SELECTION QUESTION

[Guest mcgill premed]

hi

i just wanted to ask if the school that you graduate from carries a wight in the admission commitee because i heard that if someone graduated with the same qualifications from mcgill and another from another not very high reputable university they would take the one finished from mcgill.

another question is that i want to ask also if the major carries wight too ?

science in mcgill in opposite to arts ?

 

thanx

[Guest trustwomen]

This was discussed briefly in another thread and garp (current med student) said this: "I can say with certainty that McGill definitely does not favor their own graduates...just because more students enter medical school from McGill does not mean the admissions office favors their own graduates...(by analogy, you would be hard pressed to argue that just because more first year students are from physiology that the admissions office favors students with such a bachelors degree--it is just not true)...."

 

I think it's unlikely that you would ever have two candidates with the "exact same qualifications" anyway - even if the GPA and MCAT are identical (which is unlikely to begin with), so much emphasis is put on the personal letter and the interviews that I believe these kinds of small academic details are rendered moot. I'd guess that also includes small deviations in GPA, by the way, so if you can become a more interesting/fulfilled/wise/sociable person during undergrad and that means you'll get a 3.7 instead of a 3.8, I'd say do it. (The MCAT, however, is one-off so why not slay it if you can, it's not as much of a sacrifice.)

 

My advice would be take a major that interests you. You'll do better when you are passionate about a subject anyway. Choose "extracurrics" not because they'll "look good" but because you love them and you'd want to do them regardless of med school.

 

Just my $.02