Average Grade for Admission

[Guest stevewonder]

My average grade in first 3 years of university is only 75% (all relatively tough medical science courses), is there any hope for me to get admitted into a medical school?

 

Are those expensive MCAT courses offered in Toronto any help? Has anyone taken the MCAT course. Anyone have any suggestion whcih one is the best.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

You've got to calculate your marks in terms of "GPA" rather than "percentage" - that's what the med schools use. Ironically, I just wrote a detailed description of how to do that in the Western Forum. . . check the discussion under "O Chem;" though please check the OMSAS website for exact percentage conversions.

 

In my opinion a GPA of about 3.7 should be your minimum goal, but people get in with GPAs below that get in fairly frequently. The overall cutoff at Queen's has been in the high 3.5s the last few years.

 

If your overall average falls below that 3.7 cutoff, you have three options as I see it. Western looks at only your BEST and LAST year for GPAs. Their cutoff is usually in the 3.6 - 3.7 range, so if you have one year in that range and can maintain your last year in that range, you'll be fine. In the past, Western has also allowed students to do a "fifth year" of UG to have two years at the cutoff. The second option would be McMaster. . . they will take students with GPAs as low as 3.0, but you have to be an "exceptional" candidate (lots of extracurriculars & life experience) to get in with a GPA close to 3.0. Also - as has been discussed to death in this forum, you are evaluated based on mini-essays on why you want to go to Mac, and as a result there is certain subjectivity to the Mac application process. . . If you REALLY want to do medicine, I think it's worth applying there. Finally, there is always the option of doing your MD internationally. . . either the US, the carribean, or Europe. A good friend of mine had great High School marks but for a number of reasons didn't do as well in university. He ended up getting into medicine in Ireland as they looked at his high school marks. Also, some of the schools in the US and carribean have lower GPA cutoffs than Canada. That option can be REALLY expensive, though! I believe my friend in Ireland is paying $45,000 Canadian a year for 6 years!

 

I guess it really depends on how bad you want Meds.

 

Good Luck. . . and if things don't work out (knock on wood) don't forget there are many allied health professions that are just as rewarding!

[Guest MDCY]

There is a rather large discussion on MCAT prep courses and whether they are beneficial or not in the MCAT Preparation part of the forum.

 

Here's the link: pub44.ezboard.com/fpremed...D=92.topic

 

Basically, it comes down to how much practice you really want and whether you have the money to spend on it.

 

Cheers!

[Guest mathman]

so I tried to calculate the best possible GPA given a 3 year average of 75%. I think it is 60, 80, 85 which for UWO would give a best+last gpa of 3.8... I had to assume 60 was the lowest mark because many schools don't let people with <60 continue with programs.

 

now that I am satisfied, back to cramming

[Guest Liana]

The validity of the prep courses depends on the individual.

 

By the sounds of it, if you are willing to pay the money for the course, and invest the time, you are more or less "guaranteed" a competitive score. On the other hand, if you invested the same amount of time (roughly 4 hours a week for 4 months; not to mention the time that is invested in writing sample MCATs) you could probably expect a reasonably high score if you're good at taking tests.

 

Consider your own learning strengths. If you tend to space out in class and learn best by reading textbooks, then investing the time and money may not be worthwhile. You can always find people who have taken the courses and get ahold of the materials given out by these programs (eg, sample exams, books, cue cards); if you're not that well connected, you can always purchase practice books and old exams for way less than the cost of a course. However, try to invest the money in the more expensive books and try to get ahold of at least one official AAMC test; some of the cheaper books don't give you the greatest idea of level of difficulty, especially in the verbal section.

 

Ultimately, consider whether you are an organized and independent learner or have completed the courses recently and recall most of the info & therefore should be able to study well on your own; if you prefer to have people organize things for you, if you like to learn in a classroom setting, or if you are still a bit confused on a course such as orgo chem, you might want to look into taking a course. There are the ~$1400 courses that last for 4 months (most of them start this week if you're looking to prep for august) but there are also shorter courses that last for a weekend or a couple of weeks. You can always hire a private tutor (pref from your university and not from one of these learning centres, as they charge ~$65/hr) if you need help in one course, and some places will offer the opportunity to write a sample test without registering for the course (this can be advantageous as well since it will help you relax when you get to the real one).

[Guest Aurora]

My first year gpa was 3.12, second year will be mininum 3.0 max 3.2 , realistically speaking, if I get my grades up for the next two years, is medschool still a possibility for me?

[Guest failure]

at the end of every year I kick myself for not trying hard enough, and make a resolution that I will be more conscientious and study ahead of time. Unfortunately I never seem to learn. If you guys believe you can pull up your GPA by 0.5 you will need to figure out how to change your lifestyle completely! Good luck, and don't be like me!

[Guest MDCY]

Aurora & failure:

Well, I haven't heard anything back from UC yet (though the phone calls for acceptances have begun today...eek!). In my first year I guess you could say that I didn't have a great year but I managed to get a GPA slightly above 3.20. My second year sucked as it was absolutely brutal for us Biochem students and my GPA was just above 3.00. My third year was better than my second but not even as good as my first and I started to panic about med school possibilities. In my last year, I actually did my best with a GPA around 3.70 and after all that, I thankfully received an interview from UC. UC drops your lowest year in its GPA average provided you have finished your undergraduate degree. Aside from grades, I did the normal volunteering in the hospital and the community. I worked in a few different jobs with one of my part-time jobs that I held for over 2.5 years while going through my degree was a part-time rehabilitation worker with Autistic children/teens. Basically, don't lose hope in whatever year you are currently in because you still have chance if you do better in your remaining year(s).

Cheers!

