GPAs are making me dizzy! I'm joining you all on this roller coaster ride...

[teacherlady]

Hello all!

 

I recently decided to take the plunge and apply to medical school. This year I can only apply to McMaster because I'm missing pre-reqs and there's NO WAY that I'll be able to write the MCAT this summer. I'm 30 years old. I graduated with my first degree (not science related - honours anthropology with a minor in psychology) in 2000 and then with a Bachelor of Education in 2003. I have been teaching second grade for the last five years. I love my job, and I'm good at it, but I know that it's time for the next phase of my life.

 

Calculating my GPA is making me so dizzy! It isn't stellar. My second year of university (3.37 all the way back in 1997) keeps bringing it down. This is what it looks like I've got after figuring everything out:

 

Cum. average (4-yr degree): 3.68

Best 2 years: 3.82

Cum. average (à la UofT, which allows me to drop 24 credits): 3.81

 

All of these GPAs will go up if I'm allowed to count my BEd. I earned a 3.9 GPA during my BEd, but I'm not sure if Med Schools will care.

 

I feel like I'm becoming obssessed with adding and re-adding and trying to figure out where I have a chance of getting in!

 

I do have a bit of a concern about extra-curriculars. ALL of my personal and professional development over the last 5 years have been work-related. As I stated earlier, I'm a good teacher, which requires a lot of dedication. I am a mentor for new teachers and student teachers, I'm involved in implementing a professional learning community, I run clubs and extra-curricular activities for my students, I am very involved in parent education, I've taken courses and participated in professional book studies. After work, I enjoy reading, knitting, playing with my dog...I use up my energy positively doing work-related activities, which doesn't leave me much desire for mountain-climbing or writing novels. Does this education-focused life make me look unbalanced? What else might help me get in? Volunteer work?

 

Anyway, if I don't get in to Mac (which I suspect will be the case), I will keep teaching and spend the next year upgrading my courses and studying for the MCAT. Even if I DO get in to Mac, I plan on taking some science courses so that I will be on more even footing with other med students. I registered in Biology 1 at Athabasca last night and am really excited to receive my materials in the mail.

 

I just wanted to send a wave out to all of you and let you know that I'm joining your ranks.

 

Cheers!

[Julie]

Depending on where you're from, which languages you're fluent in (ie french?) and the specific yrs that were your best (ie last yr?), etc., you might improve your chances by also applying to OttawaU this yr. Unless things recently changed, you don't need to have completed the pre-reqs before you apply, only before you get in (well, before the summer preceding your registration)... I don't know if it applies to your specific situation, but it might be worth considering...

 

As for the ec's, don't forget that for Ontario schools, you can add anything you did since you were 16... so there might be room for a few good and different ec's before you became a teacher? Either way, I personally think it's good that you can show so much involvement in your job. Your experience seems diverse, as it's not like you spent all your time on the same committee. If I were in an admin committee (which I'm not so obviously this is just my 2 cents:p ) I would like how you got involved with all the different aspects of your profession.

 

Good luck & welcome!

[teacherlady]

Thanks for the welcome and for the response!

 

Truth be told, I'm not sure that I was involved in any extra-curricular activities in university (unless you count working part-time and partying with friends!). I know that I must have done SOMETHING, but it was 10 years ago and I'm drawing a blank. High school is just soooooo long ago. It seems a bit silly to include student counsel 12 years after graduating, and besides, I have no idea how I'd even get verifiers for anything that I did way back then!

 

What about other hobbies, workshops, activities? Mentoring? Professional communities? Photography? Music? Would they all fit in under "other"? It is obvious to me that the autobiographical sketch is really aimed at students rather than professionals, because there is no heading for "professional development/activities". It seems kind of strange for me to lump new teacher mentoring in with taking drum lessons.

 

I may apply for the French stream at Ottawa. My OSSD and my BEd are both francophone, whereas my BA was in an anglophone school. I'd much rather go to med school in English, mainly because writing in French is so much more work!

 

Anyway, I'm starting to get the feeling that applying to med school will be a full time job in and of itself!

 

Are you applying to med school this year? Or have you already been accepted somewhere?

 

P.S. One good thing is that I found out that I've been miscalculating my GPA, because an A should count as 3.9, and I've been calculating it as 3.8. That brings my cumulative GPA up to 3.73, which - while still not stellar - is at least a bit more respectable!

[Anne Berndl]

You should also consider applying to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, especially if you have any connections to a rural area. (grew up in a rural area, partner/family in rural area, spent all your summers in a rural area, try to find something) They also do not require the MCAT.

McMaster has been a little on again/off again about requiring part of the MCAT, for the current cycle they don't want it but they may add it in the future.

good luck!

[Satsuma]

Hi There,

 

I just wanted to say...for what it's worth, I think that being very involved in 1 thing (in your case teaching) is a good thing. That is, it isn`t all about diversity, it is also about dedication. You have dedicated a considerable amount of time to something you enjoy and so have made some significant contributions. To me this carries alot of weight. I am not on any admission committee...but from my perspective looks alot better than someone who volunteers here and there and everywhere just to pad their application. It might give them diversity but it is alot harder to make significant contributions to their cause.

 

You can put your drum lessons and photography or whatever else you have done in your extracurriculars, it's all good. They prefer stuff they can verify of course.

