Guest Ginu Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 Hi guys, In the first semester of 3rd year, I fell really ill the day before my final exams. I started getting periodic migraines. Carleton put all Engineering finals on 5 consecutive days, and I couldnt defer all of them, as then I would have 10 exams next semester, especially with the 5 make up exams during Reading Week (+ midterms). I probably shouldn't have, but I didnt want to mess up 10 exams instead of 5. I also had to make a quick decision because it was a very sudden thing. Plus i was hoping the problem would go away the morning after waking up, but it didn't. It started again during the first exam. I didnt think it was a health problem, and didn't realize how severe it was. I did really poorly in those exams, and it really brought my overall GPA down. I had a 3.70 first year, 3.81 second year, but then 3rd year was a 3.37 (and that was with getting a 3.88 in the second semester to make up for it). So my overall GPA fell to 3.63. The problem re-occurred in February and with my experience in first semester i decided to take March off basically, only coming to school for assignments. Consulting my doctor, he didn't know what the problem was and told me to get a CAT scan done. The source of the problem still hasn't been discovered, but the migraines are less periodic, but still occur. With that said, I don't want that semester to affect me getting into medical school as my GPA would have been a 3.78 without it. The Dean of Engineering was going to submit a letter for me, but the Confidential Assessment Forms have no room for comments. Anybody have any suggestions about what I should do? Is there anything I CAN do? I was given a suggestion to make that semester Pass/Fail... any other ideas? Thanks, Omar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 It's only one year - don't sweat it too much. Your GPAs from 1st and 2nd year are solid. . . keep that up in 4th year, apply across the board, and you should have a shot. I would still fill out the "exceptional circumstances" box on the OMSAS app. Schools might not look at it, but it's worth a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ginu Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 it was only 1 semester... my GPA in the second semester was 3.88. I'm just worried because things are becoming more heavily based on GPA with the questions being reduced to 5 for McMaster. I've heard they're accepting people more along 3.8-4.0 GPA now, and im now at 3.63 with that semester. Other than filling out the box, which i did, anything else i can do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 Are you only interested in applying to McMaster? The other Ontario schools (esp. UWO and Toronto) will apply weighting schemes to your grades so that the one bad semester won't hurt you as much. Doing a fifth year of undergrad is another option if you don't aren't accepted in fourth year - that will dilute the bad semester somewhat. Good luck! Hope your headaches go away permanently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 I know at least UWO, Dal and U of T will break things down into academic years, so that's the key. They won't look at a semester here or there, but they won't necessarily take everything either. Your 3rd year for such schools is pretty much worthless. . . 3.37 won't make most cutoffs. But your 1st and 2nd are quite good, and a solid >3.70 GPA 4th year will only increase your chances. As for Mac, my understanding is that they'll take anyone over 3.0 that impresses them with a combination of GPA and life experiences. I think you'll find (more than) a few people in the class with 3.6ish GPAs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ginu Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 i can only apply to Mac this year, because coming from Engineering i havent taken the pre-reqs. No time, no electives, and they arent offered in the summer here in Ottawa, at either U of O or Carleton. So that leaves me with only Mac to apply to this year. If I don't get in, then I'll have finished my undergrad (going to 4th year now), then will do my pre-reqs and MCAT, and apply across the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UofCMeds2005 Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Sadly, schools do not really consider "special circumstances" like illness or family death. Although there are boxes or room for explanation for such things, the same rules apply. I know someone who had three deaths in their immediate family in one year - yet no consideration was given. She was told that by various adcom that basically they cannot predict what her marks would have been and thus it would not be fair to other canidates to give certain people special treatment. My advice is to still write it down. Once you app passes inital screening it will at least explain the bad term... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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