Medschool after 3 years

[Guest Chowchilla]

Most of the information that I've been reading from medschools claim that they only accept 'exceptional applicants' who apply for meds after 3 years.

 

So now, they count the avg of your first 2 years...but what average do they look for? What makes this candidate exceptional?

[Guest cheech10]

I wouldn't say that you have to be "exceptional" to get in after 3 years (or at least not any more so than a 4th year applicant). Much of our class (25% or so) is from 3rd year. As far as averages needed, can't help you there, but it's not likely THAT much higher than the 4th years. The bottom line is, if you meet the academic cut-offs, it all comes down to the interview, and a 3rd year applicant with a strong interview will do better than a 4th year applicant with a mediocre interview.

[Guest faqir9]

That begs a question. What is a strong interview?

[Guest UWOMED2005]

It TOTALLY depends on the school. Here at UWO, we usually have a lot of 3 year people. My understanding is that the same goes for U of T (as Cheech10 points out.) But my understanding is that Dal has almost NO 3 year students. . . so each school assesses the importance of completing that 4th year differently.

 

As for what makes a "great interview," the real question is what the three (or 2 or 4 or whatever) people interviewing you think is a good interview. And there can be some variation, but I think there are certain basic interviewing principles that are universal. But that's the kind of discussion that warrants a new thread under the Interview section of these forums.

[Guest JSS02]

Many places don't care at all whether you're in 3rd year (as opposed to 4th year) when you apply. Some do... I think McGill (and maybe Memorial?) won't let you apply unless you've finished or are in the last year of a 4 year bachelor's degree.

 

I can say that quite a lot of them get into UWO, U of T, Queen's and Ottawa (dunno about Mac). You certainly don't need to be particularly "exceptional." I believe that at U of T a couple of years ago, they actually accepted more 3rd year applicants than 4th years. I don't know of any exact numbers, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if cheech10's 25% estimate was true here at UWO as well.

 

So if you're applying in third year, although it's never good to become overconfident or cocky, don't go about thinking that you have no chance and that it's merely a "practice run" for fourth year, either.

[Guest yingw]

Do you mean 3rd yr after high school in Ontario which is 4th for the other provinces?

[Guest therealcrackers]

After 3 years of university education.

[Guest Rome1]

When meds admissions committees look at your marks, they don't look at Summer courses taken, right? The reason I ask is because I would like to take a few English classes over the summer to meet requirements for some school. Since writing essays is not one of my biggest strengths, I really don't want these marks to be included in the overall calculation.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi Rome1,

 

It really depends on the school as to whether or not they include your summer marks in your academic assessment. Given that I know of at least one medical school in Canada that requires English as a pre-requisite AND includes summer courses in your academic assessment, I'd double-check with the schools that are of interest to you.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest aneliz]

Any courses that you take in the summer will not be looked at by UWO. They will not affect your GPA for either good or bad because they are not included. They can also not be included in your 'course load'. (So, if you only took 4 courses from Sept - April, you can't take one in the summer and call that a full year.)

 

UWO will only look at your best two full-time (5 full courses) years that were completed between Sept and April. As an added wrinkle (one that I only found out about recently), if you are repeating a course (for any reason, including failing it the first time) you CANNOT use the year in which you repeated the course as one of your two best years. So, if you are going to repeat a course (for any reason) make sure that you do it in the summer OR do it as a sixth course during the year....I know it sucks but them are the new rules. This has created a problem for some people. For example: if you failed a course first year, your GPA will have tanked, so you aren't likely to have met the GPA cut-off that year. Not a problem at UWO. If you then re-take that course that you failed in first year in your second year, you can't use that year's GPA either, regardless of whether it is over the cut-off. (New problem at UWO) So, then you move onto third year, and things are going okay. You apply to UWO, and get in, BUT, you are NOT eligible to register because you do not have two full-time years over the GPA cut-off according to the new rules. (Because your first year is under the cut and your second year includes a repeated course. This leaves you with your third year, which sadly, is only ONE year above the cut-off.....) Keep this in mind if you are in (or may be in) this situation.