Non-trads and the US system

[kylamonkey]

Can anyone who is intimately knowledgeable about the US system comment on my case?

 

Last 120-credits 3.7-3.8-ish OMSAS GPA (since 2006)

MCAT 33R- may be rewriting again this summer and I would expect higher, and I have an S on WS from previous.

Previously- Low GPA, 1998-99 was actually an 0.87 OMSAS

I have an overall OMSAS cGPA of 2.97 as a result

 

 

Do they care about full courseloads? I did lots of supplementary, summer etc courses, overlapped distance courses with regular term, etc. As a result, I only have 1 "real" FT year since 2006 (frustrating since I was registered in overloads almost all the time).

Will anyone give me forgiveness for 1998-99?

 

Should I even bother looking into this?

[Der Kaiser]

From my own research into the topic I believe that most schools do not care about full courseloads. I hardly ever see the topic discussed on SDN in fact. My impression so far is that there is much more room to explain your situation and your circumstances in American apps. A little more effort is put into admissions. They will see the upward trend in your marks and will see that you are a changed person, especially if you have been a consistently different person for a number of years. If you plan on working in Ontario or B.C you might even want to look into osteopathic schools. They especially like a "well-rounded person." Finally, the American system really likes the MCAT, so your 33R will do wonders for your app.

 

Anyway, someone to confirm what I just wrote would be great, 'cause I have the exact same questions re: summer courses, distance ed, old marks, etc., but this is what I have gathered from obsessively researching the topic.

[ConcernedP]

Can anyone who is intimately knowledgeable about the US system comment on my case?

 

Last 120-credits 3.7-3.8-ish OMSAS GPA (since 2006)

MCAT 33R- may be rewriting again this summer and I would expect higher, and I have an S on WS from previous.

Previously- Low GPA, 1998-99 was actually an 0.87 OMSAS

I have an overall OMSAS cGPA of 2.97 as a result

 

 

Do they care about full courseloads? I did lots of supplementary, summer etc courses, overlapped distance courses with regular term, etc. As a result, I only have 1 "real" FT year since 2006 (frustrating since I was registered in overloads almost all the time).

Will anyone give me forgiveness for 1998-99?

 

Should I even bother looking into this?

 

Hi Kyla:

Us schools do not specify that you take a full course load and an increasing trend in the grades is considered positive (so, i have heard).

As a first thing you should read the instruction manual given here

 

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/131750/data/2011amcasinstructions.pdf.pdf

 

I specifically found the first few paragraph on page 34 that are more relevant.

 

Your MCAT is good for mid-tier US school. In US MCAT and holistic evaluation of personal characteristics and academic record is much more foregiving.

 

After your initial research if you come to a decision to apply then obtain a copy of MSAR book and read through the sub-form for potential schools.

 

Since your situation is unique, you may not find applicants that are similar to you in past few application cycles. Most of them are current grad students who are very successful in the application cycle. There are few exceptional current undergrads.

 

Remember the beauty of US system is the holistic approach.

 

Hope this will get you started.

[moo]

Hi Kyla:

Us schools do not specify that you take a full course load and an increasing trend in the grades is considered positive (so, i have heard).

As a first thing you should read the instruction manual given here

 

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/131750/data/2011amcasinstructions.pdf.pdf

 

I specifically found the first few paragraph on page 34 that are more relevant.

 

Your MCAT is good for mid-tier US school. In US MCAT and holistic evaluation of personal characteristics and academic record is much more foregiving.

 

After your initial research if you come to a decision to apply then obtain a copy of MSAR book and read through the sub-form for potential schools.

 

Since your situation is unique, you may not find applicants that are similar to you in past few application cycles. Most of them are current grad students who are very successful in the application cycle. There are few exceptional current undergrads.

 

Remember the beauty of US system is the holistic approach.

 

Hope this will get you started.

 

I think you are right in every aspect. US admissions is definitely more holistic. That's why at Harvard, you will find their entrance GPA is lower than that of UT. People at Harvard for instance are truly well-rounded in all aspects. The only school that is really stats heavy is Wash U (St Louis)

[kylamonkey]

Thankyouthankyouthankyou for all the replies.

 

I have wanted to look into this but it seems so daunting- for Cdn schools it is (relatively) easy to go through a school's entire website and see how I fit in, and see if I have a shot and "what it would take"... to do that for every US school is a nearly impossible task.

[AnxiousBoy]

Hi Kyla,

 

I'm glad to see you exploring your options after the UBC's sudden and rightfully frustrating change with their 10 year rule. Since most of what you are looking for has already been said, I'll just say some other things.

 

First, it seems like medicine is truly something you are passionate about and would do whatever it takes to get into the door. That passion should be used as an advantage when you formulate your application, since adcom looks heavily favorable on this. And the only way to know if you are truly competitive is to apply and see what happens.

 

I was also in the boat where I really wanted to go to UBC but it just would not happen. One of my most inspiring preceptor once said, "if you want to study medicine, you can't pick and choose where you want to go". Taking that into account (+3 rejections from UBC...), my eyes opened up and my mind was ready to go all in without looking back.

 

Plan of attack:

1) Apply to UBC again

2) Rest of Canada

3) US (I'm a US Ivy League grad so this was a natural route actually.. )

4) Australia

5) Ireland

6) Caribbeans

 

This is not to say you have to go in order per year, you can apply concurrently. I applied to 1-3, and kinda 4 since Australia app cycle is shifted half a year. Thankfully the buck stopped at number 3, and several years later, I am preparing to do my electives in Canada and make my return . So, the point of all this side tracking is that there are always options available and you just need to be prepared to walk an alternate, perhaps more difficult, path to your ultimate goal.

 

Oh yeah, I believe the US schools have a 3 year rule for MCAT. I don't know when you took yours, but something to think about. Also, if you are rewriting for the main purpose of raising your writing score, don't. R is an excellent score and they really don't emphasize much on the "letter" as opposed to the "number".

 

Also, no need to assume and hope they will look at your GPA trend. I think you should specify in your essay that you are a changed person and to ask for them to disregard your earlier set of grades (assuming you took classes in a bimodal distribution). At my school, i remember one of my friend interviewing for adcom and telling me about a particular person who had an MCAT of 23 and poor GPA but had a compelling and rough background. He wanted to give this person full marks just with background alone. Granted this applicant was black and adcom may have lowered the standard since there is always a big push to increase their numbers in med school (yes, if you want to call me discriminatory, go ahead, but you can't dance around the truth... in fact i think its a good thing to have as much of the blacks being doctors and leaders of community who makes up a large demographic of US and are needing leaders to look up to), but anything is possible and you certainly have nothing to lose for trying.

 

If you need any help, feel free to contact me.