Next steps?

[Lost98 0]

I’m at a road block, I just finished my undergrad in May. After facing many tribulations in first year I finished with a 3.3 gpa (later diagnosed with ADHD and a learning disability). I finished second year with a 3.9, third year with a 3.98, and fourth year with a 4.0 (while overloading). My cGPA isn’t nearly competitive enough for most schools and I feel like schools will never be able to see past my first year grades. My extracurriculars are strong and I’m taking this year to decide if medicine is an option for me. I haven’t written the MCAT but I know that’s my next step... I also just don’t know what to do in between that to improve my cGPA. Should I do a masters?  A second degree? I’ve started working full time in an unrelated field. I’m lost because I don’t think I could finance myself through a second degree without working which I believe would negatively impact my GPA (takes me more time to learn things than most people)... and applying to the states isn’t an option. 

 

Edit: people will likely ask why I haven’t written the MCAT sooner—well I’ve just felt sort of helpless after first year, as if there wasn’t a point. I guess now—versus before—I feel more hopeful which is providing me a drive to write it.

[Comprehensible 40]

Look at the schools weighting formulas. E.g. Toronto lets you drop a bunch of bad grades, Ottawa looks at only your most recent 3 years, etc. You may have no problems. 

[LEAfsfAN_ 1]

You have a great 2nd,3rd,4th year gpa ! I would research more about the schools and how they weight the gpa ! there is a chance that they don't even look at first year courses and you will be fine ! I know from my research about dentistry that Uoft takes a year out if you did a 4 year undergrad.. you will have to do your own research about the med schools that you wish to apply to.

[targaryen 12]

I had similar/lower stats and was accepted to 2 Canadian schools this year (including one that looks at cGPA).  I also wrote the MCAT after graduating undergrad because I was discouraged by my GPA. 

 

I don’t think at this point you need a second undergrad or MSc because of your GPA esp because a lot of schools have weighted GPAs.

 

I suggest writing the MCAT, seeing how you score, applying once and then re-assessing depending on if you are invited for interviews  

[I_AM 13]

western, queens, ottawa, uft, dal, ubc and more? im pretty sure none of these schools will even look at your first year gpa with weightings applied. you're perfectly fine, if anything, your weighted gpa is high 

[sinusoid 7]

Ontario Wise; Only Mac looks at cGPA and their cutoff is lower because of that, UofT uses wGPA if you took a full course load, Queens and Western last two years and UofOttawa uses wGPA where  they use 3 years and the first year grades are multiplied by 1 then , second year by 2 , third year by three and averaged; your cGPA is about a 3.79 and your wGPA is all 3.9+; 

[I_AM 13]

1 hour ago, sinusoid said:

UofOttawa uses wGPA where the first year grades are multiplied by 1 then averaged, second year by 2 then averaged, third year by three than averaged, 4th year by four and then averaged.

The wgpa for ottawa only looks at the 3 most recent years using the same weightings you just described, no inclusion of any year x4. GPA year 2 x1, year 3 x2, year 4  x3 is how it would be if 4 years have been completed by time of application. (also not a big deal but averaging comes after summing all years, to avg after multiplying each year would result in the same original number without weighting) 

[sinusoid 7]

11 hours ago, allmight said:

The wgpa for ottawa only looks at the 3 most recent years using the same weightings you just described, no inclusion of any year x4. GPA year 2 x1, year 3 x2, year 4  x3 is how it would be if 4 years have been completed by time of application. (also not a big deal but averaging comes after summing all years, to avg after multiplying each year would result in the same original number without weighting) 

You’re right sorry; I edited my post 

[Lost98 0]

On 8/5/2019 at 2:29 PM, allmight said:

The wgpa for ottawa only looks at the 3 most recent years using the same weightings you just described, no inclusion of any year x4. GPA year 2 x1, year 3 x2, year 4  x3 is how it would be if 4 years have been completed by time of application. (also not a big deal but averaging comes after summing all years, to avg after multiplying each year would result in the same original number without weighting) 

Firstly, thank you everyone for the guidance. One final question, am I still eligible if I had one semester with 4 courses in first year (total of 9 courses in the year) and two pass courses in my first semester of second year (but full course load). So would that mean both my first and second year aren’t calculated for my wGPA? In third and fourth year I had a full course load, with one semester overloading. Would that be (1 x 3.98) + (2 x 4.0) / 3= 3.99? 

[Lost98 0]

On 7/24/2019 at 6:02 AM, targaryen said:

I had similar/lower stats and was accepted to 2 Canadian schools this year (including one that looks at cGPA).  I also wrote the MCAT after graduating undergrad because I was discouraged by my GPA. 

 

I don’t think at this point you need a second undergrad or MSc because of your GPA esp because a lot of schools have weighted GPAs.

 

I suggest writing the MCAT, seeing how you score, applying once and then re-assessing depending on if you are invited for interviews  

Thank you so much for sharing. How many times did you write the MCAT? I’m writing in January and taking organic chemistry to satisfy the new Ottawa prereq then I guess I’ll go from there!

[Lost98 0]

On 7/24/2019 at 6:02 AM, targaryen said:

I had similar/lower stats and was accepted to 2 Canadian schools this year (including one that looks at cGPA).  I also wrote the MCAT after graduating undergrad because I was discouraged by my GPA. 

 

I don’t think at this point you need a second undergrad or MSc because of your GPA esp because a lot of schools have weighted GPAs.

 

I suggest writing the MCAT, seeing how you score, applying once and then re-assessing depending on if you are invited for interviews  

Thank you for this. Hmm for UBC I may have to take another english course blah... but yes potentially! Also I’m interested in rural medicine (from a small town) so I’ll likely apply this cycle to NOSM since my ROI is ok (17)... although not from Northern Ontario so its probably still a long shot.