Does my GPA have any chance ever?...

[wondergirl]

hi y'all!

just wanted your advice on my current stats. I graduated this year btw. 

Y1: 2.67

Y2: 3.76

Y3: 3.76

Y4: 3.78

Y5: 3.93 with WINTER 2020; 3.88 without WINTER 2020

cumulative: 3.58

Weighted GPA (without WINTER 2020): 3.83 :/

MCAT (3rd attempt): 508 --> 126/128/127127

1-2ish years ago in my 4th year, some people here had very encouragingly told me to do a 5th year, and get to at weighted mid 3.8+ GPA , get my CARS for realistic chances (THANK YOU TO THEM to help me improve from where i was to begin with  !). However, i now hear sometimes that its 3.9+ that is actually competitive ( and not >3.8). So with my 5th year complete and my stats above in GpA and MCAT, I just wanted your insight guys! If this year's application cycle doesn't work out, can i do Masters/professional programs or does my GPA need more repairing before I apply again? 

Thank you for your time and support everyone <3 <3 !

[DRigs]

Yes. Med schools like upward trends and you clearly show one. 

[wondergirl]

Thank you very much for your response! <3 

[Psych]

Hey- I'm not sure where DRigs is getting their info from but at least for Ontario schools, they don't really look at grade trends, only numerical GPA, so that won't help you unfortunately (except maybe at U of T if you write an academic explanations essay about how and why your grades improved)

What I will say though is that even just looking at your GPA you for sure have a shot! It is true that 3.9+ is ideal, but people do get in with your GPA. You need to consider that each school calculates GPA differently, so it really depends on what schools you're applying to. I'm not very familiar with non-Ontario schools but this is the gist of how GPA is calculated by Ontario schools:

-Western = best 2 year GPA (with some specific requirements about each year used- check out their website for more info)

-Queen's = most recent 2 year GPA

-Mac = all years, but generally you can get away with a lower GPA if you have a good cars and casper (if 128 is your cars, that's pretty good although you'd still need to do quite well on casper)

-Ottawa = most recent 3 years

-U of T = all years, with the possibility of dropping the equivalent of 2 full-year courses if you were a full-time student each year (plus you can write the AEE)

Of course, COVID has impacted this and some schools are ignoring winter 2020 grades, so that may also impact your GPA.

As for your MCAT- it's probably high enough for most Ontario schools (Ottawa doesn't use it, you're good for u of T, your cars is probably okay for mac although higher is always better, you're probably good for Queen's although no one knows for sure what their cutoffs are each year, and Western I'm not totally sure but your 126 might be below their cutoffs- but you're definitely on the edge so it doesn't hurt to apply)

I hope this helps!

[Malulu123]

Med schools definitely do not care about upward trends. Where did you hear that @Drigs?

That being said, I think you have a decent chance for Mac, Queens, and Western!

[MedicineLCS]

The whole "upward trend" thing is an American thing. Outside of Calgary's 10% "Academic merit" (perhaps) and the more opaque schools potentially looking at trends (which we have no way of knowing) it's the number on the wGPA/cGPA that matters here.

We do many things differently here so be wary of any American advice. 

[zxcccxz]

2 hours ago, MedicineLCS said:

The whole "upward trend" thing is an American thing. Outside of Calgary's 10% "Academic merit" (perhaps) and the more opaque schools potentially looking at trends (which we have no way of knowing) it's the number on the wGPA/cGPA that matters here.

We do many things differently here so be wary of any American advice. 

Unfortunately, this is correct. Most Canadian schools just chuck your GPA into a calculator and it spits out a wGPA and corresponding file review score. We’d like to think or hope it’s more holistic than this, but it’s really not (*ahem* Mac).

[wondergirl]

 

9 hours ago, Psych said:

Hey- I'm not sure where DRigs is getting their info from but at least for Ontario schools, they don't really look at grade trends, only numerical GPA, so that won't help you unfortunately (except maybe at U of T if you write an academic explanations essay about how and why your grades improved)

What I will say though is that even just looking at your GPA you for sure have a shot! It is true that 3.9+ is ideal, but people do get in with your GPA. You need to consider that each school calculates GPA differently, so it really depends on what schools you're applying to. I'm not very familiar with non-Ontario schools but this is the gist of how GPA is calculated by Ontario schools:

-Western = best 2 year GPA (with some specific requirements about each year used- check out their website for more info)

-Queen's = most recent 2 year GPA

-Mac = all years, but generally you can get away with a lower GPA if you have a good cars and casper (if 128 is your cars, that's pretty good although you'd still need to do quite well on casper)

-Ottawa = most recent 3 years

-U of T = all years, with the possibility of dropping the equivalent of 2 full-year courses if you were a full-time student each year (plus you can write the AEE)

Of course, COVID has impacted this and some schools are ignoring winter 2020 grades, so that may also impact your GPA.

As for your MCAT- it's probably high enough for most Ontario schools (Ottawa doesn't use it, you're good for u of T, your cars is probably okay for mac although higher is always better, you're probably good for Queen's although no one knows for sure what their cutoffs are each year, and Western I'm not totally sure but your 126 might be below their cutoffs- but you're definitely on the edge so it doesn't hurt to apply)

I hope this helps!

Wow! Thank you so much for taking your time to write such a detailed post regarding the Ontario schools. And this is truly sooo encouraging to hear that i may have some chance!! TY!!!

[wondergirl]

Thank you everyone for providing your feedback and advice on my post! They are all very helpful and your responses mean a lot to me!! <3