Do I stand a chance in getting in?

[JAk19]

In my fourth year of University I decided I wanted to go into medicine. Prior to, I had less than stellar grades as my GPA was at a 2.34. My lacking GPA had a lot to do with my family life (3 family deaths in 1 and a half years) and numerous financial troubles. Due to these reasons I found myself flip flopping from major to major (sometimes it was sociology, then briefly it become psychology, and then finally I settled on political science). As a result, I failed a psych course and got a D- in another due to my depressed state in life. Bottom line, I didn't try.

 

Nevertheless, in my fourth year I finally decided what I wanted to do with my life and decided to focus on school and becoming a doctor. As such, I managed to pull off all A's and one B while taking a full course load (something I had never done before). Since I have had to stay back two years to complete my biology major, I am just considering whether or not my application will be competitive enough to grant me acceptance into medical school. After being away from science for 5 years (i was a poli sci major before), I still managed to get an A's in the biology classes I have taken so far, and this year I am slated to get either all A's again, or all A's and one B (depending on how my exam goes). After some calculations I have discerned that after graduation I will be able to get around a 3.3-3.34 GPA (i can bring it up this high because I hadn't taken 5 full credits every year). I know that isn't competitive, but if I do extremely well on my MCAT do I stand a chance of getting into medical school? How much weight will my improvement in my last three years carry?

 

Also, will the Canadian universities frown upon the fact that I am going to U of T for 6 years? The only reason I am staying here the extra 2 years is because I need to take the required life science courses in order to apply for med school and essentially take the MCAT.

 

Do I stand a chance in getting in?

[OneDay]

Well if your last two years are above 3.7, and you kill the MCAT you are almost guranteed interviews at Queens and Western (they only look at your last two years). But Mac would consider your cGPA, and the cutoff is 3.0, however they barely interview anyone below 3.5. Being an undergrad, you wouldn't be able to apply to Toronto because cutoff is 3.6. Unless you do a Masters degree, then the Toronto cutoff for grad students is 3.0 (but again, they really don't seem to take anyone below 3.5). Ottawa might be an ok option, you need to look at their weighting formula. And the cutoff is only 3.5 if you are a grad student applying to Ottawa.

 

In my opinion, write the MCAT and see how you do. If you do great, then try applying to Queens and Western this admission cycle. Or you can try doing a second degree and start fresh. I have been applying for awhile. And from reading the posts on this forum, I have come to see that med admission is all about your Undergrad GPA and MCATs. You need to get your numbers up and be competitive. Your GPA/MCAT is what the adcom sees first, and at some schools that is all they look at to determine whether you are going to get an interview.

[Julie]

Ottawa only looks at last 3 yrs, with more weight for the last yrs. I don't think the OP is in grad school, so the cutoffs are high (depending on where you're from & other factors). However, their weighing formula would be particularily helpful in your situation. Also, they don't look at MCAT scores So if you have good EC's & can maintain really good GPA in the yrs remaining, why not?

[A-Stark]

Dal also will look at just your two most recent years as an OOP applicant (3.78 is the cutoff or something like that... high-ish, but a strong 30+ MCAT will help too).

[ploughboy]

In my fourth year of University I decided I wanted to go into medicine. Prior to, I had less than stellar grades as my GPA was at a 2.34. My lacking GPA had a lot to do with my family life (3 family deaths in 1 and a half years) and numerous financial troubles. Due to these reasons I found myself flip flopping from major to major (sometimes it was sociology, then briefly it become psychology, and then finally I settled on political science). As a result, I failed a psych course and got a D- in another due to my depressed state in life. Bottom line, I didn't try.

 

Nevertheless, in my fourth year I finally decided what I wanted to do with my life and decided to focus on school and becoming a doctor. As such, I managed to pull off all A's and one B while taking a full course load (something I had never done before). Since I have had to stay back two years to complete my biology major, I am just considering whether or not my application will be competitive enough to grant me acceptance into medical school. After being away from science for 5 years (i was a poli sci major before), I still managed to get an A's in the biology classes I have taken so far, and this year I am slated to get either all A's again, or all A's and one B (depending on how my exam goes). After some calculations I have discerned that after graduation I will be able to get around a 3.3-3.34 GPA (i can bring it up this high because I hadn't taken 5 full credits every year). I know that isn't competitive, but if I do extremely well on my MCAT do I stand a chance of getting into medical school? How much weight will my improvement in my last three years carry?

