Set on U of T....

[immernoch]

Hello wonderful board posters, I think I am set on applying to U of T. It will be my first choice by far.

 

My fiance is willing to move there from Montreal, and some of her extended family is there so we have a support network.

 

Now I just have to look into applications! Obviously I still have a lot to think about and should apply to other medical schools since I am not exactly the most eligible candidate, but Toronto's GPA formula seems to be cut out for me, literally:

- I am finishing my PhD, and have three first author publications in high impact journals (one in Nature!)

- For my undergrad, my GPA was around 3.2 but with U of T's formula it's somewhere around 3.7

 

If you have any tips on the interview, personal statement, application procedure please let me know.

 

I was involved in McGill's PGSS for a few years, have done lots of volunteering in the community through church (soup kitchen volunteering for every second weekend for four years). Does U of T prefer any kind of extracurricular activities? I love volunteering, and before I apply I wish to strengthen that side of my personality.

 

PS. I'm studying for the MCAT now! Scary!

[degoo_]

It seemed to me that UofT didn't really care about the experience itself, just what you drew from it. They know all applicants will have something, so lots of the questions asked were to give examples, i.e. When did you have to resolve a conflict blah blah, and of course you use your volunteer experiences to answer. I had pretty unique ECs and got in, so I'm sure there is no set experience they prefer. Yours look good.

Also, with first authored papers, nature publication etc, expect a lot of your questions to be based on that. I did lots of research too (for an undergrad, not published though), and I got asked a lot on it. Being a research intensive school, that will take you far.

 

For the personal statement, browse around in this section because there is a thread on how those who got interviews wrote their essays.