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Foreign Graduate question about Canadian med school


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Hi there,

TIA for taking your time to read this long post. I am looking to immigrate to Canada on a PR visa and would like to join med school at the earliest. I did both my bachelor Science and master MPH degree from United States (was on STUDENT visa for my entire length of stay at US). I have been looking into this forum for quite a time to see where I stand in terms of Canadian med school chances (quit my job and left US as I could never see myself being able to join med school there due to lack of a loan cosigner and also my country of citizenship does not offers any education loan). Some infos: Have about 2 years paid work at US hospital and about 700 hours of unpublished research work. Plan on furthering ECS and taking Mcat in Canada.

1. BS Science: Completed in 5 years as a Full time student (i.e. took minimum 24 credit/year for 5 years)  (a) Spring 2008 University A: Took 6 classes (17 credits of which only 5 credits were college level). Transferred to community college as there was no way on  earth I could afford any university at that time (b) Fall 2008-Fall 2010 Community college: took 70 credits and then transferred to university B with good transfer scholarship. (C) Spring 2011-Fall 2012 University B: Finished 50 credits and received my BS degree (took only 1 class in Fall 2012 as that's the only class I needed to graduate). While enrolled here also took couple classes at the community college I attended earlier due to low cost. 

2. MPH: Started Fall 2013 and graduated in Fall 2014. Finished with 3.70 gpa. No thesis (did practicum if that matters).

US GPA breakdown by Year (Not by academic year): (a) 2008: 3.01  (b) 2009: 3.77 (c) 2010: 2.97 (d) 2011: 3.18 (e) 2012: 3.58 (f) 2013: 4.0 (master gpa) (f) 2014: 3.6 (master gpa)

Questions: (a) Do I need to calculate my gpa by academic year Instead. (b) Is US gpa same as Canadian GPA (c) Does my current gpa meets gpa threshold at any Canadian med school as of now. If not, can I do a second bachelor science degree in Canada (e) Given my current gpa, do you recommend any particular province that I should immigrate to (i.e have a low in province gpa threshold) (f) Do Canadian med school have higher stats requirements for certain ethnicity such as Asian, White similar to US schools (f) Do I have to work certain hours and live certain years in a Canadian province before I am eligible to apply to med school

 

 

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Do I understand correctly that you are entering Canada as a Permanent Resident? Your GPA is too low to be considered competitive and you will need a second undergraduate degree. As to which province to select to become In Province (IP), perhaps Alberta or Quebec. If you live in Montreal as an IP, I recommend you look at Concordia for undergraduate studies and you would apply as IP @ McGill. However, I understand there are advantages to living in Alberta and others no doubt will chime in.

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Research each province wisely as some will be far more advantageous for admissions then others. You may need to do some more undergraduate coursework as your grades arent too great.

Also, most Canadian schools.do not consider community college credits.  So another point to maybe doing a second bachelor's degree. The nice part is that education is cheaper here and you will get credits and exemptions for your2nd degree so it will be shorter due to your first.

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Thanks for all the replies. I am more than willing to do a second undergrad degree if needed to. However, I have read here on some forums that some universities will consider the last year of undergrad gpa and master gpa for admission purposes which for me is 3.58 and 3.7 respectively.

@JohnGrisham I plan to further strengthen my EC in Canada. Also, I have PM you my EC due to privacy concern.

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27 minutes ago, crazyhead said:

Thanks for all the replies. I am more than willing to do a second undergrad degree if needed to. However, I have read here on some forums that some universities will consider the last year of undergrad gpa and master gpa for admission purposes which for me is 3.58 and 3.7 respectively.

I plan to further strengthen my EC in Canada. Also, I have PM you my EC due to privacy concern.

Many schools do not use master's degrees in GPA calculations. Even for schools that only consider your two last/best years (Queens and Western I believe), a 3.65 GPA will most likely not even be high enough to get an interview, let alone get accepted. You really want to be aiming for 3.8+. At the Ontario schools that have the most forgiving GPA policies (i.e. using only 2 years in calculations) GPA standards are even more competitive with most succesful applicants have GPAs over 3.9.

Additionally, I am not sure 24 credit hours count as full time at all Canadian universities and as previously mentioned, many Canadian medical schools don't count community college courses.

To my knowledge, no Canadian schools have different standards for people based on ethnicity. The only difference in admission standards (to my knowledge) is that some schools are easier to get into if you have experience living in particular northern/rural communities where there is a shortage of doctors.

Before starting a second undergrad, you probably want to take a thorough look at the reasons your 1st undergrad GPA was so low. Was it because you didn't work hard or experience personal challenges that interfered with school? Are you 100% certain that you will be able to achieve a higher GPA during a 2nd undergraduate degree? What specific work/study habits will you change in order to meet your goals? I'm not trying to discourage you :) I just want to asking some probing questions to help you move forward with a well considered plan to achieve your goals.

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@OwnerOfTheTARDIS Without going into much detail, my low gpa has to do with the whole host of interrelated issues that came with my student visa status. I am well aware of my capabilities so getting certain gpa on my 2nd undergrad degree is certainly doable. Furthermore, I would rather fail trying than regret later due to inaction. Speaking of 2nd undergrad degree, do I have to  retake Biology 1&2, Physics 1&2, Chemistry 1&2, and Organic Chemistry 1&2 again in Canada given I took these courses at community college in US [these were 1000-2999 level courses so one can take them at community college in US)??? Thanks for such a detailed response.   

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You are fairly unique and maybe complicated GPA-wise.  I would contact one of the Canadian Med schools and have discussion with their admin office.

Have your US transcripts evaluated/converted by WES (or similar)  to see how your courses are considered in Canada.  This would give you indication of where your GPA is and determine if your community college sciences courses are considered equivalent.

I am only aware of UBC using Masters course in GPA calculations.  Ontario schools do not (other than a very small % bump for a completed Grad degree)

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4 hours ago, Bambi said:

Do US higher education institutions needs to be assessed by WES? I had thought that this is not necessary for US institutions?

Good point -  likely not in typical cases.   I was thinking about how the OP would validate if their USA Community college credits would be counted in GPA or as prerequisites in Canada.   Maybe that is a better question to start with one of the Med school admins. 

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On 2017-07-28 at 11:10 AM, Meridian said:

You are fairly unique and maybe complicated GPA-wise.  I would contact one of the Canadian Med schools and have discussion with their admin office.

Have your US transcripts evaluated/converted by WES (or similar)  to see how your courses are considered in Canada.  This would give you indication of where your GPA is and determine if your community college sciences courses are considered equivalent.

I am only aware of UBC using Masters course in GPA calculations.  Ontario schools do not (other than a very small % bump for a completed Grad degree)

Dalhousie does as well.

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