Master degree before medical school

[Abdullah]

Hey folks,

I know the UOT accept international students into MD program. I graduated with bachelor degree in Economics and Accounting. I was interested in Economics and social problems our societies are facing.

 

My overall GPA is 3/4 with an improved grads patterns during my study. I had poor grads in the first semesters but high grads in the last 2 semester . I am planning to take master degree in Economics energy and taking some science courses while i am doing master.

 

Is it helpful to do master to make my  applications standing, more competitive  and to improve gdp?

Is it a good idea to make the master at UOT so i get more chance or they will not consider this?

 

How UOT will assess master degree?

 

 

 

 

[HoopDreams]

I don't have specific informations about UofT but I believe that instead of doing a master's, you should pursue a second undergraduate degree since 3.0/4.0 is not enough for medical school. Moreover, maybe that could allow you to gain the IP status in the meantime, opening more spots for you. Good luck!

[rmorelan]

On 4/15/2018 at 0:34 PM, Abdullah said:

Hey folks,

I know the UOT accept international students into MD program. I graduated with bachelor degree in Economics and Accounting. I was interested in Economics and social problems our societies are facing.

 

My overall GPA is 3/4 with an improved grads patterns during my study. I had poor grads in the first semesters but high grads in the last 2 semester . I am planning to take master degree in Economics energy and taking some science courses while i am doing master.

 

Is it helpful to do master to make my  applications standing, more competitive  and to improve gdp?

Is it a good idea to make the master at UOT so i get more chance or they will not consider this?

 

How UOT will assess master degree?

 

 

 

 

Just because this is general advise - you need to compute your wGPA for UofT to see what value they would actually be used. It is complex for international students as the grades are converted often to standardize them with out grades here. 

Once you have that you have a much better idea of where you stand

[Abdullah]

11 minutes ago, HoopDreams said:

I don't have specific informations about UofT but I believe that instead of doing a master's, you should pursue a second undergraduate degree since 3.0/4.0 is not enough for medical school. Moreover, maybe that could allow you to gain the IP status in the meantime, opening more spots for you. Good luck!

Uot requirements for applicants with master is 3/4....what u mean by IP

 

 

Thanks...wish u best of luck

[Abdullah]

2 minutes ago, rmorelan said:

Just because this is general advise - you need to compute your wGPA for UofT to see what value they would actually be used. It is complex for international students as the grades are converted often to standardize them with out grades here. 

Once you have that you have a much better idea of where you stand

I received my undergrad at Cape Breton University CBU so no need for conversion..  

[la marzocco]

21 minutes ago, Abdullah said:

I received my undergrad at Cape Breton University CBU so no need for conversion..  

A masters may not be helpful at this point, a second undergrad is the way to go.

[Abdullah]

12 minutes ago, la marzocco said:

A masters may not be helpful at this point, a second undergrad is the way to go.

Is it very bad 3/4 that i have no chance?

 

BTW 3 is the overall...in the last two years it is around 3.4/4...with rising grade trend..i also had medical problems during undergrad which did things worse and i have evidence for this...do u think they will consider  my application  as special with the medical problem i had?..but i am completely good now.

[rmorelan]

59 minutes ago, Abdullah said:

I received my undergrad at Cape Breton University CBU so no need for conversion..  

ah sorry thought you were implying you did the degree outside of Canada. You still need to convert to get the actual UoT degree - it is very possible as others have pointed out that you will be below their cut offs still but knowing where you stand overall is still important (I am referring to their wGPA policy if it applies to you).

[la marzocco]

27 minutes ago, Abdullah said:

Is it very bad 3/4 that i have no chance?

BTW 3 is the overall...in the last two years it is around 3.4/4...with rising grade trend..i also had medical problems during undergrad which did things worse and i have evidence for this...do u think they will consider  my application  as special with the medical problem i had?..but i am completely good now.

You need a minimum 3.6/4.0 wGPA. You are allowed to drop your four lowest courses if you have completed four years of university (which is your case). You should run your calc and see if your wGPA is >= 3.6/4.0 after dropping four of your lowest courses. However, I suspect that even if the weighting it will still be <3.6. It is true that in the graduate (research-based) stream that you are only required a 3.0/4.0 GPA, but you must have high productivity in that masters. A second undergrad would prove to be most useful imo.

Also, have you written your MCATs?

You are permitted to write a letter of extenuating circumstances where you can detail any personal troubles that may have adversely impacted your academic performance. However, many would say that such a letter is a double-edged sword. On one hand you can detail your personal circumstances (which is favourable), while others may argue that it may raise red flags on your application.

[Meridian]

A Masters in Economics would likely not put you in the graduate interview stream. U of T is typically looking for science-based research with significant "productivity". 

