Help!

[Nicole0215]

Hi,

 

I am a new member of this forum. I know it is kind of late to join since i am entering my final year of my undergraduate. There are lots of problems of my status that have been bothering me. I am unsure of what I should do and what are the schools i should apply. I am the type of person that worries a lot =S , it is definitely not a good trait. I wish to get some guidance from my peers and people who has definitely been through this whole process of applying to meds. I would really appreciate it =)

 

My current status isn't really good. My first undergraduate did not go so well, I worked really hard and did not overcome the gap difference between high school and university. Here's my story:

 

 

 

1st year : cGPA = 2.25 ( i did do some summer courses in another university and recieved 70s but they were just counted as a transfer credit)

 

2nd year: cGPA= Annual GPA 2.60 Cumulative GPA 2.43

 

(>100 hours of volunteering in total for almost 2 years)

- started volunteering in a hospital and did 4hrs/week. I worked as an assistant for the special pregnancy program and did filing

- switched to working in the nursing unit (I do beds, file, refill things, talk to nurses and patients) for 3 months

- worked blood lab and just organize samples for another 3 months

- translators for patients

 

3rd year: Annual GPA 3.48; cGPA 2.84 (my 2nd semester i got a 3.65 semester GPA)

 

- i am currently researching in a dermatology laboratory and working on my own project. I might do a presentation on for the department.

- i am studying for my MCAT (aug 10, 2010)

 

 

Questions i have:

1) Should I do a fifth year or retake some courses that are pulling my GPA down. ( i would have to see myself taking some dreadful courses in first year)

 

2) I know i am kind of late to apply for American Medical Schools , I was wondering if any of you know if there are medical schools that only look at the last two years of the undergraduate?

 

3) Should i consider graduate program and study for my GRE this coming fourth year? I do also wish to get into physical therapy if I don't get into meds after my undergraduate.

 

4) I haven't taken my humanities course credit yet but i will eventually. What are some humanities courses that would satisfy most of the medical school requirements?

 

5) what am i still lacking for my ECs? I am looking foward to get some physician shadowing this coming fourth year. I am looking forward to get some of my first few reference letters this year ( i know it is kind of late ). What else do I need to do? I need some guidance =)

 

 

I have basically lost faith after my first year and got really discouraged by it. This caused me to do average on my second year. However, after multiple encouragements from my peers, i have picked up my bad habits of studying and tried really hard for my third year. I try to open up with options. It is just that somehow, I thought doing a 5th year would help me to get into some of the U.S. Allopathic Schools. In the end, I want to get into one of those schools so I can specialize in Dermatology or OB/GYN =S . Osteopathic schools only allow you to do so much. As for SMP, I find that it is a very expensive program that it may not even get me into allopathic schools even if i do them. I'll try to keep an open mind for now and just focus on my research job and MCAT =) Please help me Thanks for reading and bearing with the long post.

[runningdoc]

Questions i have:

 

1) Should I do a fifth year or retake some courses that are pulling my GPA down. ( i would have to see myself taking some dreadful courses in first year)

 

If you want to apply to Canadian schools, your GPA isn't going to get you in anywhere at its current level. Even at places like UWO/Queens that look at your last two/best two, you aren't going to meet the cutoffs of at least two years of 3.7 GPA (UWO) so doing extra years is a must at this point if you want to apply to Medicine. Retaking courses won't really replace the cGPA issue.

 

2) I know i am kind of late to apply for American Medical Schools , I was wondering if any of you know if there are medical schools that only look at the last two years of the undergraduate?

 

3) Should i consider graduate program and study for my GRE this coming fourth year? I do also wish to get into physical therapy if I don't get into meds after my undergraduate.

 

Sure, you could consider grad school, but the "bonus" that you get for Grad school wouldn't cover up the GPA at this point. If you are looking at Grad school as a career alternative and it is something you truly enjoy, I would say "GO FOR IT".

 

4) I haven't taken my humanities course credit yet but i will eventually. What are some humanities courses that would satisfy most of the medical school requirements?

 

English, Classics, Art, Philosophy, Literature, Drama (some schools), Music (some schools)

 

5) what am i still lacking for my ECs? I am looking foward to get some physician shadowing this coming fourth year. I am looking forward to get some of my first few reference letters this year ( i know it is kind of late ). What else do I need to do? I need some guidance =)

 

Why the obsession with volunteering and EC's? They are important, sure, but they are not the be-all-end-all of applying to Medicine. You have more than enough in terms of volunteering, but what I would say is that you pulled in a lot of volunteering during years where your GPA was not doing so hot. Sit back and assess how much time you are spending on your studies and how much time you spend on everything else. Without knowing you, my first opinion is that you are spending too much time doing non-academic related activities and that your GPA is being hurt by that. It's fine to do 3000 and 1 things if you are maintaining appropriate levels in all areas, but sometimes you need to pull back on the ECs to focus on the academics.

