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lulu95

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Posts posted by lulu95

  1. Just a few points:

    1. I always thought that UofA had a best years policy? The GPA that showed up on my application after they received my transcript most definitely did not include my worst year.

    2. Regarding the idea that some people may not work as hard academically just because they only need a 3.3, how about after they get into medical school, when it's pass/fail? And as many others have already pointed out, this would realistically benefit non-traditional applicants and those who may not have had as much luck academically, rather than those who were already academic gunners to begin with, because high GPAs will get you into other schools, but low GPA applicants finally have a chance as well.

    3. As a counter to the insistence that doctors must be social people, that's not necessarily true for all. While it's inevitable that they will have to work with others, a surgeon who is incapable of striking up a casual conversation but has exceptional skill will serve their patient just fine. Of course, truly rude or inappropriate behaviour may make their hospital more susceptible to lawsuits, but those are things that would hopefully show up in references and interviews, not a potential future physician's GPA.

    4. I hope this doesn't come off as a slight to family doctors, but a thought occurred to me that the lower emphasis on GPA is a way to get more students into family or rural medicine? It's an unfortunate side effect but most pre-meds I know with extremely high GPAs are also very competitive people, who are only interested in pursuing the competitive specialties and working in academic centres. The problem of course, is that competitive specialties - by definition - have no shortage of doctors, and admitting more of these students won't help address physician shortages in rural areas.

  2. ...You have a *terrific* GPA... and hundred of hours of volunteering... Honestly, unless you bomb the MCAT, you don't really have anything to worry about; whatever you think of your ECs, that GPA gives you quite a bit of leeway. Many pre-med ECs aren't as interesting as you think, lol. Maybe spend more time on figuring out how to make your ABS meaningful and fit in 100 characters, if you're worried.

    In terms of them being recent commitments, since many people move to a different city for university, two years isn't bad in terms of length (again, don't know what year you're in). 

    Just one point though: most of your awards seem to be as a direct result of your GPA which, not to take anything away from them, doesn't add very much to what they don't already know about you. However, that's not something you can easily change within a summer.

  3. Result: Accepted to unspecified campus

    Timestamp: 12:11pm May 9

    wGPA: Not sure how they count the conditional final year, interview invite was based on one year with 3.9

    MCAT: 130/129/130/130 (519)

    ECs: Some research, hospital/first-aid volunteering, shadowing

    Interview: Felt that it went well, interviewers seemed really interested in discussing my research, and I was able to bring up a very good experience from shadowing. So many pauses during one of the questions though, interviewers had to prompt me to go on...

    Year: 4th year UG

    Non-SWOMEN

     

    Was waitlisted elsewhere, and Western was my first choice anyway, so will be accepting :)

  4. Result: Waitlist
    Time stamp: 9:30 AM May 9
    cGPA: 3.81
    MCAT: 130/129/130/130
    ECs: Average, I think. 3 research courses, and a poster presentation + award. ~550 hours combined hospital and first aid volunteering.
    Interview: Only felt like I did well on one MMI station, average on a few others, and badly on two. Felt good about the panel immediately afterwards, but questioned a lot of it as time passed.
    Year: 4th year UG (IP)

    Will be removing myself from the waitlist to accept Western's offer, hopefully this can help someone out there. Good luck to everyone still waiting!

  5. MCAT: 518 (129/127/130/132)

     

    Really worried about CARS holding me back. I'm an Ontario resident and don't really know if it's worth rewriting for one section that is borderline for most schools. My GPA is currently at a 3.87 but should be higher next cycle once it includes my 4th year marks. Thoughts?

    How long did you prep for CARS the first time around? It depends on if you think you'll be able to improve, and which schools you want to get into. If you want Mac and uOttawa, then you'll need to either rewrite or have an amazing CASPer. I'm not too sure about the other provinces, but Calgary also weighs CARS heavily, and you'd be disadvantaged as OOP.

     

    Yeah, Ontario residency....... Basically, consider whether you think a 127 is the best you could do, and whether you would improve with more studying. And also how long it's been since you've touched a physics/biochem/physiology etc textbook (whether your stellar scores in the other sections would be negatively impacted).

  6. Looking for honest opinions.  Applying to Ontario med schools with a 508 (129/125/127/127).  Should I consider a rewrite? I have a GPA of 3.9+ and lots of solid ECs, work experience, volunteering, etc.  Thoughts?

    That 125 CARS alone will hurt you at 4/6 places in Ontario. For hard cutoffs this year, Western's was 129, and Queen's seems to be around 127. Those without hard cutoffs, Toronto's VR was ~10 in 2015, which is supposedly 127-128 CARS (the 2 points could still be compensated for with a great wGPA and essays), while for McMaster you would need to ace the CASPer. If you're confident in your EC's and wGPA though, maybe you can consider using the time you would've spent on rewriting the MCAT on consolidating your ABS/essays for NOSM, Ottawa, and Toronto. It depends on how long you spent studying last time though, how many times you've already done it, and whether you have the energy/resources to do it again (and do it better). There are certainly possibilities with your GPA and good EC's, but if you want better chances at more places, I highly recommend you consider rewriting, maybe with a different/more focused (you have a good C/P score) study strategy this time?

     

    Is this a joke? This is not what is holding you back... Re-taking the MCAT would be a complete waste of time in my opinion. 

    ...nope, wasn't joking. The Ontario schools which had the most transparent formula for interviews both seemed to suggest that boosting CARS would give me a better chance despite an average GPA, so it seemed like something that should be seriously considered.

  7. I wonder if it would really make that much of a difference though. Even the OOP's 506 minimum is likely to be much lower than most applicants' scores, no? (the 3.7 rule has already disqualified me from Dal, so I'm just asking out of curiosity).

     

    With Dal, 3 schools total will be asking for CASPer, and UofA is also adding a new online portion of the interview. Seems as if schools are tending toward administering an "online MMI" before the actual MMI?

  8. I'm considering a rewrite, but really don't know if I should, especially since I wrote it in 2015 and would have to review a lot of the material again.

     

    My score seemed pretty good when I received it (130/129/130/130, total 519, 98th percentile), but my GPA took a big hit last year, so I need a good MCAT to compensate (especially for McMaster). I was already considering a rewrite last year, looking at Manitoba (OOP) and Western's stats, and getting the interview decision from McMaster today just reinforced it. The thing is though, the one I really want to improve is CARS, and that seems to be the hardest to predict. Also, my score really benefitted from doing practice exams, but those things cost so much that I don't want to waste it and still risk not improving CARS. Am still waiting on Western for their new cutoffs of course, but having thinking about this for some time.

     

    Thoughts/suggestions?

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