Another mature applicant ready to take the plunge - need some advice :)

[wasserkool]

First of all, thank you everyone who has posted here with all the great inspirational and informative threads. This is actually the first forum that I have read from the first page all the way to the last page and finally gave me the courage to write this post and introduce myself to you all. Like many immigrants to this great country, I came here with my parents back in 1999 (when I was 15) to pursue a better life and education. Back in Singapore where I immigrated from, I was a very strong science student and in grade 7 equivalent, I would stay in the library on days end to read university level biology and anatomy books and get into great conversation with university level students.

 

However after immigrating to Canada (parent’s wish), I became highly depressed for several years due to a variety of reasons – cultural shock, different education system and most importantly, the total lack of science emphasis in high school here which totally killed my motivation. This eventually led me to give up my science dream and only took biology up to grade 11 level. When it finally came to university selection time, I chose UofT Scarborough’s Bachelor of Business Admin program and graduated in 2008. Due to financial issues, I had to work about 30 to 40 hours/week during my entire undergrad years to support myself and my family which of course negatively impacted my overall GPA and graduated with only a 2.6 cGPA. I did have two years of stellar GPA of 3.7 and above but family deaths at home in my last year caused me to miss many classes and fail a course, which dragged it to oblivion.

 

The good thing is I did manage to rack up much outstanding experience in the corporate world. I worked for about 3 years with ATI Technologies (graphics card maker) running several important marketing programs, 1 year of internship with Procter & Gamble as a project manager and another year with HP Canada as a Business Analyst. Then bam.....the once in a century economic crisis hit and despite my work experience, I became unemployed as I got laid off from my last job in a Japanese Company. Many of my friends said I have very good experience and that I should ride it out and maybe find some lower level jobs to fill in the time. Due to the extended downtime of staying at home, my thoughts began to wander and began to think back to the days when I excelled in science, compounded by the tons of science TV program on discovery and National Geographic. I figured that this economy will not get better for god knows how long (many predicts 5 or 10 years), should I be wasted my life at its peak on some meaningless job or take another shot at my dream? There are nights where I could not sleep or even dream about medical school which is the only path to empower me to make a difference in the society, away from all the corporate Bullsh|T that I have been exposed for so long.

 

I know that my first undergrad degree’s GPA is subpar and I need to enrol myself in another degree to get a near perfect grade in order to have a shot at Canadian Medical schools. My question to you guys is the following –

 

1) I have not touched science for almost 6 years and most likely have to pick up from scratch - in Jan 2010, I will be sitting in the intro to bio class and learn by myself and borrow more books to read and self study (Is this a good idea)

 

2) What type of second degree should I attend? I read on the forum that for applicants with a second degree, many credits can be transferred which dramatically shortens the time required for completion. I am not too confident to enrol myself in a life-science degree as I will probably get murdered by the required physics and calculus course. Many have said here that study something you truly love and excel in it while taking the prerequisite courses on the side.

 

3) I need to start building my ECs for med school – my neighbour is a family doctor and he said I can volunteer at his clinic for however long I need and be my reference. I could also go back to china on an annual basis to help the local aid agencies.

 

4) I have an option of doing an MBA which qualify me as a graduate applicant later down the road. Can an MBA with a good graduate GPA apply to med school and not consider my undergrad GPA? Or your undergrad GPA will only be erased if you do another undergrad?

 

Lastly but the most important – my family (parents, fiancé, future mother/father – in laws) are all very supportive of my pursuit and will support me financially and emotionally (haha) provided I truly dedicate myself for my next two to 3 years and ace my new degree. My fiance also said that if I am going to take this route, she wants me to dedicate 200% to studies and not worry about anything else. I am 24 and turning 25 in Jan 2010, I hope I am not too late to make a 360 turn in my life.

 

By the way, the irony in my undergrad is that most of my electives are in medical sciences - Epidemiology, Human health, environmental science etc and got all A+ plus a publication in a marketing textbook and several profs are also willing to be my academic reference.

[future_doc]

Look at upper right hand corner to access my PM.

[rmorelan]

Hi there!

