mac gpa

[Guest kelly]

The minimum gpa for mac is 3.0, but do students really get in with a 3.0? If so, how many? Also, does a gpa of 2.99 round up to a 3.0 or would it be disqualified as an applicant?

[Guest MEDCOMPSCI]

Nope a 2.99 is NOT a 3.0.

 

As for the specific numbers, suffice to say that you must need one heck of a sketch to overcome a 3.0 GPA.

[Guest Ian Wong]

Although the minimum GPA is a 3.0, I believe that Mac's incoming class has grades that are on a par with the other Canadian medical schools. The difference is that by keeping the minimum GPA at its current level, Mac retains the ability to accept applicants who might not have the strongest averages, but have really excelled in other areas.

 

I think that you would have to have a most exceptional application in every other area to compensate for the handicap that a 3.0 GPA would put on your application. Finally, I believe most cut-offs are firm. You would need a 3.0 or higher, and not a point below it.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest kelly]

Thanks for the replies. I have exactly 2.99705... I called the office today and the admission staff said that I "should" be able to apply, but asked me to check with OMSAS about how they round off the GPA. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Thanks

[Guest billybob]

I can't be 100% certain, but I think you should be okay. GPAs are rounded off to 2 decimal places, which should push you into 3.00 territory by the skin of your teeth.

[Guest kelly]

I called OMSAS yesterday and they do round to two decimal places and your gpa consists of all courses taken. One interesting bit is regarding 4 and 8 credit courses (At my school 3 credits=one term/6=full year). An 8 credit course is considered 6 credits when calculating your gpa, while a 4 credit course can be either 3 or 6 credits (3 credits when the 4 credit course is taken in 1 term and 6 credit when the 4 credit course is taken for one full school year).

[Guest Chirashi]

If you've decided to apply to Mac, I wouldn't worry so much about your gpa, as that's already decided anyways.

 

The much more important thing is to spend time on your application. After all is said and done, the mark you get on your application will be weighted 50/50 with your gpa, and that should determine if you get an interview.

 

So do your best to review and reflect upon your life experiences and perspectives, and see if you can put them down in a concise and compelling manner.

 

Good luck!

[Guest kelly]

Chirashi,

 

I was wondering if you think I should even apply this year with a 3.02 gpa? Or should I take one year of unclassified undergrad studies? Do you know if their have been any students in the past who was accepted with a 3.0 gpa? I am a oop student entering my last year of pharmacy school (we also had pbl sessions in our curriculum).

 

Thanks

[Guest Ian Wong]

Hi Kelly,

 

I'm not Chirashi, but I think you might as well apply this year, and see where you stack up in terms of the applicant pool. Unfortunately, I think you are really looking at an uphill battle not just for an acceptance, but probably also for interviews. A 3.0 GPA is really going to require the rest of your application to have some very top-notch experiences to compensate.

 

I think even if you were to take an additional year, your GPA is unlikely to change very much. Assuming that you've already completed four full-time undergrad years (and UBC Pharmacy, the only pharm program I'm familiar with is actually five years), then even if you were to maintain a straight 4.0 average in your fifth unclassified year, your cumulative GPA would only increase to 3.2, which still isn't a very strong GPA.

 

What you may want to investigate is some of the medical schools that apply a differential weighting to your GPA depending on how many full-time years of school you have completed. Off the top of my head, this list includes Western and Toronto. However, even then, I think your re-weighted GPA are likely still below those school's cutoffs.

 

The bottom line is perhaps you should apply this year, and see what sort of feedback you receive from the medical schools. Before you do this, you might even want to contact McMaster directly, and ask them if they will release any statistical information on accepted students, particularly those with lower averages.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest kelly]

Hi Ian,

 

Thank you very much for your honest reply.

 

-kelly

[Guest AndyStew]

Kelly,

 

For you own information, the demographics of the class of 2004 were just released today. According to that, 3 students were admitted with a gpa ranging from 3.00 to 3.10. Although this seems low, you should still apply. Really try to focus on your autobiographical sketch and written submission, as that is just as important, if not more than your gpa.

andrew

[Guest kelly]

Thanks Andrew for the advice.

kelly =)

[Guest Chirashi]

Kelly,

 

If you are planning to apply to Mac eventually, then I think it makes the most sense to apply this year.

 

The challenging and rigorous process of creating your application, thinking about your goals and desires, reflecting on your life experiences, and then putting that down on paper is a worthy enough exercise just by itself.

 

As Ian reasoned, your GPA ultimately will not be the important factor in deciding whether you get an interview. Your application, however, will.

 

Spend time focusing on how you can capture your true self on paper. Passionate, thoughtful prose always helps to grab a reader's attention. Imagine that you were reading your own application, amongst a stack of others, and ask yourself why yours deserves to get an interview.

 

Don't count yourself out. No one reading your application will know what your GPA is. So you can write as if you had a 4.0 GPA. Even better, you could write as a compassionate and talented human being, which I'm sure you are.

 

The process of applying, though challenging and sometimes painful, is worth it, regardless of the outcome.

 

All the best!

[Guest kelly]

Thanks Chirashi for your reply. One more question; when the application (autobiography) is evaluated does the reader know what your gpa is? Or does the reader simply evaluate based on its contents? Also, who evaluates the application (students, faculty, physicians...)?

 

Thanks

[Guest gucio93]

Kelly!

The assessor of the autobio sketch does not know your GPA. Each sketch is assessed by three people: a faculty member (i.e. physician), a student, a community representative. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[Guest kabloon]

I have stats from McMaster's info session which I attended a few weeks ago. It appears there were about 8 applicants with GPAs between 3.0 and 3.10 in the Class of 2003.

The majority were between 3.3 and 3.59 (35 successful applicants).

