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Teacher to doctor.. what gpa booster option to choose? Please help!


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Hey everyone!
 Sorry for the long post in advance but I would really appreciate everyone’s help!! 


Here is my background: ~3.4 cGPA (life Sci- years; 3.7 in 4th year, lower in other years), completed my bachelor of education degree right after, however this degree was pass or fail, so no grades and strong ECs (a range of things, been committed to a few for a while). Writing the MCAT this August (working full time and studying for it).


I’ve been working as a teacher for the past 2 years (science and special Ed) and am hoping to go into Med school. I’ve always kind of wanted to go but didn’t take it seriously during my undergrad. While I enjoy teaching, I always find myself drawn to the the content regarding the human body or when I read the files for my special needs students, I find myself drawn to their medical reports, past and current- trying to understand their diagnosis and then doing further research about those diagnosis’, the science behind it, the testing involved, kinds of meds involved, the impact of these meds etc. While I want to work with a similar demographic, I want to work with them more from the medical perspective, being actively involved in their health care plans and seeing the impact it has on their everyday lives. 

So here’s my dilemma. I can apply to UBC with my gpa (I’m a BC resident), but I don’t think I’m competitive at all. I think I need to boost my GPA so I can apply to more schools in Canada (I did my undergrad in Ontario). I’m confused as to what path to take: 

1. Take a full year of courses as an unclassified student (boost gpa) (best 2 years option for some schools)

2. Do a 2nd undergrad (2 years, boost gpa)

3. Purse a masters in education (my salary goes up and it’s good if Med school doesn’t workout for moving up in administration. However, I don’t see myself teaching for the rest of my life- it’s mentally and physically challenging (some of my students are violent) but I don’t find myself intellectually challenged at all. I miss my 4th year Nsci and cardio courses!) 

How would a masters in education be considered by Canadian med schools? Would my GPA count (I would enroll into one that assigns grades rather than P/F)?

I would appreciate any help I could get. There’s a lot of information out there but honestly with full time work and mcat prep, I haven’t had a chance to sit down and do through research. I would appreciate any advice from personal experiences or research you guys can provide!

Sorry for the long post, I look forward to seeing what people have to say.

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Speaking as someone with a masters degree, none of the schools really looked at it (except Toronto for research). You would be better off with additional undergrad years. 

That being said, your non-trade background will likely be a big help for you. You'll have a lot to talk about in terms of life experience :)

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A Master's in Education would be considered by several schools (UBC, UofA and UofC all do I believe). However, as others have pointed out, it's not necessarily considered or as useful for many other schools. 

If you applied to UBC, they would include the grades from a master's in your GPA calculation, and you'd be able to drop up to 30 credits from your worst GPA year. The averages in many of the education psychology courses and other courses you need for an MEd at UBC tend to be very high, so those courses could give your GPA a decent boost. However, I think the MEd is only 30 credits of course work(correct me if I am wrong)  -- so even if you were able to get a straight A+ average, it probably wouldn't be enough to make up for your overall GPA if your best year was only a 3.7. As a non trad you would realistically need at least an 80% average (A- / 3.7+ GPA) to have a shot at UBC, and the rest of your application (including MCAT) would probably need to be pretty strong.

You might find it useful to play with this GPA calculator: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/faculty-staff/admin-resources-templates/gpa-calculators
You can plug in your existing grades and then play around with dropping your worst 30 credits from your worst year and with adding another year or two worth of fictional courses with grades you predict you might be able to achieve  -- this will give you a sense of how many more years of courses you'd need to take to bring your GPA up to a reasonable level to be competitive for UBC, as well as for other schools if you want to apply more broadly. 

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