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Chance Me - Non-Traditional Student


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Hi all,

I wondered if you all might be able to chance me for UBC, both out of province and in-province. (Ideally, I'd do OOP, but I think my GPA is too low.)

The following is me: 

BA in English - Graduated 78.9 raw, adjusted is 80.8 (with this degree) 
I wrote an undergraduate thesis. It was the USA, so that was a task, converting it. 

I'm going to start in the fall on a BSc in Biomedical Science. I plan to ace all pre-reqs, though I'm not sure they'll count toward GPA, I know it'll demonstrate my science skills. 

Here's the long list of extracurriculars; I'm 29-years-old, so I have had some time to build. 

 

Teaching Assistant for Organic Chemistry and General Chemistry II - current

 

Funded Research on Materials Chemistry (my own research for which my partner and I have received over $20K in grants). We have plans to patent, and incorporate as a business. - current

 

Research Assistant for a Psychology Research Study, to which I also helped write the grant to secure the funding. I am the student lead. - current

 

• Worked as Clinic Administrator for a Mental Health Clinic - 6 months

 

English Teacher in Japan with JET Programme - 1 year

English Teacher in the USA, 3 years

 

Writing Tutor in undergrad - 3 years

 

Editor for International Literary Journal - 3 years

 

Apple Technician - 1.5 years

 

Server - 5 years

 

Cross Country Coach - 2 years

 

Junior Class Sponsor - 2 years

 

Literacy Committee Member - 3 years

 

Part-time Nanny - 2 years

 

 

Awards

 

• RSU Sustainability Award - $400

• Chang-Levy Innovation Award - $5,000

• Levy Innovators Award - $5,000

• Jet Kizuna Ambassador Award

• Teacher of the Month

• Gold Award for Teaching Excellence (one per high school) 

• Valedictorian's Most Influential Teacher Award 

Volunteering

 

 Volunteering with chemotherapy patients, giving out juice, checking in on them, etc. at Princess Margaret Cancer Center - current

 

 Volunteer Supervision at Football and Basketball Games as a teacher 

 

Volunteer to help women learn how to ride bikes, every Thursday morning for two summers

 

Volunteer English Teacher on Japanese Island

 

Volunteer with Kagoshima Prefecture Tourism as translator/editor 

 

 


If I had to pick my two biggest glaring weak points, I would say GPA, and Volunteering. 

So, is Out of Province out of the question?

And if In-Province, what do you think my chances are for an interview?

Thanks!

 

 

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Your extracurriculars look fantastic to me! But yeah the GPA wouldn't meet the minimum 85% for OOP to receive a full fill review, so you would have to be IP. I'm sure you would also have awesome references, and since you have a lot of life experience, would do very well on the interview. I think one unknown is how did you do on your MCAT, or do you have yet to write it? If you haven't written it yet, I think you would need to get in the higher than average percentile (higher then 515) to compensate for the lower GPA. 

 

Also you mentioned pre-reqs, UBC no longer requires pre-req courses for medical school other than first year english (which I'm sure you've already completed) so don't take these courses unless they're required for you degree or you know you can do exceptionally well in them. You'll be a candidate for the AGPA but how impactful that will be on your AQ for UBC, I don't really know. Just kill this next couple of semesters, because even though I might think your NAQ looks great, the admissions committee might not and, not gonna lie, your NAQ has to be really high to compensate for an AGPA of 80.8%. (Based on our applications calculations it was 1.57907xAGPA -111.0834, so for you it would about 16.51, and the cut off for in province was 52.91, meaning your NAQ would have to be 36.4+, which is really high, and for OOP it would have to be even higher!) 

 

Just do your best, and if a career in medicine is all you can see yourself doing, then stay dedicated and it will all work itself out!

 

Best of luck with everything =]

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Your extracurriculars look fantastic to me! But yeah the GPA wouldn't meet the minimum 85% for OOP to receive a full fill review, so you would have to be IP. I'm sure you would also have awesome references, and since you have a lot of life experience, would do very well on the interview. I think one unknown is how did you do on your MCAT, or do you have yet to write it? If you haven't written it yet, I think you would need to get in the higher than average percentile (higher then 515) to compensate for the lower GPA. 

 

Also you mentioned pre-reqs, UBC no longer requires pre-req courses for medical school other than first year english (which I'm sure you've already completed) so don't take these courses unless they're required for you degree or you know you can do exceptionally well in them. You'll be a candidate for the AGPA but how impactful that will be on your AQ for UBC, I don't really know. Just kill this next couple of semesters, because even though I might think your NAQ looks great, the admissions committee might not and, not gonna lie, your NAQ has to be really high to compensate for an AGPA of 80.8%. (Based on our applications calculations it was 1.57907xAGPA -111.0834, so for you it would about 16.51, and the cut off for in province was 52.91, meaning your NAQ would have to be 36.4+, which is really high, and for OOP it would have to be even higher!) 

 

Just do your best, and if a career in medicine is all you can see yourself doing, then stay dedicated and it will all work itself out!

 

Best of luck with everything =]

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

I haven't sat for the MCAT yet. I'm waiting until Summer 2018 to sit, after I've taken more science courses. 

 

I was hoping to potentially, move from Ontario in May 2018, get my residency established over the summer of 2018, and then apply in September 2018, in-province. However, I don't want to make that jump without feeling like I'd get an interview. I'm quite confident once I get to that point that I can hold my own. 

 

In order for me to get into Ontario schools, I have to complete my BSc entirely, and I lose my advantage of extracurriculars being weighted as highly as GPA. 

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Gain IP in BC and you have a shot. Your ECs look pretty strong and might land you an interview with even your current GPA, even more likely with a few more semesters of strong grades pulling up your GPA.

 

Really nail any new courses you take. Put focus on them. You need every 4.0.

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How many credits do you have from your first degree? If standard 120, you can still pull up your AGPA. I'm not sure on the math without seeing your grades if its realistic to pull it into the competitive OOP range, but seems unrealistic- IP is your best bet and much more doable.

 

Dont forget whatever institution your taking your new classes at, will convert non-% grades into % for UBC calculation. So be conscious of how that works, it is outlined clearly on UBCs website.

 

If your institution grants A+ or not is the deciding factor on if your A is a 92 or 87 post conversion.

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Is it better to take a class at an institution where A+ is granted?

Yes if you have a crystal ball and will know for sure you'll get an A+. 

 

A+ =95%,  A= 87 and A- is 82   at an A+ granting school

 

A= 92% and A- -84, at an A only granting school

 

So A+ school has an advantage of a higher ceiling, but if you "only" get an A, you get a 5% lower yield than the non-A+ granting school.

 

But you also have to take into account HOW the school does its internal grade decisions - i.e. is getting a composite 85% in a course consdered an A? or is it 90%? Is an A+ considered a 95% at that school, or a 90%?   Example, an A grade may be awarded at a school where you need an 85% composite, and thus once converted by UBC, you end up with a 92% (If its a non-A+ granting school)...so you gain 7% if you barely scraped an A for example.  The flip side is if you got 100% in the course, you "lose" 8%.   Just one example.

 

Too many complexities involved, you'll have to compare and check the schools your thinking.  

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