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I'm considering applying for medical school in the Canadian system, and my low GPA is worryisome to me, so wanted to ask some questions about the importance of some prerequisites. Some details on my background:
I'm a business school major (finance/international business). Overall GPA is between 3.00 and 3.1 (forgot the exact number). Now, a lot of this is due to not really trying first two years, and mostly cause of 3 courses I got D's in (silly things, not even related to my major, like intro to marketing) that I did not really take seriously or thought much about. Now in my last two years of studying I think my GPA was about 3.7 and first two years about 2.4, and I usually got B+ or above in my main courses. I think without the 3 D's I'd be more in the 3.3-4 range or so. Still the low GPA does not look too good and, seeing high cutoffs for all medical schools (think McMaster was the only one 3.0+, rest were all 3.3+), with the average student getting in with 3.8-9 or so, looks discouraging for me.
I'm in the process of studying for the MCAT, and plan to do it in January, so hoping to get a high score here, but not sure how much of a difference this will even make if I have let's say 520+ but with the low GPA mentioned above.
I also do not have many of the non-MCAT school prereqs (mostly for the QC schools) , such as year of uni level bio, chem, physics, labs etc.
A couple of things I have going for me, of which I'm not sure how impressive/important they are to your application are:
Speak 5 languages fluently (including English, French, Spanish).
Worked as a clerk in a medical office.
Have experience shadowing doctors (not much, but it is not an issue to get more). Here I was lucky through some acquiantces, but I can potentially parlay this part into saying I've shadowed under so and so doctors, and if I get 3 or more names on this lst I assume it could look very impressive for a prospective application in Canada? Not sure though.
Don't have any volunteering experience in Canada (I heard this is very important though, so I might look into it a bit more til next year's application), but I lived in Europe a couple of years and have volunteered there with helping at a hospice for two months or so.
I think I can give a good interview and sell myself (have lived in 5 countries, visited 40+, have experience with multicultural environments, have some interesting hobbies, etc.). Basically I think I'm good at all that intangible stuff they might care about?
So what I'm wondering is, what would be my chances of getting into the Canadian medical system and assuming I get a high MCAT score? Low, very low, mediocre? With a low MCAT score (i.e. cutoff), I assume it must be non existant given my GPA standing. Are they very strict with the GPA criteria (e.g. if the pre req says 3.5 requirement)? Or is that figure somewhat bypassed if you make up for it in some other way like a high MCAT score, and some type of experiences they might be looking for. And would taking some continuing education pre-reqs in Physics/Chem/Bio make a big impact if I finish those courses with a high grade in my application, or would it be better to go the post bacc route? Would like to hear some opinions on this as well. Thinking of doing this, but not sure what approach to take. I mostly don't want to be screened out automatically, without given a chance to maybe be given an interview chance at some schools.
I also assume I would have an easier chance to get into the U.S. system if I get high MCAT with my GPA? Canadian med school would be my ideal, but I would apply to some U.S. schools as well. However wouldn't want to go the Caribbean/European school route (maybe only as a last resort) since I think the cons outweigh the pros.
I'm a business school major (finance/international business). Overall GPA is between 3.00 and 3.1 (forgot the exact number). Now, a lot of this is due to not really trying first two years, and mostly cause of 3 courses I got D's in (silly things, not even related to my major, like intro to marketing) that I did not really take seriously or thought much about. Now in my last two years of studying I think my GPA was about 3.7 and first two years about 2.4, and I usually got B+ or above in my main courses. I think without the 3 D's I'd be more in the 3.3-4 range or so. Still the low GPA does not look too good and, seeing high cutoffs for all medical schools (think McMaster was the only one 3.0+, rest were all 3.3+), with the average student getting in with 3.8-9 or so, looks discouraging for me.
I'm in the process of studying for the MCAT, and plan to do it in January, so hoping to get a high score here, but not sure how much of a difference this will even make if I have let's say 520+ but with the low GPA mentioned above.
I also do not have many of the non-MCAT school prereqs (mostly for the QC schools) , such as year of uni level bio, chem, physics, labs etc.
A couple of things I have going for me, of which I'm not sure how impressive/important they are to your application are:
Speak 5 languages fluently (including English, French, Spanish).
Worked as a clerk in a medical office.
Have experience shadowing doctors (not much, but it is not an issue to get more). Here I was lucky through some acquiantces, but I can potentially parlay this part into saying I've shadowed under so and so doctors, and if I get 3 or more names on this lst I assume it could look very impressive for a prospective application in Canada? Not sure though.
Don't have any volunteering experience in Canada (I heard this is very important though, so I might look into it a bit more til next year's application), but I lived in Europe a couple of years and have volunteered there with helping at a hospice for two months or so.
I think I can give a good interview and sell myself (have lived in 5 countries, visited 40+, have experience with multicultural environments, have some interesting hobbies, etc.). Basically I think I'm good at all that intangible stuff they might care about?
So what I'm wondering is, what would be my chances of getting into the Canadian medical system and assuming I get a high MCAT score? Low, very low, mediocre? With a low MCAT score (i.e. cutoff), I assume it must be non existant given my GPA standing. Are they very strict with the GPA criteria (e.g. if the pre req says 3.5 requirement)? Or is that figure somewhat bypassed if you make up for it in some other way like a high MCAT score, and some type of experiences they might be looking for. And would taking some continuing education pre-reqs in Physics/Chem/Bio make a big impact if I finish those courses with a high grade in my application, or would it be better to go the post bacc route? Would like to hear some opinions on this as well. Thinking of doing this, but not sure what approach to take. I mostly don't want to be screened out automatically, without given a chance to maybe be given an interview chance at some schools.
I also assume I would have an easier chance to get into the U.S. system if I get high MCAT with my GPA? Canadian med school would be my ideal, but I would apply to some U.S. schools as well. However wouldn't want to go the Caribbean/European school route (maybe only as a last resort) since I think the cons outweigh the pros.