 

Working part-time in school is also good...it shows you were able to manage you time etc.

 

Don`t stress about things you cannot change (ie your past). Just put together the most well thought out and complete package of who you are and hope for the best.

 

I applied as an SLP...I didn`t put any professional development stuff as separate activties. I just figured it's part of the job. But also figured it would be stuff to talk about in the interview, since there isn't a whole lot of space for these things in the sketch.

 

Anyway, good luck!

 

 

Thanks for the welcome and for the response!

 

Truth be told, I'm not sure that I was involved in any extra-curricular activities in university (unless you count working part-time and partying with friends!). I know that I must have done SOMETHING, but it was 10 years ago and I'm drawing a blank. High school is just soooooo long ago. It seems a bit silly to include student counsel 12 years after graduating, and besides, I have no idea how I'd even get verifiers for anything that I did way back then!

 

What about other hobbies, workshops, activities? Mentoring? Professional communities? Photography? Music? Would they all fit in under "other"? It is obvious to me that the autobiographical sketch is really aimed at students rather than professionals, because there is no heading for "professional development/activities". It seems kind of strange for me to lump new teacher mentoring in with taking drum lessons.

 

I may apply for the French stream at Ottawa. My OSSD and my BEd are both francophone, whereas my BA was in an anglophone school. I'd much rather go to med school in English, mainly because writing in French is so much more work!

 

Anyway, I'm starting to get the feeling that applying to med school will be a full time job in and of itself!

 

Are you applying to med school this year? Or have you already been accepted somewhere?

 

P.S. One good thing is that I found out that I've been miscalculating my GPA, because an A should count as 3.9, and I've been calculating it as 3.8. That brings my cumulative GPA up to 3.73, which - while still not stellar - is at least a bit more respectable!

[Julie]

I may apply for the French stream at Ottawa. My OSSD and my BEd are both francophone, whereas my BA was in an anglophone school. I'd much rather go to med school in English, mainly because writing in French is so much more work!

 

Anyway, I'm starting to get the feeling that applying to med school will be a full time job in and of itself!

 

Are you applying to med school this year? Or have you already been accepted somewhere?

 

P.S. One good thing is that I found out that I've been miscalculating my GPA, because an A should count as 3.9, and I've been calculating it as 3.8. That brings my cumulative GPA up to 3.73, which - while still not stellar - is at least a bit more respectable!

 

With Ottawa, only your last 3 full time yrs of undergrad count : last yr counts 3 times, yr before that counts twice, and the one before that counts once. If you didn't do so well in your first yrs, this could help you Ec's are quite important there, but you seem to have a lot from your teaching experience.

 

As for writing in french & being in a French program, well, it's really up to you. Applying to the french stream might mean pretty good cuttoffs. Depending on what you get with the weighted GPA (above) & other factors, you may meet the cuttoffs for the english stream. If not, well, a few good things about the french program, to make sure you consider it. Obviously I'm biased (I'm a 1rst yr med student at OttawaU in the french program), but it's still worth considering I think :

 

- You don't actually have to write that much. I mean you do, obviously physicians & med students write all the time, but much of it is scribbled notes and no one cares much about grammar or spelling on things like exams. So if what you're afraid of is huge essays strictly marked, well, there are none that I've had to write yet!

 

- You get to be in a really small class (40 ish). This means you know everyone really well, you get more contact with profs, etc.

 

- All your exams are bilingual (this is true for all OttawaU med students). One side of the page is in english & the other is in french. If you don't understand it in one language, you can see if reading it in the other will help.

 

- If you're interested in perfecting your french, you can take free language courses, including medical terms in french courses! (also true for all Ottawa U students)

 

 

 

... ok I'll stop the propaganda and let you make your own decisions:p Check out the OttawaU section for more info & of course don't hesitate if you have more questions!

[teacherlady]

So are the words "hobbies" and "extracurriculars" interchangeable, then? I would assume that they weren't, since extracurricular to me seems to imply that one is in school while doing them. I was thinking that hobbies (music, photography, running) would all fit in under "other".

 

As for professional development being part of the job, I agree. Except that sometimes it's beyond what is expected. I'm really passionate about professional learning communities and instructional intelligences. Honestly, the amount of work that I've voluntarily put into reading, training and then implementation for both of these would make them seem like jobs in and of themselves! And what about mentoring? It seems to me that it should have its own slot. If there are specific parts of a job that I want to highlight, can I add them in under employment?

 

By the way Satsuma, I'm absolutely fascinated by a SLP's job. I was considering it for a while, but I decided that I didn't like all of the travelling from school to school.

 

Anne, I might apply to NOSM, but I think my chances are basically nil. I lived in a small city (approx 45000) in Eastern Ontario for more of my life. Now I live in the GTA (although I do NOT want to stay here!).

 

Julie, you've really persuaded me to give more thought to applying in French! I was imagining writing essays in French, and I just don't want to have to do that. Working and living in French isn't a problem...I'm currently teaching French Immersion and am fluently bilingual. Well, to be honest, I've lost a bit of my French over the years teaching 7 year olds simple vocabulary, but I think that it would come back pretty quickly. Now I'm excited that there might be yet another door opening.

 

Anyway, thank you all so much for the encouragement! Making such a major change can be scary. You've all made me feel much more excited and positive about the whole process.