Should I even bother?

[neuronerd200 1]

I'm currently in my 4th year (going to do a 5th to bring up my gpa). my UAA as of right now is around 71% and I'm wondering if i get straight 90+ in all my classes this year and next year should I still bother applying? I'm IP and still have to write my MCAT. 

Another thing, I also have alot of "W" in my first year, so does that matter? 

Keeping in mind usask will only look at my most recent 120 CU, I do think I have a chance but I'm still unsure and keep feeling like maybe I should just give up because of the "W" and because some of my bad grades (in first and 2nd year)

[Fanofmed 14]

The cutoff is greater than or equal to 75% UAA for IP applicants but i personally wouldn't apply with anything less then 80% unless you can attain a 515+ MCAT and a decent CASPER to offset a low UAA. However if you qualify for DSAAP or IAP then you might be able to get away with a 75-79 UAA. Of course even if you don't qualify for those you could always be an outlier and still get an interview with a good CASPER but your chances aren't the best. 

Try to focus on one thing at a time though. Getting all 90's for the next two years is definitely achievable but it's no easy task. Re-evaluate your current and past studying methods thoroughly and honestly then isolate what you need to change and put as much mental power into it as possible. Do you need to study significantly more for each midterm/final? Do you study a lot already but study with constant distractions that impede your ability focus? (phone, friends, family)? Do you need to reach out to student support services/your professor/the internet to understand the class content better while studying?  

For the MCAT if you are planning to balance work/school with MCAT prep id recommend at least 6 months of consistent preparation. If you can take the summer off work/school to study for 3 months full-time that would be ideal and will increase your chances of attaining a high MCAT score.

Take some time to also re-evaluate how badly you want to get into medical school one day, because if you want it bad enough and have no other potential career choices that you're enthusiastic about then giving up is not an option. You just need to be willing to learn from past mistakes and put in as much time as you need to get all your requirements to a level that can get you an acceptance. Everyone is different so we all may take different amounts of time to get where we want to get. I myself have not attained an acceptance to medical school just yet, so take what you want from this but I've learned a lot about what I need to do to get there, and im confident that i eventually will, so let's go get this bread neuronerd. 

[neuronerd200 1]

2 hours ago, Fanofmed said:

The cutoff is greater than or equal to 75% UAA for IP applicants but i personally wouldn't apply with anything less then 80% unless you can attain a 515+ MCAT and a decent CASPER to offset a low UAA. However if you qualify for DSAAP or IAP then you might be able to get away with a 75-79 UAA. Of course even if you don't qualify for those you could always be an outlier and still get an interview with a good CASPER but your chances aren't the best. 

Try to focus on one thing at a time though. Getting all 90's for the next two years is definitely achievable but it's no easy task. Re-evaluate your current and past studying methods thoroughly and honestly then isolate what you need to change and put as much mental power into it as possible. Do you need to study significantly more for each midterm/final? Do you study a lot already but study with constant distractions that impede your ability focus? (phone, friends, family)? Do you need to reach out to student support services/your professor/the internet to understand the class content better while studying?  

For the MCAT if you are planning to balance work/school with MCAT prep id recommend at least 6 months of consistent preparation. If you can take the summer off work/school to study for 3 months full-time that would be ideal and will increase your chances of attaining a high MCAT score.

Take some time to also re-evaluate how badly you want to get into medical school one day, because if you want it bad enough and have no other potential career choices that you're enthusiastic about then giving up is not an option. You just need to be willing to learn from past mistakes and put in as much time as you need to get all your requirements to a level that can get you an acceptance. Everyone is different so we all may take different amounts of time to get where we want to get. I myself have not attained an acceptance to medical school just yet, so take what you want from this but I've learned a lot about what I need to do to get there, and im confident that i eventually will, so let's go get this bread neuronerd. 

 

I'm hoping to apply with a 520+ mcat and a bomb CASper score. I'm willing to put in the effort it takes and I do qualify for the DSAAP. I'm wondering would that be good enough to at-least land me an interview?

 

and yes for me giving up is not an option cause I cannot see myself choosing any other career path. literally nothing interests me. thanks for the response btw!

[offmychestplease 267]

-

[Blankbla 1]

I attended the WebEx thing they had the other day and kept emphasizing that you need to complete your degree within 5 years. Just something to keep in mind I guess 

[naptime98 67]

Additionally, keep in mind that they are only using CASPer to eliminate the bottom two percentiles of applicants. So having a 99th percentile CASPer helps just as much as having a 3rd percentile. This does give you one less way in which to separate yourself from the rest of the applicant pool. 

