Ivy League

[fru489]

Has any Canadian been accepted to an American Ivy league here and willing to talk about their application? Just curious - what do you think separated you from the thousands of other applications/ did you feel you had a good chance when you applied/ have any of you had a sub 3.7 CGPA? 

 

Also, on another note. How much do GPA trends make a difference - if I got a 3.1 first year, but a 4.0 in second and third, would this qualify me as competitive or would I still be an average applicant with a 3.7CGPA?

 

Cheers!

[JohnGrisham]

Has any Canadian been accepted to an American Ivy league here and willing to talk about their application? Just curious - what do you think separated you from the thousands of other applications/ did you feel you had a good chance when you applied/ have any of you had a sub 3.7 CGPA? 

 

Also, on another note. How much do GPA trends make a difference - if I got a 3.1 first year, but a 4.0 in second and third, would this qualify me as competitive or would I still be an average applicant with a 3.7CGPA?

 

Cheers!

I wouldn't bother applying until you complete your 4th year with another 4.0 and get a strong MCAT as well to pair it. 

 

If you get a strong MCAT, i mean very strong - then all the options are open. Of course need strong ecs too, but it seems you have that to an extent - and you should get interviews.

 

Rough start to university is understandable and upwards trend is a good thing. 

[GH0ST]

Has any Canadian been accepted to an American Ivy league here and willing to talk about their application? Just curious - what do you think separated you from the thousands of other applications/ did you feel you had a good chance when you applied/ have any of you had a sub 3.7 CGPA? 

 

Also, on another note. How much do GPA trends make a difference - if I got a 3.1 first year, but a 4.0 in second and third, would this qualify me as competitive or would I still be an average applicant with a 3.7CGPA?

 

Cheers!

 

US does not adjust/remove weaker years... that 3.7 will stay with you. They also do not allow grade replacements.

 

Honestly the people that get into Stanford and the likes from Canada are incredibly distinguished ...

 

Having looked at the number of posts you've been spamming on this forum (please keep the questions together in a single thread instead of making new ones every time), your application EC is somewhat above average for a third year student but your grades definitely are not. You should be focusing on achieving a high GPA and MCAT for at least these next two years before even dreaming of an Ivy league school. 

 

 

- G

[Dannny]

I applied to the Ivies for undergrad, then got into dent/med here in Quebec after cegep so decided against undergrad

 

So, with that being said

 

I don't think you need above 3.7 GPA to get into those schools if you are truly distinguished. Your ECs and most importantly your essays will help you a hell of a lot. You can send me your ecs via pm and I'll let you know if I think such things are considered as being 'distinguished' in places like the Ivies

 

However, as other posters have said, keep your grades up and kill the MCAT (like literally)

[Selstaar]

Hey,

 

I was in at Penn and waitlisted at WashU in St. Louis. A friend of mine was rejected post-interview at Harvard. Both of us are currently at Toronto.

 

From an academic standpoint, I think I echo a lot of what's been said here. A high GPA and MCAT can go a long way to getting your foot through the door. For example, my friend had a 35, and a 4.0 AMCAS GPA. When I was applying, my AMCAS GPA was 3.96, with a 31. My MCAT was lower than a number of the schools I applied/ got in to. So, one may be able to compensate for the other due to the more holistic approach a lot of the schools take to evaluating apps. Also note that your CGPA may be higher in the US due to different weighting schemes.

 

EC-wise, I don't think I can be much help. Each application is...unique. So, I don't think there's really a secret sauce that made us stand out. She did a lot of international aid work, helping rebuild in New Orleans post-Katrina, and in Haiti. She was also a rockstar pianist. My experiences were mostly local, working with under-served and immigrant populations, and some national and international competitions in sports and business, respectively. Even though we had really different experiences, I think we were both able to put together a cohesive narrative about who we are, what lead us to medicine and why this was the schools we got into were a good fit for us to study med. You get like 15 spaces to write like 200-300 words about all your extracurriculars, your motivations for getting involved, and what you took away. You also get about 800 words to give them your big med spiel. That's a lot of writing. And, I think the quality of the writing and the story you tell are HUGE factors when it comes to this stuff. You should make sense on the page, and they should be able to see you and what you care about.

 

I read a paper a while back that said the three big questions med schools try to answer throughout admissions processes are:
(1) Can you do it? - Can you cope with the essential work of medicine (demonstrated through GPA, MCATs, academic awards, etc.)

(2) Should you do it? - Are your activities and descriptions consistent with values and motivations conducive to becoming a good physician.

(3) Should you do it here? - Decided at the interview. Are you a good fit?

Try working to address the questions in this order. 

 

PM me if you've got any questions.