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internationally educated Canadian resident , transfer from pharmacy to medicine


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Hiii ,I completed my pharmacy degree abroad egypt.Im currently in the process of studying to become a  licensed Pharmacist  in Ontario.  I hold a bachelors degree with a Gpa 3.03 and  wish to apply to medical school all over canada  , anyone in the same situation or was in the same boat can help me with any information? should i take another degree or Msc? is being a licensed pharmacist can help me in the medical school application? any thoughts, I'm not sure where to start, and do i even have a chance for application, any information is appreciated Will my international undergrad be taken into consideration if sent to WES and got evaluated ?

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Your international undergrad is acceptable by most schools. You'll need to get your courses evaluated by WES. Your GPA is going to be a significant hindrance though. Some schools will only look at your 2 most recent full-time years (you'll need to look those schools up but I believe Western and Dal do), so if those were significantly higher than 3.03 then your chances improve a lot.

The kind of degree you have or whether you are a licensed pharmacist does not really matter. What matter more are the kind of experiences that your degree/profession have exposed you to. Interesting experiences from your educational background could be useful during the subjective assessments of your application (ABS entries in OMSAS, Top 10s at UofC, NAQs at UBC, or personal essay at Dal to give a few examples). You'll likely need to write the MCAT (most schools require it) and do very well (>510).

Since you asked about another degree, and if your last two-year GPA is still significantly low, then another undergrad is preferable over an MSc. This point is arguable so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but unless you're very interested in research and would use the MSc as a potential launchpad for a backup career, another undergrad with a better GPA (>3.7) will be much more helpful.

Entry into medicine in Canada is unfortunately exceptionally competitive. Too many applicants compete for a small number of seats. This process is even more challenging for applicants with GPAs <3.7 and getting in requires heroic efforts to improve other aspects of your application (MCAT, extracurriculars etc). If medicine is something you really want, it is possible but will require a significant amount of perseverance and sacrifices.

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15 hours ago, Mima 19 said:

Hiii ,I completed my pharmacy degree abroad egypt.Im currently in the process of studying to become a  licensed Pharmacist  in Ontario.  I hold a bachelors degree with a Gpa 3.03 and  wish to apply to medical school all over canada  , anyone in the same situation or was in the same boat can help me with any information? should i take another degree or Msc? is being a licensed pharmacist can help me in the medical school application? any thoughts, I'm not sure where to start, and do i even have a chance for application, any information is appreciated Will my international undergrad be taken into consideration if sent to WES and got evaluated ?

First get your degree formally evaluated, but it is unlikely to be eligible for most Canadian medical schools for admissions purposes depending on how the degree is processed-  truthfully, if it was me, I would actually try your best NOT to get your pharmacy degree even considered, as this is in your favour, since a 3.03 is not competitive at all in Canada for medical school.  IF your degree is ultimately factored in, it will only hurt you and drag down any potential "clean slate".  

IF you get licensed in Canada as a pharmacist, that will be a good pathway to get work experience and get involved in your community, and then figure out what it takes to get into a Canadian medical school - likely needing to do a bachelors degree from scratch with very strong grades, and then try for medical school.

Don't lose sight of your potential for getting licensed in Pharmacy in Canada - it is still a great career and well paid, just don't get too stuck on certain cities. Certainly if you are able to live in certain provinces for your residence, then it may even help improve your odds of getting into medical school.

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