[neuronerd200 1]

42 minutes ago, offmychestplease said:

Here to sparkle some reality on the parade:

1. Saying you will go from 71% to getting nearly perfect marks in every course for 2 straight years and a 99% MCAT is easy for anyone to say....but to get it is something completely different

2. The last sentence of your post shows you don't have the maturity yet/want medicine for the wrong reasons. There are many equally fulling career paths in life and there is more to life than medicine. And this is coming from a medical student who has wanted to be a doctor for most of his life and applied 4 times. Everyone wanting to apply to medical school needs a viable alternative career and this especially important with such stats..

Yes, definitely but I believe I have figured out what was wrong with my study habits and so far I have been getting 90's so I'm really hopeful. As for the MCAT i am studying for it for 6 months and if I cannot get it right the first time I will be writing again. It's all a matter of how much time and energy I'm willing to put in.

and I do have a plan B, i wanna go into grad school but at the end of the day medicine is my passion and its unfortunate that certain life circumstances (in my first + second) year will be holding me back. at the end of the day all I'm saying is that I do not want to give up so easily :) bc i have seen people get in with even a 77% UAA. 

But thank you for the response, i really appreciate it.

[neuronerd200 1]

40 minutes ago, Blankbla said:

I attended the WebEx thing they had the other day and kept emphasizing that you need to complete your degree within 5 years. Just something to keep in mind I guess 

yes, I'm aware of that and I will be finishing within 5 years

[neuronerd200 1]

38 minutes ago, naptime98 said:

Additionally, keep in mind that they are only using CASPer to eliminate the bottom two percentiles of applicants. So having a 99th percentile CASPer helps just as much as having a 3rd percentile. This does give you one less way in which to separate yourself from the rest of the applicant pool. 

So If i get a good CASper score it'll help me stand out?

[naptime98 67]

7 minutes ago, neuronerd200 said:

So If i get a good CASper score it'll help me stand out?

No, exactly the opposite. As it currently stands as long as you aren't in the bottom 2% of applicants then your casper score doesn't make a difference. After screening out the bottom two percent only your UAA and MCAT is considered. You can't "stand out" based on casper for Saskatchewan.

[anon12345 1]

2 hours ago, neuronerd200 said:

So If i get a good CASper score it'll help me stand out?

This doesn't bode well for getting a 99th percentile in CARS. 

[AB27 66]

14 hours ago, naptime98 said:

No, exactly the opposite. As it currently stands as long as you aren't in the bottom 2% of applicants then your casper score doesn't make a difference. After screening out the bottom two percent only your UAA and MCAT is considered. You can't "stand out" based on casper for Saskatchewan.

is this for IP only?

[naptime98 67]

3 hours ago, AB27 said:

is this for IP only?

No, this is for both competitions. 

[caffeinatedpessimism 2]

On 10/23/2020 at 6:03 PM, naptime98 said:

Additionally, keep in mind that they are only using CASPer to eliminate the bottom two percentiles of applicants. So having a 99th percentile CASPer helps just as much as having a 3rd percentile. This does give you one less way in which to separate yourself from the rest of the applicant pool. 

Hey, do you mind sharing where you got that information from? Was it from the WebEx? I wasn't able to attend so I'm not really in the loop about CASPer scoring 

[naptime98 67]

8 hours ago, caffeinatedpessimism said:

Hey, do you mind sharing where you got that information from? Was it from the WebEx? I wasn't able to attend so I'm not really in the loop about CASPer scoring 

No, I found it online. It took a bit of digging but I found it in a report released by the UofS university senate in early 2020. I can’t remember exactly what page it’s on but if you search for CASPer in this document you should be able to find all of the details in how the test relates to medicine.

https://secretariat.usask.ca/documents/senate/agendas/2020-04-senate-agenda-non-confidential.pdf

[caffeinatedpessimism 2]

3 hours ago, naptime98 said:

No, I found it online. It took a bit of digging but I found it in a report released by the UofS university senate in early 2020. I can’t remember exactly what page it’s on but if you search for CASPer in this document you should be able to find all of the details in how the test relates to medicine.

https://secretariat.usask.ca/documents/senate/agendas/2020-04-senate-agenda-non-confidential.pdf

This is great, thank you!

[Kate spade 3]

On 10/23/2020 at 1:36 AM, neuronerd200 said:

I'm currently in my 4th year (going to do a 5th to bring up my gpa). my UAA as of right now is around 71% and I'm wondering if i get straight 90+ in all my classes this year and next year should I still bother applying? I'm IP and still have to write my MCAT. 

Another thing, I also have alot of "W" in my first year, so does that matter? 

Keeping in mind usask will only look at my most recent 120 CU, I do think I have a chance but I'm still unsure and keep feeling like maybe I should just give up because of the "W" and because some of my bad grades (in first and 2nd year)

W's won't matter! and if you can pull your overall GPA up, the low grades in first and second year shouldn't matter either!