Am I looking at Medical School overseas?

[ListofCraig]

I have a 3.14 cgpa

 

First year - 1.0 gpa

Second year - 3.78gpa

Third year - 3.74

Fourth year - 3.81 (had many early mandatory courses to take and electives, so 3/5 of my courses were not 3rd and 4th year courses).

 

I have a fair explanation for my first year performance. Do I have a decent shot at any Canadian schools (assuming a decent MCAT score)?

[md-equation]

You Can try to Apply at Queens. What is your MCAT score?

[thehumanmacbook]

U of T = no weighting, probably not

Western, best two years - probably not

Queens - most recent two years....I think you had to be above a 3.75, maybe

Ottawa - wGPA less than 3.85, no

NOSM - depends on context, but probably still too low

 

OOP schools - highly dependent on MCAT score; need to score perhaps a 40R

 

So probably just Queens, but I may be wrong with their cutoff; it has been higher in the past.

 

You should start considering the states first before the carribean/aussie/ireleand. States has greater emphasis on MCAT.

[ListofCraig]

What province?

 

I'm in Ontario.

[shikimate]

Unfortunately Ontario is too competitive, maybe try Queens? Add UWO if your MCAT is good.

 

Your next best shot is DO, assuming you have some good reasons for that 1st year mark.

[ListofCraig]

That's really sad, then. Besides one medically explainable bad year, getting a GPA in the high 3.7's means that i'm SOL.

[miss_indep]

why not UWO? looks like the OP has 2 good years?

[thehumanmacbook]

why not UWO? looks like the OP has 2 good years?

 

Too low - historically it's been around the 3.8 mark for best two for Western...unless he is SWOMEN.

 

EDIT: Evidently Western's two-year cutoff is a 3.7, I was thinking of the premed101 acceptance avg.

[thehumanmacbook]

That's really sad, then. Besides one medically explainable bad year, getting a GPA in the high 3.7's means that i'm SOL.

 

Then you can try to put that into OMSAS when you apply, but even your years that aren't 1.0 are slightly below the required cutoffs/averages for ONT. I think a good strategy is to live in Alberta for a year (work, or study there) and get IP status.

[Clever]

Thankfully gpa is not the only thing med schools look at. What are your EC's like? MCAT? Research experience? References?

Overseas schools cost a LOT of money (most) and not everyone is able to come back to canada to practice medicine. I recommend you apply anyway.. give alberta med schools a try. See what kind of score they give you if you're rejected; that will give you a better picture of what you should do depending on how close or how far you are from cutoff.

[misskris]

Too low - historically it's been around the 3.8 mark for best two for Western...unless he is SWOMEN.

 

This year it was 3.7

For an extra $75 why not give it a shot.

[ListofCraig]

Thankfully gpa is not the only thing med schools look at. What are your EC's like? MCAT? Research experience? References?

Overseas schools cost a LOT of money (most) and not everyone is able to come back to canada to practice medicine. I recommend you apply anyway.. give alberta med schools a try. See what kind of score they give you if you're rejected; that will give you a better picture of what you should do depending on how close or how far you are from cutoff.

 

I've had 3 years of volunteering at a Ottawa General Hospital in Patient Care (looked after, talked to patients - that's all I did). I'm also going to be in the process of looking for research this summer. I have great LORS, one from a professor that said I would make a "Great doctor" and will achieve in anything that I put my effort into.

[thehumanmacbook]

I've had 3 years of volunteering at a Ottawa General Hospital in Patient Care (looked after, talked to patients - that's all I did). I'm also going to be in the process of looking for research this summer. I have great LORS, one from a professor that said I would make a "Great doctor" and will achieve in anything that I put my effort into.

 

You can always, like Clever has suggested, give Calgary/Western/Queens a shot to see how far you are from the mark...then improve the coming cycle.

[Clever]

I've had 3 years of volunteering at a Ottawa General Hospital in Patient Care (looked after, talked to patients - that's all I did). I'm also going to be in the process of looking for research this summer. I have great LORS, one from a professor that said I would make a "Great doctor" and will achieve in anything that I put my effort into.

