Can someone please explain?!

[rayjay]

I'm currently a graduate student in Physiology. I have a great graduate gpa (3.7+) but a horrible undergrad GPA (<3.0). My last two years of undergrad were stellar but unfortunately they could not balance out my first two immature years where I was completed unfocused and basically they have ruined my life...

 

Anyways, I know my only two shots are UofC (IP) and Queens (because of last two years). My question is this, what is the lowest best two years GPA you've heard of for Queens graduate students to get into the SOM.

 

I was reading one of the "interview/stats" pages and there was a grad student with a similar situation as me (he was in a PhD instead) and got an interview. is it just based on MCAT cutoff and being slightly below the best two years GPA?

 

Would taking two full time years of science coursework after I finish my masters allow me to count those years as GPA for say Queens or Western? I meet the UofC two year cutoff because of my high grad transcript but my overall is going to hurt me...a lot. Writing the MCAT in June. I've been scoring between 30-33 on it. I wrote it two years ago and did horribly in my composite but scored an S in the writing sample (which I didn't find that difficult)

[rayjay]

oh and yes I am considering the Caribbean and Australia. My graduate GPA is big with Australia (UQ) and they do a three year weighted like UOttawa so that gives me a decent GPA as well. I get an interview at Sydney automatically (???) because of my MSc.

 

Caribbean is really my last resort (which I know it is quickly rising on the list of places I have to apply to).

 

I would appreciate the people who tell you "give up, go try something else, etc." to give me a break. I'm depressed enough about it as it is, I don't need someone kicking me when I'm down. Everytime I walk past a UofC student I know who got accepted, its like being stabbed

 

Constructive criticisms/advice please?

[future_rural_doc]

It looks like you're doing fine...if you do well on the MCAT you should get interviews at Queen's, Western and UofC! That's three interviews more than most people and two more than you really need.

Just concentrate on the MCAT. Really, your first two years won't bring you down that much. Lots of people have terrible grades in first and second year and still make it into med. You also have master's which helps...especially for the GPA cut-off at Queen's (they're more lenient).

[AndreaM]

Has it been long enough since your first two years to apply UBC's 10-year rule? If so you might have a shot at UBC.

[bloh]

For uofc, they will take your average of all 4 years. Ultimately it's worth 20% so not huge - post interview. If you get an interview, you have a good shot if you ace it. Be honest and calculate your GPA and post it so that we can advise you better. Less than 3 for 2 years can have a whole range.

 

If you limp in with a GPA below average, an average MCAT, average references and nothing in the EC record that stands out, it may be difficult to get an interview.

[rayjay]

sorry I neglected this thread. For some reason I thought I had enabled emails to notify when i got responses...guess I didn't.

 

Ok, so make fun all you want.

 

My UBC cumulative is 70.1% (UBC has never reported my GPA so that's what I've got). When I convert to UofC my cumulative is about 2.5 and my best two years are 3.5 (if you include my graduate coursework then my best two years are 3.65).

 

Unfortunately no, I don't qualify for UBC's 10 year rule yet...but at this rate I could be eventually.

 

(UBC admissions was "kind" enough to basically tell me not to bother applying because even though I meet the minimum 70%, I am below 75% and so despite graduate work I won't be review...I guess they saved me an application fee?)

[Ollie]

2 things:

-does you overall average for UBC include your graduate courses, because it should be included for your overall and last 60 (at least that's how they calculated mine)

-have you calculated your UofT weighted GPA (assuming you qualify)? My UG average was pretty crappy (don't remember the actual number, but suffice to say not good) and I got in to UofT (I did have a 4.0 grad GPA and 2 publications as well).

[RiceWine]

sorry I neglected this thread. For some reason I thought I had enabled emails to notify when i got responses...guess I didn't.

 

Ok, so make fun all you want.

 

My UBC cumulative is 70.1% (UBC has never reported my GPA so that's what I've got). When I convert to UofC my cumulative is about 2.5 and my best two years are 3.5 (if you include my graduate coursework then my best two years are 3.65).

 

Unfortunately no, I don't qualify for UBC's 10 year rule yet...but at this rate I could be eventually.

 

(UBC admissions was "kind" enough to basically tell me not to bother applying because even though I meet the minimum 70%, I am below 75% and so despite graduate work I won't be review...I guess they saved me an application fee?)

 

 

ubc is just not kind to grad students period

[rayjay]

haha Ricewine that seems to be the consensus these days when I talk to grad students applying. Shame.

 

Ollie, that's a very inspiring story to hear. I think I had calculated it way back when and if I drop my lowest 5 full courses (10 half in my case) I come out to a GPA of just above 3.0. My grad GPA is about 3.8 at the moment. I just started in september so no publications as yet but just had an abstract submitted and hopefully if all goes well by the end of the summer I'll have a proper publication submitted. Does UofT put any emphasis on research you've done outside of grad school? I had 4 years of research prior to starting grad school (which is what sparked my itnerest in research)

[rayjay]

oh, yes my overall for UBC includes my grad courses. My last 60 credits (including grad work) works out to 81.2%

 

I've been looking into doing a post-baccalaureate program like the 1 year Kinesiology or Biological sciences program offered by SFU. You take 30 credits of upper level biology/kinesiology over the course of a year. The only thing stopping me is that I don't know how that extra post-bacc year will factor in to my entire GPA record.