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Admissions Consultants/Advisors


Guest xylem33

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Guest xylem33

In the US, premed students have premed advisors that pretty much give them advice on what to do, courses to take, EC's, chances of getting in, which schools to apply etc.

 

In Canada, we don't.

 

So where can I get the advice that I need? My dilema is very unique. I have good grades but the courseloads per year is very, VERY suspect. I completed only 4 credits in first year, 3 in 2nd, 1 in summer school, then I actually did 5 credits in 3rd, 4 credits in 4th, 0.5 in summer, and finally I did 2.5 this year and now I'm graduating with a 3.87 gpa. Good grades? yes - but looking at my courseload breakdown, does it appear that I had some issues during my undergrad?

 

I have no real excuses other than that I was lazy, immature, and never thought about the future - until recently. I'm writing the MCAT's this summer and I don't know if I should apply to med or not - maybe do grad first, or something else. My application is not outstanding, I've never part of any student gov's and my volunteering activities are a bit week and I've only begun them now actually. I'm really unsure, I know I can get some decent references, and I do have EC's - though nothing exceptional, and decent grades. Yet, I have this strange feeling that my application is totally worthless b/c I didn't complete my degree in 4 years with 5 course/yr.

 

Professional advisors charge like $130 US/Hour so if I can get some good advice here I'd rather take this than pay!

 

Please, what would you really do if you were in my position? This question is for both premeds and current med students.

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Guest Steve MD09

There should be counselors in your school's registrar's office. They may not be specialized 'pre-med advisors', but there's likely somebody with at least some experience counseling people applying for medical school. You can also learn a lot from the medical schools' websites, or by contacting their respective admissions office if you have any specific questions. You can also get lots of good, free advice here on this forum, although you have to be wary about anecdotal information.

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Guest Kirsteen

Hi there,

 

You're probably in a better position, academically, than an applicant with a poor year within their undergraduate years who has taken a full courseload. There are many schools that will look at your overall GPA, no matter when the courses were completed. In that regard, it will be a good use of your time to construct a matrix of all the medical schools across the country and their requirements to see which of the schools might be the best fit for what you have to offer. For example, if you have a good set of activities to fill in the extra time which you had during your undergraduate years, that would be positive as these will be valued by many schools in addition to your strong GPA.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

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Guest muchdutch

What Kirsteen said is great advice - lay out all the requirements and check off the ones that you meet, and X the ones that you don't. I know that in Ontario they put a lot of emphasis on full-time status. Not all schools are like that, however. For example, the U of A only requires that you complete one full-time year (or this is how it was for the last year's admission cycle - they've changed things, but I don't think that has changed).

What Steve said is good advice too. I find that usually the registrar's office or even your faculty office won't really have much more information than what's in the calendar, so it's best to go to the source and meet with/email admissions people from the meds office. That way you'll get the news straight from the horse's mouth!

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Guest coastalslacker

Your decision isn't that unique, sorry snowflake. This board is a good place to start for getting information-take some time and you can find alot of the answers here. Check each school's webpage. If you aren't sure, email the schools or contact them by phone. I also agree that avoiding your school's general undergrad office is probably advisable-in my experience those people don't know much more than what is in their particular school's calendar-not very helpful, especially re: meds.

 

Basically, you have to do the work yourself. As a fellow lazy person, I know that sucks, but sooner or later you have to nut up and get down to work.

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Guest pappy mckeys

Hey,

 

To get you started....Mac is one Ontario school that doesn't care about yearly workload. They don't care if your degree was conferred in 2 years or 6 years. They will however look at every undergrad course you ever did, and they all count equally in their GPA calculation (i.e. summer school credit counts the same as regular semester credit). Credits from outside your degree count as well, such as undergrad level continuing Ed courses.

 

Good luck, this is a process we've all had to work through.

Cheers

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