Enlighten My Situation

[Prothrombin]

I'd bet anyone a year of free med school that this has been posted at least 100x before, but I just signed up and i'm not really one for using online forums. I found them a bit of a distraction and scare in terms of obtaining goals for med school.

 

With that aside I just have a few quick questions i'm sure all of you can answer. In very brief point form this is my situation:

 

- Bombed 1st year with a 3.2 GPA

- Finished 2nd year better with a 3.55GPA

- Going into 3rd year, do not want my 1st year marks to count therefore will need to use my upcoming 3rd 4th and 2nd year marks for GPA (I know uOttawa will eliminate 1st year if 4 years are obtained).

- If I want to use 4th year marks I cannot apply during 4th year, so what are my options? Should I take the year off? Apply to Grad School? etc?

-Given situation, when should I take the MCAT (and or DAT/PCAT if necessary)? End of 3rd year?

[TeaHatingBrit]

FYI: If you're planning on Ottawa (because of the 1st year mark drop); they don't need the MCAT.

[japlanet]

Not to be harsh, but a quick reality check - 2nd year is still going to hurt you. You probably need something in the 3.75-3.8 range to be considered competitive. All is not lost, though. Queen's and Western will consider your two most recent/best years.

 

Write the MCAT whenever is convenient, leaving time to rewrite if your score is so-so. As for what to so after 4th year - only you can make that decision, but be aware that if you start a grad program, many schools require you to finish it before applying.

[Prothrombin]

I'm taking the MCAT anyways because I want to bank on others schools. I'm born and raised in Ottawa, and go to Carleton, which is a bit of a bonus because they lower the GPA requirements.

 

I'm also seriously considering applying to US Med Schools and DO schools.

[future_doc]

I'd bet anyone a year of free med school

 

Before I try to answer, which med school? You said free, but do you guarantee that we get in? Please, please, I'd prefer to not spend the summer studying for MCAT!

 

OK, I see you answers already. I would consider doing a 5th year and do the MCAT when you feel ready. Also, I am sure that rmorelan will soon see your question and come up with excellent and common sense advise as always.

[Prothrombin]

Not to be harsh, but a quick reality check - 2nd year is still going to hurt you. You probably need something in the 3.75-3.8 range to be considered competitive. All is not lost, though. Queen's and Western will consider your two most recent/best years.

 

Write the MCAT whenever is convenient, leaving time to rewrite if your score is so-so. As for what to so after 4th year - only you can make that decision, but be aware that if you start a grad program, many schools require you to finish it before applying.

 

No harm taken, only advice:)

 

I know that Queens/Western take two best years, and if I start grad scgool i need to finish it, which is what is annoying me, because I want 3rd and 4th year to be my 2 best years.

 

What would be my best option? Doing a 5th year?

[Prothrombin]

Before I try to answer, which med school? You said free, but do you guarantee that we get in? Please, please, I'd prefer to not spend the summer studying for MCAT!

 

I pay in Vietnamese Dong:D

[japlanet]

No harm taken, only advice:)

 

I know that Queens/Western take two best years, and if I start grad scgool i need to finish it, which is what is annoying me, because I want 3rd and 4th year to be my 2 best years.

 

What would be my best option? Doing a 5th year?

 

Personally, I would do a 5th year or find a job for a year. If I didn't get in to med this year, I was entertaining the idea of teaching English in Korea or something next year.

[thatonekid]

I'm taking the MCAT anyways because I want to bank on others schools. I'm born and raised in Ottawa, and go to Carleton, which is a bit of a bonus because they lower the GPA requirements.

 

I'm also seriously considering applying to US Med Schools and DO schools.

Go Ravens!

 

You really need to up that GPA in 3rd and 4th year. Out of curiosity, what's your major. I just finished 3rd year and could recommend some classes (or you can PM me if you don't want to post here). Doing a 5th year might be good, and as others have already said, some schools take the best/most recent 2 years. Also, did you get low grades in all your classes, or just a few Bs that dragged down your GPA? I ask because Toronto drops your lowest 6 classes (if you apply after 3rd year) or lowest 8 classes (if you apply after 4th year). Depending on how many As and Bs you got, this can really raise your GPA.

 

Another note, US med schools also require a high GPA + a high MCAT for Canadians. Therefore, those that consider US schools are those who were competitive for Canadian schools, but didn't get in. In both the US and Canada cases, you need to substantially raise that GPA. However, some Canadian schools have weighting formulas that can work in your favor, whereas US schools consider every class you've taken.

[Prothrombin]

Health Sciences. And I actually did very well in most of my courses (A's and A-'s) with the exception of an elective English course taught by none other than one Mr. Robert Lovejoy for Childrens Literature, which messed up my GPA because it was a Full Year course.

 

And I did read up on some Med Schools who aren't 100% on GPA. I know you obviously need a good GPA to be competitive but I did follow up to the FAQ replies and they did inform me that a fairly good GPA with a good MCAT as well as excellent extra currics and personality can get you in way before a school guru with a 3.9 GPA.

[thatonekid]

If only you had come here last year, I would have told you to take Canadian Lit instead of Kid's Lit, since most of us health sci people take CanLit due to the easy grading scheme.

 

Helpful hint for next year: No matter how well you did in 2nd year genetics (I'm assuming you took 2104 this year), do not take 3rd year genetics (3104). It's a GPA killer.

[rmorelan]

I'm taking the MCAT anyways because I want to bank on others schools. I'm born and raised in Ottawa, and go to Carleton, which is a bit of a bonus because they lower the GPA requirements.

 

I'm also seriously considering applying to US Med Schools and DO schools.

