Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

FAQ: What are my chances?


Recommended Posts

Hi all, looking for advice as to whether I should apply or not.  I currently work in health care already.

 

Year 1 gpa: 3.43

Year 2: fall semester off for medical reasons, semester 2 gpa: 3.6

Year 3: 3.4

Year 4: 3.74

Year 5: 3.7

 

*Edit: Overall OMSAS score: 3.493 so am assuming they will round up to 3.5, plus 0.2 gpa boost d/t MPH so 3.7 overall

 

I have also completed consecutive BED (which they don't count from what I can tell, GPA 4.0) and my Masters of Public Health, GPA 3.9 (which gets me an extra 0.2 for gpa).

 

I only want to apply to NOSM so haven't written the MCAT.

 

Numerous scholarships, awards, dean's list spanning over 10 years.

 

Research:

-1 article published in a peer review journal

-6 other articles published in provincial and local non peer reviewed journals/publications

-I have also started to volunteer as a peer reviewer/editor for a peer reviewed journal

 

Professional activities:

-on 2 advisory panels for the province 2015-present

-on education committee as local rep

-numerous community/patient education presentations

-am a member of multiple health care organizations/committees

 

Volunteer work:

-preceptor for NP students x 2 years

-first aider for local community summer games (1 summer)

-involvement with local summer camps running medical programs for 5 non-consecutive years (ranging from 1/2 summer to 1 month or several weeks per camp per summer)

-worked at mumps outbreak clinic at university as a undergrad (one time)

-leader with girl guides of Canada 2 years

-president of student run group at university 1 year, student leader with same club 1 year prior to presidency

-nursing home visitor x 1 semester

-in schools to help teach children to read x 1 semester

-1 trip to Mexico to help build a house for a family

-extensive church involvement with choir, orchestra, volunteering at soup kitchens, teaching Sunday school, etc. (over 10 years)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all, looking for advice as to whether I should apply or not.  I currently work in health care already.

 

Year 1 gpa: 3.43

Year 2: fall semester off for medical reasons, semester 2 gpa: 3.6

Year 3: 3.4

Year 4: 3.74

Year 5: 3.7

 

Overall OMSAS score: ?? -still trying to figure out my overall OMSAS score as I went to U of C and they grade in letter grades there- having a hard time converting to overall letter grade.

 

I have also completed consecutive BED (which they don't count from what I can tell, GPA 4.0) and my Masters of Public Health, GPA 3.9 (which gets me an extra 0.2 for gpa).

 

I only want to apply to NOSM so haven't written the MCAT.

 

Numerous scholarships, awards, dean's list spanning over 10 years.

 

Research:

-1 article published in a peer review journal

-6 other articles published in provincial and local non peer reviewed journals/publications

-I have also started to volunteer as a peer reviewer/editor for a peer reviewed journal

 

Professional activities:

-on 2 advisory panels for the province 2015-present

-on education committee as local rep

-numerous community/patient education presentations

-am a member of multiple health care organizations/committees

 

Volunteer work:

-preceptor for NP students x 2 years

-first aider for local community summer games (1 summer)

-involvement with local summer camps running medical programs for 5 non-consecutive years (ranging from 1/2 summer to 1 month or several weeks per camp per summer)

-worked at mumps outbreak clinic at university as a undergrad (one time)

-leader with girl guides of Canada 2 years

-president of student run group at university 1 year, student leader with same club 1 year prior to presidency

-nursing home visitor x 1 semester

-in schools to help teach children to read x 1 semester

-1 trip to Mexico to help build a house for a family

-extensive church involvement with choir, orchestra, volunteering at soup kitchens, teaching Sunday school, etc. (over 10 years)

 

Hi northo60,

 

   Yes, I definitely think you should apply. As I'm sure you are aware, NOSM has a social accountability mandate to serve the people of Northern Ontario. Due to this requirement, they are looking for people from rural/northern areas. NOSM will assign you a "context score" which is really dependent on where you spent your younger years. They ask for the postal code of the high school you went to. Is this in a rural/northern area for you?

 

   Basically, to score an interview, you will be assigned a score - 1/3 GPA, 1/3 application (spend a lot of time on answering the NOSM questions, they can make or break you), and 1/3 context score. Your GPA is fine, so the bulk of your application will really depend on how you answer the questions and where you grew up.

