medicacion Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 I have been reading about success stories in this forum and they have kept my hope alive. I need some advice on how to proceed. I applied to all Ontario schools the previous cycle and got rejected. My OMSAS GPA is 3.2 in Biochemistry but its a result of having for instance four A+ and a C in one semester (went to school in the states). I found out that my GPA meets the University of western Ontario cut off for two best years. Also after U of T drops my four worst, I have a decent GPA. My previous MCAT was a 22 M ( had some family issues) and i had already given in my application when I took the MCAT. I am currently waiting to hear from grad school admissions. 1) Should I stick with Grad school and apply after grad school? 2) Should I apply to the schools where I qualify after re-taking the MCAT this year or will a grad degree make my application stronger? 3) I am not sure about a second degree because i have kids, so it not finacially favorable to do so now. I love medicine and I have hoped to do it for a long time. Any input is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 Post all of your grades grouped by semester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 Post all of your grades grouped by semester. Yeah we need more data A lot of the tricks you can use depends on a very specific breakdown of your courses. Also it would help to know if that grad work is going for some sort of back up or just buying time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicacion Posted February 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 Thank you all!! . Here are my courses per semester. I dont know how they compare to canadian grades but here we go. 1st year 3rd Year semester 1 2nd semester 1st semester 2nd semester B+ C C A A- B B A A- B B A A B B A- B C+ 2nd Year 4th year Semester 1 2 semester 1st semester 2nd semester C C A B B+ B- A B+ B+ B+ A- A- A B B I got transfered credit for the semesters with less than 4 courses per semester. Hope that helps Also, i chose the master's degree in environmental studies becasue i see it as a possible career path in case medicine does not work out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicacion Posted February 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 oh no!!!! that did not come out like i planned hehe. Here i go again 1st year 3rd Year semester 1 2nd semester 1st semester 2nd semester B+ A- A- A B 2nd semester C B B B 2nd Year 4th year Semester 1 2 semester 1st semester 2nd semester C B+ B+ 2nd semester A B- B+ C 3rd Year 1st semester C B B B 2nd semester A A A A- C+ 4th year 1st semester A A A- B 2nd semester A- B+ B B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmitty Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 If you are serious about med school, your best best would be to strategically apply to those that favour your specific grades. For example, I applied to U of Manitoba because my cGPA is not great, but their weighting allows you to drop 6 FCE from your total if you have a full degree worth of credits. Also, they hugely favour the MCAT (around 75% of your pre-interview score is MCAT), which I did very well on. This means that even though I have NO chance at a place like U of Ottawa, I have quite a decent chance at U of M. I would apply to places like this, U of M, Western, perhaps U of T if you have taken a full course load all throughout, and then focus on getting a good MCAT. If you rock the MCAT, you can also consider applying to some US school if possible since they generally weigh the MCAT much more than here in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 OP, I forgot ask, do all your courses have the same weight? depending on your institution they could be 3 credit hours or 0.50 credits each. Are any of your courses labs which weigh 1.5 credit hours or full courses which weigh 6 credit hours? And you're sure that list is correct? Your semesters range from 3 to 5 courses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 I think they must be all the same weight. hmmm there are a lot of part time years then (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicacion Posted February 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 Thank you all and to answer all your questions, I did undergrad in the USA. We were required to have a minimum of 4 courses per semester which is 8 courses per year but one could do a maximum of 10 courses per year if they wanted. But this was challenging (material would be overwhelming). In semesters where I have 3 courses, I got credit transferred to make up for the missing course. All courses carry the same weight. Labs did not get a letter grade but were required for most of the science classes I did and I have no summer courses. I dont know how this translates to the Canadian system. Hope the transcript does a better job explaining all this to schools hahaha. Schmitty, I am gonna look into Manitoba too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicacion Posted February 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 Yeah I don't think you can transfer overload credits into a semester with missing courses. Be wary of this , young Padawan. I think I will call schools to work this out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 Convert each of your grades according to the OMSAS 4.0 scale, found in the sticky in the general premed forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicacion Posted February 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 I used the alpha - 8 category since we did not have A+ in my school ( Best was A). Here we go. Ist year 3.3 3.7 3.7 4.0 3.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 2nd year 2.0 3.3 3.3 4.0 2.7 3.3 2.0 3rd year 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.7 2.7 4th year 4.0 4.0 3.7 3.0 3.7 3.3 3.0 3.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 Okay. I have bad news. Because you haven't taken a full course load in any of your 4 years, you do not qualify for any weighing formulas. You have to use your cGPA of 3.22 for Toronto, and they have a cutoff of 3.60. You do not qualify for Ottawa because of their 3 full-time years requirement. You have no chance for McMaster Western or Queen's with your grades. Your grades are not close enough to be helped by a masters. Your only option is to do another undergrad degree, this time do it in Honours and take 5 courses each semester, 2 semesters (fall and winter) each year. Aim for a cGPA of 4.0. You can't afford any more B+s. If 10 courses each year is too overwhelming for you, you'll have to give up on the dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicacion Posted February 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 Oh well. Thank you Tooty, Seems like i have learnt a lot abt my grades and the canadian system. Will find a way to make it work with a second undergrad because i feel mature enough now to know what i want and i will work for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simpy Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 Oh well. Thank you Tooty, Seems like i have learnt a lot abt my grades and the canadian system. Will find a way to make it work with a second undergrad because i feel mature enough now to know what i want and i will work for it. Another option is to go overseas. You would probably get into European or Australian schools if you rewrote the MCAT and did better, and would get into Caribbean schools probably as-is. I personally believe that's a poor choice, but if for whatever reason you're set on meds, it's worth considering as an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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