 

Also, will the Canadian universities frown upon the fact that I am going to U of T for 6 years? The only reason I am staying here the extra 2 years is because I need to take the required life science courses in order to apply for med school and essentially take the MCAT.

 

Do I stand a chance in getting in?

 

Congratulations on the improvement in your ugrad marks! Usually it goes the other way...

 

So as I understand it, you have decided to commit yourself to a career where you will quite literally hold people's lives in the balance...a career where the decisions that you make at 4 in the morning -- a time when it's indescribably cold, and the coffee has stopped helping you think and all you really want is to be in a nice warm bed cuddled up with somebody that you love -- could mean the difference between life and death for your patients.

 

If you're keen on taking on that sort of responsibility, I imagine you can motivate yourself to look up the admission requirements of the medical schools in Canada. Hint: there are only like a dozen of them...a couple of hours and you'll be done.

 

Look, I'm not trying to be a jerk. Really I'm not. In fact, I'm quite likely going to graduate at the very bottom of my class and am constantly amazed that I actually got into a Canadian medical school in the first place. If you get in you'll probably be a better physician than I could ever dream of being.

 

But...part of the reason that I got in is that I did the grunt-work of researching the admission requirements of the medical schools in Canada.

 

Re: 6 years of undergrad -- that's exactly what I did. Depending on how you count it, I did seven undergraduate years. At some schools, nobody cares. Just get the GPA +/- MCAT that your target schools require and then kill the interview. Nothing to it, right?

 

Good luck!

 

pb

[JAk19]

Congratulations on the improvement in your ugrad marks! Usually it goes the other way...

 

So as I understand it, you have decided to commit yourself to a career where you will quite literally hold people's lives in the balance...a career where the decisions that you make at 4 in the morning -- a time when it's indescribably cold, and the coffee has stopped helping you think and all you really want is to be in a nice warm bed cuddled up with somebody that you love -- could mean the difference between life and death for your patients.

 

If you're keen on taking on that sort of responsibility, I imagine you can motivate yourself to look up the admission requirements of the medical schools in Canada. Hint: there are only like a dozen of them...a couple of hours and you'll be done.

 

Look, I'm not trying to be a jerk. Really I'm not. In fact, I'm quite likely going to graduate at the very bottom of my class and am constantly amazed that I actually got into a Canadian medical school in the first place. If you get in you'll probably be a better physician than I could ever dream of being.

 

But...part of the reason that I got in is that I did the grunt-work of researching the admission requirements of the medical schools in Canada.

 

Re: 6 years of undergrad -- that's exactly what I did. Depending on how you count it, I did seven undergraduate years. At some schools, nobody cares. Just get the GPA +/- MCAT that your target schools require and then kill the interview. Nothing to it, right?

 

Good luck!

 

pb

 

I know you aren't being a jerk. Trust me, when I first spoke to an adviser about switching she did all but laugh at me as she told me what a horrible idea it was. I have done the research on it, but after checking out a few other med school forums i've seen a lot of people say that taking more than 4 years to do your undergrad is frowned upon.

 

And because of that I have been worried whether or not I should have stayed the extra 2 years to complete these requisites.

 

Thanks to everyone for their replies! I have just been stressing over I will be able to get into medical school at all, especially considering what my GPA was and what my CGPA will be.

[FrontierPsyc]

UofT takes all your marks and assuming you take five credits, drops the worst one from each year. If you had a really bad first couple of years, then this might not help you so much.

 

Western takes your best 2 years. Queens takes your last two years. Both of these are good for you if you do well from now as (as you seem to be doing).

 

Ottawa's formula is as goes: lets say you complete 6 years. Your first 3 years are ignored. Your the 4th year GPA is multiplied by a factor of x1, your 5th year x2, and your 6th year x3. Add these up and divide by 6. Thats your GPA. Good if you **** around on your first few years (like me!).

 

McMaster doesn't have specific GPA requirements (above 3.0) but tends to judge you based on you, from what I hear.

 

Hope that helps. I've accepted that I'm going to be an undergrad for at least 5 years (3 more to go!) if I want to get into medical school, so you're not alone. From what I've read, an upward trend looks very good.

 

F.P.