 

  Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup, raised in the Yukon!! Lived there until age 24, then spent 4 years in S. Ontario and last 3 years in N. Ontario so figure I should be AOK on the context score :)

Hi northo60,

 

   Yes, I definitely think you should apply. As I'm sure you are aware, NOSM has a social accountability mandate to serve the people of Northern Ontario. Due to this requirement, they are looking for people from rural/northern areas. NOSM will assign you a "context score" which is really dependent on where you spent your younger years. They ask for the postal code of the high school you went to. Is this in a rural/northern area for you?

 

   Basically, to score an interview, you will be assigned a score - 1/3 GPA, 1/3 application (spend a lot of time on answering the NOSM questions, they can make or break you), and 1/3 context score. Your GPA is fine, so the bulk of your application will really depend on how you answer the questions and where you grew up.

 

  Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Hi, I'm a UofT student about to enter fourth year of undergrad. Here's my background:

 

cGPA: 3.619 so far

 

MCAT: 514 (Chem/phys = 128, CARS = 127, bio/biochem = 129, psych/soc = 130)

 

Extra-curriculars:

1. Currently working as a medical receptionist, typical reception type stuff booking and cancelling appointments, but the doctors sometimes let us go in the room to help with PAPs and breast exams if the female patients feel uncomfortable.

2. Hospital volunteer since Sept 2012, various departments (emergency, oncology, complex continuing care, physiotherapy)

3. Research assistant for 2 grad students, for both of them I helped gather data and ran the experiment trials, but didn't do any analysis on the data or write-up so no publications. Might be a possibility in the future of the current grad student lets me get that involved, he's offered to let me do some data analysis but I'm not sure.

4. I'm an advanced medical first responder (since Dec 2015), trained in health-care provider level CPR and AED, I'm a part of my campus' emergency response team. I joined in Sept 2015, and will be taking on an executive position this academic year (staffing division, so conducting interviews and going over new applicants).

5. Previously employed: as a sales associate at Payless ShoeSource (June 2013 to March 2015) and as cashier at the bookstore of a university (only Sept 2015), educational assistant for a summer school program for middle school kids; volunteered at: a retirement home (Sept 2009 to March 2012), YMCA, library, in a classroom for grade 2-3.

 

Awards: Entrance scholarship for first year (forfeited because I transferred), been on the honour list in second year and probably third year (haven't received yet because I took summer school)

 

 

McMaster is the first school that comes to mind, but you're probably an average applicant there. 

Western - CARS too low

Queens - Possible, but it's a black box.

U of T - Essentially no

Ottawa - No, below GPA minimums

Calgary - Unlikely due to CARS ( I think it's a 128 minimum, but double check)

Alberta - Do not meet MCAT cutoffs

Sask - Do not meet MCAT requirements

Eastern schools - Not familiar, but I think they're pretty competitive. Research this on your own. 

UBC - Depends what your GPA converts to in %, but even then, I'd say no because most competitive OOP applicants have excpetioal numbers.

 

Overall, I wouldn't say you're very competitive right now, and I don't mean that in a way to put you down. It's just incredibly competitive these days, so your numbers need to be solid before anything else. My recommendation is to see if you can get 3 good years of grades (3.9+) to boost your GPA, regardless of whether they're already completed, or future years, so you can apply to Western, Queens, Dalhousie, McMaster and Ottawa. Then consider also re-writing the MCAT. Your total score is OK, but you need a higher CARS score to create leeway for schools like McMaster and potentially Western. 

 

 

 

Best of luck! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Hi, I'm a UofT student about to enter fourth year of undergrad. Here's my background:

 

cGPA: 3.619 so far

 

MCAT: 514 (Chem/phys = 128, CARS = 127, bio/biochem = 129, psych/soc = 130)

 

Extra-curriculars:

1. Currently working as a medical receptionist, typical reception type stuff booking and cancelling appointments, but the doctors sometimes let us go in the room to help with PAPs and breast exams if the female patients feel uncomfortable.

2. Hospital volunteer since Sept 2012, various departments (emergency, oncology, complex continuing care, physiotherapy)

3. Research assistant for 2 grad students, for both of them I helped gather data and ran the experiment trials, but didn't do any analysis on the data or write-up so no publications. Might be a possibility in the future of the current grad student lets me get that involved, he's offered to let me do some data analysis but I'm not sure.

4. I'm an advanced medical first responder (since Dec 2015), trained in health-care provider level CPR and AED, I'm a part of my campus' emergency response team. I joined in Sept 2015, and will be taking on an executive position this academic year (staffing division, so conducting interviews and going over new applicants).

