How should I approach this

[momo]

Hi there,

 

well I think that to get in in Ontario, you may wish to retake the MCATs... you would be ok if you applied to SK though:) but I guess you do want to stay in Ontario, which makes sense. I am not sure if I would do the Masters... it's really up to you, but there are a few people in my class who did their Masters, and they seem very happy with having done that... have you tried applying to Mac? I graduated with my second degree from Mac as well.

 

I think in Ontario, MCAT first (try to get those 10s across the board), and probably the Masters (but do what you love!!! not what you think will get you in), and really in the end, life experience!! Many schools are moving towards the MMI model of interviewing, and I think people skills and well-rounded thought processes matter the most when you only have 8 minutes to convince someone you should be accepted!

 

If you have any specific qs, feel free to message me.

 

m

[2011hope]

So after a few weeks of thought I am thinking as follows

 

1) Retake mcat

2) do another undergrad degree (I think I could pull this off in 2 years)

3) apply to meds

4) if I didnt get in, do a masters

5) reapply

6) if i didnt get in, do something crazy! haha

 

What do you all think?

 

Also, for doing another degree. If i did something that gave me an alternate career choice so that I could work while still trying for meds, like nursing for instance, would that look bad to med schools when i apply? Would they be like "hey, he did a nursing degree but is not doing nursing. he took a spot from someone who really wants to be a nurse, not a doctor."

 

what do you all think?

 

--Hope

[Jochi1543]

 

What do you all think?

 

Damn, that's a lot of time and money! Maybe Caribbean would be a more reasonable option?

[Classic]

So after a few weeks of thought I am thinking as follows

 

1) Retake mcat

2) do another undergrad degree (I think I could pull this off in 2 years)

3) apply to meds

4) if I didnt get in, do a masters

5) reapply

6) if i didnt get in, do something crazy! haha

 

What do you all think?

 

Also, for doing another degree. If i did something that gave me an alternate career choice so that I could work while still trying for meds, like nursing for instance, would that look bad to med schools when i apply? Would they be like "hey, he did a nursing degree but is not doing nursing. he took a spot from someone who really wants to be a nurse, not a doctor."

 

what do you all think?

 

--Hope

 

 

It's not uncommon for RN --> MD. There are plenty of advanced-standing, 2 year BSN programs in Canada.

[rmorelan]

It's not uncommon for RN --> MD. There are plenty of advanced-standing, 2 year BSN programs in Canada.

 

Agreed, I think it is a positive, not a negative thing at all!

[2011hope]

My concern now is that I have no clue as to what doing a B.Sc.N. is like and, if I need to raise my gpa, perhpas I would be better off doing something less intense? Can anyone here offer some insight as to how difficult it is to get A grades in a 2nd entry nursing program? Are there any message boards like this for nurses/nursing students in canada?

[medisforme]

Well, I graded with a BScN in 2005 and have recently decided to go the medicine route. One observation i have is that while nursing is not necessarily harder than regular science/arts courses it is sometimes harder to get good grades - especially in your final year. Third and Fourth year (or I guess year 1 and 2 for these direct entry ones) tend to be clinically heavy with your prowess, skills, bedside manner counting for a lot of your mark. Furthermore, fourth year often requires independant research while doing your practicum (in my experience anyway) - so unless you are really into nursing you will find it difficult/boring. Furthermore, given that nursing is in many ways more of an art than a science, personality clashes or otherwise with clinical instructors are not uncommon and can affect your grade. (true story: a girl in my class was basically a 4.0 student through 3.5 years of nursing school then had a personality clash with her practicum instructor and ended up having to repeat the final four months of her degree).

 

Final thought:

While nursing is an awesome way to gain healthcare experience and be in an environment where you gain quite a broad education on a variety of topics I would definitely not recommend it to increase your gpa (unless maybe you have a super low cgpa and any sort of medium >> high gpa will drastically increase your cgpa).

Me personally my cgpa = 3.74 while my gpa from my nursing degree was 3.66 (and I worked ridiculously hard).

[2011hope]

Well, I graded with a BScN in 2005 and have recently decided to go the medicine route. One observation i have is that while nursing is not necessarily harder than regular science/arts courses it is sometimes harder to get good grades - especially in your final year. Third and Fourth year (or I guess year 1 and 2 for these direct entry ones) tend to be clinically heavy with your prowess, skills, bedside manner counting for a lot of your mark. Furthermore, fourth year often requires independant research while doing your practicum (in my experience anyway) - so unless you are really into nursing you will find it difficult/boring. Furthermore, given that nursing is in many ways more of an art than a science, personality clashes or otherwise with clinical instructors are not uncommon and can affect your grade. (true story: a girl in my class was basically a 4.0 student through 3.5 years of nursing school then had a personality clash with her practicum instructor and ended up having to repeat the final four months of her degree).

