38 MCAT, 3.58 cGPA, Canadian/Ontario Med Schools?

[davisfenos]

MCAT: 14/10/14 (PS/VR/BS) = 38 total

Program: Honours Chemistry with thesis, going into fourth year, applying this cycle.
Institution: University of Windsor (born and raised in Windsor)

cGPA: 3.58
sGPA: 3.58

Notable extracurriculars:
-Emergency room volunteer/trainer
-Organic synthesis lab volunteer
-French as a second language certificate
-"Outstanding scholar"
-TA for first year chemistry labs for over a year now
-1st degree black belt in karate

In province choices:
-UWO
-Queens
-Ottawa
-Toronto

Out of province choices:
-Wayne State University

I have also been told to apply to Ivy league American schools due to my MCAT score... is that worth my time?

Thanks so much!

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[Medix450]

Western looks at your two best years that are above 3.70, but you need to have an 9/11/12 MCAT at least to be looked at (although cut off might change this year). Your VR falls a bit short, so that may hurt you quite a bit, other wise they would guarantee you an interview. Queens looks at your last two years, so I hope you have a GPA >3.8 in the last two years, if so you have a good chance. Ottawa does a cool weighted GPA thing as you probably know, so you should calculated it based on their formula, but since you're going in to your 4th year with a GPA of 3.58 I'd say kill this year and try to apply next year. To apply to UofT you need a minimum of 3.6 GPA, otherwise they won't consider you. Apply next year to be considered for weighting, so they drop your lowest 4 full year courses or lowest 8 half year, or whatever combination of the two, assuming you were a full time student all 4 years.

I'm not sure about US schools, but to be honest you have a much better chance applying there. In Canada an impressive MCAT won't save a lower GPA. The GPA cutoffs in Ontario are as high, if not higher than top schools in the states (Harvard, UCLA, etc.) so if I were you I'd go back and kill your courses, get a 4.0 which would bring you closer to a 3.7. But if you have the money and the time, then you can go ahead a try applying this year.

 

[Medix450]

Also Ottawa doesn't look at MCAT, and U of T just wants an MCAT greater than 9/9/9

 

[davisfenos]

Western looks at your two best years that are above 3.70, but you need to have an 9/11/12 MCAT at least to be looked at (although cut off might change this year). Your VR falls a bit short, so that may hurt you quite a bit, other wise they would guarantee you an interview. Queens looks at your last two years, so I hope you have a GPA >3.8 in the last two years, if so you have a good chance. Ottawa does a cool weighted GPA thing as you probably know, so you should calculated it based on their formula, but since you're going in to your 4th year with a GPA of 3.58 I'd say kill this year and try to apply next year. To apply to UofT you need a minimum of 3.6 GPA, otherwise they won't consider you. Apply next year to be considered for weighting, so they drop your lowest 4 full year courses or lowest 8 half year, or whatever combination of the two, assuming you were a full time student all 4 years.

I'm not sure about US schools, but to be honest you have a much better chance applying there. In Canada an impressive MCAT won't save a lower GPA. The GPA cutoffs in Ontario are as high, if not higher than top schools in the states (Harvard, UCLA, etc.) so if I were you I'd go back and kill your courses, get a 4.0 which would bring you closer to a 3.7. But if you have the money and the time, then you can go ahead a try applying this year.

Thanks for all this, it's very helpful insight. What exactly is considered "full time"? At my university, full time is considered 4 or 5 courses a semester. My first semester of my first year and my first semester of my third year I took 4 courses, but I also took two one summer to make up for them.

 

[Medix450]

i think full time is the max number of courses you can take without overloading, but you'd have to double check

 

[Medstart108]

Western looks at your two best years that are above 3.70, but you need to have an 9/11/12 MCAT at least to be looked at (although cut off might change this year). Your VR falls a bit short, so that may hurt you quite a bit, other wise they would guarantee you an interview. Queens looks at your last two years, so I hope you have a GPA >3.8 in the last two years, if so you have a good chance. Ottawa does a cool weighted GPA thing as you probably know, so you should calculated it based on their formula, but since you're going in to your 4th year with a GPA of 3.58 I'd say kill this year and try to apply next year. To apply to UofT you need a minimum of 3.6 GPA, otherwise they won't consider you. Apply next year to be considered for weighting, so they drop your lowest 4 full year courses or lowest 8 half year, or whatever combination of the two, assuming you were a full time student all 4 years.

I'm not sure about US schools, but to be honest you have a much better chance applying there. In Canada an impressive MCAT won't save a lower GPA. The GPA cutoffs in Ontario are as high, if not higher than top schools in the states (Harvard, UCLA, etc.) so if I were you I'd go back and kill your courses, get a 4.0 which would bring you closer to a 3.7. But if you have the money and the time, then you can go ahead a try applying this year.

He is SWOMEN if hes from Windsor area so he should be fine with Western's requirements they are usually much lower requirements in the MCAT but i'm not sure about GPA. Definitely apply to Western OP

 

[davisfenos]

He is SWOMEN if hes from Windsor area so he should be fine with Windsor's requirements they are usually much lower requirements in the MCAT but i'm not sure about GPA. Definitely apply to Western OP

That is actually awesome to hear, as I'd love to stay near home. Thank you so much!

 

[Medstart108]

That is actually awesome to hear, as I'd love to stay near home. Thank you so much!

Ahh sorry going to have to give you some bad news. You still need a 3.7 GPA to apply to Western even if you are SWOMEN.
http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/medicine/undergraduate/future_students/admission/requirements.html

 

[davisfenos]

Ahh sorry going to have to give you some bad news. You still need a 3.7 GPA to apply to Western even if you are SWOMEN.
http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/medicine/undergraduate/future_students/admission/requirements.html

Does that mean there's a zero percent chance, then?

 

[Medix450]

what are your individual year GPAs, if you have two that are <3.7 then you're golden, if not then sorry

 

[davisfenos]

what are your individual year GPAs, if you have two that are <3.7 then you're golden, if not then sorry

First year: 3.53
Second year: 3.75
Third year: 3.48

So yeah... does that give me a zero percent chance of getting an interview? At least this year?

 

[Medix450]

0 chance, get above 3.7 this year and you should get an interview next year unless they change the cutoffs

 

[davisfenos]

0 chance, get above 3.7 this year and you should get an interview next year unless they change the cutoffs

Alright, thank you for your advice.

 

[Medix450]

no problem, best of luck to you

 

[davisfenos]

Hold up... I ended up finding this thread: http://www.ouac.on.ca/docs/omsas/c_omsas_b.pdf

If I'm reading it correctly, UWO considers averages of 80-84 as 3.70? My average is 82.99 so I would really like to confirm this, if possible.

 

[Medix450]

yea it would be good to convert your average into OMSAS grades, and if it is like you said then apply away!

 

[Medstart108]

Hold up... I ended up finding this thread: http://www.ouac.on.ca/docs/omsas/c_omsas_b.pdf

If I'm reading it correctly, UWO considers averages of 80-84 as 3.70? My average is 82.99 so I would really like to confirm this, if possible.

You should be looking under Windsor rather than Western, but even in that case an 80-84 is a 3.7. I think it goes by course though, so if you got 80-84 in a course you get a 3.7 for that credit and you average the GPAs of all your courses out to get your GPA.

Either way if you hit 3.7 then you really should apply, it means a guaranteed interview at Western if you meet the cutoffs

 

[davisfenos]

Thanks a lot to both of you guys for your help. I'm going to call in to confirm that's the case today, just so I'm not wasting money applying if I have no chance at all to get an interview. Thanks again, I appreciate your time.