sunday Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hey guys, I got a relatively high MCAT (37R) but my GPA is low (3.68). My extracurriculars are average and nothing spectacular though I am doing research at the moment and should have 2 publications by the end of the year (a little late for my application). Anybody know if for American schools which is weighted more heavily? Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nychila Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 The selection process is holistic, and the weighting differs by school. Generally-speaking, MCAT > GPA > extracurriculars (though you need a baseline). Your MCAT is terrific - good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunday Posted June 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 thank goodness that it's weighted that way. i only applied to one school last year and that was U of C (calgary) and they have it such that extracurriculars>>gpa>mcat. I'm having trouble picking schools. So far I have these: Case Western Reserve Columbia (i know long shot but a dream school is a dream school) John Hopkins (same) NYMC Stanford (more of a "why the hell not what have i to loose apart from 200 bucks") UC Davis As you can see from above, I need some schools that are easier to get into. Suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nychila Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 thank goodness that it's weighted that way. i only applied to one school last year and that was U of C (calgary) and they have it such that extracurriculars>>gpa>mcat. I'm having trouble picking schools. So far I have these: Case Western Reserve Columbia (i know long shot but a dream school is a dream school) John Hopkins (same) NYMC Stanford (more of a "why the hell not what have i to loose apart from 200 bucks") UC Davis As you can see from above, I need some schools that are easier to get into. Suggestions? It sounds like you are weaker on extracurriculars. I mentioned that ECs are the least important, but you still need the typical requirements for all schools: heavy clinical experience, physician shadowing, serving the needy, etc. Canadians with high stats but without those basic requirements are often denied admission. One needs good ECs for Columbia, Hopkins, Stanford. 37 & 3.7 applicants are frequently admitted at those schools, depending on the rest of your application. Yale is by far the most international-friendly top-tier school. If you're worried about being admitted to a Canadian medical school, just apply to Wayne State as a safe backup, which is probably the most Canadian-friendly decently-ranked school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omz222 Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 OP is not going to get an interview at Yale with a 3.68 GPA. They do value numbers quite a lot even though they interview a lot of Canadians. A 37 MCAT is a very good score but it's not going to make up for the 3.68 GPA, so don't get too far ahead of yourself with all the top schools. For the list of 'easier' schools to get into - check recent threads, there's plenty of recent posts with lists of Canadian-friendly American MD schools that don't mind a 3.68 GPA. I'm not sur where the "3.7 & 3.7 applicants are frequently admitted" comes from because IIRC the average GPA for these schools are at least >3.75ish, and you'd have to remember that for Americans there are also other factors such as URM status coming into play which you'd have to consider when interpreting average stats (of course, not saying that URMs necessarily have lower #s). Plenty of people with 37 & >3.80 get admitted, but I'd be careful about a 3.7. Also, scratch off Davis. UCs are essentially impossible to get into for Canadians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunday Posted June 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 OP is not going to get an interview at Yale with a 3.68 GPA. They do value numbers quite a lot even though they interview a lot of Canadians. A 37 MCAT is a very good score but it's not going to make up for the 3.68 GPA, so don't get too far ahead of yourself with all the top schools. For the list of 'easier' schools to get into - check recent threads, there's plenty of recent posts with lists of Canadian-friendly American MD schools that don't mind a 3.68 GPA. I'm not sur where the "3.7 & 3.7 applicants are frequently admitted" comes from because IIRC the average GPA for these schools are at least >3.75ish, and you'd have to remember that for Americans there are also other factors such as URM status coming into play which you'd have to consider when interpreting average stats (of course, not saying that URMs necessarily have lower #s). Plenty of people with 37 & >3.80 get admitted, but I'd be careful about a 3.7. Also, scratch off Davis. UCs are essentially impossible to get into for Canadians. thanks. yeah i just bought access to MSAR and saw that they admited no internationals so i'm scrapping them. now that i have access i am going to do a lot of shifting around for the schools. no point in applying to the schools with much higher gpas. fingers crossed for case western reserve and nymc though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omz222 Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Unless money is a great issue, you should still apply to the top schools except Yale (and WashU) because those two are known to favor high #s from Canadians when it comes to interview invites. You do have a chance at getting an interview at Case with your stats, as long as you do your application well (they have a long secondary, be forewarned) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.