2nd Degree-->OOP?/IP? Work?

[Avirex]

Hi everyone!

 

It would be great if I could get advice from those of you on this forum. I'm doing a 2nd degree to up my GPA from my previous degree. My best two years, including the current year are 3.72 (3.5 and 3.94). Since I'm an Ontario applicant and my stats, as far as GPA, isn't very strong, would it be worthwhile to possibly move to Alberta for a bit so I can get IP status? Or would finishing what I have done in Ontario be a smarter thing to do? I think my GPA would restrict me to possibly just Mac and even then, I figure I would have to get a killer VR score.

 

Thanks everyone!

[smile101]

Hey,

 

Have you written your MCAT yet? If not, you never know, you might be naturally talented in the VR section, and moving to alberta would be a massive waste of time and money. I got a 12 on VR after doing only ~10 practice passages, so you really never know. (The rest of the exam was a struggle for me )

 

What is your cGPA like? U of A is really GPA focused, so if it is on the low side then even with the IP status it might not help you enough. If you are looking at U of C, then it might be reasonable.

[thehumanmacbook]

Hi everyone!

 

It would be great if I could get advice from those of you on this forum. I'm doing a 2nd degree to up my GPA from my previous degree. My best two years, including the current year are 3.72 (3.5 and 3.94). Since I'm an Ontario applicant and my stats, as far as GPA, isn't very strong, would it be worthwhile to possibly move to Alberta for a bit so I can get IP status? Or would finishing what I have done in Ontario be a smarter thing to do? I think my GPA would restrict me to possibly just Mac and even then, I figure I would have to get a killer VR score.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Moving to Alberta means that you will have to apply as an OOP back in Ontario, just to let you know. I found out today that it's actually looked very badly upon if you obtain IP, for ex. in Calgary and apply to Ontario as an IP.

[Avirex]

Moving to Alberta means that you will have to apply as an OOP back in Ontario, just to let you know. I found out today that it's actually looked very badly upon if you obtain IP, for ex. in Calgary and apply to Ontario as an IP.

 

Really? Applicants that move from Ontario for a year won't keep their IP status? Is this on OMSAS?

 

Thanks.

[thehumanmacbook]

Really? Applicants that move from Ontario for a year won't keep their IP status? Is this on OMSAS?

 

Thanks.

 

I think it's in their booklet of rules...and also my friend emailed them today asking that question and they said that residents from another province need to apply as OOP. My friend is originally from Halifax, so she's IP @ Dal but needs to apply OOP to Mac even though she's been studying here for 3 years.

[DragonX]

Moving to Alberta means that you will have to apply as an OOP back in Ontario, just to let you know. I found out today that it's actually looked very badly upon if you obtain IP, for ex. in Calgary and apply to Ontario as an IP.

 

Being IP in Alberta has far more advantages than being IP in Ontario though. Schools in Ontario don't reserve seats for Ontarioians. Just something you might want to consider

[Avirex]

Being IP in Alberta has far more advantages than being IP in Ontario though. Schools in Ontario don't reserve seats for Ontarioians. Just something you might want to consider

 

So with my stats, it would be to my advantage to jump on the Alberta bandwagon?

[thatonekid]

Moving to Alberta means that you will have to apply as an OOP back in Ontario, just to let you know. I found out today that it's actually looked very badly upon if you obtain IP, for ex. in Calgary and apply to Ontario as an IP.

Um, no it doesn't. Many people have IP status in more than one province. Off the top of my head, the only school I can think of where you have to give up an IP status somewhere else is if you apply as IP at Dal.

[thehumanmacbook]

Um, no it doesn't. Many people have IP status in more than one province. Off the top of my head, the only school I can think of where you have to give up an IP status somewhere else is if you apply as IP at Dal.

 

I think the OP really should ask OMSAS or the school...my friend's situation fits what you say TOK (since she's from Halifax) but I don't know about the Western schools and such. I'm not informed enough to make any more recommendations, but I am interested to see how the rule applies.

[Avirex]

Thanks guys for the reply.

I still would like to bring this back to the situation at hand. Provided the "dual" IP status is negligible, would it be a smarter idea to pass time in a program in Ontario, or possibly pursue work in Alberta while applying?

[osteon]

Are you still in school? If so, pull off another one of those 3.94 GPA years so that your best two years are >3.90, and you would be in good standing for Ontario schools. Queens and Western would only take your best 2 years, Ottawa would weight those two years more heavily, and Toronto would drop your 8 worst grades overall. For McMaster, GPA is only worth 25% pre-interview, so a decent VR score and good Casper score should put you in the running for an interview. I wouldn't jump ship to Alberta just yet only to get IP status with no guarantees for admission; it's a lot of hastle and money not get any guarantees. Plus, since you're from Ontario, I assume you'd prefer to go to school in Ontario anyways? Try one application cycle in Ontario and see what happens.

[thehumanmacbook]

Are you still in school? If so, pull off another one of those 3.94 GPA years so that your best two years are >3.90, and you would be in good standing for Ontario schools. Queens and Western would only take your best 2 years, Ottawa would weight those two years more heavily, and Toronto would drop your 8 worst grades overall. For McMaster, GPA is only worth 25% pre-interview, so a decent VR score and good Casper score should put you in the running for an interview. I wouldn't jump ship to Alberta just yet only to get IP status with no guarantees for admission; it's a lot of hastle and money not get any guarantees. Plus, since you're from Ontario, I assume you'd prefer to go to school in Ontario anyways? Try one application cycle in Ontario and see what happens.

 

Queens doesn't take your best two years; they take the most recent two years ONLY if your cGPA is not above cutoff. Afterwards, I don't know how it's used post-interview.

 

Osteon's recommendations are very solid though.

[Avirex]

Are you still in school? If so, pull off another one of those 3.94 GPA years so that your best two years are >3.90, and you would be in good standing for Ontario schools. Queens and Western would only take your best 2 years, Ottawa would weight those two years more heavily, and Toronto would drop your 8 worst grades overall. For McMaster, GPA is only worth 25% pre-interview, so a decent VR score and good Casper score should put you in the running for an interview. I wouldn't jump ship to Alberta just yet only to get IP status with no guarantees for admission; it's a lot of hastle and money not get any guarantees. Plus, since you're from Ontario, I assume you'd prefer to go to school in Ontario anyways? Try one application cycle in Ontario and see what happens.

 

I doubt western or uoft will do me much good. Hence why I figured Alberta would be a better bet. No?