hammertime Posted September 21, 2012 Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 Hey guys, I'm doing my final year of my first degree and was wondering if I'll need a second degree. My cGPA is around 3.65, and I haven't written the MCAT. I was wondering if I do a second degree, will Dalhousie only look at the 2nd (this is assuming my marks will be higher for the second degree). Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammertime Posted September 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 I found some info here http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47067 but it doesn't specify much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegedude22 Posted September 21, 2012 Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 In a nutshell, Dalhousie looks either at your most recent 2 consecutive full-time years, OR your best three years overall if you've already graduated (i.e., if you were to apply next summer). So they'd either use your 3rd and 4th years (assuming they are full-time) or your best three years, whichever is better. With a cGPA of 3.65, I would not do a second degree for Dal. If they were to use your best three years, they would remove the worst year of your degree, so your GPA will be AT LEAST 3.65 for admissions purposes (as long as all of your years are full-time), and will likely be a bit higher than this as long as your 4th year isn't terrible. If your 2nd and 3rd years are good, and your first year is holding you back, then your GPA would be higher than 3.65 as well. In addition, Dal rounds your GPA to the nearest tenth, so you'd have at least a 3.7 (so long as your GPA isn't 3.649). The average GPA is 3.8 for accepted students. Furthermore, your GPA is only worth 15% of your application, so it's not a make-or-break factor. I was accepted with a GPA of 3.4 last year, for example (though my MCAT was strong and I was IP). Bottom line - if you can score around a 30 on your MCAT, I wouldn't bother doing another year of school at all. Focus on your volunteering/work experience/etc. as that is worth 35% of your application, and of course the interview is worth 40% of your application. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammertime Posted September 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 In a nutshell, Dalhousie looks either at your most recent 2 consecutive full-time years, OR your best three years overall if you've already graduated (i.e., if you were to apply next summer). So they'd either use your 3rd and 4th years (assuming they are full-time) or your best three years, whichever is better. With a cGPA of 3.65, I would not do a second degree for Dal. If they were to use your best three years, they would remove the worst year of your degree, so your GPA will be AT LEAST 3.65 for admissions purposes (as long as all of your years are full-time), and will likely be a bit higher than this as long as your 4th year isn't terrible. If your 2nd and 3rd years are good, and your first year is holding you back, then your GPA would be higher than 3.65 as well. In addition, Dal rounds your GPA to the nearest tenth, so you'd have at least a 3.7 (so long as your GPA isn't 3.649). The average GPA is 3.8 for accepted students. Furthermore, your GPA is only worth 15% of your application, so it's not a make-or-break factor. I was accepted with a GPA of 3.4 last year, for example (though my MCAT was strong and I was IP). Bottom line - if you can score around a 30 on your MCAT, I wouldn't bother doing another year of school at all. Focus on your volunteering/work experience/etc. as that is worth 35% of your application, and of course the interview is worth 40% of your application. Good luck Thanks for the response. I appreciate it. If I do a second degree though, will they only look at best two years from that degree? Or best 3 years of any degree? Also, you're saying they disregard part time years right? The reason being I'll be applying to toher schools as well. Dalhousie is just one school and a second degree could help me for other ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaeFleur Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 In a nutshell, Dalhousie looks either at your most recent 2 consecutive full-time years, OR your best three years overall if you've already graduated (i.e., if you were to apply next summer). From what I know you could pick your three best from any degree, but the two year option is only for your two most recent full times years. So if you applied after one year of your new degree, the two year option would span your first year of the new degree and the last of your first. Does that help? And collegedude is right, focus on the extras! Clinical experience especially is such a great way to add not only to your application but to your "life skills" and is great to talk about during the interview. Since the interview is worth so much, spend some time working on those skills too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammertime Posted September 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 From what I know you could pick your three best from any degree, but the two year option is only for your two most recent full times years. So if you applied after one year of your new degree, the two year option would span your first year of the new degree and the last of your first. Does that help? And collegedude is right, focus on the extras! Clinical experience especially is such a great way to add not only to your application but to your "life skills" and is great to talk about during the interview. Since the interview is worth so much, spend some time working on those skills too. Thanks, I'll definitely look into that. I don't have any clinical experience at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.