4th year with 3.2 GPA. Should I take a fifth year, or apply now to the Carribbean?

[jamie_kee_mac85]

Hi there,

 

I wanted to gather some advice, especially from the people who may have encountered the same situation and can contribute with their experience, or even those who have not, I am more than happy to hear your feedback. Currently I am in fourth year finishing my undergrad in Life Sciences and my GPA culmative is 3.2. I am wondering if it would be worth it to take an extra year, and with my fourth and fifth (extra) year combined apply to medical schools in North America with an anticipated higher GPA. Mind you that my culmative average only reflects my first three years. Considering the uncertainty in such a path, would it be wise to apply and, if accepted, pursue med overseas (i.e. carribeans) or should I stick around for that fifth year and try again here. I am aware that is it very hard to gain acceptance in NA, but I just want a sense of how difficult it is from someones experience with this route, if anyone has been through it. Also, for those who have not, again I would appreciate any feedback on this.

[jamie_kee_mac85]

I live in Ontario. It's probably a little harder to gain admissions this way for Eastern Canadian Medical schools, what do you think?

[avenir001]

Hi there,

I don't know much about the other Ontario med schools but with 2 years above Western's and Queen's gpa cutoffs, you have as good a chance as anyone (assuming you also make their mcat cutoffs). In fact, if your program is what Western considers an Honours program (meaning if you're eligible for grad school after graduating) and you take 5 full-courses in your fourth year with a gpa that's above Western's cutoff, then you can apply there next year but if you get in, your acceptance will be conditional on your next year's gpa also being above the cutoff. And if you don't get in on your first try, you can try again after your 5th year and this time, having 2 years above the cutoffs, you can apply to both Western and Queen's.

I believe Toronto also has a weighing formula where they consider only your last 3 years but you'd have to be full-time for the entire length of your undergrad for them to apply it.

My advice is if you believe you can achieve a competitive gpa for the next 2 years + competitive mcat scores, I would recommend that you give NA med schools a try before heading off overseas. In any case, good luck.

[Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

The best thing to do, although time-consuming, is to create a table of all the medical schools that you're considering. Look at each of their websites and find the information that you need re: how each would consider your case. You'll find that each medical school may do things slightly differently, which is more information than you'll find here in one shot, and it will be the most up to date. Also bear in mind that, if you apply next year, policies and cut-offs, etc., may change a little from year to year.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[EMD]

Caribbean has a host of issues associated with it. If you go there for med school practicing medicine in Canada may be challenging. Also, the choices you have for residency training may be limited. As alluded to above-- a 3.2 can be the result of a number of different scenarios. If your cGPA is 3.2 'cause you had one exceptionally bad year... it is quite different than if you've had 3.2 in each of the past few years.

Any case, I wrote a rather lengthy piece about foreign med school is the past -- I'm not sure where it is on the new board... but it was/is here on the old board: http://p090.ezboard.com/fpremed101frm22.showMessage?topicID=204.topic

Best of luck!

[The Law]

I believe Toronto also has a weighing formula where they consider only your last 3 years but you'd have to be full-time for the entire length of your undergrad for them to apply it.

 

Actually, Toronto has a weighting formula where they drop your lowest 1.0 credits from each year, if you apply in 4th year or after. Ottawa has the last 3 years thing, where your most recent year GPA is x3, then the year before that x2, and the year before that x1.

[daryn]

but also don't forget that you need to have all full time years for u of t to use the formula.