Final transcripts

[Guest hringrose]

Hi everyone,

 

I am quite confused about submitting this year's grades to the medical schools where I have interviewed. I will finish my last undergrad year in about a month and will thus have new grades. Do I need to send my transcript to every school where I interviewed or do I wait for an acceptance and only send the transcript to that school?

 

Thanks

[Guest aneliz]

If you applied in Ontario, you only need to send one copy of your transcript to OMSAS...they will distribute it to the relevant schools. You may do this now, or wait for a notice from OMSAS requesting your transcripts. (they sent a release form in the mail about mid-May the year I applied. You filled in the form, sent in another $8 and OMSAS got your transcript from your university). Acceptances will usually be conditional on getting your final year transcripts in by a certain date...so it is important not to ignore the request from OMSAS when it comes.

[Guest hacker]

Does anyone know if those final grades you have to submit in May upon acceptance have to meet the GPA cutoff set for interviews ?? or are pass grades just enough ??

[Guest aneliz]

For UWO, if you are using your final year as one of your two years for GPA, it MUST (independently) meet the GPA cut... If you aren't than you can have whatever you want...provided you didn't fail. Of course if you don't happen to get in, blowing your last year's GPA is not going to be a real help when you reapply...

[Guest arjuna83]

if you are using your final year as one of your two years for GPA, it MUST (independently) meet the GPA cut

 

So does this mean that UWO offers admissions based on pending results? For example, if a person has a 3.7+ GPA in their 2nd year, and cannot use 1st year for the GPA calculation, can he be granted an interview in his third year before that year is complete?

[Guest byjude]

Arjuna: Yes - assuming next year's cutoff is 3.7 (or the 2nd year GPA meets the new cutoff).

 

Since only your last and best year must each meet the cutoff established for the year of application, you can get an interview with either: (1) the previous year's GPA + one other year over the cutoff, or (2) any one year over the cutoff (doesn't matter which), while currently continuing studies in that degree program (or a 5th year as described by UWO specs). If you're offered conditional acceptance in this second case, you must have a GPA by the end of the year that also meets the cutoff - so it's risky, and would be horrible to be accepted only to have your offer revoked based on a slip in grades - but certainly worth applying.

[Guest hacker]

Unfortunately I already blew up my GPA this year and have applied to several med schools. However I already have two good years (first 2 years). I dont know if this third year I messed up might get me rejected if I become so "lucky" to get a conditional acceptance.

[Guest aneliz]

only your last and best year must each meet the cutoff established for the year of application

 

This is no longer true...you now need ANY two years that are over the GPA cut...your last year no longer needs to be one of the two years that you use for GPA.

 

Anyone that applies at UWO receives an interview based on ONLY their best year GPA (regardless of how many years >3.70 that you have at the time of your application). If you have one year above the cut, you get an interview.

 

To get an acceptance, you must have a second year above the cut...if you already have this at the time of application, your acceptance will have no conditions attached and your last year will not impact your application at all. If you don't you are still eligible to apply provided that you are currently completing another year of undergrad studies. If this is your situation, your acceptance will be granted based on your best year GPA and will be conditional on your last year GPA also meeting the cut. If it does, you are good to go. If it doesn't your acceptance will be rescinded and you will have to reapply.

[Guest byjude]

hacker:

 

It really depends on which schools and which years you refer to.

 

If you're talking about UWO, and you're currently in third year, then you should be okay. If both your 1st and 2nd (which is your last) year individually meet the cutoff, and you got an interview, then I don't think that would blow your shot if you get accepted. The acceptance wouldn't be conditional in that case. I'm not a UWO student - so one of them should probably confirm that this scenario still applies to 3rd year applicants, but I think you'd still be okay in that case.

 

If you didn't get accepted this year, and reapplied to UWO again next year, then you'd have to deal with the whole conditional situation again - since your last (3rd) year wouldn't meet the cutoff, so you'd have to meet it again with your 4th year GPA. But you'd still qualify for an interview next year if your 1st or 2nd year GPA meets next year's cutoff.

 

Of course, wrt other schools, one bad year may not throw you off so much if your other annual GPAs can absorb the damage. So if you get accepted this year, a low(er) GPA probably wouldn't hurt your offer at other schools (though some schools may repeal if your overall average GPA slips significantly below their cutoff - but it's not automatic like the conditional offers at Western).

 

good luck..

[Guest hacker]

Hey byjude

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm in my third year now and my GPA this year is just @#%$. However I did so well on my first 2 years. For most ontario schools they say, in this case, that your GPA in the first 2 years determines whether you get an interview or not.. however the final acceptance is coditional on your completion of the third year (ie 15 credits) None of the schools mention the academic requirement for that third year so who knows !! It would suck to be rejected after getting a conditional acceptance just becoz of having messed up a couple of courses real bad in your application year !! 0]

[Guest byjude]

hacker,

 

It's hard to say whether each school is more specific about maintaining a GPA for 3rd year applicants than for 4th year applicants, but if you can pass all of your courses this year, then that's really what most schools are referring to when they say that your final acceptance is "conditional on completion of 15 credits". I'm not sure where your GPA stands, but if you expect to pass all of your courses, it's worth looking into more.

 

Check the threads for the individual schools that you've interviewed at. At a lot of schools, there seems to be the general idea that as long as you pass this year, you're fine - again, not sure how this applies to 3rd year applicants, but I assume unless the school has specific expectations, then getting your 15 credits is really all they require. That said, if you still have GPA-altering events in your future (ie, exams and papers) it's still worth putting as much energy into them, because this year may still work against you if you have to reapply.

 

The only schools that I know have specific current-year GPA requirements (out of the Ontario schools - unfortunately I am even less an expert in the requirements of all other provinces) are Queen's and Western. In your case, as I mentioned above, if your first and 2nd year GPAs meet the Western cutoff, and you get an acceptance, I think all that matters is that you pass this year. For Queen's, I think you would need to keep your overall GPA (the average of your 3 years) pretty close to the cutoff - maybe within 0.1 or so. If it's lower, and you think you have a good excuse, and you get an offer, you can always talk to the admissions people who will review your individual circumstances and decide whether to keep their offer of acceptance on the table or repeal it. For the other Ontario schools - I *think* all you need to do is pass to keep an offer of acceptance.

 

So bottom line: don't let it worry you right now until you need to address the issue. If you don't get an offer, then it will be no big deal, and you can work on improving your GPA next year (and you'd still be eligible at most schools to reapply - even with one lousy year). If you do get an offer, then you can worry about meeting cutoffs or asking for special consideration if you feel you have a compelling reason. Right now, if there's still time, you should focus your efforts on controlling the bleeding in your GPA on finals/end projects. My friend was in the same situation as you in 3rd year, and spent too much time overanalyzing the situation - would an offer be revoked, how would a low GPA affect reapplying - rather than focusing on studying for exams, which might have helped in the long run.

[Guest hacker]

hey byjude

 

Really appreciate ur reply !

wish u good luck on ur applications

H

[Guest aneliz]

byjude...

 

UWO has dropped the requirement that your LAST year must meet the GPA cut. This was a requirement in the past but is no longer the case...you now need ANY TWO years over the cut...

 

So, if your 1st and 2nd years are over the cut, that's fine...you are good to go regardless of how many more years you do before you get accepted...no need for your third year to be over the cut (or your fourth or fifth)...Two years (any two years) is all you need! There is NO requirement for your last year to be above the cut...as long as you already HAVE two years (any two years) that are above the cut at the time that you apply.