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Advice please, anyone > year2 BScN, good gpa, poor mcat


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  1. 1. Smartest next steps

    • Only ever apply to schools w/out science pre-reqs (chances)
    • Leave BScN for BSc to get pre-reqs (financial, insecure future)
    • Finish my 4yrs then take pre-req courses (time)
    • Just study, don't think consequences (uncertainty)
    • Look into UKAT (I have a UK passport as well)
    • Get excited about Nurse Practitioner (I want to be neurologist)


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Hello, I really need some advice please. I've wanted to be a doc for a long time now, and I am endlessly interested in pathophysiology, neurology, immunology... I chose to enter the nursing program for many reasons, and I have learned a lot from it so far, but I do not want it as a career. Unfortunately, looking around now, it seems that this choice sabotaged some of my chances - for instance american med schools are no longer an option. We don't get enough electives in my program to take any of the basic sciences, so I only have high school chem & bio knowledge and no formal physics knowledge to date. We've already had bucketloads of clinical experience though.

 

The point:

Eitherway, I wanted to get going on the medschool process asap because I knew it would be a multiyear project, and so I wrote the MCAT "for fun" this summer, and just got my results back last week. I figured I could at least apply to mcmaster this year... but what do I do when I get rejected?

 

My stats: GPA is 3.9ish (89.3%), my MCAT is 27m (bs10, vr9, ps8)

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It's difficult to choose one of these options that you provide without knowing more about what you want - whether that be for a future career in medicine, or for the near-term future. For example, if you were to write the UKAT, would you be OK with the prospect of staying in the UK if you were unsuccessful at coming back to Canada for residency or to practice? Are you happy working in nursing for a few years while you strengthen your med application, or do you think you'd be absolutely miserable doing so?

 

Your GPA is quite solid, and if your 27M was obtained with minimal studying (as I'm assuming from your 'just for fun' comment), then you'd probably be able to significantly increase your score with some additional studying and practice exams. Your best bet for Canadian schools may be to take pre-req courses outside of a degree (after you finish your nursing degree) and then to re-write the MCAT. That said, it's hard to recommend a course of action without knowing more about your long-term goals (apart from med school) and your priorities.

 

Good luck :)

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First question: have you calculated your OMSAS GPA course by course? That will be a good start.

 

If you're only in second year, you have plenty of ways to fit in the courses. If your schedule won't permit ANY basic science electives, then consider summer school/DE. I did engineering and fit in some of the courses on co-op, then actually did orgo and a cell bio course during part of my master's.

 

MCAT scores are on the low side, but if you haven't taken physics since high school, that's easily fixed :)

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Thank you both. Ultimately I want to get into medicine, I'm not too picky where I would have to go for it, and honestly, I really want to leave my program before consolidation (4th year practicum). I'm already a little freaked out looking at my 3rd year schedule and noticing that all the nursing-science courses (which I love) have been replaced with nursing-theories courses (which I hate).

 

But practically, I cannot leave nursing without a solid alternative. Also- it would probably look bad to medschools seeing an applicant who had dropped out of nursing half way through. Do you know of any other Canadian schools that I might have a chance at in this application cycle? So far I've come up with McMaster, Calgary, and maaaybe UofT. I mean, I'll keep working at it for as long as is necessary, but the sooner the better.

-cheers

 

 

Tron, what do you mean "course by course" calculations?

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OMSAS calculates your GPA by converting on a course by course basis, then taking a weighted average. This is different then just converting your school's cumulative average.

 

Switching may be viewed favourably or not. Depends on what the switch is and why you did it. And I would guess you'll lose at least a year switching since you'll have to pick up all the prereq 1st / 2nd year courses before you can move on to 3rd year.

 

I am curious though, why anxious to avoid your 4th year of nursing?

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Your chances at U of C and U of A will be slim because you are considered part of the 3rd year applicant pool - for U of A, that means near perfect GPA and 34+ MCAT, for U of C they really prefer older applicants.

 

What about switching out to a kines or science degree? If you don't enjoy nursing, don't do it. Your peers and preceptors will definitely pick up on it. And I don't think you'll be penalized for switching out, doesn't everyone on this forum say that your choice of major is irrelevant as long as your grades make the cutoff?

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OMSAS calculates your GPA by converting on a course by course basis, then taking a weighted average. This is different then just converting your school's cumulative average.

I am curious though, why anxious to avoid your 4th year of nursing?

