depressed

[Guest Hilde]

well reading all these posts makes me terribly depressed..people with such high GPA's still whining about not being good enough for med school..I'm way below the GPA's of some of the people i'm reading about and the more i read, the more depressed i get..if they don't think they are adequate enough to make the cut, where does that leave me? bottom of a pit?

[Guest jmh2005]

Hilde,

 

If medicine is what you truly want, GO FOR IT! So, maybe you don't have the 3.9 some people have, but that doesn't mean that you can't get into medicine...

 

To cheer yourself up...just click on this link...

 

www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/mdpro...s_2005.pdf

 

...you'll see that several people have gotten into medicine with WAY less than a 3.9 average, especially at McMaster.

 

GPA is only half the battle...if you can write a great sketch (regardless of your GPA, you always have a shot at Mac) and have a 3.00..give Mac a try...look at the 15 questions, start now...channel your desire to becoming a Physician into positive energy, don't look back at what can't be changed...focus on why you want to be a Doc, what skills, attributes you can bring to your peers, your profession...

 

Hope that helps, good luck and take care.

[Guest ikaj]

Hi, I am sort of in the same boat..it is depressing to see so many people with such high marks. But, I am not giving up!

 

For Mcmaster, I guess the chances for out of province applicants is pretty slim hey? since according to that website only 8 out of province ppl were accepted Canada wide. I live in Alberta, so I think my chances are highest in Edmonton or Calgary...

[Guest UWOMED2005]

In these stories you're hearing about people with super high marks being rejected, I can almost guarantee the person rejected was not rejected because of their marks, but rather other factors (MCAT, extra-currics, interview went poorly, luck, in the box clearly marked "don't write here" they wrote "okay.")

 

If you're the kind of applicant who doesn't have 4.0 and every academic award imaginable, this probably actually works in your favour, because it shows med schools look for more than just a GPA in an applicant. Truth is, for every 4.0 that is rejected there are many students with a lower gpa accepted on the basis they present an all round package to the school (or had the fortune to do better in the interview.) On the other hand, don't forget many schools have a cutoff you have to make to be accepted. . . so don't let your GPA fall below that. But even then, if you end up not being able to get into medicine, you shouldn't let it get you depressed. There's tons of great careers, and I think what you do outside your career is as meaningful as what you do in it.

[Guest EMHC]

I'm in the same boat as some of you guys are, and thanks for the encouragement. One question though, with a GPA like 3.5, what are my chances for UBC? I talked to a person who got rejected by UBC 2 years ago and he told me that MARKS is the whole game here, and they want to see some super ec's. How can you get super high marks with lots of ec's when there's only 24hrs a day?

 

EMHC

[Guest fox]

Ikaj... Calgary tends to not worry about marks as much, either. You may want to look into their program, life experiences tend to be more important than having really high marks.

[Guest UofCMeds2005]

Calgary is kind of a funny school. They tend to accept two pools those with stellar academic profiles and those with stellar life experience (we are talking doing relief work in africa and working for orphanages in romania). Although calgary is not as focussed on marks - they do look for academic all stars. There are a few people that I know of that have low GPAs but they are the same people with the 13s and 14s on the MCAT &/or ridiculous ECs. I don't want to discourage anyone from applying at all - just keep in mind that you need to reach certain cutoffs for schools to even read your application or to make it to the interview. For instance, Ottawa can sometimes be in the 3.7-3.8 range to get an interview (correct me if I am wrong). On the other hand certain ON schools are more easy on the GPA (Queen's and UWO) but they're MCAT requirements are very high - in comparison to no MCAT or TOs requirement. And then there is mac - I think they keep the winning application formula top secret

 

Please don't be depressed or discourage if you don't meet the cutoffs today. Many schools look at grad work and drop your undergrad GPA. For instance, a huge portion of uofc students have grad degrees - that can carry a lot of weight at some schools. So, if your grades are not quite in the range you need then that can be a viable option. But also, don't be to hard on yourself if you have a 3.5 - 3.6 - work your butt off stuyding for the MCAT and you still have a shot at a few schools. You just have to take a really close look at the requirements for each school and try and attain them. The best part about ON is that each school is looking for something diff and therefore you many not get interviews at all five schools - maybe one - the one that will accept you

 

Never give up on a dream...