[Sarah_2020]

If you do well in 4th year, I would suggest looking into a 5th year...that way you would have a good chance at western (which looks at best 2 years) so they would look at 4th year and then (as long as mcat meets cutoffs and interview goes well) they can grant you a conditional acceptance...however that means you wouldnt apply until the start of your fifth year... for a humanities credit...the majority of students just take a first year english course.

 

The things is that if you do well in your foruth year...your cgpa wont go up that much...so I would look into the western idea.

 

From what I researched grad school wont be that beneficial if youre still gonna apply to meds since most schools look only at undergrad and some give a slight leniency towards grad applicants (ie u of t i think gpa is 3.0 to apply)

[newmeddude]

Theoretically, you still have a chance. If you do well in your 4th year and 5th year and do well on your MCAT, you will still have a chance at schools that look at two years, such as Western, Queens, Dalhousie, etc. However, judging from your history, and the overall vibe I get from you (via your post/writing) I would say it is extremely unlikely that you are going to get into Canada, or USA for that matter. If you are dead-set on medicine, I would start considering other options: Caribbean, Ireland, Australia, etc.

[Nicole0215]

I have actually spent a lot of time studying for the past year (third year undergraduate). I am pretty sure I can do a great job in the 4th year (>3.75GPA) I will try to get 4.0s. Thanks for all your advices. I do have actually considered Australian Medical School since I do have the citizenship there. I just don't think the certificate is well recognized in Canada if i decided to do my residency here. I am worried that I will have no place to go. This is the reason why I am still considering U.S. or Canadian medical schools. =S What do you guys think? I am hoping to do OB/GYN in the future =) I know it is so far ahead to think of , but my goal is set !

 

I have been suggested to do SMP or go to D.O. schools.But, I am just not so sure if it is worth the money to do it. I know I still got another year left and perhaps a 5th year. But, i have also heard a lot of people telling me that a 5th year won't do help me at all . There is definitely too much on my mind right now, too much worries

[Nicole0215]

anyone replying? =S

[mark1020804]

I'd say that at your current situation, it would be best to take a 4th or 5th year. After such, given a 3.7+ in both 4th and 5th years, it would give you relatively fair standing at Western and Queens(make sure you have a full course load though, cause I believe one of those requires it).

 

Given that you have an Austrialian citizenship, why not just go to med school there? They have much better facilities than some of those carribbean places, and as a citizen yourself, you wouldn't be too disadvantaged in finding a residency there. There is still a chance for you to do residency in Canada(although a greater chance in the states), but at least you will have a medical degree. I know some Austrialian schools offer the MBBS instead of the MD, so do some research on how those are looked at in Can/US. All in all, from my perspective, medical school in Austrialia seems like a wonderful idea.

 

Take all my advice with a grain of salt. I'm still in high school!

[DOC_Ma]

I have actually spent a lot of time studying for the past year (third year undergraduate). I am pretty sure I can do a great job in the 4th year (>3.75GPA) I will try to get 4.0s. Thanks for all your advices. I do have actually considered Australian Medical School since I do have the citizenship there. I just don't think the certificate is well recognized in Canada if i decided to do my residency here. I am worried that I will have no place to go. This is the reason why I am still considering U.S. or Canadian medical schools. =S What do you guys think? I am hoping to do OB/GYN in the future =) I know it is so far ahead to think of , but my goal is set !

 

I have been suggested to do SMP or go to D.O. schools.But, I am just not so sure if it is worth the money to do it. I know I still got another year left and perhaps a 5th year. But, i have also heard a lot of people telling me that a 5th year won't do help me at all . There is definitely too much on my mind right now, too much worries

 

At your current state, a 5th year is a must. Also as you mentioned before you already studied hard for the past year and the results werent stellar (sorry not even close) so you really gotta figure out why you didn't do so well. Don't repeat the same thing and hope for a better result because that will not happen.

[CREA.tive]

When you say that you volunteered as an assistant in a hospital, what did you do other than filing?

Do you have any other ECs that are NOT related to clinical experience? It looks like you're too obsessed by medicine (that's only my first impression, but someone else might think the same thing, and you don't want that)