Should I Write The Mcat? -

[Ellennn]

Hi guys, 

 

I finished my second year at McGill and was planning on studying and writing the MCAT this summer, until it hit me today... Should I even spend so much time and effort to do the MCAT if I have a good enough chance for McGill Med?

 

So the real question is, do I have a good enough chance for McGill Med?  

 

I'm an in-province student, my cGPA is currently 3.96, I would expect it to stay the same after my 3rd year, and it will certainly drop the 4th year because I'm doing some courses that are impossible to get A then. 

- I am a business major, with a minor in science, and my science pre-req GPA is close to 4.0 (only 1 course with 3.7, 4.0 for all the other pre-reqs)

- My ECs are very poor, I think. I have hospital volunteering (not significant hours), academic tutoring, the standard grade 8 piano, high school concert band, a few shadowing experience, and that's it?

- I have quite a lot of working experiences however, in many restaurants, I also worked as an Undergraduate TA for some business classes. I will have an internship at a public accounting firm next summer 

 

How much does McGill care about ECs if one has a high GPA?

 

 

Writing the MCAT will allow me to earn a spot in Ontario med schools, but it will be a significant commitment for the summer because I will have to re-learn everything (even tho I've learned a lot of the content from the science pre-reqs). 

 

[Saison]

Hi Ellen, 

I'm actually in a similar situation to you. How comfortable are you in applying to the french universities (UdeM, UdeS, ULaval)? If you are only banking on McGill, then I would definitely write the MCATs, without a doubt. Your GPA is definitely good enough for McGill, but your ECs below average. To get an interview spot they evaluate you 30% CV/Personal statement and 70%. Even if your ECs were stellar, I'd still recommend you write the MCATs. You need more than one option.

[Username92]

MCAT only counts for 10% of post-interview selection, with 10% your science pre-reqs and 80% the interview per say

 

If you don't take it, it's 20% science pre-req and 80% interview for the post-interview selection

 

And so, the MCAT will not influence an invite to the interview, since it's not considered before the interview

 

If you wish to apply to schools out of Quebec however, then the MCAT is an obligation - However, in Ontario you would be considered Out-of-province: Very hard to get in, yes you have a killer gpa (congrats), but OOP candidates also have killer CV's - it's that competitive.

 

Personally, I had a 2.9/4.0 science pre-req and got accepted directly post-interview (without a waitlist), without having taken the Mcat and with only 36% of interviewees getting a direct offer after the interview this year- And I'm not the only one with such a low science pre-req who got in (although I had strong grades in a science Bachelor, and this horrible 2.9 pre-req was from Cegep).

Not bragging, just to show that I don't think the MCAT changes much for McGill.

 

It's a huge and money/time consuming commitment that doesn't help for McGill, in my opinion. I say apply to all four schools in Qc and to Ottawa (does not require MCAT either) - the cut-off for quebec students applying to Ottawa as OOP was 3.87 this year I think. Doing the MCAT to give yourself a shot as OOP to other Canadian schools without a killer CV is not the best usage of time I think! And McGill barely, barely looks at it if you do it...

[indefatigable]

McGill is 70% GPA for interviews and so your gpa will definitely help you in the selection process and with the rest being ECs and cv. I think about 25% of IP applicants get interviews, so I think you would have a solid shot, especially if you worked on ECs this summer.

 

All med schools without a strong francophone component require the MCAT - with a good mcat, you would have a shot at McMaster (only verbal reasoning used - no ECs), Western (but high cutoffs for MCAT) and maybe others (queen's). NOSM does have a strong preference for northern ontario applicants, but most Ontario school have no preference for province of residence (e.g. Queen's and Toronto). However, Ontario schools receive many more applicants / spot - e.g. Queen's (5000 applications for 100 spots) vs McGill IP (800 for 100 spots). So, the competition based on gpa, mcat and ECs is very high and I think you are better off aiming for McGill.

 

The french schools each calculate the cote Rs differently, but do not look for ECs. UdeM has high french requirements.

 

Good luck!

[oshaku]

Personally, I had a 2.9/4.0 science pre-req and got accepted directly post-interview (without a waitlist), without having taken the Mcat and with only 36% of interviewees getting a direct offer after the interview this year- 

 

where are you getting the 36% from?

[Username92]

250 interviewed, 90-91 offers = 36 % + waitlist

 

 

http://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/applying/after-youve-applied/admission-statistics-2015

[oshaku]

250 interviewed, 90-91 offers = 36 % + waitlist

 

 

http://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/applying/after-youve-applied/admission-statistics-2015

 

O.O I always felt it was felt it was 50/50 after you get the interview.  Didn't realize it's actually that low.  Think it'll be up to 40+% with all the waitlist movement?

[indefatigable]

It looks like they interview more people this year compared to last year (from 214 to 250 interviews), but offered about the same number of spots (90-95):  

 

http://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/applying/admissions-numbers

 

So it was higher last year (42%).  

[Username92]

Definitely over 40% with the WL movement,  but not that high either

[Robin Hood]

I never liked the idea of having to do tons of ECs.

[Arztin]

You are not guaranteed an invite to McGill regardless how high your GPA is, nor how good your ECs are. (just like any school)

I think it is wise to broaden your net as much as you can and write the MCAT.

[indefatigable]

There's at least one exception to this - if ip at dal, get an interview based on Mcat + gpa cutoff. But since interview + ECs play more of a role in admissions , getting the interview doesn't mean that much. Western I believe is virtually a interview guarantee With Gpa + mcat.