Opinions on if I should even continue with this path at this point?

[Deyes97]

Hi All, 

I have always wanted to pursue medicine, but events over the last coupe of years have made me feel like I no longer have a chance. 

I was an international student on a scholarship that lost it after my dad got ill with a terminal illness half way through my second year of University and my grades started dropping. I was his primary care giver for a little over a year till he passed away. I had to work while he was sick to pay tuition and also utilities/bills so my grades really suffered. After he passed away I continued to work odd jobs to put myself through school. I have a number of W's on my transcript and a couple of part time semesters because I couldn't afford to pay for a full  course load. 

I'm looking into doing a second degree but I dont know if this will change much for me. It will only take me 12 courses to get a BHSc and UofC admissions say they will use only my first year and then the year I complete if i take a full course load. 

For EC's I worked as a babysitter/housekeeper for most of my undergrad but not all the hours are verifiable because they were a lot of odd jobs

Other than that

Supportive Roommate for adult with neurological disorders - 1000 hours

Caregiver for newborn with neurological disorder - 400 hours

Caregiver for autistic child - 240 hours

Founder of nonprofit for disadvantaged teens - 500 hours

Chair on committee at Dying with dignity - 80 hours (Will be up to 200 hours if I apply next year)

Tutoring Highschool + Freshman Math/Chemistry/Biology - 300 hours 

Campus rep for Girl Rising - 200 hours 

Peer support at university - 50 hours

Undergrad mentor at university - 100 hours 

Freshman rep at university - 150 hours

Volunteer at Mustard seed - 150 hours 

Own my own small business - 500 hours 

Caring for my dad - approximately 2000 hours of active time (not sure if i should add this since it is a family member)

Worked at a massage place - 500 hours

Current unrelated to medicine full time job 1000+ hours

Distress center helpline - 350 hours

 

My cGPA is about 3.55. Break down for my courses and some explanations for the weird grade trends 

Fall 1

Biology 1 A

Chem 1 A-

Intro Psychology A-

English Composition B

 

Winter 1

Biology 2 A

Chem 2 A

Human Physiology A

Child Psychology A

Social Psychology A

Fall 2

Organic Chemistry A-

Personality A

Biochemistry A

Cognitive Psychology D (I deferred this final (50% of the course) to the next semester because I was ill and then never got to write it because my dad moved here sick)

*My dad moved here beginning of Winter 2

Winter 2

Organic Chemistry 2 A-

Integrative Physiology B+

Vertebrate Physiology A-

Forensic Psychology C+ (this course required court observations which I could not attend as they conflicted with my work schedule so failed that portion)

 

Fall 3 

Microbiology A+

Signal Transduction P

Genetics P

Geology 1 P

History W

(I got a lot of passes because this was the semester my dad started getting frequently hospitalized and we found out he had 3-6 months left)

Winter 3

Pathophysiology A-

Bacterial Pathogens A

Greek C (It was all papers for this course that I submitted without ever attending classes)

Religion A

Petroleum Microbiology W

*My dad died in March of Winter 3 semester

Summer 3

Cell Biology A-

Fall 4

Primate Behaviour A

Bacterial Diversity (Graduate course) B+

German A-

Endocrinology (Graduate course) A

 

Winter 4

Sex and Gender A

300 level Archaeology A+

Geology 2 A-

Ecology W 

Senior Anthropology W

 

Spring/Summer 4 

Ecology A

Religion A

Religion A

Calculus 1 A

Econ 1 F 

Econ 2 B

I was sexually assaulted and rendered homeless half way through my Econ classes in the summer and I lost all motivation to live. I didnt show up for Econ 1 final (automatic fail) and barely made it through Econ 2

Fall 5

Pharmacology I (received an incomplete after expressing to my professor that I was still affected by what I had been through at the end of the summer

Psychosocial Oncology A- (didn't show up to classes but my professor extended submission of all papers till after i started seeing a therapist)

Calculus A (deferred till after i got some help so did well in it)

 

[Médicomage]

First, I'm so sorry for your loss. <3

Second, I think you have a shot, but to be sure, you'll have to do some maths.

