do I have a shot at UBC med given my GPA?

[medhopful84]

Hello guys,

 

I just recently completed a biochemistry degree at UBC as a BC resident and I am considering to pursue medicine. I have lots of volunteering experience but they were all non-medical related. Here is how my GPA breaks down:

 

overall GPA: 79

Last two year's GPA: 79

 

My GPA trend is pretty steady in all 4 years.

 

I still have to write the MCAT, but I don't think that I will do well in verbel reasoning and writing pieace since english is my second lanauge and my average grade for univerisy english courses were B.

 

 

Do I have a pretty good shot at UBC med? Thanks!

[AnxiousBoy]

Well, I'll just give you a quick statistic analysis.

 

Your GPA will yield you around 19/25 on the AQ section. Given that the interview cutoff is consistently around 36 each year, you will need 17/25 on the NAQ to receive an interview. In my opinion, just meeting the minimum requirement is not enough, so preferably around 20+/25 on your NAQ. You will also note from UBC statistics page that NAQ is harder to attain than AQ, and what your idea of "lots of volunteer work" may not necessarily translate into high NAQ score. There are sections like "high performance" and "leadership" that they intentionally score you poorly so that they can reserve those scores for unusual circumstances (olympic athlete, etc). Thus, methinks that breaking the 20 points mark on the NAQ is extremely difficult. You may want to think about doing some post-bacc work specifiically aimed at boosting your last 60 grades (I know this is stupid in principle and I object to it, but you gotta play by the rules).

 

Also, MCAT isn't that important. Get your 7 on your verbal and do well in the other two sections. Also, concentrate on the Kaplan formula for essay success and you'll be fine. I got an "R" with my shoddy english after taking that course when my previous two attempts yielded "N"s. :D

[wanttobedoc]

I'm sure you will do fine. Don't let any of us dissuade you! Write your MCAT, and do as well as you can. Apply....and see what happens.

[paulista]

i don't know if doing extra schooling to boost your GPA will be worth your time. 27% of the accepted students have GPAs between 70-80%.. not bad odds. if your NAQ isn't up to snuff i think it would be much easier boosting it than boosting your GPA.

[AnxiousBoy]

I agree that you should apply regardless. You really don't know what your actual score would be until you go through the process. Worst case scenario, you will have a good idea of where you stand and what you need to do to improve.

 

I disagree that NAQ is the easier place to gain points. It's true that 27% of the people has 70-80% (25% being from 75-80%), but you also have to account for the last 60 credits. The formula is somewhere around 50/50 for the overall/last 60 credits, and so you can't ignore the other half. You will see on the stats page that the mean for the last 60 credit is 86%. Since the OP's stats are lower, it may be a place to improve (and clearly its the tactic employed by many others given the discrepancy of the overall and last 60 credits). Let's look at some hypothetical scenario. If the OP takes a year of courses and get 85% on them and if the overall % went up to 80%, the AQ file score would go up to around 21-22/50. A 2-3 point increase is huge! I find it very difficult raise points in the NAQ, especially since you (and I) normally max out the 3 page limit. You would be trading in one activity for another, and it is very unlikely that you would have an extraordinary activity within that one year to boost your credentials. Such significant activity requires many years to come into fruition. I understand the difficulty the OP is feeling in engaging in his credentials. I too thought that my activites were vast and diverse, but the dude grading me only gave me 10/25 which was then scaled to around 16 (wonder how this person thought of us given his low grading for everyone). I think it would be very difficult to raise my score up to 19 or so given how my three pages already defined who I am.

[Smurfette]

Well, I'll just give you a quick statistic analysis.

 

Your GPA will yield you around 19/25 on the AQ section. Given that the interview cutoff is consistently around 36 each year, you will need 17/25 on the NAQ to receive an interview. In my opinion, just meeting the minimum requirement is not enough, so preferably around 20+/25 on your NAQ. You will also note from UBC statistics page that NAQ is harder to attain than AQ, and what your idea of "lots of volunteer work" may not necessarily translate into high NAQ score. There are sections like "high performance" and "leadership" that they intentionally score you poorly so that they can reserve those scores for unusual circumstances (olympic athlete, etc). Thus, methinks that breaking the 20 points mark on the NAQ is extremely difficult. You may want to think about doing some post-bacc work specifiically aimed at boosting your last 60 grades (I know this is stupid in principle and I object to it, but you gotta play by the rules).

 

I don't agree that meeting the minimum interview requirement is "not enough". As long as you have an interview, you have a good shot. But you'll have to shine on that interview.

 

I do agree that it is *very* difficult to get a high NAQ score. The average interviewed candidate has something around 16-17. Most interviewed candidates have a job or 2, some hospital volunteering, and a couple other leadership/volunteer activities. So unless you have something ridiculous (eg. Olympic athlete), you're not going to do much better than 16-17.

 

If I were you, I would apply and work really hard to do well on your NAQ (ie. spend a lot of time on your application) and on your interview if you get one. But you'll probably have to count on doing some more school - a "victory lap" year with some easy courses working *very* hard to get 85+ average would probably be in order.

[supa76]

a "victory lap" year with some easy courses working *very* hard to get 85+ average would probably be in order.

 

to add to this, if you do think a victory lap is for you, i know from personal experience that the adcom does look at WHICH courses you took during your 'victory lap' to make sure you didn't just take easy courses to get high marks. (i.e. first year spelling vs. fourth year biochem, physiology etc.) although it is equally important to do something that interests you (med related?) as it can be really tough to get motivated going back to school after just completing a long degree or being on hiatus from school for awhile.

 

remember too that 'last 60' can actually mean 'last 24' etc., whatever works better to give you the best score.

[jumper]

I agree with you on this Smurfette. Part of UBC's appeal is the fact that the interview does count for so much. I think medhopful84 should focus on doing well on the MCAT (as others advised) and not be afraid of applying with a 79 average. I have a friend who applied a few years ago with a much lower average than that and although he was an Olympic athlete (yes one of the elusive few), had little volunteer experience, dismal MCAT and still got in. My point being is that he nailed the interview and is a fantastic person which UBC recognized and let him in. Now lets be honest being an Olympian is great and all but really how much can it count for?

 

Good luck to all!

[Smurfette]

to add to this, if you do think a victory lap is for you, i know from personal experience that the adcom does look at WHICH courses you took during your 'victory lap' to make sure you didn't just take easy courses to get high marks. (i.e. first year spelling vs. fourth year biochem, physiology etc.) although it is equally important to do something that interests you (med related?) as it can be really tough to get motivated going back to school after just completing a long degree or being on hiatus from school for awhile.

 

remember too that 'last 60' can actually mean 'last 24' etc., whatever works better to give you the best score.

 

That reminds me. This might seem kind of obvious, but if you do decide to do a "victory lap" year, make sure you get really good marks. You say that for the past 4 years, you've gotten a pretty consistent 79% average. It would be kind of useless to maintain your consistency and get a 79% average in a 5th year. You've got to figure out why you're averaging that low and work on really improving yourself. (Study skills, time management?) This is especially true if you take somewhat more challenging courses during your unclassified 5th year.