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Basically, this is to blow off steam and complain about the scoring system. The story is this: in my first couple years of undergrad I screwed around (re: drinking and varsity sports instead of classes). Now there seems to be now way to get over this. I have a Master's now but that still doesn't change their GPA weightings.

 

Anyways, I was laughing about one of the earlier posts on here about felony charges and second chances. It seems like you can make that type of mistake and be forgiven, but not for sleeping through your classes in your early educative career...

 

How can one overcome a poor grades score? Even if you ace the references; essays; extra-curricular, and do well on the MCAT there is no way of overcoming the GPA. 304 for in-province! That means you could get 15s across the board on the MCAT and get the highest possible scores for essays, references, and extracurricular, but a GPA <3.4 would bump you out of contention... Does this seem a bit unfair?

 

Discuss...:(

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Hi there,

 

One of the good things about medical school in Canada is that each school designs its own admissions scoring system. Although your past academic history might haunt you when applying to UofC, have you looked at how your file may be viewed by other schools? For example, if your poorer years occurred greater than 10 years ago then it might behoove you to consider UBC and their 10 year rule. Therein, they forgive past mistakes by ignoring all coursework completed greater than 10 years ago, as long as you have completed all the pre-requisite courses within the last 10 years.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

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Yes, it is a little bit unfair. A bad GPA can haunt you. But if you have a good academic trend, it is likely that the admissions committee will take this into consideration.

 

But as Kirsteen mentioned, there are other schools which have different approaches to evaluating your academic record. I appreciate UofC looking at the big picture of academics/MCAT/EC's as they seem to support well-rounded students through the process (at least in my opinion).

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I have applied a couple of times with a similar situation. I shot myself in the foot in my first couple of years, then did a Master's and usually get killed on the academics.

 

However, I have gotten an interview at U of C (in 2002) and Adele told me that I missed the cutoff for my interview this year by 3 points (scored 303, cutoff was 306). So it's not hopeless.

 

Also, even though the system is rigid in some ways, I still think that they take low marks starting out in perspective. What did you learn from your first years in university? As long as your answer isn't "how to chug beer at the Den" then you should be ok. Please correct me if my opinion about this is wrong.

 

Here's a note on the UBC 10-year rule, for interest: If you invoke it, it wipes the year completely. That means that if you completed a pre-req in that year, you need to take that course again. Damn...

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Hi Guys,

 

Appreciate the responses. Unfortunately, as I did a psychology undergraduate I do not have the pre-reqs required for pretty much any other school. I'm sure they do take into account the fact that grades improved over time, but that would probably be more applicable once one was accepted for an interview (and would play a major role in lowering that chance according to U of C's scoring methods).

 

I take solace the in the fact that if I don't get into medical school that I have some very good alternatives and have been accepted into some prestigious PhD programs. However, it pains me that some people who could make very good doctors are not given the chance because they did not have their mind made up that that is what they wanted to do straight out of high school. Always, this talk about well-rounded doctors/applicants but I fail to see how this rings true. The whole process seems very set-up for individuals who've had MD on their mind from about 2nd grade; that seems like a pretty homogenous and narrow group.

 

Perhaps, that's too many sour grapes before I've even sent off the application, but that's how I'm feeling right now.

 

ps- Haiku Guy: are you suggesting that beer chugging at the Den is in someway not the most important part of first year? ;)

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I take solace the in the fact that if I don't get into medical school that I have some very good alternatives and have been accepted into some prestigious PhD programs. However, it pains me that some people who could make very good doctors are not given the chance because they did not have their mind made up that that is what they wanted to do straight out of high school. Always, this talk about well-rounded doctors/applicants but I fail to see how this rings true. The whole process seems very set-up for individuals who've had MD on their mind from about 2nd grade; that seems like a pretty homogenous and narrow group.

 

Hey,

 

I, too, am a current medical student who had a bit of a rubbish beginning to undergrad and I had my mind on graphic arts, business and a host of other things before finding Medicine a good bit later. In terms of overcoming the academic obstacles, it proved a bit of a slog, but I tried to increase my chances of admission by carefully reviewing all the Canadian medical school academic requirements, and adding some courses to meet these. This meant re-taking Orgo one summer, (which actually ended up being quite fun and very productive re: doing well on the MCAT BS section) as well as a number of higher-year Biology courses. I ended up being able to invoke UBC's 10-year rule and was offered a spot at UBC within the same application cycle that I was offered one at UofC. (I also interviewed at UofT and UofO that year.)

 

Like you, as well, I tried to be realistic and ensured that I had a great Plan B, i.e., an acceptance to a PhD program, which I would have been very happy to enter had I not received a med school acceptance that year.

 

Essentially, if you're in a position of having a bit of an albatross then it's a bit knockers to be choosy when applying to medical schools. There are thousands of applicants out there, many of whom would make great doctors. That means that it's a medical schools' buyer's market--there's plenty of demand for medical school spots, but little supply of them--so the medical schools are the ones who can be choosy. Unfortunately, many of applicants to medical school have fewer such albatrosses than you or I did. So, if you'd like to enter medical school, it might be wise to maximize your chances--expand your application net--by increasing your academic credentials, i.e., courses. If that's impossible, then enjoy your PhD program and possibly look at medical school later on.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

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