are concentrated in your first year or two, it is unlikely that weighting will bring you up that high. This is even more true now that Toronto is only removing up to 2 FCEs. However, please correct me if this is in fact what your transcript looks like and weighting will bring you up to 3.9+.

[Carraway]

2 hours ago, ottawa1234 said:

Having a lot of hours is good. But I think you’re missing the point.

Other applicants will also be on a number of committees and also have a lot of volunteering hours. So what makes you special and unique compared to the thousands of other applicants? Why would the admission committee choose your application? These are all questions you need to reflect on.

Your accomplishments on those committees/clubs, the awards you’ve won and the issues that you’ve advocated for are more meaningful than simply joining more committees or adding more hours without a goal. 

 

I have a specific "area" that is present and relevant in all my clubs and one of the volunteering activities but wrote about them vaguely here due to trying to stay anonymous. I also forgot to mention two part-time jobs during college (+700h) but they have no relation to medicine.

You mentioned that my EC's were fine but not spectacular - what could I do to boost that area of my application? If I can reflect on the activities well, should my priority be gaining more hours and awards/impact within the activities or possibly also doing clubs that would add another aspect to my application (what I mean is that for example if my EC's focused on languages and politics, should I start attending clubs and volunteering in another area such as technology as well)?

[Carraway]

36 minutes ago, youbesee said:

Ottawa1234 addressed your question about ECs very well. More is always better, but more doesn't necessarily make you a unique applicant.

Regarding GPA, it is certain that weighting will improve your GPA, but to what degree? Unless your transcript is composed of A+ across the board plus a few Fs that drag you down, or all your worst grades are concentrated in your first year or two, it is unlikely that weighting will bring you up that high. This is even more true now that Toronto is only removing up to 2 FCEs. However, please correct me if this is in fact what your transcript looks like and weighting will bring you up to 3.9+.

Thank you for your reply as well! All my bad grades have come from first year only which in the UK doesn't count towards the GPA at all but I believe it would count in Canadian apps. 

[PequalsMD]

11 hours ago, Carraway said:

Thank you for your reply! Yes, I'm an international applicant and am considering applying to Canada as well as other countries. The I listed GPA isn't weighted so that would change the number. How many hours would I need to aim for in my volunteering/EC's? And would joining more committees be a good thing?

Are you also primarily applying to your home country? I'm assuming you studied in the states and that you are a citizen/PR there too? Let us know so we can better assist you.

[Carraway]

8 minutes ago, WuhanClan said:

Are you also primarily applying to your home country? I'm assuming you studied in the states and that you are a citizen/PR there too? Let us know so we can better assist you.

I'm studying in the UK and applying here. I'm also looking into applying to Canada and a few US schools (the ones without set pre-reqs and that accept internationals).