What are my chances at US MD programs?

[sandhl]

I am graduating this year with 3.44 cgpa and 3.43 BCPM gpa from UBC Canada (B.Sc). Constant gpa since for first three years year--took full course load for first 3 years + summer classes. For the fourth year 3.78 gpa: 3 classes-1 term and 1 class-last term. Mcat 35-first attempt. No awards, just dean's honour list in first year.

 

No sports/clubs membership

 

Volunteering:

200+ clinical hours (11 months at two different hospitals-direct interaction with patients)

After school program (3hrs per week for 7 weeks)

Volunteer tutor for a reputed organization (1hr per week for over 9 months now)

Volunteer project assistant for a dietitian (one month last year -- approx. 40 hrs)

Volunteer research student at hospital ( 10 hrs per month for over 6 months now - enrolling patients and filling questionnaires)

Other volunteering: ( 90hrs over 6 months--4hrs per week)

 

Employment: customer service rep at retail store: 6 months

 

Excellent LORs from volunteering, none from prof. who taught me - can get one on the basis of my good grades-- don't know anyone personally), one LOR from doctor who is also a faculty member at UBC and supervises the research project)

 

Do I have any chance at any US medical schools (MD)? or should I not bother and just apply to Caribbean? I cannot go back to school to improve gpa as I already took 5 extra classes in addition to my degree requirements.

Any feedback is appreciated. thanks

[StarStrike]

I am graduating this year with 3.44 cgpa and 3.43 BCPM gpa from UBC Canada (B.Sc). Constant gpa since for first three years year--took full course load for first 3 years + summer classes. For the fourth year 3.78 gpa: 3 classes-1 term and 1 class-last term. Mcat 35-first attempt. No awards, just dean's honour list in first year.

 

No sports/clubs membership

 

Volunteering:

200+ clinical hours (11 months at two different hospitals-direct interaction with patients)

After school program (3hrs per week for 7 weeks)

Volunteer tutor for a reputed organization (1hr per week for over 9 months now)

Volunteer project assistant for a dietitian (one month last year -- approx. 40 hrs)

Volunteer research student at hospital ( 10 hrs per month for over 6 months now - enrolling patients and filling questionnaires)

Other volunteering: ( 90hrs over 6 months--4hrs per week)

 

Employment: customer service rep at retail store: 6 months

 

Excellent LORs from volunteering, none from prof. who taught me - can get one on the basis of my good grades-- don't know anyone personally), one LOR from doctor who is also a faculty member at UBC and supervises the research project)

 

Do I have any chance at any US medical schools (MD)? or should I not bother and just apply to Caribbean? I cannot go back to school to improve gpa as I already took 5 extra classes in addition to my degree requirements.

Any feedback is appreciated. thanks

 

I'm in a similar situation as you. I was considering taking some courses unclassified to improve my overall GPA...but judging by the last point you made, that wont be counted (or make much of a difference?) when applying to the US?

 

About your question...a good resource to look at would be Trojjanhorse's compilation of Canadian friendly US MD schools (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArlB46Pi6-RmdGdnM0QyS3h3eC1qYlk2dlBUY3FoSmc#gid=0). It seems as though you have an outside chance given your strong MCAT score (which is favoured highly by US schools).

 

Which scale did you use to convert your UBC percentage to AMCAS?

[sandhl]

One of my concerns for US medical schools is their requirement for 2 REFERENCES from science profs. I just took the pre-req science classes, and did not have a science major, so don't know any prof. well enough to get a good LOR. I can get excellent LORs from volunteering coordinator and the doctor who I am working with (also a med school prof at UBC).

 

Do you know of any US med schools which don't have the science prof. LOR requirement or where character LORs are equally important as well?

 

I tried to calculate it according to: https://www.aamc.org/students/download/181676/data/amcas_grade_conversion_guide.pdf

Not sure if it is the right one. UBC awards grades differently for example: 80-84 is A- while in the table on this document A- is 80-86 for Canadian universities. Still have to double check my calculation.

 

And I will probably need to take like 4 classes and get straight As to make it 3.5, but the US applications open next month, so that won't help me in the pre-nterview screening process.

[bearpuppy]

BTW, applying to the caribbean is a terrible idea. it will become harder and harder to come back to canada, and that is starting to happen in the US also. and you will be considered IMG regardless of where you go.

[Slashsev]

your mcat is good and gpa bad (im sure you knew that)

 

its a tough call, if your a young'in...id apply and use that same yr to boost my gpa (or DO-boost with retakes)

 

if your hitting +30 of age, IMG might be the best bet

 

 

.....3.4 likely = MD rejection

[sandhl]

your mcat is good and gpa bad (im sure you knew that)

 

its a tough call, if your a young'in...id apply and use that same yr to boost my gpa (or DO-boost with retakes)

 

if your hitting +30 of age, IMG might be the best bet

 

 

.....3.4 likely = MD rejection

 

As I mentioned previously, I don't think taking classes this year while applying for med schools is gonna help me a lot. I will need 16 credits of straight A's to raise my gpa to 3.5. And its not gonna help me in the pre-interview screening process as I was thinking of applying early in June. And I already took 6 extra classes--in addition to my degree requirements. I should rather work full time now, as I did not work at all during my undergrad.

 

I am working on a new research project and may co-author a paper but that won't be until the end of next year. So, basically I just can't find a way to strengthen my application for this year(for US MD). If I wait for the next application cycle (june 2014), I will definitely have couple of things to add.

Btw I am 25.

[sandhl]

I'm in a similar situation as you. I was considering taking some courses unclassified to improve my overall GPA...but judging by the last point you made, that wont be counted (or make much of a difference?) when applying to the US?

 

About your question...a good resource to look at would be Trojjanhorse's compilation of Canadian friendly US MD schools (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArlB46Pi6-RmdGdnM0QyS3h3eC1qYlk2dlBUY3FoSmc#gid=0). It seems as though you have an outside chance given your strong MCAT score (which is favoured highly by US schools).

 

Which scale did you use to convert your UBC percentage to AMCAS?

 

Hey! I was wondering which schools are you applying to? Are you also considering the IMG route too? Do you mind sharing your stats? Since we are in a similar situation, we can discuss and help each other..