Guest Anthony Posted August 28, 2005 Report Share Posted August 28, 2005 Hey I have a question for you guys maybe someone has had a similar experience. I was in school part time at a local college and was doing well (3.7 GPA). Although due to some personal reasons I handed in an assignment in English a day late and because of that I automatically failed the couse. That destroyed my GPA and was on Academic Probation for a while. I know I am an intelligent person, but do you think that mark on my record would destroy any chance I have of getting into Med School if I have all the other prerequisites? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wab8611 Posted August 28, 2005 Report Share Posted August 28, 2005 college? well i dont know if you are living in the united states ( college = university), but in canada you need a university degree to apply to medschools? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marbledust Posted August 28, 2005 Report Share Posted August 28, 2005 The term "college" means different things depending on where in Canada you are. At many community colleges in Alberta and BC, it is possible to complete at least part of a degree (often 2 years) then transfer to a university to complete your schooling. In some cases, a complete three or four year degree can be done right at the colleges--although the degree may officially be granted by a university. From what I gather, this is not the case in Ontario. I don't know about the other provinces... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scrubbed Posted August 28, 2005 Report Share Posted August 28, 2005 Hey Anthony, One bad mark will not capsize your chances. If need be, you can explain the situation surrounding that mark if you wish. In addition, many schools have only consider the best two years or drop some of your lowest marks. You can reserach this a bit more if you wish. As a general comment, you may also want to take a full course load if possible. Some schools only consider students who have full course loads, using it, perhaps, as an indicator of one's ability to handle a medical school curriculum. In addition, a 3.7 GPA is borderline, if a little low, for many schools, so you may need to pick up your marks when you are doing well. All the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kaymcee Posted August 28, 2005 Report Share Posted August 28, 2005 I disagree, scrubbed, with your opinion on the eligibility of a 3.7 GPA. I don't think it will necessarily get you anywhere like a 4.0 would, but I don't think it will keep you out anywhere, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scrubbed Posted August 28, 2005 Report Share Posted August 28, 2005 Hi kaymcee, In my post, I wanted to get my point across without having to cite the various schools' admissions requirements to save time; however, I do see that it could be misleading. Thanks for the clarification. I simply wanted to state that it would make it more difficult to gain acceptance, and that it should be improved, if possible. For the schools that use absolute cutoffs, Queen's required a 3.66 GPA last year while Western required a 3.7 GPA last year. In addition, schools such as UT, for undergraduates, and Ottawa have accepted students' GPAs averaging in the 3.8's. Mac, apparently, uses GPA as 50% of the application. At the end of the day, I hope that Anthony can improve on where he is and knows that one bad mark won't capsize his application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest miss83 Posted August 30, 2005 Report Share Posted August 30, 2005 scrubbed is right... i applied last year out of my 3rd year w/ a gpa of 3.82, pretty good extracurriculars and mcat, waitlisted at ottawa u, rejected by mac (2 places i had interviews)... anyways, out of the people that i know that were accepted out of 3rd year anyway had gpa's over 3.9 most close to 4.0 (3.98-99). i'm not giving up at all, i even re-did my mcat to raise my score by 2 points... but marks do matter A LOT esp. if you don't have many years of school behind you. good luck anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kaymcee Posted August 30, 2005 Report Share Posted August 30, 2005 Where are you from miss83? I believe your experience to be not due to a lack-lustre GPA but from other factors, such as the school your are applying to. If you are not from Ontario or Ottawa, the GPA to get into that school is exceedingly high, not just for you but for many potential applicants. McMaster is a school that has residency restrictions, and an unorthodox way of evaluating its applicants (i.e. GPA isn't everything). People seem to latch onto GPA as being the most important deciding factor because it's easily-calculated, and can be readily compared to other people. However, it is the unmeasurable, intangible qualities that make an application successful. When people describe their extra-curriculars, most people use "pretty good" or "alright". This is where the luck factor comes into play: do your extra-curricular activities stand up to the competition? The same goes for the outcome of the interview. I know several people who have been successful with GPAs around 3.7. I also know several people who have been unsuccessful with these grades. Exactly the same goes for people with GPAs north of 3.9. Your grades get you in the door, but the other aspects of your application are what ultimately make it succeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest miss83 Posted August 30, 2005 Report Share Posted August 30, 2005 Hi Kaymcee, I'm from Ottawa. I know quite a few people that applied and did/did not get accepted to med last year... I'm just telling you the experience that I've had, granted most of the people that I know were applying out of 3rd or 4th year, and that definitely does play a role no matter what others say (for g.p.a., the younger applicants usually have to have higher). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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