Do I have a chance?

[kalo'smi]

I used to attend a state school in the U.S. Long story short, I was disqualified because of a 1.33 GPA with 88 credits attempted. I then moved to Canada to be with family and started school after a break and some much needed help with handling my mental health and I will be finishing my degree in Computer Science here next Fall with a 3.92.

Compared to other pre-meds in my school I have solid research experience and volunteer hours(which I sort of stumbled onto). But I don't know if I should try to apply to US med schools since my CGPA is abysmal(around a 2.5) and I am not an American citizen.

Any advice as to whether I should bother applying would be very appreciated. I can't spend any money on grad schools since I am paying off my parents for my American misadventure.

Thank you.

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[LunaOri]

You are doing well in Canada; why not apply to med school there?

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Might consider working with your computer science degree while doing a DYI Post Bac by taking some upper level science courses. Then take the MCAT. Do well and you could have a shot. Right now you are wasting money, IMO. Good luck and best wishes!

 

[KnightDoc]

I used to attend a state school in the U.S. Long story short, I was disqualified because of a 1.33 GPA with 88 credits attempted. I then moved to Canada to be with family and started school after a break and some much needed help with handling my mental health and I will be finishing my degree in Computer Science here next Fall with a 3.92.

Compared to other pre-meds in my school I have solid research experience and volunteer hours(which I sort of stumbled onto). But I don't know if I should try to apply to US med schools since my CGPA is abysmal(around a 2.5) and I am not an American citizen.

Any advice as to whether I should bother applying would be very appreciated. I can't spend any money on grad schools since I am paying off my parents for my American misadventure.

Thank you.

I'm not an adcom, but just based on what I picked up on SDN, you're really not a viable candidate. It is very difficult for foreign students in general, due mainly to how medical education in the US is primarily funded through government loans that foreigners are not eligible to receive, and government funding of the schools themselves, as well as to a natural desire to favor American citizens and permanent residents for scarce seats in American schools.

That said, successful foreign students have to be even more extraordinary than their American counterparts, and that's just not you, with or without a MCAT score. To be viable, you'd need a Green Card and years of post-bacc work to get yout GPA above 3.0, which you are not in a position to pursue. I greatly respect pretty much everything @Angus Avagadro posts, but here I have to respectfully disagree with the ray of light he offered you.

Given your abysmal cGPA, your even more abysmal US GPA, and your current non-resident, non-citizen status, I don't think even a 528 on the MCAT would make you attractive at this point in time. Spots for foreign students are extremely limited, and a ton of foreign applicants with stats much better than yours are rejected every year. Plus, you have no way to pay without federal loans, which you are not eligible to receive. Expecting a school funded scholarship on top of an acceptance with your profile is just not realistic.

As @Angus Avagadro said, pursuing this would just be a waste of time and money for you. If you are serious, you'll need the post-bacc and the Green Card. Good luck.

 

[doctorosteo]

I used to attend a state school in the U.S. Long story short, I was disqualified because of a 1.33 GPA with 88 credits attempted. I then moved to Canada to be with family and started school after a break and some much needed help with handling my mental health and I will be finishing my degree in Computer Science here next Fall with a 3.92.

Compared to other pre-meds in my school I have solid research experience and volunteer hours(which I sort of stumbled onto). But I don't know if I should try to apply to US med schools since my CGPA is abysmal(around a 2.5) and I am not an American citizen.

Any advice as to whether I should bother applying would be very appreciated. I can't spend any money on grad schools since I am paying off my parents for my American misadventure.

Thank you.

It’s going to be hard for US with combined GPA . Canada I heard was even more competitive due to small number of schools and even those who graduate a lot of docs especially specialists is hard to find a job . I know a hand surgeon who has done 3 fellowships cant find steady work. A Canadian I know ended up going to university of limerick in Ireland for med school and ended up getting residency in US so this is a viable option as well

 

[Goro]

I used to attend a state school in the U.S. Long story short, I was disqualified because of a 1.33 GPA with 88 credits attempted. I then moved to Canada to be with family and started school after a break and some much needed help with handling my mental health and I will be finishing my degree in Computer Science here next Fall with a 3.92.

Compared to other pre-meds in my school I have solid research experience and volunteer hours(which I sort of stumbled onto). But I don't know if I should try to apply to US med schools since my CGPA is abysmal(around a 2.5) and I am not an American citizen.

Any advice as to whether I should bother applying would be very appreciated. I can't spend any money on grad schools since I am paying off my parents for my American misadventure.

Thank you.

Medical school in the United States is not an option for you.

 

[doctorosteo]

Medical school in the United States is not an option for you.

