Hi! I'm currently an undergrad going into my third year of my degree, and thought might as well send off an application to UBC, Calgary and Alberta, and I was wondering what do you guys think are my chances at getting an interview and getting in? I'm an out of province student for all of them, and due to where I live (small city, hospital doesnt accept shadows or volunteers) my EC's are kind of bad. I have about 200 hours of volunteer tutoring during the school year and about 300 of volunteer yardwork for some of the elderly in my city. Do you think I stand a chance at all, or should I just work on getting more volunteer hours hopefully in the hospital when I move back to Saskatoon for school?
522 MCat, 3.92 cGpa, low EC's what are my chances?
- Thread starter Hushman
- Start date
Apply more broadly, hit up some ontario schools maybe, since they don't have any preference about which province you're from. Applications for Canadian schools differ from American schools. In the US they care about "hours" and etc, when applying here I think they care more about how meaningful the experience was for you. Anyone could spend 1000 hours volunteering at a hospital hole-punching paper and handing out news papers in the ER, but does that show that you're ready for medical school? What skills did these activities help you develop? How have they changed you as a person?
My advice, do what you love and find a way to spin that will benefit your application. ECs can also involve sports, music, whatever, it doesn't have to be the same cookie cutter thing that pre-meds think is expected of them (its not). Some schools even say on their FAQ that there is no required minimum or maximum of volunteer hours, its more about what the applicant took from that experience. Hospital volunteering isn't necessary, but you need to be able to explain why you want to be a doctor, which may be hard to do if you've never worked closely with one. Try looking into research at your university, especially if there are any medical related ones, so that you can get some patient exposure and understand the job better.
Tldr; it won't hurt to apply now, but work on your EC over the year and if you don;t get in apply again. A gap year isn't the end of the world
My advice, do what you love and find a way to spin that will benefit your application. ECs can also involve sports, music, whatever, it doesn't have to be the same cookie cutter thing that pre-meds think is expected of them (its not). Some schools even say on their FAQ that there is no required minimum or maximum of volunteer hours, its more about what the applicant took from that experience. Hospital volunteering isn't necessary, but you need to be able to explain why you want to be a doctor, which may be hard to do if you've never worked closely with one. Try looking into research at your university, especially if there are any medical related ones, so that you can get some patient exposure and understand the job better.
Tldr; it won't hurt to apply now, but work on your EC over the year and if you don;t get in apply again. A gap year isn't the end of the world
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How is your CARS? With your cGPA I would really consider McMaster, even if you are out of province. Mac doesn't take into account your ECs and is more focused on cGPA, CARS and CASPer.
If you are interested you better hurry up because application deadlines are coming up.
If you are interested you better hurry up because application deadlines are coming up.
