Do I have a competitive GPA so far?

[Guest smooth operater]

Hello guys! I just finished all my summer courses and officially completed 1st yr undergrad. I would like you guys to give some feedbacks on my grades so far and answer some concerns I have regarding my GPA.

 

 

 

 

 

My school (UBC) gives both percentage and letter grade on the transcript. When applying for Canadian med schools, do they look at percentages at all, or just solely letter grades?

 

I took a challenge exam for math course (pre-req coure most med schools) and received 97%. The grade actually appears on my transcript but it also indicates that it's the "challenge exam" grade i received. Should I use that into my GPA calculation?

 

my overall percentage so far is 77.71 which is B+ according to my grading system. Can you estimate what what GPA would B+ be translated into?

 

I received C+ on english literature which is the worst class I have done so far, should I retake this course to show the adcom I can do better than that? will the adcom frown on it?

 

most importantly, Am I on the track having a competitive GPA? If not, I will have to take some easier courses at my school next year.

 

 

hope you guys will help me out! any suggestions are welcome !! Thank you!

[Guest Jixe]

smooth operator,

 

There's no accurate way of guessing your GPA on the OMSAS 4.0 scale. We do not know the measure of spread of your grades (nor how many courses you took and their respective course value/weight). The best way for you to guage yourself, is to sit down for 5-10 minutes and calculate it.

[Guest smooth operater]

Hello Jixe! Thanks for replying! But what is OMSAS 4.0 scale. Is it the scale used for all Canadian med schools?

 

77.71% (B+) takes number of credits each course have in consideration. So, I think that number is pretty accurate. I am just not sure which would that translate into in GPA.

[Guest thecod]

calculating your omsas gpa has been explain several times before. essentially, you take each individual grade you receive, and convert it to the 4.0 system on the omsas grading table. each university is different. if you got mostly B+'s, then your gpa is around 3.3 which is not competitive.

[Guest sparkle]

Hi smooth operater,

 

GPA calculations are rather difficult to do because they differ for each school. Your overall 77% will be looked at as the overall GPA at UBC and then, they will separately calculate you're last 60 credits and you're pre-req courses. Thus, your 77% may end up being quite a bit higher or lower depending on your grade in specific courses. You can look at the stats on their webpage to see if you feel your GPA is competitive.

 

If you apply to any of the Ontario schools, your 77% (B+) will be converted based on a 4.0 scale (the OMSAS GPA). I'm guessing B+ is about 3.4 (give or take) but you will have to consider how much each course is worth (in terms of credits) and also, note that many schools do not count summer school. In turn, these schools themselves will have different ways of calculating your GPA based on the number of years you've completed.

 

Then there are other schools in Canada that again calculate it differently etc.etc. (i.e. Manitoba, Calgary,...)

 

I always wonder why people ask about taking easier courses to boost their GPA? My answer to this is that I've taken boring courses known to be easy but had the effect of pulling down my GPA whereas I also took extremely difficult but rather enjoyable courses and got A+'s.

 

You mentioned that you just finished first year so you're "med GPA" can be significantly diffferent by the time you apply. You shouldn't retake your "C+" course because (1) It doesn't look good, (2) Are you positive you'll do better, and (3) your grade in that course will probably be masked by all your other grades by the time you complete your degree. Don't worry too much about anything now...you're only concern should be to do your best and aim for 100%.

 

sparkle

[Guest lex]

I agree with sparkle. Don't worry whether your first year is competitive or not.

 

You'll finish at least 2 or 3 more years before you put in a complete application. Just work to get good grades in whatever courses you decide to take.

 

For most people, GPAs will increase through your 4 years at university so looking simply at your 1st year to determine whether you're competitive or not is not that usefull.

 

Regarding taking the english class again, I wouldn't do it. If you'd like, take a different English class and choose to use this one as your prereq (most schools have some flexibility over which english classes you use to fulfill their prereqs).

 

Some schools will only take the first attempt at any course (if you don't fail it). If you fail a course, some will look at a second attempt. Again, it's usually not best to retake a course. Take a different one in the same department.

[Guest gonzo23]

One thing I would add is that you should be looking to pull up your grades. After only finishing first year, as everyone has said you still have ample opportunity to do this. But if you trying to see if your current standing will be fine I'd say it could be a bit better. I think the UBC admissions average is usually b/w 80-83% overall? I know they also care about the last 60 credits and your prereq average. If you are looking at Ontario schools most require a higher GPA around 3.6-3.8 to be competitive and that would translate to around an 80-85 average. Again it all depends on how your grades are spread but the difference between a 79 and 80% is a 3.3 vs. 3.7 (at least in Ontario).

 

Good luck! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

[Guest aneliz]

To calculate your GPA for Ontario schools, you need to convert your mark in each individual course you took into a GPA. Then you need to average those GPA's to get your year GPA. You cannot average your course grades in %'s and then convert the average to a GPA.

 

So, knowing that you have a 77% average does not tell us much. Two people can have the same 'average' and have very different GPA's.

 

The OMSAS scale rewards consistency... thus two people with 85% averages could have two very different GPA's... a person that has straight 85's would have a GPA of ~3.90 (very competitive) while a person with half 75's and half 95's would have a GPA of ~3.55 (not too competitive).

 

I would suggest that you try and pull your grades up a little bit in your second year. Your first year is not bad, but it is definitely not in the 'competitive' range... I would describe it more as 'borderline'. But, don't worry, it is only first year, and there is still plenty of time to pull up the GPA... there are people that have FAILED first year that have been ultimately successful!