Medical school in the United States is not an option for you.
[/QUOTE
Hey Goro , been just collecting some Data looking at early applicant II stats. What do you think about the premise that high stats LM 73+ with great EC may be ignored for II by DO schools

 

[Goro]

Will be school specific

 

[kalo'smi]

Thanks a lot for the input guys, saved me a lot of time and effort.

I guess I will need to find a way to connect my interest in medicine with my current degree, but I have found computational biology to be very boring. My research has been in more of a wet lab which has been an awesome experience. My PI has been suggesting staying on for grad school but I just can't justify that financially given the giant money hole I made for myself. In some other life perhaps.

 

[KnightDoc]

Thanks a lot for the input guys, saved me a lot of time and effort.

I guess I will need to find a way to connect my interest in medicine with my current degree, but I have found computational biology to be very boring. My research has been in more of a wet lab which has been an awesome experience. My PI has been suggesting staying on for grad school but I just can't justify that financially given the giant money hole I made for myself. In some other life perhaps.

There are a lot of other options -- nursing, PA, lab tech, etc. Not sure what opportunities would be available to you in Canada. Are you a Canadian citizen? If not, what about your home country?

I don't think anyone meant to suggest you could not have a career in medicine. It's just that MD or DO in the US is not realistic given your GPA, immigration status, and inability to spend many years on GPA repair.

 

[kalo'smi]

In my home country you go onto med school straight after high school and you can't apply after 19. I was looking into US med schools because Canadian med schools would be impossible to get into and a North American med school would be a dream come true.

One of my advisors wanted me to look into getting a retroactive medical withdrawal from my US school to fix my GPA since I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder(I couldn't go to class so I failed all my in person classes but have all As in my online and summer classes which is why I have a 1.33) and panic disorder after I came to Canada. I don't know if that would help me and frankly I don't want to get it because it seems dishonest to me in my situation.

 

[KnightDoc]

In my home country you go onto med school straight after high school and you can't apply after 19. I was looking into US med schools because Canadian med schools would be impossible to get into and a North American med school would be a dream come true.

One of my advisors wanted me to look into getting a retroactive medical withdrawal from my US school to fix my GPA since I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder(I couldn't go to class so I failed all my in person classes but have all As in my online and summer classes which is why I have a 1.33) and panic disorder after I came to Canada. I don't know if that would help me and frankly I don't want to get it because it seems dishonest to me in my situation.

I have no idea what your advisor was talking about, but American schools would require transcripts for any coursework taken, regardless of whether or not it was part of a degree program, or whether or not you withdrew. If you didn't report it, it would be discovered when AMCAS bumped your name up against a clearinghouse they use to verify transcripts, and your application would be DOA at that point for failing to disclose, so withdrawing and not disclosing is simply not an option.

In the US, you fix your GPA by taking additional classes and doing well, not by erasing what you have already done! Unfortunately with a 1.33 for 88 credits, with every grade above F being attributable to an online or summer class, there is really nothing you can do. I'm not even sure how much weight your better grades in Canada would receive.

Again, your problem is you are starting out with 2 strikes against you because you're not a citizen or Green Card holder. Add onto that the fact that your American disaster did not play out over one semester, or even one year. 88 credits is 3 full years, right? That is just way too much to overcome for just about anyone, and certainly for someone who is only eligible to be considered for the very limited number of spots available to foreign students.

 

[candbgirl]

@KnightDoc I think that maybe the advisor was talking about OP asking the school for retroactive Ws based on a medical issue. But you are right if this American Adventure went on for 88 credits I doubt any school would erase all of that. It’s hard to get a semester’s worth changed let alone 6 semesters.

 

[KnightDoc]

@KnightDoc I think that maybe the advisor was talking about OP asking the school for retroactive Ws based on a medical issue. But you are right if this American Adventure went on for 88 credits I doubt any school would erase all of that. It’s hard to get a semester’s worth changed let alone 6 semesters.

What you're saying would make total sense, but that's not his story. He was apparently expelled ("disqualified"?) after 88 credits and a 1.33 GPA. That's how he found himself in Canada, which is also not his home country. Unfortunately, this would be nearly impossible for an American to recover from, and it's hard to see how a non-citizen could ever mitigate.

Ironically, the more eligible he would be for the Ws you describe, the less he would need them due to limited impact just a few bad grades would have on a transcript.

 

[candbgirl]

Oh I agree totally, but probably his advisor doesn’t realize it’s 88 credits. That’s just really hard to overcome. And I just saw that he isn’t a Canadian citizen. As @Goro says”time for Plan B!”

 

[KnightDoc]

Oh I agree totally, but probably his advisor doesn’t realize it’s 88 credits. That’s just really hard to overcome. And I just saw that he isn’t a Canadian citizen. As @Goro says”time for Plan B!”

When you're right, you're right!!!!