My GPA in percentage form versus OMSAS

[2017m]

Hello!

I attend Western University and have earned a cumulative GPA of 87.5%. This translates to exactly 3.8 according to the OMSAS scale. Forgive me if this is a stupid question... but would my GPA (in percentage form) be perceived more positively by a medical school that does not use the OMSAS scale.. say, Saskatchewan, for instance? I question if my 3.8 would appear less strong/competitive than my 87.5%. I was told that my 3.8 would be viewed as highly competitive across all medical schools in Canada, but i've read otherwise on these forums. 

I've toyed with the idea of taking an additional 5.0 courses to (hopefully) bump up my OMSAS average. Blah.. can't get over all the 3.9s and 4.0s i'm seeing. 

Thank-you

[yybonn]

Are you converting each of your grades individually to the 4.0 OMSAS scale, and then taking the average of those numbers? I suspect you might get a different number from 3.8. Different schools have different GPA requirements - from what I recall UofT and Ottawa look highly on GPA (average UofT matriculant had ~3.95 and I believe a 3.9+ is competitive for Ottawa).  A 3.8 is just slightly below the average McMaster matriculant, but again your calculated GPA may be incorrect and may actually be higher thanthat. Schulich looks moreso at MCAT scores than GPA so a 3.8 would not be limiting you. UBC looks at percentages, but you may want to check out the stats on what makes an OOP competitive (assuming you are an Ontario resident) 

[Meridian]

Schools don't compare GPA to a % score -- they use their stated benchmark which is GPA for most Canadian schools.

A percentage mark is not a GPA. Percentage results are linear where GPA is a non-linear scale.   Do double-check you are calculating correctly - convert each course grade to GPA and then average the GPAs for each year and then average GPA overall.

    https://www.ouac.on.ca/guide/omsas-conversion-table/

3.8 GPA is not highly-competitive, but it is still in the game for some schools if you are bringing along excellent MCAT/ECs/CASPER with it.

Luckily most schools offer a weighted-GPA approach which can boost your GPA (last 2 years / best 2 years / best 3 years, drop xx courses).   UWO as example looks at best 2 years GPA.  Calculate your wGPA and see how you stack up at each school.    

You likely need to focus on Ontario schools as you are out of province (OOP) at  other schools and the thresholds are typically much higher for interviews.

 

[2017m]

5 hours ago, AriH said:

Are you converting each of your grades individually to the 4.0 OMSAS scale, and then taking the average of those numbers? I suspect you might get a different number from 3.8. Different schools have different GPA requirements - from what I recall UofT and Ottawa look highly on GPA (average UofT matriculant had ~3.95 and I believe a 3.9+ is competitive for Ottawa).  A 3.8 is just slightly below the average McMaster matriculant, but again your calculated GPA may be incorrect and may actually be higher thanthat. Schulich looks moreso at MCAT scores than GPA so a 3.8 would not be limiting you. UBC looks at percentages, but you may want to check out the stats on what makes an OOP competitive (assuming you are an Ontario resident) 

Hi AriH,

I applied only to NOSM this year. It was during this process that I learned that my GPA was 3.8, as per OMSAS. I earned 3 grades in the mid 70s year one of uni & a few low 80s in year two. Otherwise I have primarily 90s & 95s. 

I will be writing the MCAT at the end of this term. For various reasons I will be applying to McMaster, Queens, NOSM, Calgary, and Saskatchewan only. I still wonder if I should take additional courses this term to (hopefully) increase my GPA. I truly thought an 87.5% would be sufficient, until I realized that this translates to a 3.8 only. damn

[2017m]

4 hours ago, Meridian said:

Schools don't compare GPA to a % score -- they use their stated benchmark which is GPA for most Canadian schools.

A percentage mark is not a GPA. Percentage results are linear where GPA is a non-linear scale.   Do double-check you are calculating correctly - convert each course grade to GPA and then average the GPAs for each year and then average GPA overall.

    https://www.ouac.on.ca/guide/omsas-conversion-table/

3.8 GPA is not highly-competitive, but it is still in the game for some schools if you are bringing along excellent MCAT/ECs/CASPER with it.