 

Sounds like you are keeping your options open which is great

 

You haven't said you are under any time pressure, so I would suggest considering an extra year if you can, but you can take a layered multi year approach to give you the best shot and most practise.

 

1) Do well in 3rd year, get over Westerns cut-off and apply to it. If you get in it will be dependent on your fourth year also being over the cut off but you plan to do that anyway. You already said you are planning to do the mcat as well so that works as well. Best case you get into western and you lose no time at all. Worst case interview practise - which really, really helps.

 

2) Do your 4th year, then you will be able to apply again to Western, and Queens + other 2 year schools perhaps. More attempts, more practise, better odds of success.

 

now you have that year off in limbo as it were. You have to consider an extra UG year, or do grad work or something else. Of the first two probably (and this is just an opinion) an extra UG year probably helps more. Reasons:

1) You could now in theory apply to Ottawa (and you are from there)

2) It cannot harm you at western or other best two year schools but can help

3) you can apply immediately again, rather than being locked out as you have to finish your masters.

4) You can select the courses that best punch up that GPA (within the rules of course).

 

The only draw back is you might lose out at Queens (as it is last two years), but you potentially gain an entire new school to apply at. A masters IS useful, but in your case I don't think it is as good as getting more chances to apply, and the GPA improvement.

 

If you have to then, you can after year 5 do grad work if you are still serious. Maybe even do it out of province to gain additional advantages in an IP area. Then you still have US schools etc as well

 

Biggest thing for you though is figure out how to get that GPA up. That is the real barrier here, so find a way around it

[Prothrombin]

Thanks for th heads up! I got an A- so maybe i should stay away lol. What 3rd year courses would you recommend me taking. I seem to exclusively get A+'s in Psyc courses.

 

I need to take 2nd year animals, and the 3rd year follow up, as well as 1st year Physics. other than that ids all up to me. I also want to take 2nd year microbio. I'm thinking about taking 3rd year organic chem, or 3rd year biochem.

[thatonekid]

Thanks for th heads up! I got an A- so maybe i should stay away lol. What 3rd year courses would you recommend me taking. I seem to exclusively get A+'s in Psyc courses.

 

I need to take 2nd year animals, and the 3rd year follow up, as well as 1st year Physics. other than that ids all up to me. I also want to take 2nd year microbio. I'm thinking about taking 3rd year organic chem, or 3rd year biochem.

I loved 2nd year animals! The dissections are fun. 3rd year animals is good too-the prof is excellent. I'm not sure about 3rd year organic, as I don't know anyone who took it. I do know a few people who took 3rd year biochem & they hated it. There was a new prof this year who didn't teach it very well apparently (it's not Jim who teaches 3rd year). I guess it depends how much you like biochem/how good you are at it. 2nd year micro is the ultimate bird course. Lots of engineers take it, so it's more focused towards them, making it easy for people with bio backgrounds.

 

Since you're in health sci, drugs & behavior is manditory, but it's an excellent class. I also recommend addictions and motavation/emotion. Those 2 classes fill up early since so many people want to take them (they're 3rd year, but I can't remember the course #s). Another class you may want to check out is Bioethics (2nd year philosophy). No papers to write, just midterms & a final and it was a great class that can help you with prepairing for interviews, especially the MMIs. If you're good at stats and took stat2507, you could take biol3604 (analysis of relations) as it's pretty much the same thing as stat2507, except you don't need to do any calculations.

 

As for 1st year physics, there are 2 profs who teach the first semester, phys1007 (at least 3 years ago when I signed up for it). One's name is Igor (can't remember the last name) and the other is Dr. Armitage. If you can, take it with Armitage, as everyone I know has said I was lucky to get him over Igor. For 2nd semester phys1008, Dr. Watson teaches it and he's an excellent prof. I know a lot of people worry about physics (although you might be a physics genius!) but in both phys1007&1008 you get to take an 8.5x11 sheet of white paper into the final exam. You can write anything you want on that paper- equations, example questions & answers, etc. Therefore, the final becomes quite easy and many people gets As (and some A+s).

 

Hope this was somewhat helpful.

[Prothrombin]

Thanks!

Yeah my friend had Igor the Russian, hated him. I already took Drugs & Behaviour with Hollahan. It was a joke and I ended up getting an A, which is why i'm seriously considering D&B part 2 as well as Motivation and Emotion.

[NewfieMike]

And I did read up on some Med Schools who aren't 100% on GPA. I know you obviously need a good GPA to be competitive but I did follow up to the FAQ replies and they did inform me that a fairly good GPA with a good MCAT as well as excellent extra currics and personality can get you in way before a school guru with a 3.9 GPA.

 

don't forget that a lot of these 'school guru's also have a good MCAT, excellent EC's, and (despite folk belief).... personality.

[Prothrombin]

hahah, you know what i mean though. Theres a lot of folks out there who are interested in med school but dont have the right knowledge about the requirements.

[DOC_Ma]

Health Sciences. And I actually did very well in most of my courses (A's and A-'s) with the exception of an elective English course taught by none other than one Mr. Robert Lovejoy for Childrens Literature, which messed up my GPA because it was a Full Year course.

 

And I did read up on some Med Schools who aren't 100% on GPA. I know you obviously need a good GPA to be competitive but I did follow up to the FAQ replies and they did inform me that a fairly good GPA with a good MCAT as well as excellent extra currics and personality can get you in way before a school guru with a 3.9 GPA.

 

I hate how people make the assumption that a student with high GPA has no life , a nerd, guru etc etc. I am not saying you are saying it but this has been brough up a few times now. How do they know that? Actually I know a lot of people with super high GPA's and still have a life and do even more EC stuff than those with sub par GPA's.