kpm Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Hey Everyone, I would love to hear some of your opinions/suggestions on my situation. Undergrad GPA: 3.0, completed 2009 Graduate GPA: 3.9 (only 1.5 courses), completed 2011, still working in the lab to finish a total of 2 publications (1 textbook chapter and 1 primary research article) MCAT from 2007: 31Q, 9V, 12B, 10P Extracurriculars: pretty good, I think, hospital/medical-related volunteering, teaching, outdoors activities, etc I really think my undergrad GPA is bringing me down, even though I did a graduate degree. I am planning to do my MCAT again this year, since it is too old to use to apply to many schools. But, with my GPA, do I realistically have a chance of getting into Canadian schools? American? Ireland? Caribbean? Any comments/suggestions would be helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Hey Everyone, I would love to hear some of your opinions/suggestions on my situation. Undergrad GPA: 3.0, completed 2009 Graduate GPA: 3.9 (only 1.5 courses), completed 2011, still working in the lab to finish a total of 2 publications (1 textbook chapter and 1 primary research article) MCAT from 2007: 31Q, 9V, 12B, 10P Extracurriculars: pretty good, I think, hospital/medical-related volunteering, teaching, outdoors activities, etc I really think my undergrad GPA is bringing me down, even though I did a graduate degree. I am planning to do my MCAT again this year, since it is too old to use to apply to many schools. But, with my GPA, do I realistically have a chance of getting into Canadian schools? American? Ireland? Caribbean? Any comments/suggestions would be helpful! Hi there! We need that GPA broken down by year with the number of credits down per year to really evaluate things for all the schools out there - particularly the ones that are more likely to be your targets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpm Posted March 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Thanks for your help! 1st: 1.85 2nd: 3.21 3rd: 3.35 4th: 3.57 All years, took a full course load, 5 credits or 10 half-credits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpm Posted April 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 Anyone have any thoughts on my situation? Would love some ideas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 Anyone have any thoughts on my situation? Would love some ideas! drat - none of those year would hit the cut offs of the key score that rapidly let you recover from an error. You would probably need a second degree at this point for Canada - ideally one that can get a high GPA in and finish in short order. Your current GPA is on the upward trend for sure which is a good sign you haven't broken some of those critical GPA year barriers yet. You can push for other international schools but that is a dangerous path right now. How much time/money can you throw at the problem? Then we can map out logical pathways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OttawaURookie Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 Para_D. Would two years of the 2nd undergrad be sufficient to have a shot at a couple of schools? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojoluvsu2 Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 (Disclaimer: I'm only really familiar with Ontario schools) If you rocked the VR on your MCAT, McMaster would be a very, very long shot but you've met their minimums (3.0 GPA). Honestly, a second UG is probably your only realistic shot. Mind you, you need to do quite a bit better than your later years in order to be competitive (3.2-3.5 still isn't very competitive). You should look into schools which offer two year second UG degrees after taking transfer credits into consideration. Two solid years would qualify you for Western, Queens, possibly Ottawa. NOSM will only look at your second UG but you need Northern Ontario residency/context. Look at the sticky on the non-trad forum for policies regarding second UG degrees. Some schools outside of Ontario will also only consider a second UG (Dalhousie, not sure about others). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojoluvsu2 Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I love it when we all type responses at the same time 2 years will be good for Western, Queens, and maybe Ottawa. Longer (provided all marks are good) will help drop more courses for UofT (if you were full time the whole time) for each extra year you get to drop another 1.0FTE. But given how low your marks seem to be before I don't think you'll be able to drop enough to make that GPA competitive. Longer will also dilute more bad marks for those schools who look at everything (McMaster), but again cost/benefit analysis says that it won't necessarily help enough to make a longer 2nd degree worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filter105 Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 in a same situation with you...finished my undergrad in 2009. (WOW I"M OLD!!!) did MSc and I think I was offered interview only because (despite not having pub) I did a visiting scholar abroad during my MSc (not really based on merit tho). Know bunch of people in my program who decided to take 2nd UG.. usually in social sci. Something to consider eh? Western as 2nd UG is not too bad. Think long and hard and treat your life as a marathon. Is it worth it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpm Posted April 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 Hi Everyone, Thank you all so much for your replies! I really do appreciate the input, although it also depresses me. At this point in my life, I just don't think I am prepared to do another undergrad degree. Since I have a Master's Degree, I feel like doing another undergrad would be going backwards. And also a waste of time and money if I am not fully committed to it emotionally. It's unfortunate because I feel that if I had not done undergrad at U of T or if I had chosen easier courses, I would have been able to meet the GPA requirements. But, who knows? Since I wrote the MCAT in 2007, I was unable to apply to many American schools this past cycle. So, I have just started to restudy for it again and will be taking it Jun 21st. We'll see how that goes... maybe I will get a good verbal score and have a tiny shot at some schools. I will apply again broadly in Canada and the US, and if I don't get in this time, I think it will be time to pursue other options (i.e. nurse, nurse practitioner). Anyway, thanks again and good luck to you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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