Luckily most schools offer a weighted-GPA approach which can boost your GPA (last 2 years / best 2 years / best 3 years, drop xx courses).   UWO as example looks at best 2 years GPA.  Calculate your wGPA and see how you stack up at each school.    

You likely need to focus on Ontario schools as you are out of province (OOP) at  other schools and the thresholds are typically much higher for interviews.

 

Thank-you Meridian. Unfortunately I can confirm that the 3.8 was calculated correctly (entered all my grades into the OMSAS application and was provided with this number).  I felt confident that my 87.5% would be more than sufficient, until I learned that it translated to 3.8 only. I was pretty bummed.

I feel confident that I can increase my GPA to 3.83 by the end of this year, but I wonder how much of a difference this will really make.

Any clue if Queens will count one semester of full-time studies towards the 2 year GPA? I am guessing it must be a full year of 3.0+ courses.. I should probably google this

 

[yybonn]

1 hour ago, 2017m said:

Hi AriH,

I applied only to NOSM this year. It was during this process that I learned that my GPA was 3.8, as per OMSAS. I earned 3 grades in the mid 70s year one of uni & a few low 80s in year two. Otherwise I have primarily 90s & 95s. 

I will be writing the MCAT at the end of this term. For various reasons I will be applying to McMaster, Queens, NOSM, Calgary, and Saskatchewan only. I still wonder if I should take additional courses this term to (hopefully) increase my GPA. I truly thought an 87.5% would be sufficient, until I realized that this translates to a 3.8 only. damn

I'm only familiar with the Ontario schools so I'll just comment on McMaster and Queens. Are you a fourth year? If you have primarily 90s and 95s in your 3rd/4th years, then I'm assuming you would have a pretty high most recent 2-year GPA for Queens. I would not recommend spending another full year boosting your GPA for Queens, assuming yours is already very high, and Queens only takes into account full-time year of studies into calculating most recent GPA so you'd have to take another year, not just a semester of classes. 

McMaster looks at your cumulative GPA - if you end up with a 3.83 this year and can get a 4.0 for your extra semesters, how much will this increase your GPA by? Of course, it's good to aim for as high of a GPA as you can, but the other 66% of the interview invitations are determined by Casper and your CARS score. 

[2017m]

21 minutes ago, AriH said:

I'm only familiar with the Ontario schools so I'll just comment on McMaster and Queens. Are you a fourth year? If you have primarily 90s and 95s in your 3rd/4th years, then I'm assuming you would have a pretty high most recent 2-year GPA for Queens. I would not recommend spending another full year boosting your GPA for Queens, assuming yours is already very high, and Queens only takes into account full-time year of studies into calculating most recent GPA so you'd have to take another year, not just a semester of classes. 

McMaster looks at your cumulative GPA - if you end up with a 3.83 this year and can get a 4.0 for your extra semesters, how much will this increase your GPA by? Of course, it's good to aim for as high of a GPA as you can, but the other 66% of the interview invitations are determined by Casper and your CARS score. 

I have completed my undergraduate degree. Just finished an additional 3.0 credits last term (took them merely out of interest / to keep myself busy this year). If I were to apply to Queens, and assuming they considered my two most recent full time years only, I believe my GPA would be approx. 3.95. I have yet to complete the MCAT, however. 

I have my heart set on McMaster for a few different reasons. Back in the summer when the online application was still available, I entered the grades that I predicted I could earn this year (Sept-April). According to my estimation, I could likely increase my cGPA to 3.83 by the end of this term. I wonder if a 3.83 would hold considerably more weight than a 3.8? Probably hard to say. I really hate the thought of having to nail the CASPer test / earn an exceptionally high CARS score on the MCAT just to have a shot. I suppose it is what it is and i'll just have to get over myself!

Thank-you for offering input