 

Your path is a little different than mine but you have still hit some of the same points along the way I also have a professional level IT background, and generally when you start going into IT, engineering or business admin it is an "end game" and not a stepping stone position to another profession (like medicine) and so there is little need for a extremely high GPA. Work experience is more valuable in fact, and that was what you were obtaining.

 

First it is completely fine to start getting back into the game as you are suggesting in 1) below. Most schools don't count 1/2 years anyway so if you could take the courses for credit it wouldn't be entirely useful. Getting your head back into that game after your gap away sounds logical so get ready for next fall which is likely when you will start things.

 

For Canadian medical schools the degree you take is really quite irrelevant in terms of getting in. You aren't doing yourself a favour by taking a particularly hard program in terms of admissions. You want something you can do well in, and something that interests you highly (which helps in the doing well part) - which is the same advise you have already recieved. You don't need life science to get into med school as its med schools job to teach you the medicine. You need to show those schools you are smart and dedicated enough to learn. So which programs actually interest you?

 

As a side note, you past work suggests that a degree in Health Sciences might be good fit as you cover in depth some of the areas you are interested in and have done well in during your prior university work. Perhaps not, but maybe that is something to look at.

 

In terms of point 4) With your undergrad GPA a masters degree will not help you in any real way. You don't have required cut offs to get an interview and a MBA will not help you with that, so I wouldn't recommend going down that route.

 

As for EC I have a guideline that I use - just like with anything else in life, if you are truly passionate about something (and adcoms want to select people passionate about medicine) you won't wait to start doing it - you will find a way to start doing something now. That is one of the real points of ECs - so if you are really interested in family medicine, if that excites you, then yes go to your the doctors office you mentioned and start learning everything you can. Same with helping local aid agencies in China. Don't do these things just because you think adcoms like to see people doing them. All the ECs people tend to do - research, shadowing, international aid, community leadership roles, etc are just ways of starting to be a doctor (a very junior one of course) right now and if thought of that way I think you get the most out of them. I see far too many people using ECs like they are things you can check off of a list - what is the fun in that

 

You have an excellent support system to help you do all of these things which is very good - many people don't and that makes it a lot harder. You are also quite right about the age thing, you are no where near to old (if there is such a thing) to start medicine. You will be able to start applying to schools in as soon as 2-3 years actually, so when you start your program try to do well right from the beginning - it may save you considerable time.

 

Your prior degree work suggests some long term Ontario schools you should look at - Queens, Western, and Ottawa in particular come to mind. These schools have systems that will allow you to overcome your earlier GPA issues. There are some out of province schools as well that are possible. Learning their specific policies is probably a good idea as a result.

 

I think that is it for now, but please feel free to ask additional questions. We can help you get off to a good start in the process

 

 

 

1) I have not touched science for almost 6 years and most likely have to pick up from scratch - in Jan 2010, I will be sitting in the intro to bio class and learn by myself and borrow more books to read and self study (Is this a good idea)

 

2) What type of second degree should I attend? I read on the forum that for applicants with a second degree, many credits can be transferred which dramatically shortens the time required for completion. I am not too confident to enrol myself in a life-science degree as I will probably get murdered by the required physics and calculus course. Many have said here that study something you truly love and excel in it while taking the prerequisite courses on the side.

 

3) I need to start building my ECs for med school – my neighbour is a family doctor and he said I can volunteer at his clinic for however long I need and be my reference. I could also go back to china on an annual basis to help the local aid agencies.

 

4) I have an option of doing an MBA which qualify me as a graduate applicant later down the road. Can an MBA with a good graduate GPA apply to med school and not consider my undergrad GPA? Or your undergrad GPA will only be erased if you do another undergrad?

 

Lastly but the most important – my family (parents, fiancé, future mother/father – in laws) are all very supportive of my pursuit and will support me financially and emotionally (haha) provided I truly dedicate myself for my next two to 3 years and ace my new degree. My fiance also said that if I am going to take this route, she wants me to dedicate 200% to studies and not worry about anything else. I am 24 and turning 25 in Jan 2010, I hope I am not too late to make a 360 turn in my life.

 

By the way, the irony in my undergrad is that most of my electives are in medical sciences - Epidemiology, Human health, environmental science etc and got all A+ plus a publication in a marketing textbook and several profs are also willing to be my academic reference.