[Guest Liana]

No matter what your previous marks may have been, there's always a medical school that is willing to look beyond that.

 

McMaster requires a minimum GPA of 3.0, but you have to have a really strong (as in, better than the 30 other students you are beating out for one seat in the class) non-academic record. Volunteering, sports, and clubs are all great but Mac especially prefers "life experience". This means that, if you're unsuccessful in getting into medical school even after 4th year, this will only improve your chances of getting into Mac if you, say, take on a position as Sales Manager or Crew Supervisor in the interim year. Even though working for a year after graduation may not help you in applying to many other schools, this may seriously improve your chances of getting into Mac, if you are able to show that this experience has contributed to your social and intellectual (read: maturity) development.

 

Other schools, like Western and Manitoba, use favourable formulae for calculating your GPA. Western will use your last year and your best year to determine if you make the cutoff, and completely ignore your other years. Manitoba will exclude the marks of your lowest few classes in calculating your GPA, provided those courses aren't prerequisites. Many other schools apply these sort of advantageous calculation formulae.

 

There are a number of things you can do to boost a somewhat low GPA. If you have the freedom, you can strategically select courses based on those that will boost your average; however, if you employ this strategy, be advised to select courses that you feel will interest you rather than courses that are reported to be easy; so many people have taken Intro Geology and were so bored with the supposed "bird course" that it is one of the lowest marks on their transcripts. Other techniques include taking harder courses (eg, Organic chemistry) in summer school (from which the marks are often excluded from your GPA calculation), taking fewer courses in one semester (but a lot of schools will not accept marks that haven't been completed while taking a full-time course load, so do your research beforehand), hiring a tutor, etc etc.

 

No matter what the admissions formula of a particular school, it is always composed of some combination of your academic and extracurricular skills. That means, in order to be one of the selected few, if you have a lower GPA, you will need to compensate by standing out as a truly strong individual in terms of social skills, morality, leadership potential, and the extracurricular experience to back these traits up. Focusing on your marks is definitely important, but you really do need to pay a lot of attention to developing these other traits as well. The easiest way to develop this aspect of your application is by getting involved in activities that truly interest you: volunteering at hospitals and nursing homes may seem like a good idea, but you certainly won't stand out from all of the other applicants; if you think you can get great enjoyment from these activities, then go ahead, but it would be more strategic to get involved with the most unusual and most personally interesting activities you can find. Not only will being a hang-gliding instructor stick out on your application more than selling coffee in the hospital cafeteria but it'll probably give you something much more interesting to talk about in your autobiographical submission and interview, and will be a trait that will stick out in your interviewers' minds when it comes time to decide whether you'll be admitted or not.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

The answer is yes - you can still get in. I just wrote a response under a different thread here explaining how. . . but basically Western looks at your two best years so if you do well in 3rd & 4th year you can get in.

[Guest OneBadSkwerl]

Mathman - How do you have two years which average out to 85% and 80% have a CGPA of 3.8? 8/10 of my marks this year were above 80 and 2/10 were in the high 70's but I only have a GPA of 3.6x I believe.

 

Just a little curious, that's all!

 

Scotty

[Guest Antieli]

Hi

I just completed my first year with a GPA of 3.9

I had 5 marks that were over 90's.

 

My problem is my biology mark (term2). It was in the high 60's. My term 1 biology mark was an 80%.

It is a prerequisite for Med. School.

 

Now, the term 2 mark is horrible. Should I retake the biology course, or just leave it be and focus on the upper year courses?

My goal is Med. School.

I have had tremendous amounts of volunteer experience as well.

 

Do I remotely stand a chance, or will they try to disqualify me based up that one low mark?

I am stressing out a lot because of that mark.

 

Please any information would be very helpful.

 

Thank you.

[Guest mathman]

(according to the OMSAS chart column 3)

5 courses of 85% -> GPA 3.9

5 courses of 80% -> GPA 3.7

CGPA 3.8

 

(60+80+85)/3 = 75%

 

moral of the story, if you think you can only get an 89, study something else so your mark goes down to 85 since it's the same GPA. Pinpoint exam accuracy is the key

[Guest mying]

As far as I know, no Ontario med school looks at specific grades in specific courses, just marks overall in a year. So move on to other courses.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

One low mark won't kill you. . . unless it brings your GPA for that year below the cutoff (3.8ish for U of T and U of O, 3.6-3.7 is safe for most other schools.)

 

Don't worry. . . also most schools have formulas to get rid of one bad year. Just work hard in your future years and make your goal to have EVERY mark above 80% (a few marks in the 75%-80% range is okay as well. . .)

[Guest LilMango]

I've just finished my third year of undergrad with an unsatisfactory gpa (I believe). However, if I were to finish my fourth year, I know it'll be a lot more competitive. My problem is, given the deadline is in October and interviews around March, the schools won't be using my best three years if I won't have my four years completed until end of April. Am I wrong in this? What can I do?

[Guest U of O med]

You are right.

Unfortunately I think you might have to wait another year after your 4th. It might not be a bad idea to take a year off, get a job, have a life for 12 months!! If you feel that you shouldn't have a problem after your 4th year that is!? You might also want to consider doing another year in a different program? I know this sounds like a lot and it can get very expensive, but if you are borderline in the GPA department and do not get in after your "year off", then you'll have another year to your credit for the next application... think ahead, anything can happen. If you really want to get in, that would be my suggestion. I know a bunch of people who went that route and they made it!!

 

Good luck!

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Definitely apply to Western. They take your BEST year (any year!), and then assess your LAST year after they recieve your transcript at the end of the year (the best year is used to decide whether you get in, but you need to make the GPA cutoff in the last year for that acceptance to be finalized.)