canadian student, low gpa help

[zeezee123]

im a ubc student with a gpa around 60%. im finishing up my fourth year and i may take an extra year to pull up my gpa. im hoping for it go up to 63ish by the time i graduate. im looking into apply to optometry schools, i need help with what i should do with my application as how i can imporve it given that i have a very low gpa. furhtermore, i would really appreciate if someone could guide me through their oats examination process and what are the best study resoucrse etc out there. Also, how does optam cas calculate grades? is it solely based on indvidual grades or is the cgpa as a whole? Moreover, if im applying to american schools such as pco and nova will my gpa be re-evaluated? and if so… will it be pulled down or up?

thank you for your time and input!

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[KHE]

60 is barely passing. My best advice would be to phone the schools you're interested in applying to and ask them because it may involve a post-bac degree or something like that. Obviously, completely destroying the OAT will be a must in your situation.

 

[contactspecs2020]

Hello fellow Canadian! Perhaps take a read through my thread? I also have a low GPA and hoping to get into optometry school but I managed to get an interview at PCO!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ting-interview-ultimately-acceptance.1055226/

Generally speaking from what I've read (someone correct me if I am wrong) but a lot of students once putting their grades into OptomCAS their GPA drops. Luckily for us Canadians, your GPA stays relatively the same or it goes up by like 0.01.

A lot of my friends got in with like 2.9/3.0 in American Optometry schools. Though a 60-63 is probably around a 2.0? If I were you I'd apply for some graduate programs or perhaps take a 5th year! It's a great way to make yourself more competitive and boost up your GPA at the same time! There's lots of schools that offer theory based master programs that are only about a year. Though those applications are over now (ie: UofT's Masters of Public Health). What I worry is that most graduate schools require the last 2 years of you undergraduate career to be B+.

Another way to be more competitive is to have a lots of vision related experience and volunteer work to make you stand out from the crowd. Maybe find a job with an optometrist's office? It's quite eye opening to see if it's something you truly want to pursue.

Another option is to look into schools in Australia? For example Oztrekk (Rachel B for optometry) which is a company for Canadian students who are looking to apply to Australia are very realistic and extremely helpful if you can get in. I was looking at Melbourne. They also have a bridging program with Waterloo so you can bring back your degree.

Hope that helps!