Need honest opinion

[Guest LobusDexter]

I'm wondering if someone could please give me a little advice here. I was a MUN student for several years, but I was in and out of programs, left now and then to work, and finally finished for good as a third-year undeclared student! There were some good excuses for the unsettled behaviour, but a few bad ones as well. My grades weren't anything to be desired! There were 2 unsuccessful courses, a few drops, and the rest ranged from low C's to one or two A's. I have a poor GPA there of 2.48.

 

However, I have since gone on to have an excellent career as a pilot and an officer with the Canadian Forces, am completing a BSc (Human Sciences) at another school (and will graduate there with a 4.0 GPA), and I hope to complete a Master's if time permits - all while I hold this position in the Forces. I volunteer with the Salvation Army helping those less fortunate, and am also considering a trip with Missionary Aviation Fellowship who offers aid to the third world. Outside all of this, I enjoy a lot of extracurricular atcivities - sports, travel, hobbies, music, and more (but this is already long enough!).

 

So my questions are: With my history @ MUN, do I have any possible chance on earth of ever entering medical school? Would it help if I applied as a student sponsored by the CF? And what, if anything, can I do to better prepare myself for applying?

 

I am so passionate about becoming a doctor, and helping those in need - I'll do what I can! Your opinions are greatly appreciated. And please, don't worry about "dashing my dream"! If in your opinion there's no chance of me getting in, please let me know.

 

Thank you.

[Guest Scared in the Woods]

Hey, sounds like you'd qualify fine. I completed a first degree with terrible grades, then regrouped and completed a second honours four year degree in two years with better grades and received interviews at Queen's and UWO.

 

UWO only looks at your last two years, Queen's will do the same. Ottawa takes a weighted look at your last three years, Calgary I think is last two years only. A few of the western schools might consider you "in-province" for being in the CF.

 

As long as your two most recent years of school are full time and high GPA, don't worry about your early years, mine didn't affect me! Be careful with a masters. Some schools won't admit you half way through your masters level program.

 

Good luck!

[Guest UWOMED2005]

This shouldn't be in the UWO forum. . . you'd get a better variety of feedback elsewhere.

 

No matter.

 

If you have a 4.0 GPA from another school, your MUN performance means NOTHING. You can't really get better marks for academics than that!

 

For most schools, all you need to worry about is MCAT and, "extra-currics" and interview. And to be honest - you've already got some fantastic extracurric experiences to talk about in any interview!

 

I know one of the McGill med students is a former aurora pilot - met him at FSS several years ago. REALLY interesting guy to chat with.

 

Good Luck.

[Guest LobusDexter]

Thanks to both of you for the encouragement. I'm glad to hear that. It's going to be a few years before I can apply - I am still completing my BSc, and I have some time remaining to my CF contract. However, at least this information gives me hope, and something to work toward. Thanks again, and all the best to you and your studies.

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hi Lobus,

 

Before everyone gets too carried away here, please be advised that the requirements for UWO will have changed to a four-year honours degree by the time you get yourself into a position to apply and be competitive for admission. From the sounds of it, a 3-year, 2.48 GPA isn't going to cut it, although if you had a decent single year in there and were able to go back to "upgrade" your degree to a four-year honours and ace the final year, then it would be possible to gain admission, I would suspect.

I'm not sure how the whole CF thing works with respect to gaining admission, but I do know that UWO has no separate applicant pool for gaining admission this way- you'd have to slug it out with the rest of the applicants the old-fashioned way. This may not be the case at other schools, though- I don't recall offhand, so have a look at other schools' websites and see what they have to say.

Anyway, sorry to be the bearer of potentially bad news, but I just thought that I'd set the record straight. Best of luck to you in your quest!

 

Best of luck!

Timmy

[Guest LobusDexter]

Timmy,

 

Thanks for the reply. However, my 3 yrs @ MUN didn't result in a degree. They are just random courses. I enrolled in a new school, and started from scratch. There I have a 4.0 GPA, am in the process of publishing. I'll also complete an MSc, and then submit an application to medical schools. Maybe this changes something?

 

L

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hi Lobus,

 

Well, that does change everything! How many full-time years did you have with your new degree program? Were they all 4.0? If you have two full-time undergraduate years above 3.70, then you'll be good to go for UWO! I assume that your degree program was four years if you are looking to do a Master's afterward. UWO won't hold your dark past against you, if that's what you're worried about. Sounds like you are heading in the right direction!

 

Best of luck!

Timmy

[Guest LobusDexter]

Thanks a lot. Yes it is a 4 yr degree, and 4.0 in every course taken from there. Hopefully the MSc will go just as well. I appreciate your info. And best of luck in your studies as well.

 

L

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hey Lobus,

 

Sounds like you're a shoo-in! Why didn't you mention this in your initial post?!? So long as your MCAT is good, you'll be fine!

 

BEst of luck!

Timmy

[Guest LobusDexter]

Thanks man.

[Guest larasmith]

going back to the reply stating that western and queens only look at the last two years. doesn't western just look at the last one year completed if you're currently enrolled in fourth year? could someone please clarify??

[Guest Elaine I]

That is true. UWO computes your GPA for interview and acceptance using your ONE best year (with 5.0 courses, no repeats). However, in order to enroll, you must have TWO years above the minimum GPA (individually).

 

Elaine

[Guest Platinum84]

I heard that UWO is changing its requirements for next year. It'll now be that they require two FULL years ABOVE (or at) the cutoff in order to be interviewed.

 

Since the cutoffs are determined based on applicant pools, I anticipate the cutoff will drop a bit from this year's 3.70 (as this year they only required one year above the cutoff for an interview).

 

Double check with the UWO website though - I heard this from a friend looking into it.

[Guest larasmith]

thanks to both for your reply. i don't think they're changing it based on the website (i really hope not!)

 

here's what i found:

 

"Only your best academic year (September - April) during which 5 full or equivalent courses (30 credit hours) have been completed will be used to determine whether you have met the GPA admission cutoff.

 

Scenario #1: Suppose you are a fourth-year student, and in the past three academic years you have taken 5 FCE (30 credit hours) each year, with the following results:

 

Year #1: 3.50

Year #2: 3.60

Year #3: 3.90

 

Western Medicine sets the GPA cutoff for the year that you apply at 3.65. Year #1 and Year #2 do not meet the GPA cutoff, but Year #3 does. Hence, you would meet the GPA admissions cutoff and would still be eligible to receive an interview. However, should you subsequently receive an offer of admission, it would be conditional upon you meeting the GPA cutoff in your current academic year."

[Guest Platinum84]

You're right - seems as though my friend was mistaken.