2011hope Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 Hey everyone I am thinking of applying to both MD and DO programs in the U.S. I graduated from McMaster health sciencesa few years back with an OMSAS GPA of about 3.25 (something like that). I think my UofT adjusted GPA would be about 3.6. I took the MCAT in 2004 and scored 11verb, 8bio, 8phys, S. Since graduating I have traveled a bit and worked as a tutor and at Scotiabank. When I was younger (High School through till 2nd year university) I volunteered in hospitals and senior's residences and I worked as a phlebotomist and EKG tech. I also did a few years of research in neurology at the UHN but never published anything. After thinking about it for a long time and being exposed to it as well, I think that I would make a good physician and that I would enjoy it as well. Do I have a shot at a school in the states with these stats? I'm thinking I might have to raise my GPA and I am retaking the MCAT this summer. Should I even bother applying for entry in 2010? What schools should I look at? And how hard is it to get money to pay for school coming from Canada? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 You are asking lots of good questions! I would start with these two things: I took the MCAT in 2004 and scored 11verb, 8bio, 8phys, S. You really should aim for a score of 10 or above in each section. A total score of >30 will get your application looked at; a score of >35 will give your application some serious consideration. After thinking about it for a long time and being exposed to it as well, I think that I would make a good physician and that I would enjoy it as well. This statement is essentially the question you are asked to answer in your personal statement. Think really REALLY hard about it and make it into a one page essay that is convincing, genuine, and interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justletmein Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 redo the MCAT. your score is too low and it won<t be valid anymore when you apply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a41 Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 redo the MCAT. your score is too low and it won<t be valid anymore when you apply. You missed the part where the OP said they were going to be retaking the MCAT this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 Yes, retaking the MCAT is the right decision. What is your science GPA? (US schools look at that, too) Also, what's your overall GPA trend, is it better from 1st year to 4th, worse, or just kind of all over? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 disclaimer .... slight deviation from thread topic, sorry! Jochi: did you apply to the States this year? (just out of pure curiousity) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n00b Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 you need to bump up your gpa substantially too and no jochi did not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 disclaimer .... slight deviation from thread topic, sorry! Jochi: did you apply to the States this year? (just out of pure curiousity) No, just last year. I don't know if I'm going to reapply, money is an issue. I'm not eligible for bank loans to go to the US because I don't have a cosigner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2011hope Posted April 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 Yes, retaking the MCAT is the right decision. What is your science GPA? (US schools look at that, too) Also, what's your overall GPA trend, is it better from 1st year to 4th, worse, or just kind of all over? MY GPA was best in my first year and sort of got worse as time went on. I had about an 83 % average after my first year and it kinda went into the 70s from there. The thing is the vast majority of my courses are 80s and 90s. But I have 2 Cs and 2 Ds that just pull everything else way down. When those are eliminated (like with the UofT weighting formula since I always had a full course load) by GPA becomes jsut a bit higher than 3.6. I am working from memory here as I don't have my transcripts in front of me now so I might be a bit off. Also, I understand that for the states I need to take first year physics with lab (I've never taken physics beyond High School). Right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 Yes, you do need a year of physics with lab. What are your Cs and Ds in? You need to calculate your science GPA (bio-chemistry-physics-math). If you have a low overall, but high science, you may not be as disadvantaged as if it were the other way around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2011hope Posted April 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 Yes, you do need a year of physics with lab. What are your Cs and Ds in? You need to calculate your science GPA (bio-chemistry-physics-math). If you have a low overall, but high science, you may not be as disadvantaged as if it were the other way around. the Ds are in organic chem and analytical chem and the C is in cell biology. I was wrong about there being two Cs, I found my transcript. There is only one C. I graduated from the McMaster Health Science programme so I took a good number of science courses and got mostly As and some Bs in those. Most of my A+ grades were in non-science courses (I always did well in essay-based courses/exams, less well in multiple choice exams). Apparently in addition to physics I need an English course as well??? What's up with these American schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 OK, Ds and Cs in science don't look good AT ALL. I'd once again encourage you to calculate your science GPA. You might be better off trying in Canada than in the US based on the stats you're talking about, since here you can get away with ****ty grades if you can pull off a high GPA for 2 years (Queen's, UWO). But it's hard to give you specific advice without numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
token Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 Yeah I agree I don't think you should bother with the US. It's a lot of money and time to be spending if you're not absolutely sure you're competitive. Think about having to take full year physics and English courses, spending thousands of dollars of application fees (because you'd have to apply broadly), then flying to interviews if you get them...it's a lot. Your MCAT score isn't great and US schools care a lot about it. Cs and Ds in core science courses mean you may not be comfortable enough with basic sciences to pull off a 35+. Canadian schools are more lenient with the GPA (your UofT GPA is good for example) and you won't need a super high MCAT score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2011hope Posted April 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 Your MCAT score isn't great and US schools care a lot about it. Cs and Ds in core science courses mean you may not be comfortable enough with basic sciences to pull off a 35+. Canadian schools are more lenient with the GPA (your UofT GPA is good for example) and you won't need a super high MCAT score. Well the vast majority of my science courses are As and Bs. I have A grades in first year chemistry, biology, 2nd year genetics, an A+ in biochem, and As in several third year science courses as well. I feel very comfortable with basic science and rather enjoy it. The reason I got a D in orgo was because my grandfather and father were both sick the summer that I took it and I spent a lot of time with them. My grandfather had a stroke the day before my final exam and we put my dog to sleep earlier that day. I was in a pretty bad emotional state and it affected my schoolwork. In fact, the university was willing to dismiss the mark from my transcript but I decided to leave it, not thinking it woudl ever be an issue since most of my other grades are good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
token Posted April 7, 2009 Report Share Posted April 7, 2009 I'm sorry for what you went through, but my advice is still the same just from the MCAT. What would you do differently to go from 8s in PS and BS to 13+? You can get into a US med school with a 3.25, probably even with a D, but you would really have to have a stellar MCAT. You'd be fine in Canada as long as you get at least a 10 in PS and BS. You could do a post-bacc to raise your GPA somewhat in the US. It'd be at least a year at $30 000 a year. Or you could apply to grad school to have an easier time in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest copacetic Posted April 7, 2009 Report Share Posted April 7, 2009 the best bet for you would be to do a masters and try to publish lots, while doing other stuff like grad school leadership things etc. you need to show an adcom that you really are a capable individual when given a fresh start. the other option is to graduate, then do a second degree, say like distance education through athabasca or something. if you had done well in your latter years, you could have just redone the mcat, scored 33+ and had a good shot at schools like queens and western. if you dont want to do either of these things, then i would advise that you consider applying to australia. if you can get 30+ you will have a decent shot at a school like UQ with your gpa. last resort is carribean if you dont want to do any of these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted April 7, 2009 Report Share Posted April 7, 2009 I don't recommend you do a masters on the basis of publishing lots. That is too out of your control to decide. OP, it seems that everyone here overlooked that you took the mcat in 2004, which means that you will have to write it again since they have already expired. So now you HAVE to write it again. I suggest you do post-bacc years to raise your gpa and prepare for the mcat. You can try to redo some of the science courses or take higher levels of them to prove you can do well in science. That is what a lot of Americans would do to improve their application. Don't bank on a 13+ in PS and BS. IMO, a score of 12 is probably as high as you can go with skill, after that it is a lot more skill and a fair deal of luck. Edit: it seems that it was I who overlooked a few things (sorry guys just woke up - yes, that does imply I check these forums every morning Yet nothing changes. I recommend you do more courses to boost up your gpa, and I recommend enrolling in kaplan or TPR to have readily available instructors who can tutor you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quester Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 So, would American med schools consider ALL of your science GPA or just pre-req. GPA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a41 Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 So, would American med schools consider ALL of your science GPA or just pre-req. GPA? All. As a rule, American schools see and consider everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayne67 Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 The best thing probably would be to do a bunch of post-bacc courses in Canada to lift up your cumulative GPA to a 3.5. I would try to avoid the US post-bacc programs because you don't want to pay 20-30k per year for something that will not guarantee you an acceptance to med school even if you end up doing really well. And while some of the US post-bacc's have linkage programs to med schools, many of them are to either very high ranking med schools (where only a very exceptional candidate would have a chance) or to one's which don't accept Canadian students. It's just not good value for Canadian students IMO. You will also need to rewrite and improve upon your MCAT score. If you can get +33, it could mitigate that lower GPA as well in the eyes of the adcoms in the US. And if you do really well for one or two post-bacc years, you could have an even better shot at med schools in Canada as well. Edit: After doing some further research, I actually now think that US post-bac's might be a good idea even with the somewhat high costs - provided that they provide good linkage to Canadian friendly med schools (i.e. NYMC, Georgetown, EVMS, etc.). The key is obviously to choose the right program. But I still would probably avoid doing a masters in Canada or the US - for the simple fact that it isn't going to improve your undergrad GPA, which IMO is low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slashsev01 Posted August 24, 2009 Report Share Posted August 24, 2009 some post- bacc have direct admission to medschool... based on their gpa you achieve in the program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madskillz99 Posted August 24, 2009 Report Share Posted August 24, 2009 I would go into the BHSc office and talk to them about whether you can come back for a 5th year...I know of some individuals who have done this to take additional prereqs for American schools so it is possible...and definitely redo the MCAT..the 11 in verbal is promising, and if you get your science scores up you'll have a fair chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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