Before looking at a second undergrad, if I was you, I would build an Excel sheet, look at every canadian med school, and see which one my GPA allows me to apply as is. Some take into account extenuating circomstances (like McGill) and you clearly fall into that category, some drop your worst year, some only take your two best years. It's a huge puzzle, but I think it's worth it, especially if you have some free time and Excel spreadsheets don't scare you. Or you could do the math by hand.

I would also do a free mock exam for the MCAT, to see my CARS score.

Your ECs look fine to me, but you could have to most awesome ECs ever and still not get in if you don't present them nicely, so it all depends on your writing skills and how convincing you are.

Ws don't really matter, especially if you can explain them.

Good luck!

[Deyes97]

2 hours ago, Médicomage said:

First, I'm so sorry for your loss. <3

Second, I think you have a shot, but to be sure, you'll have to do some maths.

Before looking at a second undergrad, if I was you, I would build an Excel sheet, look at every canadian med school, and see which one my GPA allows me to apply as is. Some take into account extenuating circomstances (like McGill) and you clearly fall into that category, some drop your worst year, some only take your two best years. It's a huge puzzle, but I think it's worth it, especially if you have some free time and Excel spreadsheets don't scare you. Or you could do the math by hand.

I would also do a free mock exam for the MCAT, to see my CARS score.

Your ECs look fine to me, but you could have to most awesome ECs ever and still not get in if you don't present them nicely, so it all depends on your writing skills and how convincing you are.

Ws don't really matter, especially if you can explain them.

Good luck!

Thank you! I have done a diagnostic and got a 132 in CARS. 125/132/127/128 were my diagnostic scores. I'm taking the MCAT this August. I did the spreadsheet and UofC GPA is calculated at 3.85 and U of A at 3.75. U of M is a 3.93 and Western/Mcgill will use my  2 years from my second degree starting this Fall. I really would like to do the second degree anyways as I feel that I didnt have the opportunity to perform to the best of my abilities the first time around. Would you suggest getting some research experience? I only have about 50 hours from a Resilience and Psychometrics lab in the Education department. 

[Médicomage]

2 minutes ago, Deyes97 said:

Thank you! I have done a diagnostic and got a 132 in CARS. 125/132/127/128 were my diagnostic scores. I'm taking the MCAT this August. I did the spreadsheet and UofC GPA is calculated at 3.85 and U of A at 3.75. U of M is a 3.93 and Western/Mcgill will use my  2 years from my second degree starting this Fall. I really would like to do the second degree anyways as I feel that I didnt have the opportunity to perform to the best of my abilities the first time around. Would you suggest getting some research experience? I only have about 50 hours from a Resilience and Psychometrics lab in the Education department. 

A 132 for CARS is great! Especially for McMaster.

If a second undergrad is what you want and you feel genuinely motivated, do it! Especially if you're confident you will perform well in it.

As for research, depends. Are you genuinely interested in research? If not and you want to do it just to check a box, meh. Might not be the best strategy. If you find a research project and you feel like OMG!! THIS PROJECT IS SO COOL! Do it! But it's not mandatory to do research. Especially if you feel like you already got most of the non-academic qualities med schools are looking for. You can look at CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework to help you assess that.

[Deyes97]

1 minute ago, Médicomage said:

A 132 for CARS is great! Especially for McMaster.

If a second undergrad is what you want and you feel genuinely motivated, do it! Especially if you're confident you will perform well in it.

As for research, depends. Are you genuinely interested in research? If not and you want to do it just to check a box, meh. Might not be the best strategy. If you find a research project and you feel like OMG!! THIS PROJECT IS SO COOL! Do it! But it's not mandatory to do research. Especially if you feel like you already got most of the non-academic qualities med schools are looking for. You can look at CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework to help you assess that.

Thank you. I was mostly looking into research because UofC allocates 10% to Innovation, Scholarship and Research and I have the opportunity to do a 6 credit independent research study in Microbiology as an elective that counts towards a second degree. I'd rather not if I didnt have to as I am not particularly passionate about science research.