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Should I Claim Extenuating Circumstances


Moonlight2

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Hello Everyone,

I'm a 4th year Concordia student with a Concordia GPA of 3.98/4.3 (would be ~ 3.9/4 for McGill) , however I have received "Transfer Credits" for 9 courses from UofT which will bring my cGPA down to 3.7 (unless I try to repeat all of them at Concordia next year, and McGill accepts to replace the transferred courses with the ones I retake in Concordia).

Now I am wondering, first, do I stand any chances of an interview invite with this GPA , a science pre-req GPA of 3.9 or 4, and volunteering experiences in community centres, charity groups, soup kitchens and a hospital, plus research experience with a chance of publication.

Also, I was thinking of submitting a letter of Extenuating Circumstances for the time I was in UofT, claiming having just immigrated to Canada and being hit hard by depression for the first two years (for which I actually went to a psychologist, but for about 15 sessions). I am wondering how tough they are about giving exemptions for extenuating circumstances, and how can one improve their chances of getting EC?

Would claiming EC unsuccessfully hurt the chances for my application with the numbers as is?

 

P.S. I have asked McGill and they told me they do consider the grades from those UofT courses I got transfer credits for in my GPA calculation for sure.

Thank you so much everyone, I appreciate your help.

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Won't hurt to claim EC! They wont penalise you for submitting one. Worst case scenario, McGill wont consider your letter and you have 3.7 GPA going in. Best case scenario, you end up with a higher GPA. Your application sounds competitive in all other areas. 

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2 hours ago, MD.VA said:

Won't hurt to claim EC! They wont penalise you for submitting one. Worst case scenario, McGill wont consider your letter and you have 3.7 GPA going in. Best case scenario, you end up with a higher GPA. Your application sounds competitive in all other areas. 

Thank you. I think it's less probable that an EC rejection would hurt the application, but after seeing people getting rejections with 3.8/3.9 GPAs I really doubt I'll have any chance with those transfer credits staying as is...!

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3 minutes ago, Mahtab M. said:

Thank you. I think it's less probable that an EC rejection would hurt the application, but after seeing people getting rejections with 3.8/3.9 GPAs I really doubt I'll have any chance with those transfer credits staying as is...!

There is more to your application than grades. Yes they matter, but you have other aspects of the non-academic portion of the application which you can work on and refine to make your file competitive. 

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2 hours ago, dreamteam22 said:

There is more to your application than grades. Yes they matter, but you have other aspects of the non-academic portion of the application which you can work on and refine to make your file competitive. 

^100% agree with this! If you're IP, 3.7 can be competitive with strong non-academic components (CASPER, strong CV). Even the 'academic context' could be in your favour with a strong upward trend (which is what it sounds like). I don't know much about the EC letter itself, I think you may need to submit documentation to support it (so you could perhaps get a letter from the psychologist confirming what you describe).

All the best!

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Thank you everyone for your comments. 

28 minutes ago, ChosenDestiny said:

You absolutely have a chance even with a 3.7 GPA to be honest. As long as you do above average on the CASPER, your CV and 3.7 GPA are good enough. Proof: I got an interview at McGill with 3.7 a few years ago and my CV was objectively worse than yours. 

Thanks so much. That's very uplifting! May I ask how many years ago you got the interview, your CASPER grade, and what you had on your CV, if you don't mind?! 

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On 2018-03-06 at 10:33 PM, Mahtab M. said:

Thank you everyone for your comments. 

Thanks so much. That's very uplifting! May I ask how many years ago you got the interview, your CASPER grade, and what you had on your CV, if you don't mind?! 

You don't receive a casper grade...this will remain anonymous forever (fortunately/unfortunately)...I wish they did give us a grade (we pay to write this exam for crying out loud)

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Hi Mahtab, 

Regarding the transfer credits, if you repeat them, McGill will only take the 2nd attempt in GPA calculation. I would repeat the ones with the lowest GPA and that should be enough to bring the whole GPA high enough. 

I would consider all elements of an EC. Making claims like that might come off as being opportunistic. Instead of turning your immigration into a weakness, make it into a strength. You "successfully" completed your courses back then DESPITE the cultural shock and other difficulties immigration caused you. I think this would be a better direction. In general, the victim mentality is not a good way to go. One might think that you do not see yourself resilient enough. Don't let a few bad marks change the way you present yourself/see yourself. It's not all about numbers. This is coming from a person who was interviewed with a 2nd bachelor, so def not the strongest marks in my first bachelor. Just my 2 cents. 

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Hi everyone, I graduated from my first degree in nursing (Université Laval) last summer and my cGPA is 3,80.  I plan to apply in MED at Mcgill next year (I'm an IP). I did sciences in CEGEP so I have all the prerequisites.

Since my GPA is borderline, I worry about my EC's (not the best either)

Do work related EC's count? I've been a patient attendant for 2 years during nursing school. And I'm currently a nurse at an Emergency Department. 

During nursing school, I did peer mentoring for 2 years. Essentially, I helped new nursing students to adapt to university and to develop a way to be successful in their classes.

In CEGEP, I was tutoring for French classes. 

That's about it... Would you suggest me anything to boost my EC's? 

Also, during my last 2 years, I lost a lot of weight (used to be morbidly obese). I'd say this has had a big impact on the woman I am now and on personal growth. Would it be relevant to talk about it in my CV?

(sorry for my english I'm french)

Thanks, 

Lily 

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On 3/16/2018 at 6:11 PM, Lily95 said:

Also, during my last 2 years, I lost a lot of weight (near 100 pounds). I'd say this has had a big impact on the woman I am now and on personal growth. Would it be relevant to talk about it in my CV?

1

I'll just comment on this question. You should absolutely include this in your CV. From personal experience, I know that a weight loss of that degree is very challenging and takes courage, discipline and even confidence. Don't shy away from devoting space on your CV to this either, especially since you said it contributed a lot to your development. Absolutely critical. You can use this to demonstrate that you attack difficult problems with a systematic approach and won't rest until you reach the goal or something along those lines. IMO your weight loss shows more about your character and work ethic than some volunteer or work experience that many others have. Weight loss of 100 pounds, not so much! :) 

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3 minutes ago, youtalkintome? said:

I'll just comment on this question. You should absolutely include this in your CV. From personal experience, I know that a weight loss of that degree is very challenging and takes courage, discipline and even confidence. Don't shy away from devoting space on your CV to this either, especially since you said it contributed a lot to your development. Absolutely critical. You can use this to demonstrate that you attack difficult problems with a systematic approach and won't rest until you reach the goal or something along those lines. IMO your weight loss shows more about your character and work ethic than some volunteer or work experience that many others have. Weight loss of 50 pounds, not so much! :) 

To add onto this, there's a section in the CV called Hobbies. This would go perfectly in there.

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