Where to go from here? :(

[needguidanceee]

Hi there I am really struggling right now in the harsh reality that I am not competitive for medicine. I have heard people with much better stats not get in and albeit I have 1 more year to go; I do not think there is that much recovery I can do at this point. 

 

I am in my fourth year of undergrad.

I am IP for Ontario (lucky me) 

First year GPA: 77% : omsas- 3.2 (it's more like 3.25 but I think they just do it to one decimal) ; 

Second Year: 80%: omsas- 3.4 - same scenario 

Third Year: 88%, omsas- 3.8

MCAT; I have nothing to be proud of : my CARS is horrible ; will rewrite.

127/125/127/126

The reality is that even though it looks I can obtain a 3.8+ this year; my first year and second year are going to make my cGPA horrible. 

 

EC's: hospital volunteer ; work in a pharmacy; 4 student clubs; clinical research; worked 2 jobs; pharmacy (part time), another job full time, retirement home, school research, the usual. 

 

I am thinking of 4 main options.

 

Option #1 : Go into Pharmacy School: I know the market is dying. But I work in Pharmacy and I actually enjoy it; I would prefer med but wouldnt hate my life if I was a pharmacist. I also could apply to med later on in Pharmacy if I decide its unbearable. 

Issues- Dont have english prereq- waterloo and uoft require this  (have taken sociology; dont know if this would count) also dont have Kinetics 

Option #2: USDO

 

Issues- dont have English prereq 

 

Option #3: Go international (UK, Australia, Ireland) : might not be competitive for UK based on what I have heard

Issues- Finances

 

Option #4: Do a second undergrad, do that undergrad in another province and stay there for 3 years to get IP (thinking sask) 

 

Also to note for GPA: first year was 5 A's and 4 B's along with one D (which leads to such a low gpa- it really burns that one course does a lot of damage; of course the B's do not help either) 

second year : 1 C, 3 B's and the rest A's (6) , my sGPA and wGPA is a lot better because of this - I did o.k in all my major courses; but poorly in my electives. With that being said; still not competitive: I think my wGPA works to a 3.8 something because of all those B's first year. 

 

Which do you think is suitable for me?? 

 

Any advice would be appreciated I feel really lost and hopeless at the moment; thank you! 

 

 

[DR@YCC]

Option #4: Do a second undergrad, do that undergrad in another province and stay there for 3 years to get IP (thinking sask) 

only if you know you can get your shit together and kill the mcat plus get a gpa(+90)

[needguidanceee]

6 minutes ago, DR@YCC said:

Option #4: Do a second undergrad, do that undergrad in another province and stay there for 3 years to get IP (thinking sask) 

only if you know you can get your shit together and kill the mcat plus get a gpa(+90)

Thank you; I feel really stupid to be honest I wish I could say that I did not work hard and thats why my marks were so bad, but I honestly did work hard my first 2 years but I made some bad decisions/ didn't know how to study effectively, first year I would read the whole textbook only to learn that I should have just gone through the lecture slides. I unfortunately found out the best way to study for me last year; I wish I had known first year. 

[DrOtter]

Hey there. I understand the feeling of defeat that comes from a less than desirable GPA, especially in Ontario where it might seem so competitive. But know this, only UofT, Ottawa and Mac care about cumulative GPA. Western takes the best two years as long as the courses taken are at or above the year level, while Queen's only considers the most recent two years. Either way, your GPA will look good in the next cycle if you manage to keep your grades up this year. The downside for those schools though is that they have fairly high and strict MCAT scores cut-off, though your chance of getting in won't hinge on CARS alone like at Mac. Bear in mind too that Queen's and Western also treat the two-year GPA as a cut-off, rather than competitively, which means you won't be very disadvantaged if at all. You do have to present a strong front on your ECs for them though.

Though all these considerations won't interfere with your plan on what to do next, I just hope you feel there's still a reasonable chance of getting in in Ontario.

