the trend??

[Genemo]

It looks like more and more schools tend not to look at graduate study. I emailed U of Calgary asking about the GPA calculation for graduate study, and they replied saying they may move away the graduate study policies this year.

 

I wonder if I should really do a graduate study or go straight to work. The original reason for me to give up one year's salary to graduate study was to pull up the GPA. But if less and less schools care about graduate study...I dont know:(

[rmorelan]

It looks like more and more schools tend not to look at graduate study. I emailed U of Calgary asking about the GPA calculation for graduate study, and they replied saying they may move away the graduate study policies this year.

 

I wonder if I should really do a graduate study or go straight to work. The original reason for me to give up one year's salary to graduate study was to pull up the GPA. But if less and less schools care about graduate study...I dont know:(

 

Was there any other reason to take graduate work you were considering? Most schools don't count grad courses at all (Calgary accepts one year right?) There does seem to be a trend away from directly providing an advantage to grad students pre interview, although at the interview itself you would think having more experience is of use.

[Genemo]

Was there any other reason to take graduate work you were considering? Most schools don't count grad courses at all (Calgary accepts one year right?) There does seem to be a trend away from directly providing an advantage to grad students pre interview, although at the interview itself you would think having more experience is of use.

 

There are other reasons for me to take the graduate study, but not much stronger than the reasons to work. Or say, if I know doing a master will pull up my GPA and benefit med application, I will go for it, but if it doesnt help that much, I dont know if I really want to give up the salary of work.

 

It is just scary, what if I started the graduate study, thinking that will pull up my GPA, and right before graduation I realize its not counted any more? Its quite likely to happen...

[nosuperman]

Catering your entire year towards one school's policy is probably putting too many eggs in one basket. As rmorelan said, most schools don't count grad work for GPA purposes. If your GPA is a weak point then it'd be better to consider doing an extra year of undergrad (or something similar) to boost it. Alternately if you're OK with your GPA and you're attracted to the experience of grad school then you'd probably benefit most, on a personal level at least, by following your interests to grad school. It seems that you could go either way (i.e. you aren't dead set on following up on some particular research project) so were I in your position I'd evaluate the weak points of my application and spend a year addressing those. You've got the rest of your life to make money... now is the time to ensure you get into the profession you want

[osmosis]

There are other reasons for me to take the graduate study, but not much stronger than the reasons to work. Or say, if I know doing a master will pull up my GPA and benefit med application, I will go for it, but if it doesnt help that much, I dont know if I really want to give up the salary of work.

 

It is just scary, what if I started the graduate study, thinking that will pull up my GPA, and right before graduation I realize its not counted any more? Its quite likely to happen...

 

I am certain this particular topic has been discussed on previous occasions. Going to grad school simply for the sake of pulling up GPA is a bad idea. Grad school should only be pursued if one had a genuine interest in research, and wants to test the waters. That being said, having a graduate degree will certainly enhance one's non-academic portions, what with presentations, clinical/lab work, journal club, etc. There are few schools who do give grad students some extra points, or have a separate review policy (U of T and Queen's). Of course, the aforementioned schools require MCAT cutoffs to be met before reviewing the rest of your file.

 

Now, on the topic of U of C. If you read the applicant manual, specifically the area with regard to graduate work, it indicates that no special consideration is given to graduate students (i.e., they are subject to meeting the same five criteria as all other applicants (GPA, extracurrics, references...etc). The only advantage that grad students ever had at U of C, is that they were allowed to include any coursework completed as part of the GPA calculation for cutoff purposes (i.e., best two years). Once a file meets the cutoffs, the entire academic record is reviewed and scored. This of course is entirely subjective, so it really comes down to who looks at your file and what they think. So in that respect, grad students never really had an advantage to begin with. The only thing I can gather from what you are claiming, is that they will no longer consider grad school marks as part of the cutoff, which may happen, but doesn't really seem likely as the academic scoring component is once again entirely subjective.

 

U of C however is known for admitting more mature, well rounded, and those applicants with life experience. It is most likely in this area that a graduate degree would garner an applicant additional points, and separate them from the pack. Also, a grad student would most likely have good to excellent letters of reference being that they have worked consistently under many different conditions and settings with a supervisor and colleagues who could speak accurately and convincingly about the attributes of a candidate and why they would be suited for the study of medicine.

 

So, this is how I see it. Some schools outright say that they no longer look at grad school or grades and have hard cutoffs. Fine. U of C has soft cutoffs, if you meet the minimum requirements, your file moves on and is evaluated in its entirety. So really, it's anyone's guess as to what may happen, grad student or not.

[Genemo]

Thanks nosuperman, I like this haha

You've got the rest of your life to make money... now is the time to ensure you get into the profession you want

 

I am in a weird situation where I dont know my weakness of my application yet. I had two years of university in China with quite a lot of credits, I dont know exactly how each school will look at that. I have four years of study in UBC but only 1 year was full time study because I didnt take enough courses in my first year here (and I didnt know that matters) and I am in co-op program. My full time year GPA is good but my first and half year was really bad. Now I have only one more term left and cant really improve too much. So how each school look at my GPA in China is a big issue but I wont be able to know until I apply.