 

MCAT??????? uman weighs the MCAT like 70%

[ListofCraig]

MCAT??????? uman weighs the MCAT like 70%

 

I'm about to write the MCAT in September. What about Dalhousie?

[md-equation]

In all honesty, even though stats may dictate otherwise, your last two years may actually give you a shot at queens depending on your MCAT scores. If i was you, id write the MCAT. It seems to me you have good LOR's. Take the year off and write the MCAT, improve EC's. If you lack in one area, try making it up in another. Look into a Masters. I honestly think, if you become a little more patients and are willing to put in some amount of work it is doable. I mean i see the jump from 1.0 to 3.78. Don't count yourself out and be intimated by stronger applicants. Some have it easier than others in this process because they may not have gone through events in their lives that affected their GPA. Your can easily use your experiences to your advantage. Sell yourself! Be Confident. Im sure that will go along way in your application process. GPA may mean alot, but i would assume med schools would take people who may have slightly lower G.P.A and has an excellent personality, good EC and LORs (in other words well rounded) than one who is a straight 4.0 student with decent EC's, LOR's etc...

[Clever]

I'm about to write the MCAT in September. What about Dalhousie?

 

Dalhousie is tough to get into for OOP. Concentrate on doing well on your MCAT and you'll open many doors. Also, like macbook said, get IP status in alberta and your GPA will be competitive.

[thehumanmacbook]

In all honesty, even though stats may dictate otherwise, your last two years may actually give you a shot at queens depending on your MCAT scores. If i was you, id write the MCAT. It seems to me you have good LOR's. Take the year off and write the MCAT, improve EC's. If you lack in one area, try making it up in another. Look into a Masters. I honestly think, if you become a little more patients and are willing to put in some amount of work it is doable. I mean i see the jump from 1.0 to 3.78. Don't count yourself out and be intimated by stronger applicants. Some have it easier than others in this process because they may not have gone through events in their lives that affected their GPA. Your can easily use your experiences to your advantage. Sell yourself! Be Confident. Im sure that will go along way in your application process. GPA may mean alot, but i would assume med schools would take people who may have slightly lower G.P.A and has an excellent personality, good EC and LORs (in other words well rounded) than one who is a straight 4.0 student with decent EC's, LOR's etc...

 

It's a difficult thing to measure ECs objectively; I'm on the side with medaholic and medhopeful that believes that ECs cannot "compensate" for a low GPA/MCAT unless they are absolutely exceptional, which is even then very hard to define. It's easy to compare an Olympian to a normal "leisure swimmer" or a ARCT piano competitor to someone who plays "casually", but for some other cases it's very hard to compare apples to oranges as well (ARCT versus Olympian? Is there an objective way to say which one is "more valuable" of an experience or extra curricular?"

 

Med students always tell me it's better to be well-rounded in many areas (good GPA >3.8, MCAT > balanced 30, long term ECs and some notable experiences, good LORs) that make the best candidate. But like you said, it's about time commitment to the cause and the OP can achieve this if he/she puts in the time. Better to make yourself as AWESOME as possible pre-interview and let that personality shine during the interview for the maximal result. What's the difference between a "good EC" and a "decent one" ? ECs are necessary, but they are the much more subjective than the GPA/MCAT portion of the trinity.

[Pantaloons]

First year - 1.0 gpa

Second year - 3.78gpa

Third year - 3.74

Fourth year - 3.81 (had many early mandatory courses to take and electives, so 3/5 of my courses were not 3rd and 4th year courses).

 

For UWO, I believe you may be able to use your 2nd and 3rd year for your GPA calculation. This would put you above the the 2011 GPA cut-off of 3.70

- School website

- OMSAS document

 

Go kick the MCAT's as$. If you are from the SWOMEN area[1], you get some flexibility with your MCAT score. Otherwise, you need a 10/9/11/P (BS/PS/VR/WS)

 

Queen's (and possibly Calgar) may also be in the running.