Compute your undergrad wGPA if you had full course load   A +3.85 could be competitive depending on ECs in your application.  MCAT is pure cutoffs.

 

 

[Abdullah]

12 hours ago, rmorelan said:

ah sorry thought you were implying you did the degree outside of Canada. You still need to convert to get the actual UoT degree - it is very possible as others have pointed out that you will be below their cut offs still but knowing where you stand overall is still important (I am referring to their wGPA policy if it applies to you).

That is way i am planning to take master while improving my application in term of ECS, mcat,... and in my opinion it is not gauranted to get accepted in medical school...therefore taking master in something that employer required is never bad idea...and doing research in healthcare issues is good way to go...medical school want ppl from several background...taking master in science will have poor chance to get job if i say if did not accepted in medical school..

 

 

Also is very costly to take undergrad specially that i am not eligible for student loan...   

[Abdullah]

12 hours ago, la marzocco said:

You need a minimum 3.6/4.0 wGPA. You are allowed to drop your four lowest courses if you have completed four years of university (which is your case). You should run your calc and see if your wGPA is >= 3.6/4.0 after dropping four of your lowest courses. However, I suspect that even if the weighting it will still be <3.6. It is true that in the graduate (research-based) stream that you are only required a 3.0/4.0 GPA, but you must have high productivity in that masters. A second undergrad would prove to be most useful imo.

Also, have you written your MCATs?

You are permitted to write a letter of extenuating circumstances where you can detail any personal troubles that may have adversely impacted your academic performance. However, many would say that such a letter is a double-edged sword. On one hand you can detail your personal circumstances (which is favourable), while others may argue that it may raise red flags on your application.

So is not recommended to write letter to explain my circumstances?

 

2nd undergrad is very costly...what u mean very productive?? Mean in research ?   

 

I did  not write  mcat yet...i can not focus until to find out where i stand 

[SunAndMoon]

21 minutes ago, Abdullah said:

So is not recommended to write letter to explain my circumstances?

 

2nd undergrad is very costly...what u mean very productive?? Mean in research ?   

 

I did  not write  mcat yet...i can not focus until to find out where i stand 

A letter of extenuating circumstances is not supposed to harm you in any way. It can only help. That being said your grades are too low and the advice you have gotten on here is good. You should do another undergrad. Even with excellent grades, admission to med school in Canada as an international is extremely difficult.

Are you a permanent resident? 

 

[Abdullah]

5 minutes ago, SunAndMoon said:

A letter of extenuating circumstances is not supposed to harm you in any way. It can only help. That being said your grades are too low and the advice you have gotten on here is good. You should do another undergrad. Even with excellent grades, admission to med school in Canada as an international is extremely difficult.

Are you a permanent resident? 

 

No...i am from saudi arabia...i spent years in canada since i graduated from high school...

 

Maybe it is possible to apply for PR while doing master and having Part time job 

[Abdullah]

Thanks guys for the helpful comments...that is how beautiful Canadian are eh!...love u all

[Abdullah]

What about memorial university...they do bot have minimum GPA and MCAT...they follow holistic approach....also other Canadian med school cutoff is 3/4...  

[la marzocco]

5 hours ago, Abdullah said:

What about memorial university...they do bot have minimum GPA and MCAT...they follow holistic approach....also other Canadian med school cutoff is 3/4...  

GPA at most if not all Canadian schools are assessed competitively; meaning that just because the cut-off is met does not mean it is competitive. I like to think of an application as a three-legged stool - GPA, MCAT (for most schools anyway), and ECs. It may even be a four-legged stool in some cases because of the increased prevalence of the CASPer/some form of SJT testing. Not saying one leg cannot be weak, but it must be compensated by the other two/three. At this point, your GPA is low, MCAT is an unknown and you must be able to demonstrate CanMEDS competences through your ECs. 

To SunAndMoon's point, entry into Canadian medical schools as an international student is incredibly difficult. MUN does accept international, but I just went through the data for the past 5 cycles and the success rate for international applicants is 0% for all five cycles. Aside from MUN and U of T, the Quebec medical schools also accept international students. UdeS/UdeM/Laval may be difficult to access because they are Francophone. I believe McGill accepts 2 per year. 

I understand the predicament you're in - a second undergrad is going to be full-time and you're financially constrained from what I understand. However, a masters is simply not going to improve your chances as much as a second undergrad would. 

[Chels1267]

Dalhousie has a program specifically looking to accept students from Saudi Arabia. As mentioned before though, your GPA is not high enough to get you in. A second undergrad is your only option now, a Masters will not raise your GPA high enough to get into medical school in Canada.