[needguidanceee]

57 minutes ago, DrOtter said:

Hey there. I understand the feeling of defeat that comes from a less than desirable GPA, especially in Ontario where it might seem so competitive. But know this, only UofT, Ottawa and Mac care about cumulative GPA. Western takes the best two years as long as the courses taken are at or above the year level, while Queen's only considers the most recent two years. Either way, your GPA will look good in the next cycle if you manage to keep your grades up this year. The downside for those schools though is that they have fairly high and strict MCAT scores cut-off, though your chance of getting in won't hinge on CARS alone like at Mac. Bear in mind too that Queen's and Western also treat the two-year GPA as a cut-off, rather than competitively, which means you won't be very disadvantaged if at all. You do have to present a strong front on your ECs for them though.

Though all these considerations won't interfere with your plan on what to do next, I just hope you feel there's still a reasonable chance of getting in in Ontario.

Thank you very much, I honestly feel like I dont have a chance; I was going to apply to Queens and Western after I rewrite the mcat this summer (pending this years GPA as well) but I know its 98% unlikely I will get in so I did not want to just apply and not get in and then have no idea what I am doing. I was thinking about doing a Masters maybe but I feel like thats such a premed norm that it really wont do anything except give me more research skills; I think because I am at a low GPA I am limiting my chances to only 2 schools. I dont know, Ontario is scary; I know 3 people who gave a cGPA of 4 and they didnt get in; good EC's and MCATS; theyre applying again this cycle but its just terrifying. Someone suggested IP to me because I kept talking about DO; and theyre like why not just relocate in canada. Honestly the futher down this road I go the more I want to jump off a cliff but like I just feel so horrible right now I can only picture if I get accepted like I would probably cry and buy everyone around me a car. The feeling of being a failure really sucks 

[RicardoKaká]

Would redo a second UG if you really want medicine.

To have a decent shot, IMO need cGPA at least >3.8, or a nice weighted GPA to the Ontario schools. If you were to get a really good MCAT with a high CARS then youd have a shot at some of the other schools.

Without the excellent MCAT, will need a high GPA to make up for that. So if high MCAT isnt possible, redo 2nd UG would be best bet.

Id seriously consider how much you want medicine/how OK you are with doing a 2nd UG. 

Feel free to DM me if you have any more questions.

[Anon-e-mous]

3 hours ago, needguidanceee said:

Honestly the futher down this road I go the more I want to jump off a cliff but like I just feel so horrible right now I can only picture if I get accepted like I would probably cry and buy everyone around me a car. The feeling of being a failure really sucks 

Hey - you're not a failure. You have gotten an awesome GPA last year!! Keep going in that direction and you are going to be in a good spot. There's no required timeline for life. It may take more years of schooling, another undergrad, but you CAN get there. And not getting into med on the first or tenth try doesn't make you a failure. More to life than getting into medical school. Best of luck

[rmorelan]

15 minutes ago, DrOtter said:

Hey there. I understand the feeling of defeat that comes from a less than desirable GPA, especially in Ontario where it might seem so competitive. But know this, only UofT, Ottawa and Mac care about cumulative GPA. Western takes the best two years as long as the courses taken are at or above the year level, while Queen's only considers the most recent two years. Either way, your GPA will look good in the next cycle if you manage to keep your grades up this year. The downside for those schools though is that they have fairly high and strict MCAT scores cut-off, though your chance of getting in won't hinge on CARS alone like at Mac. Bear in mind too that Queen's and Western also treat the two-year GPA as a cut-off, rather than competitively, which means you won't be very disadvantaged if at all. You do have to present a strong front on your ECs for them though.

Though all these considerations won't interfere with your plan on what to do next, I just hope you feel there's still a reasonable chance of getting in in Ontario.

You are correct - and even Ottawa doesn't use cumulative GPA - the three year wGPA only. U of T also has its drop a course policies. 

cumulative GPA directly is not that useful of a measure in this process.