To make things even more complicated, Im still an international student and waiting for my PR. I can only apply next Sep and thats when I will get my PR. I will graduate next Apr before application starts, and I need to know what I want to do after that. I have a feeling that my GPA will hurt. The WES converted my Chinese credits in a very tough way, altho its still better than my first one and half year here. I knew my first one and half year was bad but thats mainly because I was new here and it was hard for a non-English speaker to start right from second year. And I didnt know much about medical school at that time.

[Genemo]

I am certain this particular topic has been discussed on previous occasions. Going to grad school simply for the sake of pulling up GPA is a bad idea. Grad school should only be pursued if one had a genuine interest in research, and wants to test the waters. That being said, having a graduate degree will certainly enhance one's non-academic portions, what with presentations, clinical/lab work, journal club, etc. There are few schools who do give grad students some extra points, or have a separate review policy (U of T and Queen's). Of course, the aforementioned schools require MCAT cutoffs to be met before reviewing the rest of your file.

 

Thanks osmosis. The graduate study I am thinking of is a course based master of education. Education is a direction I think I would love to go but really I dont have enough understanding about it. I have done part time job about student advising and I find myself enjoy it. But I dont know if this is enough to say I really want to switch myself from life science to education.

And yes my current major is life science and I have some research experience. I dont know if I really want to give up this. I dont mind doing research but I hate the fact that I have to do a phd and many postdocs to keep going on research, and the low income+overwork for researchers is not fun. I still hope to run a lab if I become a physician, but ya, I need to become a physician first to think about this question.

[nosuperman]

Thanks nosuperman, I like this haha

 

 

I am in a weird situation where I dont know my weakness of my application yet. I had two years of university in China with quite a lot of credits, I dont know exactly how each school will look at that. I have four years of study in UBC but only 1 year was full time study because I didnt take enough courses in my first year here (and I didnt know that matters) and I am in co-op program. My full time year GPA is good but my first and half year was really bad. Now I have only one more term left and cant really improve too much. So how each school look at my GPA in China is a big issue but I wont be able to know until I apply.

To make things even more complicated, Im still an international student and waiting for my PR. I can only apply next Sep and thats when I will get my PR. I will graduate next Apr before application starts, and I need to know what I want to do after that. I have a feeling that my GPA will hurt. The WES converted my Chinese credits in a very tough way, altho its still better than my first one and half year here. I knew my first one and half year was bad but thats mainly because I was new here and it was hard for a non-English speaker to start right from second year. And I didnt know much about medical school at that time.

 

So you're aiming at China or Canada? In either case I'd email each school individually to figure out how your credits and marks will work out. When it comes to critical stuff like that you need to hear it straight from the source. Worst case scenario you do more undergrad!

[Genemo]

So you're aiming at China or Canada? In either case I'd email each school individually to figure out how your credits and marks will work out. When it comes to critical stuff like that you need to hear it straight from the source. Worst case scenario you do more undergrad!

 

Im aiming at Canadian schools for sure. I did email each school, but it doesnt sound as easy. The whole thing is just too complicated to be accurately described and most of cases they say they have to see my application first. Really I dont want to do more undergrad or say really I dont know what other undergrad I want to do other than my current major.

[nosuperman]

So the first limiting factor here is the PR, I assume, and it doesn't really sound like there's a whole lot you can do about it other than wait and hope.

 

The next thing would be your courses and credits. Since your first year was only part time it might be (to your advantage) overlooked by a number of schools. Now I'm mostly experienced with Ontario and I know different schools here have different considerations for what counts ranging from 3-5 courses per semester. Depending on how many credits your co-op was worth you may be excused from taking the full number of courses as well.

 

If you're worried about the future its usually best to just plan it all out... I'd make a list of every school I was competitive at and include their policies on full-time vs part-time study, and also include my GPA as it would be weighted at each school... and see if I'm competitive.

 

If you aren't able to get the sort of results you're hoping for then 2 more years of undergrad (or even a 5th year) could work wonders for your GPA, assuming you buckle down and maximize the opportunity to raise your grades.

 

Whatever your major is I'm sure you can find something at perhaps a different school that is similar yet overlapping to what you're interested in. For example I did a biology degree at one school, applied to medicine and was accepted overseas, waitlisted in Canada, and I've found a second undergrad in Health Science that involves quite a bit of overlap with my biology background. If I don't get off the waitlist I'll be doing 2 more years of school, applying after the 1st, and hoping to get in to Canada the next time around.

[Genemo]

Thx nosuperman

 

I tried to list schools that I may be compatitive at, but its still hard to say. Who knows if somewhere that I didnt realize goes wrong. Such as U of Calgary brought up a question that school terms in china is one month longer than in Canada, so its not Sep-Apr but Sep-Jun. They say they will not consider my two years in china as winter term even I took 37 credits the whole year. This is quite unexpected and I guess I can never know how each school will calculate my GPA until I apply next year.

 

My co-op was the worst schedule one with two years of 8months work plus 4 months study. So neither year can be counted as full time anywhere.

 

I am thinking of doing undergrad for another 1 or 2 years but this is only to pull up my GPA. So far I cant persuade myself to believe this is a good idea. Im trying to figure out what to do next year after graduation until I know my application result. Its kinda clueless.