Bombed one.. going for a second one. Some advice?

[Gufe]

I bombed my first undergrad (Bsc Biology) around a 2.0, even though my last year was around a 2.5. I am an international student.. worked too much during school to stay in school while completing a pretty difficult program (Bsc Biology).

 

I am currently working on my Canadian Permanent Residence, then I want to get a student loan and go full out back to school.

 

I am thinking about a B.ed (St. FX), a Bsc Psychology (St. FX maybe transferring to Dal later) or maybe a Nursing program.. any recommendations about which program would be best for applying to Dal med?

 

Does anyone have a better idea for another action plan?

[w8kg6]

To be a competitive medicine applicant, you're expected to be very active in extracurricular activities on top of your studies, where you need a GPA of about 3.7/4.3 to be competitive. Given that you had difficulty with this balance in your past degree, do you think you'll be more successful now? This is a very important question for you to answer honestly before you spend 4 years working towards a second undergrad.

 

It seems you're interested in teaching. Why not just go with that?

[Gufe]

Thank you for your input w8kg6. I thought about just going ahead and do teaching for a while, these are my thoughts:

 

I believe that the extra curricular activities were my problem. During school I was working 20+ hours a week, doing volunteering for two organization, and organizing events on campus while also helping with what I could on a business that I own (with other partners) in a different country.

 

I have decided to narrow it down to 1-2 extracurriculars and focus on medicine more this next time around. Right now the province of NS is nominating me to the federal gov so I can get the permanent residence and then hopefully a student loan (so I can study without having to work almost fulltime). I am looking forward to this since now I'll have the financial safety that I need to focus on my studies (I finished with a 2.5 GPA (2.7 for Dal) and I would like to attend Dalhousie, where the cutoff is a 3.3 GPA), so I am hoping to reach that and continue on..

 

I do like teaching, but it is due to the same reasons I love medicines (helping people overcome difficulties). I did over 200 hours of volunteer in an ER in another country (Helping in over 15 surgeries, 6 births, and other patient care activities). This is why I know that medicine is what I want to do.

 

I am thinking about taking this year off. During this time I am going to volunteer in a hospital in Canada and also in Mexico for a month or so, study and take the MCAT. Once that is done I'll probably fast track nursing and start applying to medschools after completing 1-2 years of that program.

 

I know it will be a long process, its hard with english as a second language, but I know medicine is what I want to do and I am too stubborn to let it go.

 

Does this plan sound reasonable or is there a better approach to this out there?

[A-Stark]

It sounds reasonable, but keep in mind that a 3.3 GPA is the absolute minimum required. The average GPA of most entering classes is about 3.8.