Premed Work during PhD

[vk_chem]

I am 26 year old 2nd year Masters Student in Chemistry graduating next year and going to UofT to pursue PhD. While seriously thinking about medical school (medical research) after completing the PhD and, now, researching and reassessing my options, I am slowly coming to a conclusion that my low UG GPA is a nasty irreversible stain in my future med school app.

During my last undergraduate year (chem) I was diagnosed with diabetes, got into huge depression and failed all my final exams, which dropped me from overall B+ to C+ (just below 2.8/4). I decided to continue into graduation and still got into grad school, where I have B+ in my grad courses, three publications and one 1st name author in the making. My current research revolves around development of clinical diagnostic tools and will be on drug delivery systems at UofT.

My question is following: If I take 1-2 UofT UG courses per semester in the next 3 years of my PhD program, assuming good achievements, would that help me overshadow my low UG record and improve my med school chances? And if it makes sense, which courses should I retake?

 

thanks in advance people!

[DXO]

Some schools will not consider additional course work unless it is going toward a degree. The policy differs depending on the school. Also, if you are applying to Toronto, there is a section of the application where you will have an opportunity to explain if any part of your transcript does not reflect your true academic achievement. Personally, I would contact the schools that you are most interested in and ask how to proceed. If you have good marks for two of your UG years (approx 3.8 or above) and a full course load in those years, then your marks will be fine for Western. Queens takes the most recent 2 UG years. Ottawa takes the most recent 3 full time years.

 

I'm only applying in Ontario, but I believe that some of the medical schools in other provinces also only consider your best two years.... OOP might be another route for you.

[vk_chem]

Thanks for the Feedback DXO

Just learned that taking non-full-time non-program UG courses won't do me any good for most Med Schools in Canada. So the only reasonable option is to do another full time undergrad in let's say Biology or Biochemistry while doing PhD in chemistry. Gonna look up if it is doable at UofT

whats OOP? object oriented practice? or out of province?

[war485]

whats OOP? object oriented practice? or out of province?

 

I almost read that as Object Oriented Programming. lol.

on this site, OOP = out of province