 

Final thought:

While nursing is an awesome way to gain healthcare experience and be in an environment where you gain quite a broad education on a variety of topics I would definitely not recommend it to increase your gpa (unless maybe you have a super low cgpa and any sort of medium >> high gpa will drastically increase your cgpa).

Me personally my cgpa = 3.74 while my gpa from my nursing degree was 3.66 (and I worked ridiculously hard).

 

Thanks for the informative reply. :-)

[123coco]

I think you should base your decision on your GPA for your last two years undergrad years....if your grades were not stellar then do another undergrad degree in something that could be a back up career. If your grades are ok (3.5ish and higer) go to grad school. That being said you will need to re-writte the mcat no matter which path you select....

 

just a suggestion though

________

DODGE MAXXCAB HISTORY

[2011hope]

Hey everyone, thanx again for all your advice. i've been thinking a a lot lately about my situation. I want to be a doc, not a nurse, not an np, but a doc. I have come to know this through my experiences and the opportunities I have had in healthcare/medicine. Yes, for practicality's sake I should have a backup, such as the one that a nursing program provides, but if my goal is to be a physician and go to med school here then shouldn't I be doing whatever it takes to get there? And is a nursing program really the answer? Wouldn't it be better for me to just do another degree in a subject i am familiar with and know i can do well in (psych, bio, etc.)???

 

Why should I settle? Why should I go with this backup. Its not as if I will be out on the street in a couple years if I am still not in med school. I want to be a physician and I don't think that it is an unatainable goal.

 

am I being stupid? The truth is I just don't know what to do. If I had some idea of what kind of grades I can get in the nursing program that would make this decision easier. man, im starting to feel depressed/angry about all this.

 

[Guest rpuff]

I'm going to be really honest here, please don't take this the wrong way. If medicine is your ultimate goal, don't go into nursing. There is so much competition to get into nurses, with people who actually want to do it as a lifelong career. I understand that you want to do a degree that will provide you security and a way of getting good grades. But consider the fact that you're taking someone's educational spot, and there will be one less nurse out there. People do it all the time, I'm not picking on you, but I personally don't agree with it. My best friend is in U of C's 4 year BScN program and it's tough as hell to pull over a 3.7 mostly because of clinical - I mean you can study all you want for a psychology exam and probably get an A but there's a much less chance you're getting an A on the wards.

You're probably better off doing another degree, IMO. Nursing will get you experience for sure, but if you're thinking about medicine the whole time let someone else take that spot and become a nurse. If you truly want to be a doctor, your determination will get you there.

[2011hope]

I'm going to be really honest here, please don't take this the wrong way. If medicine is your ultimate goal, don't go into nursing. There is so much competition to get into nurses, with people who actually want to do it as a lifelong career. I understand that you want to do a degree that will provide you security and a way of getting good grades. But consider the fact that you're taking someone's educational spot, and there will be one less nurse out there. People do it all the time, I'm not picking on you, but I personally don't agree with it. My best friend is in U of C's 4 year BScN program and it's tough as hell to pull over a 3.7 mostly because of clinical - I mean you can study all you want for a psychology exam and probably get an A but there's a much less chance you're getting an A on the wards.

You're probably better off doing another degree, IMO. Nursing will get you experience for sure, but if you're thinking about medicine the whole time let someone else take that spot and become a nurse. If you truly want to be a doctor, your determination will get you there.

 

Hey all,

 

I decided not to go the nursing route. But now I am reconsidering whether I really should be doing more undergrad work. Maybe I should just go and do a masters. hmmmm. I'm indecisive.

[2011hope]

Hey all,

 

I've added a poll. Please vote! :-)

[rmorelan]

Hey all,

 

I've added a poll. Please vote! :-)

 

UG gpa trumps all, so you know how I voted

[2011hope]

c'mon yall vote! :-)

[2011hope]

Thanks to all of you who have voted. :-) And now I have another question. I understand that McMaster is now weighting the VR section of the MCAT in the admissions formula. Given my stats, do you think it is even worth it to apply to mac this year? I'm thinking that the VR could offset the gpa but would it be enough given my low gpa? hmmmm

[2011hope]

I had an advising appointment the other day and was told that to get a b.s.c.hon. in psychology all I have to take is 30 credits! (honours thesis, a stats course, a research methods course, and then electives). I was kind of thinking of doing another 2 years and that way having that many more courses with a higher gpa to offset my lower gpa from my first degree. But I also understand that some schools only look at the most recent degree/undergrad work, right? So what do you all think? Should I go ahead and do another year and get my second degree in that year or should I try and do more than another year of work? Please advise :-)

