kevinkwon84 Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 I got my Honors BSc. at University of Toronto last year and am currently in MSc program. My undergrad CGPA was not very great (~3.0) but I believe I can pull off 3.8~4.0 by the time I get my graduate degree. My MCAT is ok - 10BS, 11PS, 8VR, R WS - I will be retaking the test this summer to upgrade my VR score. My extracurricular up until now is pretty good (LOTS of research exps, volunteering at hospitals/home for the aged/educational institutes/wild life caring/etc, activities such as kendo/scuba diving/etc, clinical experiences (E.g.: job shadowing doctors), etc...) My question is, how do US schools treat graduate applicants (especially SUNY, NYU, and Wayne State)? Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
token Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 They will only look at your undergraduate GPA. However, any research or LORs you got from your masters will be helpful. If you're set on the US, you may want to consider taking more undergraduate courses. However if you're just considering it as a back up, it would probably be easier to get into a Canadian school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n00b Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 i don't think treading water is an admissions requirement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinkwon84 Posted March 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 I meant "treat". Thanks for pin-pointing my typo tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamDoc Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 I got my Honors BSc. at University of Toronto last year and am currently in MSc program. My undergrad CGPA was not very great (~3.0) but I believe I can pull off 3.8~4.0 by the time I get my graduate degree. My MCAT is ok - 10BS, 11PS, 8VR, R WS - I will be retaking the test this summer to upgrade my VR score. My extracurricular up until now is pretty good (LOTS of research exps, volunteering at hospitals/home for the aged/educational institutes/wild life caring/etc, activities such as kendo/scuba diving/etc, clinical experiences (E.g.: job shadowing doctors), etc...) My question is, how do US schools treat graduate applicants (especially SUNY, NYU, and Wayne State)? Thank you! This is irrelevent to the thread, but I justed wanted to ask if there was any reason for that 3.0 GPA? or was it that you studied very hard and that UofT is just hard. I'm asking this because I'm considering going there lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Journey Man Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 I got my Honors BSc. at University of Toronto last year and am currently in MSc program. My undergrad CGPA was not very great (~3.0) but I believe I can pull off 3.8~4.0 by the time I get my graduate degree. My MCAT is ok - 10BS, 11PS, 8VR, R WS - I will be retaking the test this summer to upgrade my VR score. My extracurricular up until now is pretty good (LOTS of research exps, volunteering at hospitals/home for the aged/educational institutes/wild life caring/etc, activities such as kendo/scuba diving/etc, clinical experiences (E.g.: job shadowing doctors), etc...) My question is, how do US schools treat graduate applicants (especially SUNY, NYU, and Wayne State)? Thank you! Your GPA is quite low for American admissions. We Canadians tend to have a little bit of a disadvantage when applying to American schools. My recommendations, is that if you're really serious about American schools is the following: Do a post-bac or SMP at an American school - I think they cost a lot of money. These programs are basically for students who want a second chance to show that they can do well with rigorous courses. If you get a high GPA in one of these programs, then it will offset your low GPA. Then, re-take the MCAT. Aim for 33+ with even distributions in all sections. In the meantime, focus on getting more CLINICAL experience. This is the most important out of all activities, more than your research. If you a few solid long-term clinical volunteering gigs, then you should be good. If you get a high GPA in your post-bac, high MCAT plus solid clinical experience, you will be competitive at most American schools. Its a lot of work, but thats what it will likely take to give yourself a shot. Like others above have said, if you want to aim for Canadian schools, you're better off taking 1-2 year more of undergrad (depending on whether you already have a year with high GPA) and ace those years. Get above 11s on every section, add a 1-2 pubs + abstracts from your research then you should be competitive at UWO, Queens, UofT, Ottawa (with Mac you never know). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Journey Man Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 This is irrelevent to the thread, but I justed wanted to ask if there was any reason for that 3.0 GPA? or was it that you studied very hard and that UofT is just hard. I'm asking this because I'm considering going there lol Most undergrads I've come in contact with at U of T (Im a grad student at U of T living in residence with undergrads) are extremely negative about their experience at U of T (St. George campus) Many of the students tend to be from the programs with all the pre-med gunners. I've heard some better things about the zoology/botany program as there seems to be less hardcore gunners there. On top of that, there just seems to be a competitive culture at U of T that Ive never found at other schools, especially York (my undergrad). This is entirely from word of mouth, but the schools that tend to be good experiences for pre-med undergrads tend to be Western, Queens and McGill/Concordia. I really enjoyed my time at York as well and found the Biology program to be difficult (have a weeding out 2nd year primarily) but very enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
token Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 This is entirely from word of mouth, but the schools that tend to be good experiences for pre-med undergrads tend to be Western, Queens and McGill/Concordia. I definitely agree with this. I have friends from high school who ended up all over, and this is definitely the general trend I've seen from their experiences. In terms of reputation in the US, you can't get any better than UofT and McGill, but McGill will be a lot less painful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayne67 Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 I actually took my premed credits at UofT and I've had plenty of friends that went there. From what I've seen and from what I have heard, the commuter mentality permeates the entire Arts & Science faculty. Their many thousands of students go to school and then they immediately come home. There's also very little student lounge space or any place to really hang out on campus (I don't know if things have changed since then). The whole atmosphere may encourage the intellectual prowess of the "Great Minds" that UofT constantly yammers about, but it can make it very difficult to develop even a remotely half decent university social life. I know that there are exceptions to this of course, but that's just the feedback that I've gotten from people that went there for all four years. And I've sort of seen it there myself. But it is definitely different for the more tight knit smaller faculties (i.e. medicine, engineering, nursing, pharmacy, etc.). For the most part, they all seem to be pretty content going there. One of my friends was miserable during his four years at UofT Arts & Science, but he's really happy with his student life at UofT Meds now. If you want a good overall university experience, then go to Western, Queens, McGill, or to the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slashsev Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 UofT is ****...do not go there if u want a future Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slashsev Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 its nothing more than a reputation...probably the worst choice ive ever made Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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