Canadian Applicant Looking for Advice!

[AlphaMagnum]

Here are my stats:

Academics

• Will have a Bachelor's in Anatomy and Cell Biology from McGill
• Current cGPA : 3.73 (sGPA is likely between 3.67 and 3.70)
• MCAT : 39S (15B/12P/12V) (only attempt; August 2011)

Volunteering

• Will have ~30-40 hours in the ER.
• Have around 50 hours in Recreational Therapy at a hospital.
• Have around 80-100 hours with the Yellow Door, a community outreach program for isolated elderly members of the community.
• Have around 50 hours with the Midnight Kitchen, a free vegan meal service offerred on McGill's campus
• Have 80-100 hours doing some IT work for Osteoporosis Canada.
• Member of Montreal Children's Health Alliance, helped lead and organize teams for several charity events to benefit the children's hospitals there.

Research

• One publication in editing stages (I'm the last author); beginning two others (likely the last author in both as well).
• ~200+ hours working with a well-known neurosurgeon in SCS and Neuromodulation studies
• ~75-100 hours working with a psychiatrist on Autism and ADHD studies

Clinical Shadowing

• 40 hours with the Medical Teaching Unit (one physician, 2-3 residents, and 5 medical students) in Internal Medicine
• 25-30 hours with a psychiatrist
• 6 hours (1 day) in an ambulance

I may have a few other bits of volunteer hours that I've forgotten, but those are the key features of my portfolio at the moment. I'm thinking of applying to pretty much every medical school in Canada, and I'd like to apply to the USA as well, but my issue there is that I don't have a reference from a Science professor. I have one from an English course, but the guy I was hoping to get from the Sciences has seemingly disavowed me.

In terms of Canadian schools, here's my current list:

University of British Columbia
University of Alberta
University of Saskatchewan
University of Manitoba
Queen's University
University of Ottawa
University of Western Ontario
University of Toronto
McMaster University
McGill University
Dalhousie University

I'm still developing a list for the United States as well but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[AlphaMagnum]

Bump this up. I'd really like some perspective on my chances.

 

[Taranis]

Hey I'm from McGill and applying to the States with similar stats this cycle (Same MCAT, slightly higher GPA). Your ECs seem decent, apply to mostly mid-tier schools in the States with top-tiers thrown in as welll. As for the science professor, I don't think its that important, perhaps just ask multiple science professors who at least know your name and explain your situation? I get the feeling for a lot of schools LORs are not terribly important.

Also for Western do you have two years that are both above 3.7? You might also want to verify that they consider your program an 'honours' degree.

Unless you are from Ottawa you do not meet their GPA cutoff, don't apply there.

Also I'm not sure but McGill might have a 3.9 GPA cutoff if you are OOP, if you aren't from the Quebec I would look into that.

Your chances at UofT are pretty bad considering they don't look at the MCAT past cutoffs and your GPA and ECs are not amazing, but I'd still say its worth applying (Average wGPA is 3.94 and the ECs of most people accepted are pretty stellar)

Hope this helps!