have really old fails on record, will they affect me?

[numa]

hey guys, I have a decision I have to make, just trying to get some opinions. So right now my plan is to apply to medical school, so I'm starting from a new undergraduate degree. problem is I went to York university for a semester about 5 years ago, and had to leave suddenly which caused me to have 2 fails, one chem and and philosophy. so my question is how will that affect me if I decide to go back to York? will it just drag down my GPA for the first year? I also have acceptance right now to UTM, would it be better to just start fresh from there?

thanks for any help

[Birdy]

You will have to submit all transcripts of all post-secondary institutions, so schools will see those grades. Starting again at a new school will not change that.

 

However, there are many schools that consider only more recent years (best two, most recent two, most recent three, etc) or have weighting schemes that will allow you to drop a year or a certian number of grades. Provided you commit yourself and do well, you may be able to build a decent application for those schools. A few schools do consider all courses ever taken, so those courses will be counted.

[Legion]

There is really no such thing as "starting fresh", so it doesn't matter if you go to York or UTM. But chances are if you do really well in the next 3-4 years, your 2 fails aren't going to impact you as much as you would think. Pick the one you like (either the school or the program that most interests you) and you should be fine

[jerkstore]

Do universities actually have a way of telling where you've been? What's to stop him from just not sending in his York transcript? Just fear that he COULD get caught?

[PhoenixFlare500]

Do universities actually have a way of telling where you've been? What's to stop him from just not sending in his York transcript? Just fear that he COULD get caught?

You're not actually suggesting that academic dishonesty is the answer here are you?

[jerkstore]

You're not actually suggesting that academic dishonesty is the answer here are you?

 

No I'm just wondering, even when you apply to undergrad they tell you "all transcripts must be disclosed from all institutions attended".

 

I simply wanted to know if they actually had a method of finding out.

[jojoluvsu2]

OUAC handles both the university (UG) and med school apps, so it would probably be easy enough for them to verify if and which Ontario universities you attended. Whether they actually have access to that info I'm not sure. It would be a little less risky if you were applying to another province or had attended a university in another province.

 

That being said, I would think that if you do well in your UG med schools will forgive a crappy semester 5 years ago. Some schools, McMaster for example, say they look at every course you've ever taken but I still have to believe that there's some subjective evaluation of transcripts/GPA.

[numa]

is there a website were it lists how different schools calculate your GPA? like the best 2 year or 3 year thing. was trying to find it but I can't. I just want to know which schools it would affect me at.

[Legion]

is there a website were it lists how different schools calculate your GPA? like the best 2 year or 3 year thing. was trying to find it but I can't. I just want to know which schools it would affect me at.

 

You should check each individual school's website. But to get an idea, you can download the OMSAS instruction booklet from OUAC website.