What do you think?

[kapers]

Just for the sake of discussing it . . .

I recently talked with a nurse turned MD who went to Mac (known for being friendly to non-trads, right?) Her opinion was that Mac was "moving away" from this mindset of loving non-trads. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with her or am getting all worked up about this. But just to throw it out there for discussion, what do you think? Rank the Canadian schools- most non-trad friendly to least.

[webshy]

Just for the sake of discussing it . . .

I recently talked with a nurse turned MD who went to Mac (known for being friendly to non-trads, right?) Her opinion was that Mac was "moving away" from this mindset of loving non-trads. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with her or am getting all worked up about this. But just to throw it out there for discussion, what do you think? Rank the Canadian schools- most non-trad friendly to least.

 

Mac has a lower cGPA requirement; however, there is no "forgiveness" for old, poor grades. Whenever I talk about med school, my colleagues at work always ask me if I have applied to Mac. Unfortunately, due to poor grades from 12 years ago, I am not eligible. Thus, I consider schools that look at only recent years as more "non-trad" friendly. This year, I applied to Queen's, Western and Dalhousie - and am interviewing at all three despite poor marks in the past. These schools allowed me to "start fresh", in that they only counted marks from two years.

 

Elaine

[webshy]

U of S is another who only looks at last two years of grades

 

Man, I thought old grades from 5 years ago were holding me back. I didn't know they stuck with you for 12. I heard that some schools will 'forgive' certain marks after 10 years if you retake the course. Don't quote me on it

 

I believe only UBC will avoid looking at marks from 10+ years earlier. However, by not looking at the marks, they also don't look at the courses (for prerequisites or course numbers).

 

Yes, those marks from 12 years ago hurt me at a lot of schools. However, fortunately in Canada, each school has a different selection criteria, which means there are still some schools I was eligible to apply for, despite poor grades in the past. I did a lot of research before applying (and before returning to undergrad) to learn which schools would still consider me, and what they would require. As a result, I applied to three schools (Dalhousie, Queen's, Western), and have interviews at all three.

 

Elaine

[Roxy]

Just for the record: "non-traditional" doesn't always mean a history of poor grades.... Many of us "non-traditional" medstudents are not "traditional" because we didn't take a pure science undergrad, or we completed our undergrad many years ago, did some other interesting life things, then decided to pursue medschool.

 

I think "non-traditional-friendly" schools are those that provide some flexibility in schedules to help accommodate pregnancy, childcare and breastfeeding issues, and try to accomodate other aspects of life (other than medicine) for ALL their students. The concept of non-traditional, for me, means supporting a balance in life, rather than giving up everything else for the pursuit of medicine.

[medisforme]

I strongly agree with the previous post, though i will also add for myself, non-trads sometimes don't know they want to pursue medicine until they have experience in a clinical or health care setting.

 

So no one has really tackled the friendly vs. non-friendly non-trad schools yet and it is exremely difficult to answer. From my research

 

Most schools are schizophrenic regarding non-trads ie:

UBC - 10 year rule for dropping grades, a large component of admissions process is EC's and life experience, though they couldn't care less about grad degrees and they don't really reward good mcat scores (especially if you have a good mcat and lower than average gpa)

 

Mac - if you look at entrance stats, a fair number are still from other professions (ie. non-trads), you only need a 3.0 to apply (though this is misleading since the average gpa last year was 3.88 and only two people got in with gpa's between 3.5 and 3.6)

 

Queens/western - only look at recent years if you attend full time (past bad grades don't count), though again you need grades and mcat to make cutoffs here (EC's and life experience don't mean squat until you make the cutoffs).

 

Other schools like U of M will drop up to thirty credits of low marks if you have a degree (with no full time requirements). U of A will drop your lowest year average provided its not your most recent.

 

U of T is non trad friendly only if the non-trad has a graduate degree (which many don't). there is a lower gpa cutoff (for applying) for grad degrees and there is more emphasis placed on research (and less on primary care) relative to other canadian med schools (so perhaps it is less non-trad friendly for applicants like nurses, pharmacists, OT's, its tough to tell).

 

as you can see there are some aspects of schools that are non-trad friendly and other aspects that are not. though responding to the previous post, i have seen nothing on school web sites regarding med schools giving students flexible schedules etc... that would be a dream school.

[kapers]

as you can see there are some aspects of schools that are non-trad friendly and other aspects that are not.

 

Good point