Am I wasting my time?

[koba18218]

I had a very bad first year of my undergraduate, my average was around 60.

 

With, a consistant 3.85-3.9 GPA for the next three years, a very solid MCAT score, and amazing ECs, including founding, and being the President of many on club campuses, and Vice President of the Student Union, is it still worth applying for med school?

 

I know it will be alot of work, but I am prepared to do it, and look forward to it....as long as I know my first year wont stop me from my dream of getting into med school.

 

So, should I just start studying for the LSAT now, or am I still in it?

[koba18218]

Side note.....I am doing a BA in political science. I basically am self taught when it comes to sciece, I read MCAT guides and text books. Note sure if being a non-science major will hurt my chances.

[RedLily]

You know what, the next few years are going to happen, whether or not you "try" to work towards applying and getting in to med school. So go for it. I think you still have a shot, just put in your all.

 

Just remember that GPA DOES matter, but so do ECs. BUT ECS can't all be done at last minute, med schools want QUALITY over QUANTITY. But of course both is ideal

 

Prove through hard work and dedication that YOU have something to add to the medical world. It's not "I want to be a doctor because. . . " and then say why medicine is a fabulous option for you.

 

You need to think and say and act "I have something to bring to the medical community. . ." prove and show what you can bring to med schools.

 

Anyway, there's my two cents, hope it helps Go for it, or else you'll live life wondering "what if. . ." and I bet you CAN do it

 

Good luck

[cgy_guy23]

Considering some med schools use only your top two/most recent two years for GPA calc if you do really well in your remaining years there should be no issues. Other schools count each subsequent year with heavier weighting; and some let you drop your lowest year/or your lowest courses. In other words, work hard your next few years and you will be fine. As far as your degree, are you interested in science/medically related stuff? While not all med school is science courses, the first little while definitely focuses heavy on it so you need to make sure you would enjoy/be fine with that. Also, note that just founding many clubs and subsequently being the president of them may not impress ad coms that much. For ECs you should be looking for something that has great responsibility and gives back to the community; clubs are fine of course, but do not depend on those as your main source of ECs...in my opinion it is much more impressive if you do something like work at a homeless shelter, or a women's shelter, phone counselling, child mentor etc. . . these are obviously some examples, but quality is definitely more important than quantity. Anything that shows leadership, diversity of experience, responsibility, community-mindedness is definitely looked upon positively.

 

So yes you have nothing to worry about. And the worse that could happen is that you become a lawyer

[koba18218]

I have a genuine interest in science, especially in biology and medicine. Although my main interest has always been in politics, history, and philosophy, I have great intellectual curiosity, and therefore have come to love science just as much as social sciences.

 

I do have experience like that, I have volunteered at the local food bank since high school.

[cgy_guy23]

Ok well you are well on your way then. And having interests other than medicine is definitely a bonus...it makes you more well rounded and a big part of medicine is politics..whether or not that is a good or bad thing is up for debate.

[koba18218]

Also considering that I baically havent taken any formal science classes, wont I be very limited in the schools I can actually apply to since I will probably be lacking prereqs?

[cgy_guy23]

Not all med schools have prereqs...at least too many...you are probably already good for the humanities (and English?) prereqs...but if you do want to do med school you are correct, you many need to do some science courses. Interspersing them with your regular degree courses will work; and you may have to do some in the spring/summer. Some med schools do not count these as part of your GPA but they do consider them for prereqs.

[koba18218]

Right now, it seems as though Im limited to McMaster and Western.

 

I could also apply to U of T, but because in my first year i was forced to drop a class and could only add another half credit class, I only have 4.5 credits that year. With the weighting formula not applied, having two or three classes in the 50s will kill my GPA.

 

If I can only really apply to two schools (and one being extremely tough to get into to) are my chances lowered at all? Or is it a myth that applying to more schools increases your odds?

[MedDream]

I think there are quite a few people on this forum who applied, interviewed, and were accepted at only one school. If you really want to do it, just go for it. Maybe if you apply and don't get in, spend a year doing prereqs so you can apply to more schools

[estairella]

If I can only really apply to two schools (and one being extremely tough to get into to) are my chances lowered at all? Or is it a myth that applying to more schools increases your odds?