[rant]

I had an advising appointment the other day and was told that to get a b.s.c.hon. in psychology all I have to take is 30 credits! (honours thesis, a stats course, a research methods course, and then electives). I was kind of thinking of doing another 2 years and that way having that many more courses with a higher gpa to offset my lower gpa from my first degree. But I also understand that some schools only look at the most recent degree/undergrad work, right? So what do you all think? Should I go ahead and do another year and get my second degree in that year or should I try and do more than another year of work? Please advise :-)

 

I want to know -- what do YOU feel like you should do? What are your instincts telling you?

[2011hope]

I want to know -- what do YOU feel like you should do? What are your instincts telling you?

 

I'm going to refrain from answering that as I want to hear from other people first.

[2011hope]

I had an advising appointment the other day and was told that to get a b.s.c.hon. in psychology all I have to take is 30 credits! (honours thesis, a stats course, a research methods course, and then electives). I was kind of thinking of doing another 2 years and that way having that many more courses with a higher gpa to offset my lower gpa from my first degree. But I also understand that some schools only look at the most recent degree/undergrad work, right? So what do you all think? Should I go ahead and do another year and get my second degree in that year or should I try and do more than another year of work? Please advise :-)

 

*Bump* Anyone?

[2011hope]

Well no one seems to have much input. Truth be told, I'm worried that a) I don't see myself doing anything but medicine and I have no back-up. I mean, if I don't get in after all this, then what? Sometimes, life, she ain't so pretty.

[2011hope]

what do you all think about me applying to mac this year given my stats? i am retaking the mcat and i think i can get better than the 10 in vr i got last time and i see that mac has a new formula that makes vr really count. do you think i should bother spending the time and money applying to just the one school this year or is my gpa so low that i should just wait until i have improved it?

[Addy K]

The average GPA for accepted students for Mac will likely drop this year (since not the GPA is worth half as much as last year). 2/3 of your application depends on ABS and MCAT VR score, so in theory you do have a chance. No one knows what will happen, but if you get a 11+ you might as well apply.

[2011hope]

Hey all,

 

Thanks again for all this advice. I ended-up going into a 2 year nursing program and am now coming to the end of my first term. I don't like it very much. I certainly don't want to be a nurse and being in the hospital as a nursing student just reminds me so much of how I want to do medicine. I am not happy with my instructors or the material we are learning and though I have been getting As on most things so far, I have also found that some of the stuff is very subjective (i.e. if your particular instructor doesn't like you, you are screwed) whereas I am used to far more objective grading (think sciences).

 

I could cut my losses with this program now and transfer into something else (psych, bio, etc., etc.) for January. Something that interests me more and has less subjective stuff in it.

 

OR I could continue in this program and see what happens. But I am worried that 1) I don't really want to be an RN, I want to be an MD and 2) what if, rather than bringing my gpa up, this program screws me gpa wise?

 

Okay, I think I am done *****ing for the evening. Thoughts? Advice? Suicide plans? (I'm kidding there ).

[ABMD]

I think you should stick it out in nursing, because it will ultimately give you a lot of good experiences for medicine. I did a 2 year accelerated BN degree following a sub-par performance in a BSc program, all with the intention of ultimately going into medicine (which I now have). This decision definitely helped boost my GPA (nursing GPA was probably in the 3.75 range which was way higher than in my science degree). I realize the material you have to learn in nursing is often times ridiculous and has absolutely no practical application. That said, nursing is an incredibly diverse field and once you're finished you can do a lot of things with the degree while you're waiting to get into medicine. You can also pretty much walk into a job once you graduate and make pretty good money. Nursing also has plenty of areas for further career development like management, nurse practitioner, or nurse anesthetist in the States if medicine doesn't happen. While I realize you previously said you wouldn't want to be an NP, there is the reality that lots of people don't make it into med, and being an NP is a pretty good fall back plan in my opinion (it was my plan . And believe me I know where you're coming from with the subjective marking (thank god my school used pass/fail for clinical rotations or my GPA would have been a different story). All I can say is push through as best you can. Also think about moving to a different province when you graduate (or better yet up North), as this will really enable you to increase the number of schools you can apply to. I was thinking of moving up North for a year or two, as I could have make really good money working as an RN, and could have applied to all the western med schools (I think) as IP.

 

Bottom line is 4 years ago I was exactly where you are now. I thought nursing school was awful, but ultimately I'm glad I stuck it out, and I haven't regretted doing the degree or the time I spent working as an RN prior to entering med.

 

Good Luck.