How is my chance to get into Mcmaster and Ottowa?

[Guest limzhu]

Hi Guys:

 

I am immigrant, english is not good, also do not have lots of volunteers experience, my UWO ave. 85/100, do I have any chance to apply Mcmaster and Ottowa, because I do not want to take MCAT?

 

If badly, what I should do now? already have BSc degree.

 

Thank you ahead!

[Guest hacker]

hey there,

My advice to you would be to apply,apply,apply and if it is something that you really want to do as a profession, then NOTHING should be able to hinder you from achieving your goals. You can improve on your extracurriculars starting from now and prepare yourself to be a doc !!

 

Cheers,

H

[Guest RageoftheDragon]

Your chances of getting into Ottowa are rough. Ottawa, on the other hand, may be an option.

 

RotD

[Guest codloghorn]

you might have a chance, but if you get an interview, your lack of english skills might lower your chances of getting in.

[Guest byjude]

Ottawa has high GPA cutoffs - not sure what your GPA would work out to be (check out the conversion table at http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas and convert each individual grade to find out your GPA; use the WGPA formula on the Ottawa webpage or in the Application info guide on the OMSAS webpage). If you live outside of the Ottawa area and you are not a francophone, you'd probably need a 3.85+ GPA - which is the weighted average of your last 3 years of study. If you live in the Ottawa area, you can get an interview with a lower GPA, maybe around 3.6, but they still look at your extracurriculars.

 

McMaster is phenomenally difficult to get into. There are more than 30 people applying for every spot. You NEED to have excellent experiences on your autobiographical sketch - extracurricular involvement, volunteering, employment, research, and awards.

 

Also, NOMS, the new Northern Ontario Medical school will not be requiring the MCAT. They will be accepting lower GPA scores and looking more at the overall candidate, like McMaster above.

 

As was mentioned above, even if you manage to get an interview, your English skills will be crucial to getting an acceptance. You will need to be fluent in your interview, and some schools may require you to complete the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and obtain some minimum score. Plus, every school requires you to complete an essay or short autobiographical responses to questions. McMaster bases a large portion of their interview offers on what they read in these short responses, so this may also be a barrier.

 

I can see how you could be apprehensive about writing the MCAT. It places a lot of emphasis on verbal reasoning and essay-writing skills, with which many English native speakers have trouble performing up to cutoff standards.

 

If medicine truly is what you want to do, don't let these barriers stand in your way. It may take a few years until you are ready to competitively apply, but if you spend some time improving your English by getting involved in activities that will test your language skills - extracurriculars, volunteering, employment - you will not only be able to perform better in interviews and possibly on the MCAT, but you'll accumulate experiences that you can put on your autobiographical sketch - things that you can talk about in interview or personal essays to show how you would make a good physician.

 

However, you may also want to look into careers that are similar to medicine. You may find something you like better, or at least a program that you could get accepted to right away - to allow you to work in the medical area, gaining relevant experience, and possibly helping you to appreciate that medicine is the right field for you - and helping your application if you apply after completing the alternate program. Some examples include physical/occupational/respiratory therapy, paramedicine, nursing - which also require lots of patient interaction, so your verbal english must be good; pharmacy, medical research, and technology areas like MRI technician etc.

 

Bottom line: if you want to be a doctor, you will have to be strong in english and have good experiences beyond a good GPA (especially if you're looking to get into a school that doesn't require the MCAT). English skills may be a barrier to getting in, but if medicine is really what you want to do, then do all you can to improve your fluency -- you can always cite it as a challenge you have overcome in becoming a stronger applicant for a medical career!