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Boosting GPA after graduation


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Hi everyone,

 

I just joined and have some questions about boosting your GPA. My general backstory is that I completed my BA in '08 (TOTALLY unrelated to anything even remotely science-y), and worked in that field for a while. Then I took some time off to get married and to basically completely re-evaluate my entire life....and I decided I definitely wanted to go into medicine. Initially I wrote off med school, since I figured it was one of those things you have to work for your whole life, and that I'd need a science degree, and since I had made the decision at 24 years old after already spending a chunk of money on my arts degree, I figured I was too old. I thought maybe I'd have better luck with an accelerated RN program, until I spoke with a good friend of mine who is currently finishing up the last year of her MD at Mac who said, "you are definitely not too old, and I have friends in my program who were Psych and Music majors." Long story short...here I am, considering med school.

 

I've been doing some research on the application process, and I definitely think my GPA is too low based on the OMSAS conversion. At the time I did my degree, I really thought I'd never consider grad school (definitely not med school!) so I put in a basic level of effort and as a result my grades were wholly average and unspectacular. Fine when you just want to graduate and move on and get a job, not so fine when you want to go to med school and be a doctor!

 

Now I'm left to try and devise a plan to boost my GPA for application purposes. Based on what I've read in these forums (very helpful, by the way!), it seems like 'get a 2nd undergraduate degree' is probably the most common suggestion, but I have a few questions:

 

1. If I've done an undergraduate degree already, and I were to use the time between now and next year's round of applications to take additional courses (maybe through distance studies at Athabasca, or in-person at York), would it count as part of my original GPA? Or would I have to enroll in an actual undergraduate program?

 

2. If I were to do a 2nd degree starting from scratch, would Mac still look at the GPA from my 1st degree? Or would it stand alone?

 

3. If I were to do my accelerated BsC in Nursing as a backup plan (as it was my number one option before I realized I still technically wasn't too late for med school and I do still think I'd make a good nurse), would that count as a 2nd degree? Could I then use my nursing marks to apply to med school? Or at least use them to boost my CGPA if I work my butt off?

 

I know that's a bit of a convoluted question, but any help or suggestions anyone could give would be great! Of course, this all leaves me wishing I had had enough sense to get better grades the first time around, but I guess that's the thing about hindsight....

 

Thanks all!

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Oh hi!

 

Your situation at first blush seems very similar to mine, so know that you are not alone! I'll attempt to address your questions and hopefully others will flesh out these thoughts:

 

1) I think this depends on where you will be applying. McMaster will look at every undergraduate course you've ever taken when calculating GPA, and other schools won't factor courses taken part-time or during the summer into your GPA calculation, but will accept them as meeting pre-reqs and will look at them when considering your application overall.

 

2) Mac will look at all undergraduate courses ever taken when considering GPA, so I don't think a second undergrad will completely erase a previous undergrad with a poor GPA. NOSM, on the other hand, will consider a second undergrad as a separate GPA, and will take whichever GPA is highest for the purposes of pre-interview ranking. Other schools also have ways of eliminating certain years/courses, you'll need to explore this in more detail.

 

3) See above - it depends on where you're applying. From what I've read in other threads, some people feel doing a BScN as a backup/2nd degree can be problematic (hard to get high marks, miserable experience). Others felt that nursing was a great choice, and those schools that report the background of their med cohorts often select a significant proportion with nursing backgrounds.

 

Hope this helps - I'd be happy to discuss further (pm or whatever).

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Hi everyone,

 

I just joined and have some questions about boosting your GPA. My general backstory is that I completed my BA in '08 (TOTALLY unrelated to anything even remotely science-y), and worked in that field for a while. Then I took some time off to get married and to basically completely re-evaluate my entire life....and I decided I definitely wanted to go into medicine. Initially I wrote off med school, since I figured it was one of those things you have to work for your whole life, and that I'd need a science degree, and since I had made the decision at 24 years old after already spending a chunk of money on my arts degree, I figured I was too old. I thought maybe I'd have better luck with an accelerated RN program, until I spoke with a good friend of mine who is currently finishing up the last year of her MD at Mac who said, "you are definitely not too old, and I have friends in my program who were Psych and Music majors." Long story short...here I am, considering med school.

 

I've been doing some research on the application process, and I definitely think my GPA is too low based on the OMSAS conversion. At the time I did my degree, I really thought I'd never consider grad school (definitely not med school!) so I put in a basic level of effort and as a result my grades were wholly average and unspectacular. Fine when you just want to graduate and move on and get a job, not so fine when you want to go to med school and be a doctor!

 

Now I'm left to try and devise a plan to boost my GPA for application purposes. Based on what I've read in these forums (very helpful, by the way!), it seems like 'get a 2nd undergraduate degree' is probably the most common suggestion, but I have a few questions:

 

1. If I've done an undergraduate degree already, and I were to use the time between now and next year's round of applications to take additional courses (maybe through distance studies at Athabasca, or in-person at York), would it count as part of my original GPA? Or would I have to enroll in an actual undergraduate program?

 

2. If I were to do a 2nd degree starting from scratch, would Mac still look at the GPA from my 1st degree? Or would it stand alone?

 

3. If I were to do my accelerated BsC in Nursing as a backup plan (as it was my number one option before I realized I still technically wasn't too late for med school and I do still think I'd make a good nurse), would that count as a 2nd degree? Could I then use my nursing marks to apply to med school? Or at least use them to boost my CGPA if I work my butt off?

 

I know that's a bit of a convoluted question, but any help or suggestions anyone could give would be great! Of course, this all leaves me wishing I had had enough sense to get better grades the first time around, but I guess that's the thing about hindsight....

 

Thanks all!

 

Your best bet would definately be to do a 2nd undergrad. Keep in mind however that it would take a lot of extra courses to bring up a low cGPA. Figure out your omsas cGPA if you got 4.0 in your next 2 years of full time courses. It's actually shocking how little a cGPA can move.

 

As the poster before me said, NOSM might be a better choice as they will only look at your marks from your 2nd undergrad, where as Mac will look at everything. You may meet the Mac cutoff (3.0), but majority of applicants have a cGPA of 3.8 or above. Another option would be to look at schools that will take your best 2 years (Western) or your last 2 year GPA (Queen's) opposed to your cGPA. Another thing you need are pre-req's if you apply to these schools, so do your homework. You don't want to start a new undegrad thinking one thing, and then when it comes time to apply, you end up not being as prepared as you thought you were.

 

Also, the accelerated nursing program can be hard to do well in. For clinical placements the marks can be very subjective. It would be a good career backup plan though, if you enjoy medicine but don't get into med.

 

Good luck!

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