Graduated from engineering, considering second undergrad for GPA repair

[sbender]

 

I'm looking for advice on what the best path would be for me to repair my GPA. I'm IP for Ontario and graduated from an Ontario university with an engineering degree and a cGPA of 3.59. Yearly breakdown: 3.75 (7.5 credits), 3.13 (6.5 credits), 3.49 (5.5 credits), 3.93 (6 credits, 3.825 if only counting fall grades). I wrote the MCAT over the summer and scored 521 (131/130/130/130).

For ECs I've been involved for a number of years with the student response team at my school, and have been able to do some leadership/mentorship with younger members, plus I have worked teaching Red Cross first aid during most of that time. I have also volunteered as a ski patrol member for a few years now. Additionally I worked for 16 months at an engineering company for an internship, where I was part of a team of engineers working on designing a medical device. I'm happy to elaborate more on these and get into some of my other volunteer experiences if anyone is interested, or get into why I've realized that medicine is more attractive to me than engineering.

I applied to Western, Queens, and McMaster this year and didn't get invited to interview at any of them. I jumped into a special year in the fall and ended up doing poorly in two of the five courses I registered in (had trouble with adjusting to online school and subjects I was less familiar with), so I decided not to continue this semester. For the five courses I took in the fall my GPA was 3.08, so I kind of wasted the special year. My thinking was that I was better off cutting those losses rather than continuing and having that full time year count toward Queens and Ottawa's 2 or 3 year GPA.

At this point it seems to me that if I want to get into med school in Canada my best option is a second undergrad, which can help me to improve my chances significantly at Queens, Ottawa, and possibly U of T, as well as maybe helping my chances OOP. I'm concerned that it will hurt my chances at Western since they're quite strict on the second degree requirements. I'm also planning to take prereqs for American schools that I'm missing so I can open up that option in the future as well. I'm not sure if I could do full time non-degree studies instead, or how that would affect my options.

Is anyone familiar with this process and able to give some advice on if this path makes sense, or suggest alternatives? I've only become interested in medicine as a career in the past couple of years and feel way behind, there's just a crazy amount of information out there and it's difficult to figure out how to set myself up for success.

[JohnGrisham]

Sorry you messed up the special year - perhaps since you didnt take term 2...maybe it wont count? I would clarify with Western and Queens. 

If you can afford the finances, i would look into the US. Your grades/mcat/engineering background will net you acceptances there. Doing a 2nd degree is otherwise the main path i see for Canada...unless you are willing to move and establish In province status in the prairies or maritimes. 

how many pre-reqs are you missing for the US? I would assume with engineering you probably at least have some of them at the 100 level. Make a count, and come up with a plan of approach. You can start pretty much now with online schools like Athabasca, and pick off courses 1 by 1, if you decide to forgo the 2nd degree approach for Canada.

[sbender]

39 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said:

Sorry you messed up the special year - perhaps since you didnt take term 2...maybe it wont count? I would clarify with Western and Queens. 

If you can afford the finances, i would look into the US. Your grades/mcat/engineering background will net you acceptances there. Doing a 2nd degree is otherwise the main path i see for Canada...unless you are willing to move and establish In province status in the prairies or maritimes. 

how many pre-reqs are you missing for the US? I would assume with engineering you probably at least have some of them at the 100 level. Make a count, and come up with a plan of approach. You can start pretty much now with online schools like Athabasca, and pick off courses 1 by 1, if you decide to forgo the 2nd degree approach for Canada.

Thanks for the reply. I'm pretty sure that the special year does not count, Western requires 5.0 credits and queens requires a minimum of 3 credits, so I avoid having that year count at schools that look at individual years. 

I've thought about the US but I'm concerned about the higher costs, plus the chances of ending up back in Canada for residency or eventually as a doctor seem very low. I'd prefer to try and get into a Canadian school and don't mind investing the extra few years if I can actually give myself a realistic chance of getting in (or at least an interview). 

