O Chem

[Guest livinonaprayer]

Can someone please tell me what mark I need to have in O Chem in order to be invited for an interview at UWO?

 

Or do I just have to have completed it? My OChem mark bites royally but I have passed it.

 

Melina

[Guest Hif1]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think its your overall GPA that matters, not one individual mark in one course that's the deciding factor. If you barely passed orgo, but did very well in your other courses, I don't think it would matter that much? And I guess it would also depend if you took it in the summer or not, since I don't think UWO looks at summer grades.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Hif1 is right. . . they don't look at individual marks at Western at all. All you have to worry about is making the interview GPA cutoffs for that year (typically Western's cutoffs are in the 3.6 - 3.7 range; basically an average of A- in your courses.) I'll describe how to convert to GPA below. . .

 

Also, Western takes your BEST and LAST years ONLY for GPA calculation. So if that Organic Chem mark does bring your year's GPA below 3.6, then if your other years are above that level you should be fine.

 

One last note - I haven't used my organic chemistry in med school at all yet. . . but I haven't taken 2nd year pharmacology (the only place I can see it being of any use.) You might want to understand orgo for the MCAT, though. . .

 

GPA Calculation:

 

Step 1: Figure out the GPA equivalent for each of your courses individually. I'm not sure of the exact percentages for each school, so I used what I 'remember' to be the equivalents for Dalhousie (you can check that info on the OMSAS website)

A+ = >90% = 4.0 GPA

A = 85-89% = 3.9 GPA

A- = 80-84% = 3.7 GPA

B+ = 75-79 = 3.3 GPA

B = 70-74 = 3.0 GPA

B- = 65-69 = 2.7 GPA

C+ = ????? = 2.3 GPA

C = ????? = 2.0 GPA

C- = ????? = 1.7 GPA

D = ????? = 1.0 GPA

F = ????? = 0.0 GPA

 

Step 2: Average the 'GPA equivalents' for each course for that year. For example if took 3 equally weighted courses (NOT ENOUGH FOR MED SCHOOL, BTW) with marks of 66%, 83% and 99%, you would have a B-/2.7, an A-/3.7 and an A+/4.0.

 

(2.7 + 3.7 + 4.0)/3 = 3.46

 

Your GPA would be 3.46.

 

There's a more detailed description on the OMSAS website. . .

[Guest beavers roomate]

Hello

 

I was wondering if OMAS makes adjustments for the under grad school u went to. For example at UofT a 4.0 is 85-100 but according to OMAS this is different?

 

Thank you

[Guest UWOMED2005]

I have no clue. Check the OMSAS website. . . can be accessed at http://www.ouac.on.ca , I believe.

[Guest drspd]

OMSAS makes marginal adjustments for the school you attended for your undergrad. degree although this more often then not discriminates against a few schools as opposed to equalizing the standards.

 

I'm biased on this issue as I attended York U. for my undergrad and had my GPA dropped by over 0.13 points because some individuals at UofT became upset that a York "A" grade was worth a 3.90 (which is very fair considering a B+ - the next closest grade, is worth a 3.3). This (occuring last year) resulted in a few interview rejections for myself, and also resulted in many worthwhile medical school candidates being completely unable to compete for a medical school spot - consequently they were forced to consider a different career choice or spend time doing a graduate degree to increase their chances for admissions.

 

Frankly, they should adjust scores for undergraduate major and not undergraduate university, but to each their own.

 

See ya,

 

DRSPD

UWO Meds'05

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Yeah. . . ideally they should adjust grades for each SPECIFIC CLASS (noting the variability in how profs mark even within an institution or program) but that would be clearly impossible.