MSc or second degree?

[aileenthesnail]

Hey guys,

 

I am new here and only regret that I wasn't here earlier. I am graduating my undergrad in may , but didn't get an interview from UBC. At this point...don't know what to do in terms of med school. My GPA is like 3.75, 3.2,3.2,3.65 for my 4 years of study. and my prerequisite only get 75% as average. I have a 31m MCAT score. My original plan was to do a second degree so at least my average for last 60 credit will improve while making myself more engaged into volunteer work. I will definitely redo the MCAT because of the M. That is until I got an offer from McGill for Grad studies in Experimental Medicine. Now I am confused about what to do now. The good part about doing grad school is at least i will have a Msc after two years regardless of med school or not, and it will add to my research experience. The bad part is that most of the volunteer work in montreal require french speaking people which is not what I am. Since I am a BC resident, UBC is definately my first choice. Can someone give me some suggestions about what I should do now? thanks so much!!!!

[dbjones]

Hello,

That is a very tough decision.

I see you already have a year of 3.75 under your belt. So if you do get another undergrad GPA of 3.75 or higher you will pass the cutoffs for Western.

Additionally, let's say hypothetically that the extra year is 3.9, the average of your last two years should be high enough for Queens.

Only a handful of schools take graduate studies into consideration.

So I would do more research and pick the option that makes you competitive or gets you to the interview stage for the greatest number of schools.

Hope this helps.

BTW I sent a PM.

[dbjones]

Take a look at this recent thread to look at the schools with modified gpa admissions criteria: http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41410

Then of course the Grad Student Sticky: http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39007

[RiceWine]

Hey guys,

 

I am new here and only regret that I wasn't here earlier. I am graduating my undergrad in may , but didn't get an interview from UBC. At this point...don't know what to do in terms of med school. My GPA is like 3.75, 3.2,3.2,3.65 for my 4 years of study. and my prerequisite only get 75% as average. I have a 31m MCAT score. My original plan was to do a second degree so at least my average for last 60 credit will improve while making myself more engaged into volunteer work. I will definitely redo the MCAT because of the M. That is until I got an offer from McGill for Grad studies in Experimental Medicine. Now I am confused about what to do now. The good part about doing grad school is at least i will have a Msc after two years regardless of med school or not, and it will add to my research experience. The bad part is that most of the volunteer work in montreal require french speaking people which is not what I am. Since I am a BC resident, UBC is definately my first choice. Can someone give me some suggestions about what I should do now? thanks so much!!!!

 

 

Hi aileen-- it seems your mcat is pretty good and you won't have to worry about the new ubc mcat cutof. grad school can help you more than raising your last 60 gpa. plus you'll get tons of research experience, some money, presentation, meeting amazing people (dep which lab you go to). I'd say go for it if you are interested in research. I applied to ubc 2 years ago and was rejected post-interview. I interviewed again this year with an MSc.

 

 

ps- the only downside is you can't apply to ubc in the middle of your degree.

[leap87]

Hi aileen-- it seems your mcat is pretty good and you won't have to worry about the new ubc mcat cutof. grad school can help you more than raising your last 60 gpa. plus you'll get tons of research experience, some money, presentation, meeting amazing people (dep which lab you go to). I'd say go for it if you are interested in research. I applied to ubc 2 years ago and was rejected post-interview. I interviewed again this year with an MSc.

 

 

ps- the only downside is you can't apply to ubc in the middle of your degree.

 

How is grad school helping you raise your GPA? If she doesn't have a good enough GPA, then she won't even reach the interview stage. Grad school means nothing if you don't have the marks.

[AndreaM]

How is grad school helping you raise your GPA? If she doesn't have a good enough GPA, then she won't even reach the interview stage. Grad school means nothing if you don't have the marks.

 

UBC uses your grad courses as part of your cGPA and last 60 credits, so for UBC it does actually help.

[leap87]

UBC uses your grad courses as part of your cGPA and last 60 credits, so for UBC it does actually help.

 

Ahhhh.... Okay. That's if you're gunning for UBC.

[Slashsev01]

id go for the usa

[nosuperman]

id go for the usa

 

That GPA and MCAT aren't exactly competitive for OOS applicants... If your goal is to make yourself competitive for UBC only then MSc would be the way to go. That being said you're putting a lot of eggs in one basket.

 

If you want to make yourself more marketable everywhere (presumably, including UBC) then a second degree would take the same amount of time while boosting your GPA. (assuming you work your ass off and pull a higher GPA than you've pulled to this point)

[rayjay]

I'm quickly learning that my grad school route was probably not the way to go. I love research, don't get me wrong. I've done summer research projects for about 4 years before starting grad school so I knew it was something I wanted.

 

However, wrt to getting into med, my ugrad GPA is the pits...embarrassing even. Does anyone know if there is a policy/negative view on someone who does:

ugrad --> MSc --> second ugrad?

 

I've heard of some people doing 2 year undergrad degrees (not sure how that works, you just transfer credits?) and then using the second to boost their two year GPA (Queens, Western, Dal) and overall GPA (everywhere else). What I've calculated is that if I get two full time years (60 credit hours) with a minimum of A- in all my coursework I can bring my GPA up to a half respectable level. I hold BC residency and Alberta residency.

[nosuperman]

 

However, wrt to getting into med, my ugrad GPA is the pits...embarrassing even. Does anyone know if there is a policy/negative view on someone who does:

ugrad --> MSc --> second ugrad?

 

In my non-expert opinion I'd say there'd be no problem/stigma at all so long as you can justify your choices in a way that makes you look suitable for medicine i.e. its not just whimsical indecisiveness.

 

I've never seen anything in a Canadian admissions criteria to suggest any penalty or stigma associated with it either.

[JR_89]

I am kind of on the same boat. I am graduating but my overall average is only ~80 and I am considering doing a second degree but don't really know how that works. Has anyone done this? How many credits can you transfer and how quickly can you get your second degree?

[Slashsev01]

y not international?

[JR_89]

International as in the states or elsewhere?

[sunshinesky101]

Double-check with all the schools that they will, in fact, count your grades from your second degree. For example, I don't think Western will. I believe you would have to do an whole 4-year honours degree and your two best years could come from the second degree, but you could only apply when you were in your last year.

 

For UWO, if you decide to do a second degree, then they will not look at the first one (even if you had met the cutoffs in that one)...but the second degree can be 2 years (actually it has to be 2 years minimum)...you can apply after one year into the second undergrad, given that you meet the cutoffs in that year and hopefully get a conditional offer. Otherwise, you can apply after your second undergrad degree is done (with 2 years above the cutoff).

 

I checked this with them myself...so what luckythirteen said is not right....UWO will take your grades from the second degree and the second degree can be 2 years in duration.

[exodus9]

The degree has to be an honours degree though right? So a 4 year degree.

 

How are people doing 2 year honours degrees? Are they just using transfer credits from their first degree?

[McMarauder]

Yes, they are using transfer credits from their first degree.

 

I just finished a BSc from Mac in Pharmacology, but registered at york for Kin this september. Because of my transfer credits, I can finish the program in 2 years.