5. Previously employed: as a sales associate at Payless ShoeSource (June 2013 to March 2015) and as cashier at the bookstore of a university (only Sept 2015), educational assistant for a summer school program for middle school kids; volunteered at: a retirement home (Sept 2009 to March 2012), YMCA, library, in a classroom for grade 2-3.

 

Awards: Entrance scholarship for first year (forfeited because I transferred), been on the honour list in second year and probably third year (haven't received yet because I took summer school)

 

 

You basically had my stats in undergrad but with a GPA ~0.15 lower. I didn't even receive an interview from UBC that year.

 

Work for a 3.95+ GPA in your fourth year and hope that WGPA comes into play for several schools for the cycle after. You probably will need to take a fifth year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My current MCAT is 9/10/10. I'll be re-writting the 2015 version (removing physics will play into my favour hopefully!). I'm an Ontario resident. 

 

GPA:

 

year 1: 3.71

year 2: 4.0

year 3: 4.0

year 4: 3.82

 

Overall OMSAS: 3.89

 

U of T WGPA: 4.0

 

U of Ottawa WGPA: 3.91

 

I focused mostly on academics in undergrad and don't have many extra curriculars. I TAed a course as an undergrad for 2 semesters (3rd/4th year). I also am very into fitness but I don't really see what I'd put for this. I was a member of the snowboarding club for 4 years. I won an entrance scholarship, in course award for top GPA in my third year and a research internship award. Under this award I worked full time in a lab, published as a 2nd author on an abstract and presented research project as a poster at an university research event. I also worked full time for 4 months in a different lab the summer after graduating my degree (paid). I am 8th author on this published paper from this job. Also won graduating honour roll.  

 

I have just completed a research based Master's program (GPA: 4.0). I have published a 1st author abstract/ presented a poster at an international conference. I won external graduate funding 1) QEII award and 2) CIHR Masters award. Also a conference travel grant.

 

In my masters program these are my extracurriculars:

- 2 years on student council

- Mentorship program (2 years)

- Intramural sports (2 years)

- Began volunteering teaching swimming to developmentally disabled children in (May 2016)

- Took on a work-study research project working on a project with developmental disabilities (May 2016)

- Just joined a fundraiser committee for a hospital (May 2016)

- Graduate Teaching Assistant for 2 years (4 courses); made head my final 2 semesters as a TA (independent of funding)

 

I took a gap year between my masters and undergrad. Had another planning fundraiser committee role. Also worked with a developmentally disabled fitness class (2 hours/week for the year) on top of being a full time secretary. I have volunteered off and on with a homeless shelter since high school too.

 

If I can do well on my MCAT (hoping for 128 cars!) what are my chances??

 

You have a similar application like me except I had more extracurriculars and you had better grades. I got in after my MSc. You should have a decent shot though I don't know how much emphasis is put on extracurriculars in ON med schools. If it's greater than grades, then not good. Equal = good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have a similar application like me except I had more extracurriculars and you had better grades. I got in after my MSc. You should have a decent shot though I don't know how much emphasis is put on extracurriculars in ON med schools. If it's greater than grades, then not good. Equal = good.

 

Where did you get in?? I'm really hoping for U of T!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Team,

 

I am going into the third year of my Nursing undergrad and I  am wondering what my chances are GPA wise for medical school (I feel it is slipping away from me ever so quickly). For the second year they really turned up the heat on us;

 

Year 1: 3.72 OMSAS

Year 2: 3.56 OMSAS

 

Cgpa (so far): 3.64 OMSAS :(

 

I have taken the initiative and began to study for the third year this summer, in order to be ahead and to increase my GPA this year. I know it is a bit of a long shot but I AM getting a 3.9 OMSAS GPA for my last 2 years of school. This would get me up to a 3.77 OMSAS CGPA. Would that still make me competitive for medical schools in Ontario? 

 

*Note: I have not written the MCAT as of yet and my EC's are decent, but my main focus in my very subjective undergrad is my GPA as I do realize that this hinders a lot of Nursing students in their medical school applications.

