Question about GPA

[euphaire]

Hello everyone,

 

I have a question regarding the GPA calculation for admission purposes. Here's my story:

 

1 year of life science studies at U of T (did not finish degree but transferred to another university )

then 4 years of studies in engineering at U of W (finish degree)

then planning to take one additional non-degree term to fulfill prerequisite courses.

 

Obviously, the degree I complete at U of W comes with a complete transcript and a cGPA calculation. However, I did a lot better at U of T and I will do well in the non-degree term because I'm better at getting high marks science courses than engineering courses. That's a problem though. The one year at U of T and the non-degree term will NOT count towards my final cGPA calculation because no "academic program/plan" is affliated with it.

 

So that means even if I do well, I cannot improve my GPA. But I'm hoping that medical schools actually look at your science courses and all your courses taken at every institution including U ofT and things like non-degree terms. Would they re-calculate my GPA (like, average score on all science courses or even just average score on all courses ever taken) or would they simply look at my cGPA from U of W?

 

I'm really stressed to find out because I thought I could improve my GPA but it now seems that plan is not going to work...

 

Please advice..

 

Thanks!

[nosuperman]

GPA calculations are different for many schools. As a general rule of thumb, most schools won't count grades that come from non-full courseloads, so if you only take 3 courses during a particular semester, that semester (and often that year) won't count. Also, Canadian schools don't differentiate between science and non-science courses, they're all lumped together.

 

Now schools that look at cGPA such as Mac and UT (and to some degree UBC) will look at the final average of every course you've taken. In your case this would include your UT work and your post-undergrad year.

 

Other schools use calculations that focus on your best or most recent years.

 

Ottawa weights your last three years according to:

[(3 x most recent) + (2 x year before that) + (1 x year before that)]/6 = wGPA

 

Queens and Western only look at your most recent 2 and best 2 years accordingly.

 

There are many more examples and some caveats to the ones above, but you can probably find a school (or schools) that you have a shot at, assuming you have high enough grades at some point or high grades more recently.

 

If you post your GPA breakdown I can offer more insight.

[Guest BCmedic]

Is it possible to recover from a 3 course fall semester and have that year count?

[future_doc]

Well, if you have a serious disability and needed to do this for a semester, they will understand.

[RN2MD]

Actually, many schools DO take courses taken on a non-fulltime basis, but most often this will disqualify you for any special GPA weighting options. I've posted a chart in one of these threads outlining, which schools accept pat-time status, etc. Just look thru my previous posts.

Most schools won't calculate courses taken in the summer months. Some schools, such as Mac, calculate your GPA from all courses EVER taken at university.

[dreamformed]

Here is just a summary of what most Ontario schools will look at:

 

University of Toronto:

 

Have a weighting formula if you took a full course load every year (degree and non degree years) where they will drop your lowest 4 full courses. Even if you did more than 4 full years of university, leading to extra credits, 4 full courses with the lowest grades will be dropped (i.e. no extra grades being dropped for extra courses being completed). No grades from summer courses are taken into consideration.

 

If you did not do a full course in every single year while attending university, you will not be eligible for the weighting formula. In that case, they will look at the grades of all courses completed during the Sept-Apr terms and no summer school grades will be taken into consideration.

 

University of Western Ontario:

 

First degree (completed or not completed) will not count. Only the most recent degree that has been completed is counted along with a fifth year (known as special year) that you can do as a non degree candidate if you did not meet their cutoff requirements of 3.70/4.0 in at least 2 years (while being full time), including final year. There are some very strict rule on the kinds of courses that must have been completed in those full time years for those to be valid (like 3/5 courses should be at the level of your study year, for the fifth year/special year - you must have at least 3/5 of the courses at 3rd or 4th year level and should not be repeating any courses etc - so check that out on their website)

 

McMaster:

 

Will include every single course ever completed (repeated, failed, summer courses, degree courses, non degree courses...everything). However, you may still have a chance if you do well on the VR section of the MCAT, have good EC's and do well on the Casper.

 

Ottawa:

 

Most recent 3 year are taken into consideration to calculate a weighted formula:

 

Most recent year GPA X 3 = A

Second most recent year X 2 = B

Third most recent year X 1 = C

 

(A + B + C)/6 = Your weighted GPA

 

Queens:

 

They look at the cGPA first, if you do not meet the cutoffs set for that particular year, they then look at the GPA of your most recent 2 years to see if you meet the cutoffs during those 2 years - if you are able to meet the cutoffs either with the cGPA or with the GPA of your most recent 2 years, your application is further evaluated.

 

Hope that helps!