Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Is A 3.8 Still Competitive?


Recommended Posts

IMO everything comes down to how you look at it. So in your circumstance, you are in favour of staying in Toronto so you can attend UofT due to medical reasons being a part of it. And if medicine is your one and only goal then to cater to both needs (attending UofT med) you can always do a masters which will make a 3.8 competitive for UofT. Don't forget other schools are MCAT heavy, so really orient yourself to maximize your chances at the schools you desire. I see this in a lot of my friends, that they try to fulfill all schools needs and end up shooting themselves in the foot by doing so. I know I am just spewing my thoughts with no flow, but my point is just pick the schools you want to go to and really kill your application for them but don't spread yourself too thin where your not competitive for any school

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMO everything comes down to how you look at it. So in your circumstance, you are in favour of staying in Toronto so you can attend UofT due to medical reasons being a part of it. And if medicine is your one and only goal then to cater to both needs (attending UofT med) you can always do a masters which will make a 3.8 competitive for UofT. Don't forget other schools are MCAT heavy, so really orient yourself to maximize your chances at the schools you desire. I see this in a lot of my friends, that they try to fulfill all schools needs and end up shooting themselves in the foot by doing so. I know I am just spewing my thoughts with no flow, but my point is just pick the schools you want to go to and really kill your application for them but don't spread yourself too thin where your not competitive for any school

Thankfully, I have the large majority of my undergrad left so I can just become a shut in on concerta. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is certainly possible to get in to medical school with a 3.8, yes. Queen's only uses GPA as a cutoff and ascribes no additional value past a certain point; same with Western. But let's look at the profile of all the schools to have a more candid picture.

 

Western - requires an 11 in VR and a 12 in BS these days if you aren't SWOMEN. For most people, that is a tall order.

Queen's - nobody really knows what they look for in their evaluation of the ABS. This is probably one of the most unpredictable schools. Even if you do manage an interview, the odds of being accepted post-interview are the lowest in the country here - about 20%. 

NOSM - has an average GPA in the 3.8 vicinity, but it doesn't matter if you don't have ties to Northern Ontario/rural life.

McMaster - a big struggle here is verbal, but GPA is only 32% of their pre-interview formula and so the average GPA is around 3.83. The verbal component can give people difficulties for this school though - and who knows with CASPer. 

Toronto - quite high GPA requirements, but low MCAT requirements. 

Ottawa - quite high GPA requirements, but no MCAT. Considered more of an "EC-heavy" school. 

 

So really, there is no school which is a given, and a high GPA can only improve your odds. Don't settle for a 3.8 if you can reasonably manage higher. 

 

Most people will already have NOSM out of the picture, and Western too not given an unreasonable number of MCAt rewrites (you don't want to put yourself through that test too many times). And you don't want Toronto and Ottawa out too. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...