 

Thank you for your time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Team,

 

I am going into the third year of my Nursing undergrad and I  am wondering what my chances are GPA wise for medical school (I feel it is slipping away from me ever so quickly). For the second year they really turned up the heat on us;

 

Year 1: 3.72 OMSAS

Year 2: 3.56 OMSAS

 

Cgpa (so far): 3.64 OMSAS :(

 

I have taken the initiative and began to study for the third year this summer, in order to be ahead and to increase my GPA this year. I know it is a bit of a long shot but I AM getting a 3.9 OMSAS GPA for my last 2 years of school. This would get me up to a 3.77 OMSAS CGPA. Would that still make me competitive for medical schools in Ontario? 

 

*Note: I have not written the MCAT as of yet and my EC's are decent, but my main focus in my very subjective undergrad is my GPA as I do realize that this hinders a lot of Nursing students in their medical school applications.

 

Thank you for your time.

Given the assumption that you will do well in your following two years as you have outlined, you could certainly be competitive at multiple medical schools in Ontario.

 

It will heavily depend on your MCAT score, how you present your EC's (your nursing background can work to your advantage here), as well as wGPA at schools like U of T and Ottawa.

 

As of right now there are too many unknowns to say which schools specifically you would be most competitive at.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What else would be considered highly distinguished in an activity?

High caliber publications (Nature, Science, NEJM etc).

Starting a charity

Long term commitment to any organization, where you show growth to a leadership position

Starting initiatives at schools, clubs, work etc.

Captain on varsity sports team.

Peace Corps

Olympian

 

But no matter what you do, you have to be passionate about it. And sell yourself in the right way to the AdComs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for your input. Since the applications opened up recently, I have an update on my GPA: according to OMSAS it's actually 3.64. I'm sure this doesn't many any difference... Also, the UWO minimum was for last year, are they that stable? The current cycle's minimum isn't established until the current cycle starts applying, so not until mid Jan.

 

Also, for Ottawa, I'm not sure how I don't meet the GPA requirement? Their minimum wGPA requirement is 3.5 out of 4. My first year GPA was 3.26, second was 3.7, and third was 3.9, so 3.26+(3.7*2)+(3.9*3) = 22.36/6 = 3.72667

 

UWO's GPA requirements are pretty stable. 2 years at 3.7+ with full course load, and 18/30 credits each of those years must be at year 3 or higher. 

 

Ottawa's cutoffs for the applicant pool is usually around 3.85 for the English stream. The actual competitive range for English stream interviews is in the 3.9+ range. The French stream has different cutoffs and competitive ranges I think. Have a look at the Ottawa forum for more information. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for your input. Since the applications opened up recently, I have an update on my GPA: according to OMSAS it's actually 3.64. I'm sure this doesn't many any difference... Also, the UWO minimum was for last year, are they that stable? The current cycle's minimum isn't established until the current cycle starts applying, so not until mid Jan.

 

Also, for Ottawa, I'm not sure how I don't meet the GPA requirement? Their minimum wGPA requirement is 3.5 out of 4. My first year GPA was 3.26, second was 3.7, and third was 3.9, so 3.26+(3.7*2)+(3.9*3) = 22.36/6 = 3.72667

 

Are you applying to the French stream? You can email them and they will tell you the min. for a stream, but it was a 3.85 last year for IP students, and higher for OOP in English. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you applying to the French stream? You can email them and they will tell you the min. for a stream, but it was a 3.85 last year for IP students, and higher for OOP in English. 

 

Wasn't French stream lower? I thought I saw people with 3.7s getting interviews. Could be mistaken. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Hello friends,

 

Sorry for the long post in advance, just being thorough so y'all find it easier to share your thoughts  :) Thank you so much!

 

Just took my dang MCAT yesterday, it was pretty hard so I'm not getting my hopes up. For the purposes of this post lets just assume my MCAT isn't gonna cut the requirements for schools that demand high scores from OOP's...i.e Western and Mac.

 

I believe my GPA is competitive but frankly I feel like my EC's are average at best, the people I see on here blow my mind with regards to EC's. While I have solid leadership positions I think what compromises the quality of my application is how long I've been doing them. I'd really appreciate any thoughts on the quality of my EC's and how it could limit my options of schools to apply to (for instance I read a lot that UBC really cares about the long term nature of activities, but I'm still growing into a lot of things). I hope to be continuing most of them this upcoming year since I've found some things that I love doing.

 

I'm torn as to where to apply since I don't know my MCAT score and also don't know how many schools to apply to. I feel like it'd be brutal to ask my references to be references for more than 4-5 schools? Thoughts on what should be my top 5 picks, if I should even apply to 5?