Could someone please answer a question I have:

 

Calculating my GPA on the OMSAS website, I come out to only 2.85. I have a Master's degree, which I understand will be given a weighting of 1 year against the median GPA of the applicant pool. From the stats for the 2003 class it was 3.55.

 

Do you think it is highly unlikely that the median group GPA will be under 3.6? That, according to my calculations, is what I need to get 2.85 to 3.0.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Guest sizzlechest]

My feeling is that in your situation it'll be a $250 gamble. The median GPA of the applicant pool will most likely change very little this year as compared to last...whether it hits 3.6 is too close for anyone to call.

[Guest Nyla]

Hi,

Actually I called today and was told the median gpa of applicants was the highest it has ever been last year, 3.53. Years before were 3.51 and 3.49.

Was told unless you have about 2.94 or higher, you are unlikely to get to the magic 3.0. And the chances of the median going from 3.53 to what I need, 3.6, are really slim.

 

So I'm heartbroken and not applying. I do feel cheated because I had straight As as a graduate student, and a few lousy marks in first and second year has been factored in in this application instead. I'm 34, and the marks are from 1990--when I finished my BA.

 

*SIGH* Anyone know a similar program that will recognize a graduate degree?

[Guest mimi]

Does McMaster take your graduate GPA into consideration or not? I finished all my graduate courses and I'm about to hand in my master's thesis in a few weeks. This whole GPA business is driving me nuts. Mine comes around to 3.5, and I keep on hearing this and that, I don't know what is true or not true. And to top it off the folks at some med school admissions office are not being very cooperative in regards to answering questions from applicants.GRRRRR!!!!!!

[Guest sizzlechest]

Okay, it works like this: Graduate GPAs are NOT taken into consideration. Instead, Mac will treat you as if you have an additional year of undergrad, with that additional year having a GPA equal to the median GPA of the entire applicant pool for that year (last year 3.51). Of course, if this arrangement does not serve to increase your overall GPA, it will not be used. Comprende?

[Guest mimi]

thanks, since I'm from quebec, trying to get an explanation for that situation wasn't easy. The lady at the admissions office from McMasters (Helena) wasn't very helpful, even though she was very nice and polite about the whole thing.

So, in this case , McMaster will sum up my undergrad GPA and the median GPA? The question may sound really stupid but if someone can answer me this, it would be really helpful since my undergrad GPA isn't as great as my grad GPA.

[Guest sizzlechest]

Let me spell it out for you. Let's say your hypothetical GPAs are:

year 1: 3.10

year 2: 3.10

year 3: 3.30

year 4: 3.30

year 5: 3.51 <--Your grad degree means Mac adds this "5th" year, where the GPA is

------------ the median GPA of the applicant pool.

overall avg: 3.26

 

Mac now considers your overall GPA to be 3.26, whereas without your grad degree it would be 3.2. Please tell me you understand.

[Guest Ian Wong]

Thanks all for your contributions. I hope everyone else understands now, and that everyone is on a level playing field when it comes to approaching how McMaster manages your GPA.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest kelly]

Is the GPA calculated as an average of all your courses in undergrad or an average of each individual year (ie. 1st 3.2/2nd 3.6/3rd 3.3/4th 3.5 = 3.4)?

[Guest Ian Wong]

Folks,

 

I think the proper way to approach the questions that you have with the McMaster GPA process is to visit the Mac website, and attempt to find the information there.

 

Here, you'll find quite a bit of information on evaluating the GPA:

 

www-fhs.mcmaster.ca/mdprog/admissions_qa.htm#eligibility

 

In particular, at the end of the above section, I'll quote the following passage:

 

*****

Q: If I have a bad year, will it be used in the GPA calculation?

 

The GPA is calculated on all undergraduate university course work you have ever done. No allowances are made for how many years ago the work was done or circumstances that may have caused you to have lower marks. If you feel that a mark on your transcript is low because of circumstances beyond your control, you must address this with the registrar of the university you attended. If the mark is removed from your transcript, we will not use it. Our academic assessment is based upon the information on your transcript.

*****

 

I think that it's quite evident from the above passage, and the first sentence in particular, that the GPA is calculated based on all the undergraduate courses you have taken. I'm not trying to be snippy towards people with legitimite questions, but the reality is that most of these types of questions have been asked before from applicants from previous years, and most medical schools have produced a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in an attempt to educate their applicants.

 

Finally, please remember that this bulletin board is not the official representative of each medical school. Therefore, it's a bit dangerous on your behalf to be asking these types of technical questions to the moderators and other readers of this forum. Ultimately, none of us will be evaluating your transcript, and so for these specific questions involving the interpretation of Mac policies, it's best that you contact their admissions offices. After all, that's why they are there, and they are also the people who will have responsibility over your application.

 

I had, and still envision this bulletin board as a place where medical students and premed students can gather and aid each other. However, the vast majority of the advice I give involves my opinions, and my guidance for an applicant who might be curious about one of my previous experiences or admissions circumstances. I don't like speaking for UBC's admissions criteria (generally I refer people to the UBC web-site instead), because that's not something I can morally and ethically do. What I can do is tell you about my experiences when applying, and I think that's where the comfort level of most of the moderators also applies.

 

I think we can feel a certain level of frustration when asked to interpret details of a medical school's admissions policy. Those are questions best directed to the medical school, whether towards their website (where a FAQ may be found), or directly to a member of the admissions staff.

 

So, if you have specific questions about the wording or interpretation of details such as grading policies, those questions should go to the Mac admissions committee. If you are curious as to what Mac's curriculum is like, or how each moderator is finding his or her medical school experience, or which premed courses might be particularly useful for MCAT preparation, those sort of subjective questions are ones best asked and answered here.

 

Thanks for listening,

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3