 

 

Ya, I went into nursing for the great life education it provides - the people and the social training etc - not necessarily because it was what I wanted as a career (although the job security would be a bonus) But ya, now I want to get into something that I enjoy before its too late.

> I'll see if I can recalculate my gpa the way you suggest.

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I got in to UBC with 27M, you can too, your gpa is higher than mine too. Get your prereq's done and try. Writing the MCAT again would give you more opportunities elsewhere though. Good luck!

 

Are you from BC though? cause it seems that they (and a lot of schools) raise the standards for out of province students. They want pple who are going to stick around. That is hopeful news though and I will definetelty write th emcat again next summer.

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I also took my first MCAT "on a lark"- I got a 27S. It convinced me that I could "do the school thing", so I tried again and got a 33R.

You can do many of the pre-reqs via distance-ed, try Athabasca.

 

 

What did you do between your first and 2nd scores - thats a nice increase. Did you go with athabasca, or did you study on your own?

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Ya, I just looked into it and the sticking point with those two schools seems to be the prereqs. They'll take me about 1year-ish (or a couple summers) to complete. Maybe I should get going on that through athabasca next summer.

:(

 

Why not just finish your nursing degree and do a 5th year for prereq's while working part time?

 

That way you can try out nursing as a career, before you jump into anything else, and get your med prereq's at the same time. Then you can save your summers for working and relaxing (giving up summers for school can burn you out very quickly, trust me).

 

In the end, the race is only with yourself!

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Hello, I really need some advice please. I've wanted to be a doc for a long time now, and I am endlessly interested in pathophysiology, neurology, immunology... I chose to enter the nursing program for many reasons, and I have learned a lot from it so far, but I do not want it as a career. Unfortunately, looking around now, it seems that this choice sabotaged some of my chances - for instance american med schools are no longer an option. We don't get enough electives in my program to take any of the basic sciences, so I only have high school chem & bio knowledge and no formal physics knowledge to date. We've already had bucketloads of clinical experience though.

 

The point:

Eitherway, I wanted to get going on the medschool process asap because I knew it would be a multiyear project, and so I wrote the MCAT "for fun" this summer, and just got my results back last week. I figured I could at least apply to mcmaster this year... but what do I do when I get rejected?

 

My stats: GPA is 3.9ish (89.3%), my MCAT is 27m (bs10, vr9, ps8)

 

GPA's excellent - consider doing some summer courses to fill in the prereqs and rewrite the MCAT. Seems like you're in good shape, though, and the clinical experience will be an asset. (Incidentally, the NPs I've met who work in neuro are great. :))

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I'm actually in the same situation as you, except I have finished my nursing degree. I ended up with less than competitive marks in my first degree and opted to do a second degree to improve my GPA. Before I entered my second degree, I considered Ireland and Australia for medical school. Have you thought about applying there? You could always apply while in nursing school.

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I'm actually in the same situation as you, except I have finished my nursing degree. I ended up with less than competitive marks in my first degree and opted to do a second degree to improve my GPA. Before I entered my second degree, I considered Ireland and Australia for medical school. Have you thought about applying there? You could always apply while in nursing school.

 

DId you end up applying to either, what was the process like? What is your reason for wanting to leave nursing, what did you choose for your second degree? I might look into ireland, I think australia would be too far.

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My cousin, who was in a similar predicament took a year off the nursing track to take her pre-reqs. Once her pre-reqs were completed she went back to the nursing track and applied that same year to med school. She got into medical school

 

To be clearer

year 1- nursing

year 2- nursing (summer reviewed science pre-reqs)

year 3- pre-reqs (summer took the MCAT)

year 4- applied to med school+ nursing year 3

yea 5- started med school

 

Had she not gotten into medical school on her first attempt, she would have just completed her nursing degree and kept on re-applying.

 

good luck figuring it out !

 

In short, I don't think that it matters which order you do it.

________

Honda S-wing specifications

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Thank you guys sooo much!

:D

 

So, here’s my long-term plan:

1- This year, I do 3rd year nursing

I apply(#2) that summer

 

2- The following year I take off nursing to do the pre-reqs

I submit my best applications(#3) the following summer

 

4- I hopefully get accepted while completing 4th year nursing

If not, I reapply(#4), maybe including UK/ Ireland schools, as well as NursePract. Programs.

 

5- I Then make the best of whatever happens (or keep applying, #5?, ikky)

 

For now, this cycle I will (#1)apply to Mc Master, Calgary, and U of T

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