 

If you're considering international medical schools, CaRMS had a lengthy publication recently that seems to suggest Irish schools presently have the best match rate back into Canada [2].

 

An even further option is to do a 5th year of undergrad or begin a new undergrad/grad degree--possibly in Alberta.

 

[1] Grey, Bruce, Huron, Perth, Oxford, Middlesex, Lambton, Chatham‑Kent, Elgin, Essex, and Norfolk Counties--according to OMSAS

 

[2] http://www.carms.ca/pdfs/2010_CSA_Report/CaRMS_2010_CSA_Report.pdf

[TheBoss]

Isn't MCAT huge for SASK too?

 

Sask uses MCAT as a cutoff only, and actually in-province applicants don't even need the MCAT. After the MCAT cutoff, applicants are evaluated by best two year GPA only for selection for interview (cutoff's usually around 93%). Then for OOP applicants it's interview score only for final selection. So yeah Sask has kind of a weird system.

 

As someone else mentioned, MCAT is huge for Manitoba though.

[thehumanmacbook]

For UWO, I believe you may be able to use your 2nd and 3rd year for your GPA calculation. This would put you above the the 2011 GPA cut-off of 3.70

- School website

- OMSAS document

 

Go kick the MCAT's as$. If you are from the SWOMEN area[1], you get some flexibility with your MCAT score. Otherwise, you need a 10/9/11/P (BS/PS/VR/WS)

 

Queen's (and possibly Calgar) may also be in the running.

 

If you're considering international medical schools, CaRMS had a lengthy publication recently that seems to suggest Irish schools presently have the best match rate back into Canada [2].

 

An even further option is to do a 5th year of undergrad or begin a new undergrad/grad degree--possibly in Alberta.

 

[1] Grey, Bruce, Huron, Perth, Oxford, Middlesex, Lambton, Chatham‑Kent, Elgin, Essex, and Norfolk Counties--according to OMSAS

 

[2] http://www.carms.ca/pdfs/2010_CSA_Report/CaRMS_2010_CSA_Report.pdf

 

That's very interesting Pants, I didn't know that about ireland. I always thought the best match rate was split between aussie/ireland

[obi]

Isn't MCAT huge for SASK too? FYI LORs don't count for much no matter how great they are. They only come up after interviews, and most of the time they just bite you if they aren't good. Hit the ECs harder and give Cowtown and Edmonchuck a go, they have a sympathetic ear (of course it helps if you live here).

 

Sask has a hard academic cutoff ( best two years of 92.5 this year) no mcat will compensate.

 

I would say you should definitely apply to UWO, Queen's, and UoA (make sure you take english for the out of province schools, lest you find out that you need to have the credit BEFORE you apply and lose 250 bucks for nothing )

 

Good luck! If med is your #1 passion and you really want to do get into it right away i would say apply to some midtier schools in the states (provided ure mcat comes out okay), otherwise kick back and take an extra year.

[ListofCraig]

Good luck! If med is your #1 passion and you really want to do get into it right away i would say apply to some midtier schools in the states (provided ure mcat comes out okay), otherwise kick back and take an extra year.

 

That's an option I've been considering highly. The only issue that my cgpa is so low (3.14) that I would to waste thousands of dollars on applications (not so much about the money, but it is a factor), and be left standing without an acceptance at the end of it all.

[thehumanmacbook]

That's an option I've been considering highly. The only issue that my cgpa is so low (3.14) that I would to waste thousands of dollars on applications (not so much about the money, but it is a factor), and be left standing without an acceptance at the end of it all.

 

It happens all the time to almost 16000 people in 2010 and previous years...just treat it like an expensive lottery ticket.

[obi]

The states has bajillions of schools, spend some time on student doctor network and find out if there's one that will cater to your type im situation. I'm just making assumptions here, but there has to be one somewhere.

 

If you kill your mcat and take an extra year to make sure you have a solid gpa in your better years you will open up the doors of a few more Canadian schools making that a viable option as well.

 

Its like THMB said, in North America (and especially Canada) medschool is a lottery.