What to do after a bachelor's with a low GPA to strengthen my app?

[panda999]

I am going into my fifth year, and because of my low gpa and mcat I won't be applying to med this cycle but I will be next cycle. I'm looking for some advice on what I should do next to improve my app/chances for the 3 ontario schools I will be applying to (Mac, UofT and Queens). My MCAT is not great and I will be retaking next summer.

I would say my ECs are decent, President of a club for 2 years and won club awards  each year, founded another club, did a lot of coding competitions in the U.S, did both clinical and wet lab research projects (no pubs yet but one pending) and volunteered with inner-city school kids for 2.5 years.

This is the GPA for each university I project I will be applying with:
Mac - 3.58
UofT - 3.72
Queens - 3.82
Haven't looked out-of-province because it seems my GPA is too low for that. Will start to look into the U.S too.

I'm considering doing a thesis-based master's next. I found a one-year thesis-based masters that seems really interesting to me (clinical), but I'm unsure if 1 year is enough time to get things like pubs, awards, presentations on my CV. I know I would most likely have all that if I apply a year after the masters as well. Should I do more ECs? Do I seem to be lacking there? I'm just a little lost and unsure if I should keep trying or if I have no hope.

[DrOtter]

Your ECs are decent but would be around average in the med applicant pool. The only way to help with low GPA is to do more undergrad (either as a second undergrad or 5th, 6th, etc. years) - that sounds very frustrating but unfortunately, that's how the system works in Canada.

Master's will be very unlikely to help you since most schools don't look at grad degree grades and usually only award you with a little boost in application assessment.

You do have a shot at the US but only if your MCAT is very good (510+) to make up for your GPA.