graduate advise

[jenbanks]

congratulations to all of the graduate students who are accepted!

does anyone have advise for graduate students who want to go to McGill If accepted, please post 1)undergraduate GPA and graduate GPA 2)residence (IP/OOP?) 3)course-based or research master (and publication?)

[solocup]

Be aggressive in publications. If you have done significant research/lab work, a first author paper in a top notch journal such as Cell, Nature, Science etc. will make you look very good. This is the most difficult and it's not always possible but do your best. If you're preparing or have submitted your paper, you can also list those under "publications" in your CV (but be sure to indicate "manuscript under preparation" or "submitted MM/DD/YY to ___" If published, send in the abstract along with your application.

 

If you've teaching experiences in any context such as TAing, poster presentation, lectures, talks or simply instructing lab techniques to your lower level grads or undergrads, put it in your CV. It will demonstrate that you have enough expertise in a specialized area to teach.

 

Finally, if you've engage in anything that shows some degree of management skills such as being in charge in a specific area in your PI's lab, you may also indicate that in your personal statement.

 

Just remember the qualities they're looking for a potential future physician: medical expert, scholar, collaborator, manager/administrator, teacher and demonstrate that you have potential in at least some if not all of these categories and you're in good shape.

 

Best of luck.

 

Stats: cGPA 3.81 (AMCAS) 3.90 (Science)

My grad school operates under an Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail system so I don't have a grad GPA. My average is midway b/w Honors and High Pass. Hope this helps.

[LABMONKEY]

Solocup summed things up very nicely. Regardless of what you do after grad school everyone likes to see a productive graduate student (PIs, future employers or interviewers).

 

One thing I would prepare for is to justify why you entered graduate school, and not to treat it as a "back up plan" to kill a couple years. During my interview I was asked why I had pursued a PhD and why I wanted to "switch" to medicine. This gave me the opportunity to give them my rough sketch of my future career goals and why a PhD (or any graduate degree) was a valuable asset to have in addition to an MD.

 

As for stats, I had an undergrad GPA around a 3.7, and my MCAT score was a 31Q. My grad GPA was around a 4, but they don't count towards med admissions since everyone has a high graduate GPA or else you get tossed out.

 

good luck

[jenbanks]

Thanks! ^.^

a senior member got angry that i posted this question for each school...how silly!

 

thanks again and good luck - u will make great drs!

[Gavanshir]

If I may ask, why did you decide to do a masters when you had high undergrad GPAs? Were you just not sure of wanting to go to medschool at that point?

[LABMONKEY]

I personally chose to enter grad school since I had a good project, an awesome supervisor and the grant money was there- it's hard to get all of those conditions to line up so neatly. I also knew that it would be one of those things that I would have looked back at in 10yrs and regretted it if I hadn't done it. However my project that was suppose to be a relatively quick and easy Masters thesis metamorphed into a massive set of projects that I am still trying to finish up even though my thesis (PhD) is done and defended.

[solocup]

I didn't take the August MCAT in time because I wasn't done with Orgo, which I was doing as part of my postbac premed program. Since the MCAT was given twice a year, that means I've to wait another year before I could apply anywhere. So instead of spending another year just working, I chose to do a professional masters degree, which could potentially open doors to global interventional medicine after I got my M.D. Besides more and more doctors have advanced degrees in addition to the M.D. so it couldn't hurt to spend a couple of years (not to mention the 70k) pursuing a field that I am interested in. But doing a graduate degree for the sake of getting into medical school would be unwise.