Guest chw6922 Posted October 31, 2001 Report Share Posted October 31, 2001 here is my situation. i'm supposed to be 3rd yr in U'f Waterloo Honor Science/Pre-Optometry&Health however i got suspended in 2nd yr 2nd term because i failed couple courses in 1st sem 2nd yr due to my dad's myocardial infraction (He is oversea in Taiwan, Asia), i graduated from Vancouver and came to Waterloo; 1st yr kina screwed cuz didn't realize the work load in university plus the high school background from BC wasn't good enough for Ontario universities. now i'm in 2nd yr now....average for now probably somewhere around 70's...hopefully would raise end of the term. cuz i didnt take any bio's back in gr 11 and 12, plus my 1st language isn't english..(only been to Canada for 5 yrs ).. i found those Microbio, cell&molecular bio, genetics, i've taken previously were kina too difficult for me w/o any bio background back in highschool, now i'm trying hard as much as i can...but i'm really afraid that i can't get into any med schools later on since i had such crapy record in undergrad @ waterloo. anyone have suggestions? ( i dont care where to go either U.S or Canada, as long as i can get in med school, i'm happy, it's my dream cuz i wasn't supposed be alive cuz a doc saved me as pre-mature born 2 lbs 26 weeks); Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chw6922 Posted October 31, 2001 Report Share Posted October 31, 2001 oh, another thing i've forgot to state was...i'm an international student (visa student)....so that makes even more difficult for me since most med schools dont take visa students except UBC, Alberta, Mac, and U'T.....(Western just posted that no longer take any visa in the future; but still take visa for Dentistry)....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted October 31, 2001 Report Share Posted October 31, 2001 No idea. I assume you've been thorough as far as seeing which med schools take on international students. It sounds like you've done some high school in BC; check the UBC website to see if you are considered an in-province resident. Similarly check with the Ontario schools if you are considered in-province there. I can virtually safely say that with your academic average in the 70's with a couple previous failed classes that getting into an out-of-province school is going to be impossible. Similarly, I think your stats look pretty bad even as an in-province student, but your chances are certainly better in-province versus being an OOP student. Check with those schools that you've listed (if they consider you in-province) and ask them if they will release to you academic statistics from the international students that they've admitted over the past several years. If those numbers come back significantly different than your own, and your extracurricular/research/volunteering background isn't superlative, then I think your chances of acceptance in Canada would be small indeed, and you would need to look elsewhere, or at a different profession. I don't have much information on US schools, but many of them are quite heavily numbers-based in their application process. International med schools, who knows? The quality and policies of each school will likely depend greatly on the quality of the country it's located in. Best of luck to you, Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Akane200 Posted October 31, 2001 Report Share Posted October 31, 2001 I doubt that your chances in Canadian or American Med schools are very good. Being an international student makes things harder in addition to the not so good marks. Are you really sure that medicine is the right career for you? Your weakness in areas of sciences may really hinder your progress through med school. I still wonder why some people would consider to pursue something they weren't good at (not that that may be the case with you). In any case, you have to find out if medicine is really the right thing for yourself and try to make the best of an already bad situation and be prepared for the consequences. Did you ever consider going back to Taiwan, or other places in asia for med? I know that in HK, they only look at your high school marks to get into med school. I know a couple of ppl who went back to HK to do medicine after 2 or 3 years of university because they didn't or couldn't get into medicine in Canada (they too full advantage of the silly OAC marks thing, I don't think they even wrote the university entrance exams!). I don't know if the loop holes are still there. I won't recommend it, but I know quite a few people who chose to take that route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chw6922 Posted October 31, 2001 Report Share Posted October 31, 2001 thanx for ur suggestions and comments; as far as i've seen some of med schools' requirement saying that they'll definately look at all ur undergra's marks but they only count for the last year and one best year towards ur fina GPA...what i thought was if i could catch up later years with better GPA and get a good result on the MCAT would that be a bit more chance ? i've had total 8 months of clinical work @ public hospital in pediatric OPD and NICU. I do enjoy and work with the patients and those drug prescriptions...etc...i know it's very high standard for Canadian med schools but i've heard in states they dont required that much for ur acdamic background rather than u can get a good MCAT %... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Akane200 Posted November 1, 2001 Report Share Posted November 1, 2001 Although the entrance standards for american schools seem to be more lax, you will have a VERY hard time getting into one of them considering that you are applying as an international student. It's much easier for you if you had American citizenship or permanent resident status. They just won't give you any preference or special consideration at all, and space for international students is VERY limited. Only certain universities take international students. Those universities happen to be ivy league (harvard, stanford, yale, etc.) or large state universities (UCLA, UCSF, NYU etc.) that have just as high cut offs in terms of gpa as the Canadian schools do. It's true that they take the MCAT into greater consideration, but they also take your school that you are applying from, as well as your major into consideration. For you that may be tough because they may not even have heard of University of Waterloo. In addition, the gpa calculations that you are quoting only apply at Western (I think that's what you've just decribed). At all other med schools, they will differ by varying degrees and weightings. It will be harder for you to try to get higher marks in upper year courses (that's why they're upper years). It's not impossible, but it's unlikely to make so much difference in your marks. If you currently have an average in the 70's in second year university, I think that you should consider your options carefully since it will be very difficult for you to get you cgpa up to an A grade as it is. And I think you need an A (or at the very least and A-) to even get an interview anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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