tryingtoohard

Does anyone know if it will be okay for medical schools if I defer a year or just take an additional year due to COVID-19? I am a Biochemistry major and a Business minor, who was planning on completing my degree in four years, but obviously COVID-19 completely messed things up, and I think I have to take an extra year now. There are a couple of microbiology lab courses that are online next year, but I would like to take them in person since they are extremely engaging, and I want to genetically modify bacteria in person than online. I am planning on applying to UBC, U of C, and U of A, and I c

It is very unique to hear your views and experience, thank you for sharing them. As a side note, I was wondering why higher education is not encouraged in the households of black people. I am genuinely curious to know this. As someone of Asian descent and a minority, all I have ever heard of from Asian families, whether from Eastern Asia or South Asia, is how much they value higher education, and how important it is to work hard and attain reputable carriers, and to be successful, especially in countries like USA and Canada. I am assuming that any family would want their children to work hard,

I am a Biochemistry major, but I am also doing a minor in Business. I have definitely become involved with an organization that focuses on young entrepreneurs and allows students in Business to go to various schools, like elementary schools, junior high and high schools in the area, and give presentations regarding businesses, managing your finances, how to be an entrepreneur, marketing skills, and other skills as well. It is helping tremendously with my public speaking and leadership skills, and in other areas as well. I encourage you to get involved in something that you are passionate about

Thank you so much. That is so great that you also turned your GPA around. It was pretty disheartening to know that I won't be eligible for wGPA if I did not take 5 courses each semester since my first year was so bad, but it is great to know that I can write an essay explaining my situation. I am also an Alberta resident so I was planning on applying to U of A, U of C, and UBC, since I would like to stay near my family, however, I also have some family in Toronto so I was thinking of applying to U of T as well. I qualify for wGPA or aGPA for U of A, U of C, and UBC, so I only need to write the

I do have a valid academic explanations essay, and I can explain why I was not able to maintain a full course load for first year and also for the first semester of second year. Other than that, the rest of my semesters had full course loads of five courses each semester. My GPA in first year was 2.20, and it was 3.90 second year, 4.0 in third year, and 4.0 in fourth year, so they could also tell from my first year GPA that I had an extenuating circumstance in first year. I truly hope I qualify for wGPA for U of T, since my cGPA will be very bad. I am also planning on graduating in four years,

Hello everyone, I was just wondering if I can ever apply to U of T med school? I heard we need a full course load to be eligible for wGPA, but I am not sure if that is 4 or 5 courses. I took four courses in each semester of first year. I had four courses for my first semester of second year, and five courses for second semester of second year (if they calculate Winter 2020). I still have third and fourth year left, for which I will take a full course load of five courses each semester. Please let me know, thank you.

That helps a lot, thank you. I’m only applying to UBC, U of A, and U of C, so that is a relief that UBC does not require an applicant to take at least three courses at or above the year level each term. I’m a Biochemistry major, and I have like 6 Chem courses at the 200 level, or 2nd year level, and also at least 4 other Biology and Statistics courses, so I have no way of completing all of them in my 2nd year. I also have any 3rd or 4th year courses for Biochem, and I think it’s only 4 each year, or 2 per semester, that are at the year level or above the year level. Thank you so much for the i

Does anyone know which medical schools actually require you to take courses at or above the year level? If I am in 3rd year or 4th, will medical schools, especially U of C, U of A, and UBC, require me to take at least three 3rd year and 4th year courses in each semester? Could you send me a link to it if you can?

Your extracurriculars look amazing. Your GPA is a bit on the lower side, however, UCalgary puts a high emphasis on extracurriculars and how well you write your top 10s. I think you have a good chance, but I would suggest either rewriting your MCAT and getting a higher score, or doing something else to increase your GPA like another year, another undergrad, or masters, since people who usually get Md/PhD interviews have a really high GPA. If your GPA is 3.85 omitting this Winter 2020 semester, then I do not think it’s too low and it is still competitive. I would encourage rewriting the MCAT tho

There is a lot of talk on this forum regarding general MD applications but very few about Md/PhD applications. What do you need in your application to be considered for an Md/PhD interview, and how do you prepare yourself to be a competitive candidate? Any information will be useful regarding how to get an Md/PhD interview, and also how competitive it usually is.

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Oh I had no idea, thanks so much, and sorry that I gave you wrong information. I need to go register for the summer English courses now.

Oh okay then I'm not too sure. I go to Uvic and most people there apply to UBC medicine, and a lot of them told me that UBC does not look at summer courses, therefore english courses taken in the summer won't fulfil the prerequisite either.

You can't fill UBC's english requirements by taking the courses in the summer unfortunately. I am also trying to apply to UBC and I have to take the two English courses during the semester, because I heard they don't count summer courses and the English requirement would not be fulfilled.

Now that U of A and U of C have implemented the policy that Winter 2020 grades will not be calculated, how are they going to calculate grades? Since they made the decision to omit the grades from this semester, they should do that only, omit it, and not take grades from our previous semester since that does not make sense. I am confused as to how U of A, U of C, and UBC will calculate GPA now since they require three years, or six semesters, for GPA calculation. I currently just completed my second semester of second year, and if they decide to omit this, I was wondering if they will calculate