 

[nemesis]

LOGIC FAIL

 

Haha, wow...

 

 

I had a very bad first year of my undergraduate, my average was around 60.

...

 

OP: If you had a "very bad first year", how has this affected your cumulative undergraduate GPA?

 

Remember, it is your cGPA that is evaluated during the selection process at McMaster.

[runningdoc]

Right now, it seems as though Im limited to McMaster and Western.

 

I could also apply to U of T, but because in my first year i was forced to drop a class and could only add another half credit class, I only have 4.5 credits that year. With the weighting formula not applied, having two or three classes in the 50s will kill my GPA.

 

If I can only really apply to two schools (and one being extremely tough to get into to) are my chances lowered at all? Or is it a myth that applying to more schools increases your odds?

 

Applying to more schools doesn't increase your odds at an individual school, but it does increase your odds of getting into A school providing you meet cutoffs at the schools you are applying.

 

If you apply to 4 schools where you meet the application cutoffs, you have the 1/5 to 1/10 chance of getting an interview that the application pools tend to offer at each school. It's just more likely that you get an interview the more schools you apply to, but they are all independent of each other so Mac won't look at your application more highly if you also applied to UofT in the same way that they won't care if Mac is the only school that you applied to.

 

The only place that the number of applications could become an issue if if you get to the interview and the panel asks you want your alternatives are for next year. If you say you applied to 20 other schools because you really want to be a Doctor, you just need to explain that logic well. If you applied to 1 school and say you really want to be a Doctor, you still have to explain your reasoning. If you say you didn't apply elsewhere and you will go to Grade school instead, explain it, etc, etc, etc.

[koba18218]

Applying to more schools doesn't increase your odds at an individual school, but it does increase your odds of getting into A school providing you meet cutoffs at the schools you are applying.

 

If you apply to 4 schools where you meet the application cutoffs, you have the 1/5 to 1/10 chance of getting an interview that the application pools tend to offer at each school. It's just more likely that you get an interview the more schools you apply to, but they are all independent of each other so Mac won't look at your application more highly if you also applied to UofT in the same way that they won't care if Mac is the only school that you applied to.

 

The only place that the number of applications could become an issue if if you get to the interview and the panel asks you want your alternatives are for next year. If you say you applied to 20 other schools because you really want to be a Doctor, you just need to explain that logic well. If you applied to 1 school and say you really want to be a Doctor, you still have to explain your reasoning. If you say you didn't apply elsewhere and you will go to Grade school instead, explain it, etc, etc, etc.

 

Yeah Im sorry I should have clarified, didnt mean if I apply to more schools does it look good on an application, I mean should I try to apply to more schools so that if I dont get in one place I potentially have other options.

 

I have only finished my first year so I dont know what my cGPA will be, my question is more or less will a really bad first year like a 60 average completely screw my cGPA.

[koba18218]

From what I can calculate, even if I get an A in every course second year on, my cGPA will still only be roughly 3.5-3.6.

 

Even if I have an amazing MCAT score, isnt it extremely unlikely I can even get an interview?

[estairella]

From what I can calculate, even if I get an A in every course second year on, my cGPA will still only be roughly 3.5-3.6.

 

Even if I have an amazing MCAT score, isnt it extremely unlikely I can even get an interview?

 

Isn't 60% a GPA of around 2.0? Don't worry, you'll be highly competitive, because you'll be going against aspiring premeds like this one.

 

This forum is so ridiculous sometimes. When someone with a great GPA and great ECs gets rejected, then "it was a tough year, lots of competitive applicants". When someone with an atrocious GPA wants to know if they have a chance... then hey, everyone has a chance and can do it!

 

As others have mentioned, some schools only look at your last 60. So yes, if you get all As and apply in 4th year, you'd have a 3.9-4.0 which is pretty sweet. But that's going from a 60 percent average to a 85+ average. If you were a horse, I would put your odds at 50 to 1 of achieving that goal. As long as you recognize this, knock yourself out!