Law to Medicine (Quebec)

[Nala-]

Hello everyone, 

I’ve been a lawyer in Québec for four years now and I’m looking to transition to Medicine. I hold a Bachelor in Laws and a Master’s of Laws (UdeM). For a lot of well thought reasons, I want to change fields and go back to school in order to study « health sciences ». 

I wasn’t passionate of law school and didn’t do well in my Bachelor (less than 3 GPA). I applied for a Master’s in order to get a better position as a lawyer and I did pretty well in my Masters (3.8 GPA). From what I understood, my Master’s won’t be of any use if I want to apply to Medicine or any adjacent field. I will start some of my prerequisite science courses this summer, while I’m still working, as the last sciences courses I did were from 2009 and 2010.

From what I’ve read, the best path for me would be to complete my sciences prerequisite and apply to a second undergraduate, which will give me chances in schools like McGill. I also know that UdeM gives bonus points for student who completed a Masters degree. 

So I have a few questions :

1. If any of you had been in a similar situation, what would be the best path for me to take in order to apply in Medicine. 

2. If I apply to second undergraduate degree, what should it be? Do it have to be full time?

Thank you!

[MDee2B]

7 hours ago, Nala- said:

Hello everyone, 

I’ve been a lawyer in Québec for four years now and I’m looking to transition to Medicine. I hold a Bachelor in Laws and a Master’s of Laws (UdeM). For a lot of well thought reasons, I want to change fields and go back to school in order to study « health sciences ». 

I wasn’t passionate of law school and didn’t do well in my Bachelor (less than 3 GPA). I applied for a Master’s in order to get a better position as a lawyer and I did pretty well in my Masters (3.8 GPA). From what I understood, my Master’s won’t be of any use if I want to apply to Medicine or any adjacent field. I will start some of my prerequisite science courses this summer, while I’m still working, as the last sciences courses I did were from 2009 and 2010.

From what I’ve read, the best path for me would be to complete my sciences prerequisite and apply to a second undergraduate, which will give me chances in schools like McGill. I also know that UdeM gives bonus points for student who completed a Masters degree. 

So I have a few questions :

1. If any of you had been in a similar situation, what would be the best path for me to take in order to apply in Medicine. 

2. If I apply to second undergraduate degree, what should it be? Do it have to be full time?

Thank you!

1. I have not been in a similar situation but I can tell you that you are on the right track in pursuing another undergrad. Undergrad gpa is king, so getting that sub-3 undergrad gpa up should definitely be your priority.

2. You’re in quebec, and there’s variation between the med schools in qc in terms of what you study. For example, McGill doesn’t care what you studied in undergrad. For the 3 French schools, they very much care and have tables des étalons (which I think only ULaval publishes, you can google it) which they use to adjust your academic score (Cote rendement universitaire) based on the difficulty of the program (indice de force). So for example, a 4.0 undergrad gpa in philosophy might give you a different CRU at Laval, sherbrooke or u de m, depending on how strongly (or weakly) each school regards such a program. Advice: research the schools you’re interested in applying to and try to find out which programs are well regarded there.

 

an additional note- you’re right, udem gives you a bonus (+0.5) to your cote rendement for having done a masters. What udem also does (I’m not sure if you knew this) is give you an additional +0.5 bonus, simply for having done your studies at u de m. So you would be eligible for a bonification de +1.0 tout de suite.

good luck!

[Nala-]

 

7 hours ago, MDee2B said:

1. I have not been in a similar situation but I can tell you that you are on the right track in pursuing another undergrad. Undergrad gpa is king, so getting that sub-3 undergrad gpa up should definitely be your priority.

2. You’re in quebec, and there’s variation between the med schools in qc in terms of what you study. For example, McGill doesn’t care what you studied in undergrad. For the 3 French schools, they very much care and have tables des étalons (which I think only ULaval publishes, you can google it) which they use to adjust your academic score (Cote rendement universitaire) based on the difficulty of the program (indice de force). So for example, a 4.0 undergrad gpa in philosophy might give you a different CRU at Laval, sherbrooke or u de m, depending on how strongly (or weakly) each school regards such a program. Advice: research the schools you’re interested in applying to and try to find out which programs are well regarded there.

 

an additional note- you’re right, udem gives you a bonus (+0.5) to your cote rendement for having done a masters. What udem also does (I’m not sure if you knew this) is give you an additional +0.5 bonus, simply for having done your studies at u de m. So you would be eligible for a bonification de +1.0 tout de suite.

good luck!

Thank you MDee2B for your elaborate response! I’ll look more closely into the undergraduate degrees (with the table des étalons) and see what I could like and perform in eventually. I want to apply for an undergraduate degree that will maximize my chances in all Québec’s universities, even though I’d prefer to get in McGill. 

I’m relieved my master’s and bachelor degree could give some kind of advantage, but how I’d wish I’d give me some bigger advantage, as it was five long years of studies, and I’m not counting the bar school... 

 

[RenaudAy]

I'm in the same situation literally. I'm doing my sciences prerequisites at the moment and planning on starting a second bachelor this fall. Good luck!

[Nala-]

8 hours ago, RenaudAy said:

I'm in the same situation literally. I'm doing my sciences prerequisites at the moment and planning on starting a second bachelor this fall. Good luck!

It is nice to know I’m not alone in this situation! What second bachelor are you planning on doing, if I might ask? Where are you completing your sciences prerequisites? 

[zizou25]

I'm actually in law school (udem) finishing my last semester. I did my science prequesites in Cegep at the same time as law school. It might be a good idea for u to do them in Cegep cause teachers are more available for students, your GPA isn't impacted (especially if you think you won't get the best grades in those classes since you didn't do any science for a long time) and tuition is like 200$ for the whole semester if you're full time instead of 300$/class in college.