Advice on Med application for Dalhousie

[chiller]

Here is my dilemma, which I would like to hear some opinions on.

I am a NS resident who graduated from Bachelor of Comp Science about 2 years ago. My undegrad GPA was 3.45/4.30. Since that time i have worked in the government healthcare sector as application/database adminstrator. I have decided to make the jump in pursuit of Medicine, and am wondering what the best route is. I intend on writing the MCAT for January, which I believe, I can perform decently in as I intend on dedicating a lot of time into it. My GPA is average, but I did score 1 'F' class in my final semesters, and most of the time I did not take on a 5 class semester load.

My plan is to take the MCAT during the Jan.25/26 writing. I plan on enrolling back into full class load in January (to do basic sciences that may help me apply to other schools), and also a full class load for the summer semester of 2008. While I am doing all of this, I would also be putting in time doing volunteer work.

How does this plan sound in terms of making me a competitive applicant? I have until September of 2008 to get my 'ducks in line' hence I am beginning to plan my actions now. Should I be taking courses so that they can see I would be capable at the basic sciences? Or would it be more beneficial just working? Does the 'F' hinder my chances, even though my GPA suffered very little? Does the lack of 5 courses per semester in my undegrad hinder me?

I would love to hear some feedback from anyone. Specifically, in regards to applying into Dalhousie. Thanks everyone.

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[brianoflee]

Hi chiller,

A bit of background info on Dalhousie that I was able to find from afmc.ca and Dalhousie's website:

In 2006/7, 81 of 90 positions were filled by Maritime residents. For Maritime residents, the minimum acceptable GPA was 3.3/4.0 (afmc says out of 4.3, but Dal's site says 4.0, so I'll go with that), while the mean for accepted candidates was 3.7. But that's within only the past two years -- so it depends on when you got your good scores. For Maritime residents, you only need a 24 on the MCAT (!) with a minimum of an 8 on each section (or a 7 in one, as long as you make up for it somewhere else). The success rate for Maritime applicants last year was 38%.

So in other words, you're not in terrible shape. Your GPA, especially when converted to the 4.0 scale, is borderline-low, but if you can take the MCAT and do well on it, this might help offset the GPA. Also, I know that some schools don't consider summer classes to be full-time semesters -- so you might be better to do a full-time winter + full-time fall combination (although that might push back your application by one year).

Study hard for the MCAT and do really well on it, and if you're not already, start getting involved -- do anything you enjoy (it doesn't have to be just volunteering) -- play sports, join a club, etc. Especially for borderline applicants, the extracurriculars can make or break an application.

In short, you're on the right track -- just try to focus all your energy now on getting what you need done, done. It's great that you're a Maritime resident, as you're in a much better spot than if you were in, say, Ontario, where it's so much harder for qualified applicants to even get an interview. Stick with it!