 

GPA (I just finished my 3rd year at UBC):

 

- UBC: 89.3% 

- UofT: 3.96

- Western: 3.94

- Queens: 3.93

- Calgary: 3.94

- Alberta 3.92

- McMaster: 3.92

- Manitoba: 3.93

 

EC's (this is what I'm really hoping to hear about since this is a massive factor of where to apply):

 

Lab volunteering (8 months/350 hours): Consisted of dirty lab monkey work, general lab maintenance and developing lab techniques, progressed to helping grad students with their research.

 

NSERC full time lab position (4 months/800 hours): Same lab as above, worked on two major projects, developed and optimized my own protocol of observing gene expression in the cell's being studied. Overall job well done. No publications/poster (yet/probably not gonna happen).

 

Emergency Room volunteer (10 months/90 hours): Standard stuff, 2 hour commute each way, wasn't sustainable to keep doing so I had to drop it.

 

Frosh Leader (Training + day long activities/~20 hours): Worth including?

 

TREK Science Leader (5 days/40 hours): Week long program teaching science to children with cognitive deficits.

 

Game's Room Volunteer at Ronald McDonald House (7 months - Present/80 hours): Only 5 months/55 hours given UBC's June cutoffs. Doing fun things with children undergoing treatment at Vancouver Children's hospital/Planning on continuing this for a looong time, I love it.

 

Chemistry tutor (5 months - Present/64 hours): Group tutor for first year chem courses/labs

 

TA for 2nd year Ochem course (May - June 2016/120 hours): Class of 350, office hours 3 times a week and ran 2 review sessions in front of ~200 kids (lol scariest thing ever). 

 

Big Brother's of Vancouver (Sept - June/~30 hours): Spent one hour a week with my little buddy at an elementary school doing fun activities.

 

Exec at club (8 months - present/200 hours): Promotion team member and community service chairman for a non-profit charity/club started at UBC aimed at making philanthropy more accessible to university students. This year we raised 25,000$ for local charities. I'm extremely passionate about this organization I think its the next big thing and will be sticking with it for the foreseeable long term. 

 

Fraternity Community service chairman (April-present/25 hours): Name says it all, aimed at promoting community service in the greek community. Have helped host a blood drive with 50+ attendants and hosted a trip to the soup kitchen as well. Term started in April so still planning things.

 

Upcoming activities: 2 terms of directed studies (above lab) and AMS crisis counsellor (one time student councilor (trained to address issues like suicidal thoughts, academic problems and other serious issues) and will be working on projects that promote mental health awareness and wellness on campus. I can include this for schools that don't have early EC cutoffs.

 

Other questions:

 

- Enough research to help with my UofT application?

- Good enough EC's for Queens/UBC? (I've heard they really care about the length of them and I found what I know I want to do for the long term only this past year)

 

You probably won't get a U of T interview unless they really like an aspect of your application. Not trying to offend, just being realistic. I had a greater research component to my application and ECs with greater length but slightly lower grades and didn't get considered for an interview in the graduate stream.

 

You'll be an excellent candidate to get an interview from UBC. Your ECs lengths may hurt you but you still tick off a lot of the boxes that they're looking for. You'll probably be in the lower quadrant of applicants with interviews so make sure to show your "intangibles" during the interview (and pray that the lottery system picks you out for an acceptance).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You probably won't get a U of T interview unless they really like an aspect of your application. Not trying to offend, just being realistic. I had a greater research component to my application and ECs with greater length but slightly lower grades and didn't get considered for an interview in the graduate stream.

 

You'll be an excellent candidate to get an interview from UBC. Your ECs lengths may hurt you but you still tick off a lot of the boxes that they're looking for. You'll probably be in the lower quadrant of applicants with interviews so make sure to show your "intangibles" during the interview (and pray that the lottery system picks you out for an acceptance).

 

Contrary to popular belief, research is in no way more important for UofT than any other school. Keep in mind your references are heavily weighted (check out their video on admissions) and essays are from what I was able to find on the UofT forum, worth a lot more than the ABS. 

 

They should absolutely apply to Toronto if they want, and any other school. To the OP, don't worry about ECs.

 

In my experience, what you think of them means next to nothing. I thought mine where terrible, and got in to all EC-heavy schools, while people who thought (and I thought) had incredible ECs got interviews only at schools that didn't look at ECs. It's a 100% subjective assessment of yourself......so don't count yourself out because you never know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...