Next Steps towards getting in

[Guest professional student]

Hey guys!

 

I need some advise. I completed an Hon. B.Sc at U of T and just recently got my Masters in Health Administration conferred. I did not get into med school this year. Part of it may be my MCAT's which I intend on rewriting, and part of it may be my marks. I have had some great experiences working in health admin and have other good extracurriculars-enough to get me an interview at Mac. Now that I did not get in, I am wondering whether I should start a new undergraduate degree (i.e. 1st year courses). How will this be regarded by the various medical schools. I know Mac said they look at all of your courses (so these should be included), Western takes your last and your best etc. For Western, does anyone know if this first year of a new degree would count as my last year?? If so, they could take my 4th year from my first undergrad degree and this year and it would be beneficial (assuming that i wreck shop!). Anyway, I don;t know what to do in September and am just looking for a little guidance. Thanks to any who reply!

[Guest applicant too]

I don't really have the answer for you as I think all med schools will consider your situation differently. I am also looking at starting a second degree this fall but I am mostly only interested in Mac for now so I know these courses will be counted equally. I think I read somewhere that Western will allow a "catch up" (or something along those lines) year but it is counted differently. You will need to check with the individual med schools that you are interested in to get the trusted answers.

 

Good luck on your plan B!

[Guest shkelo]

Alberta takes quite a few OOP students from Ontario it seems. U of A, for instance, will give you bonus marks for your Master's degree that can give you a small leg-up on the competition and Calgary, in general, likes the older, more mature student. Another advantage of U of A for you in terms of its admissions formula is that there is more weight given to prereq courses than to cGPA. This may mean upgrading the pertinent courses that U of A requires to improve your chances at admission, but this can be done in one year, not four. MCAT is not exactly a barrier at U of A admissions either (people have been admitted with 7s and 8s in one of the categories). Interviews are based on your MCAT score, prereq and cumulative GPA scores. With a good interview score, you may be successful in gaining admission next year. You would have to rewrite the MCAT in August though in order for the scores to be used. Give it some thought.

[Guest silvanabolano]

Hello Professional student:

 

Here is my situation. I completed a 4 year undergrad in physiology with a GPA of 3.34. I obviously did not have the GPA required to apply to any school nor even McMaster since I have yet to try saving a village in Africa. I decided to enroll in a second undergraduate (I don't think I could have ever done graduate work, labs are not for me) I applied to physiotherapy and nursing but eventually opted for nursing. I applied to all 5 medical schools in Ontario in my 3 year (out of 4) of nursing. This is what each school did with regard with my GPA:

 

U of T: Because I was full time in every year of both my undergrads they dropped my worst year and used all years to arrive with some advantage given to my best years I think my GPA for them ended up being 3.7 but I did not get an interview. If one of your years is not full time they will just average all of your years without dropping the worst or giving advantage to best years.

 

U of Western: Told me they would only consider one degree out of the two. For them to consider my new degree I needed to have completed 2 years and be enrolled in the third (that was my situation). So I got an interview with them and got waitlisted.

 

Queens: Looks at the last three years of undergraduate completed. So took my 2 years of nursing and my last year of university in Physiology for my GPA. Did not interview there, MCAT was not high enough.

 

McMaster: Averaged all courses that I took during my undergraduate years but I did not get an interview there. I think the average was something like 3.54.

 

U of Ottawa. Used my last three years of undergraduate completed to arrive at a weighted GPA. That is second year of nursing times 3, first year of nursing times 2 and last year of physiology times 1. My weighted GPA for them ended up being 3.88, and I got an acceptance.

 

I think that doing a second undergrad is a smart idea if you really want med, it just takes a little long. I actually know somebody that got in after completing just one extra year of physiotherapy Good luck,

 

Silvana