Taking courses at Athabasca to strengthen GPA for McMaster.. Thoughts???

[TheOne]

Hey guys,

I completed my undergraduate degree at Western (graduated last year). I am hoping to improve my cGPA (3.83) for McMaster. I was thinking of taking a few courses at Athabasca University. 

It is my understanding that McMaster WILL count courses completed AFTER a student has graduated so long as they appear on an undergraduate transcript. Is this correct? Can you see any reasons why this would be a bad decision?

I am terrified that I will pay for (and complete) courses at Athabasca only to learn that McMaster doesn't recognize them after all..

Thanks a bunch!

[DNM]

It'll count. It's just an inefficient way of making yourself more competitive. You'll get like a 0.04 boost of cgpa for a year worth of A+s. 1 casper prompt could probably offset that. 

[Meridian]

Really not worth the effort. Do the math.  You will need 3 courses with 4.0 GPA in each just to move from 3.83 to 3.84 for MAC.

 

 

[VigoVirgo]

1 hour ago, TheOne said:

Hey guys,

I completed my undergraduate degree at Western (graduated last year). I am hoping to improve my cGPA (3.83) for McMaster. I was thinking of taking a few courses at Athabasca University. 

It is my understanding that McMaster WILL count courses completed AFTER a student has graduated so long as they appear on an undergraduate transcript. Is this correct? Can you see any reasons why this would be a bad decision?

I am terrified that I will pay for (and complete) courses at Athabasca only to learn that McMaster doesn't recognize them after all..

Thanks a bunch!

If money is not an issue go for it. If it is then I honestly don't think it's worth it.

[TheOne]

12 hours ago, DNM said:

It'll count. It's just an inefficient way of making yourself more competitive. You'll get like a 0.04 boost of cgpa for a year worth of A+s. 1 casper prompt could probably offset that. 

I wasn't going to bother until I realized that the average GPA of students who were accepted this year was 3.87 :( so I am way below

[TheOne]

12 hours ago, Meridian said:

Really not worth the effort. Do the math.  You will need 3 courses with 4.0 GPA in each just to move from 3.83 to 3.84 for MAC.

 

 

That is what I thought too, but the average GPA of students who were accepted this year was 3.87 :( so I was hoping to get myself closer to that average which I am confident I can do 

[TheOne]

12 hours ago, VigoVirgo said:

If money is not an issue go for it. If it is then I honestly don't think it's worth it.

Do you think a 3.83 would be competitive enough considering that the average this year was 3.87? I feel like my cGPA is too low

[DNM]

50 minutes ago, TheOne said:

I wasn't going to bother until I realized that the average GPA of students who were accepted this year was 3.87 so I am way below

I don't see what difference that makes since there's no cut off. I have a feeling 0.04 gpa won't make or break your app 

[goleafsgochris]

3 hours ago, TheOne said:

Do you think a 3.83 would be competitive enough considering that the average this year was 3.87? I feel like my cGPA is too low

Say GPA is worth 33% of your app.  The difference between 3.83 and 3.87 couldn't be more than what, a few percent?  Getting 4.0 is 3 full year online courses would raise you to 3.84, which would maybe get you 1%, if that?  This is going to sound harsh, but please listen--as someone who has done application reviews when I was a med student, its almost incomprehensible how inefficient that is.  Its like saying you want to improve your ECs so you are going to take up archery for the first time because if one day you make it to the Olympics it will increase your score.  On the other hand, training/practising for Casper or interviews could pretty easily increase your score by 5-10%--and might take what, a bit of money and a few hundred hours max?

[Meridian]

3 hours ago, TheOne said:

That is what I thought too, but the average GPA of students who were accepted this year was 3.87 so I was hoping to get myself closer to that average which I am confident I can do 

Again do the math - if say you only get an 84% (3.7) in just one of those 3 courses with the others still over 90% (4.0) - you will not move your cGPA at all.   Your CARS and Casper are way more important.

[TheOne]

3 hours ago, goleafsgochris said:

Say GPA is worth 33% of your app.  The difference between 3.83 and 3.87 couldn't be more than what, a few percent?  Getting 4.0 is 3 full year online courses would raise you to 3.84, which would maybe get you 1%, if that?  This is going to sound harsh, but please listen--as someone who has done application reviews when I was a med student, its almost incomprehensible how inefficient that is.  Its like saying you want to improve your ECs so you are going to take up archery for the first time because if one day you make it to the Olympics it will increase your score.  On the other hand, training/practising for Casper or interviews could pretty easily increase your score by 5-10%--and might take what, a bit of money and a few hundred hours max?

Not harsh, I appreciate your honesty. Thank-you

[Recusitatorwannabe]

I don’t know much but I feel like it’s not worth it. It’ll cost you money and won’t raise your GPA that much. Is your heart set on McMaster? If not what about western or queens, what’s your wGPA like (queens, u of t)? I think if you do well on MCAT + cARS and have good EC’s you have a chance with your GPA!