For pre-reqs I've taken a bunch of math/physics courses and one semester of stats, plus one semester of a writing course for engineering. I've also done a full year of first year bio (taken in the summer, online due to COVID but we still did labs). I also have a single semester of general chemistry, a semester of biochemistry and a semester of organismal physiology. It seems like individual schools have slightly different requirements but the main courses I'm missing are a semester of general chemistry (with lab) and two semesters of organic chemistry (also with lab), along with maybe an english credit or two. 

Like I said, I'd prefer to stay in Canada so quickly collecting pre-reqs in order to apply in the US is not my focus right now, and my thinking is I could collect those credits during a second undergrad. Do you know if Athabasca can give out credits for lab courses, considering they are online? I know that a lab component is part of the pre-reqs for a lot of US schools.

[JohnGrisham]

1 hour ago, sbender said:

Thanks for the reply. I'm pretty sure that the special year does not count, Western requires 5.0 credits and queens requires a minimum of 3 credits, so I avoid having that year count at schools that look at individual years. 

Again, I would contact both schools directly - if it didn't somehow preclude you from trying to do a special year again, that is going to be the 1st thing you should do this upcoming fall term 2021/2022 to get yourself improved. I am surprised you didnt get an interview this year at Western - it seems like their recent change to incorporate the ABS/ECs in some fashion precluded you...because in previous years with a 3.93 and 521 MCAT, you would have for sure gotten an interview. Gauranteed. Try western, queens and mac again next year for sure.

 

1 hour ago, sbender said:

I've thought about the US but I'm concerned about the higher costs, plus the chances of ending up back in Canada for residency or eventually as a doctor seem very low. I'd prefer to try and get into a Canadian school and don't mind investing the extra few years if I can actually give myself a realistic chance of getting in (or at least an interview)

USA is expensive - but you're pretty much gauranteed a residency in the US, and yes you can still apply for residency in Canada - as long as you're willing to live away from Canada(it sounds like you are from Ontario), for a while, its a no brainer.  You will have minimal issues eventually practicing in Canada after US training for most fields (Exceptions are plastic surgery and neurosurgery, but odds are you aren't going to end up in those fields anyways). But i agree, you should make a realistic plan to see if you can get into Canada with some modifications and a bit of time - but you have to make sure you have a realistic chance. I think its possible to get into Canada after a few years, but you have to take into account luck factor of making it to the interview stage, and still not getting in after interview, since that is a wild card and odds aren't the greatest. Only you can decide what is your risk/reward ratio. I personally would retry for Canada since you have some modifications you could make. 

1 hour ago, sbender said:

For pre-reqs I've taken a bunch of math/physics courses and one semester of stats, plus one semester of a writing course for engineering. I've also done a full year of first year bio (taken in the summer, online due to COVID but we still did labs). I also have a single semester of general chemistry, a semester of biochemistry and a semester of organismal physiology. It seems like individual schools have slightly different requirements but the main courses I'm missing are a semester of general chemistry (with lab) and two semesters of organic chemistry (also with lab), along with maybe an english credit or two. 

Take some time to collate the general requirements. Usually 2 terms of English, 2 terms of bio, 2 terms of gen chem, 2 terms of physics, 2 terms of organic chem, 1 term of biochem, and often 1-2 terms of social sciences(psychology and sociology) and 1 term of stats.

it sounds like you don't have too much missing at all, and easily doable.

 

1 hour ago, sbender said:

Like I said, I'd prefer to stay in Canada so quickly collecting pre-reqs in order to apply in the US is not my focus right now, and my thinking is I could collect those credits during a second undergrad. Do you know if Athabasca can give out credits for lab courses, considering they are online? I know that a lab component is part of the pre-reqs for a lot of US schools.

The answer pre-covid, was yes, athabasca often has virtual labs or some inperson labs, that are perfectly valid for US schools. But do your research and look into it and how that would fit with your 2nd undergrad options for Canadian schools. US schools will just see whats on your transcript, and Athabasca transcripts dont state a course was taken online or not (and during covid times, its a moot point since most schools are online now anyways!).