low GPA high MCAT advice

[Mary Jefferies]

Hello everyone!
I know you have probably read many of these posts so i'll try to keep it specific to see if I can get any helpful advice. I have graduated a decent university in Canada with an overall 3.2 cGPA and my first two years were quite poor and affected my cGPA badly. However, I obtained a 3.7 GPA in my final year and am hoping that this shows promise for overall improvement as the years go on. I did well on my MCATs and received a 522 on my total score which I know is quite high. I have volunteered at the same place for two years (in a hospital setting) and received a research award last year for undergraduate science research. I have two pretty decent references with professors that I know well and hope to use them for my references for applying. I am worried about my low GPA especially for Canadian schools and was wondering if there was any advice as to how to improve my application? I would really like to stay in Canada for school but would be open to other schools if I have absolutely no chance for med school in my home country.
Thanks guys!!

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[de Ribas]

Hello everyone!
I know you have probably read many of these posts so i'll try to keep it specific to see if I can get any helpful advice. I have graduated a decent university in Canada with an overall 3.2 cGPA and my first two years were quite poor and affected my cGPA badly. However, I obtained a 3.7 GPA in my final year and am hoping that this shows promise for overall improvement as the years go on. I did well on my MCATs and received a 522 on my total score which I know is quite high. I have volunteered at the same place for two years (in a hospital setting) and received a research award last year for undergraduate science research. I have two pretty decent references with professors that I know well and hope to use them for my references for applying. I am worried about my low GPA especially for Canadian schools and was wondering if there was any advice as to how to improve my application? I would really like to stay in Canada for school but would be open to other schools if I have absolutely no chance for med school in my home country.
Thanks guys!!

I have seen 3.9 GPAs and 493 MCAT
and 3.2 GPA and 522 MCAT

How does that work?

How long did you study?

 

[Mary Jefferies]

I studied for a little over four months and didn't find the MCAT to be so bad. But I also did a few practice exams to prepare myself which I think really helped in the overall mental relaxation process while taking the test. I have heard though that a high MCAT doesn't really matter with a low GPA in Canada which I hope is not true because I really cannot afford another four years in undergrad and I heard some schools look down on a second undergrad as well. Just looking for overall possibility of acceptance I guess and if anyone has ideas of how to improve my chances.

 

[Lawpy]

Hello everyone!
I know you have probably read many of these posts so i'll try to keep it specific to see if I can get any helpful advice. I have graduated a decent university in Canada with an overall 3.2 cGPA and my first two years were quite poor and affected my cGPA badly. However, I obtained a 3.7 GPA in my final year and am hoping that this shows promise for overall improvement as the years go on. I did well on my MCATs and received a 522 on my total score which I know is quite high. I have volunteered at the same place for two years (in a hospital setting) and received a research award last year for undergraduate science research. I have two pretty decent references with professors that I know well and hope to use them for my references for applying. I am worried about my low GPA especially for Canadian schools and was wondering if there was any advice as to how to improve my application? I would really like to stay in Canada for school but would be open to other schools if I have absolutely no chance for med school in my home country.
Thanks guys!!

I'm tagging @NotASerialKiller for advice regarding Canadian admissions.

 

[NotASerialKiller]

I'm tagging @NotASerialKiller for advice regarding Canadian admissions.

Kind of a confusing situation. If at your peak your GPA is 3.7 then doing extra years to improve your GPA isn't a great idea because that's still not good enough. But I don't understand how someone capable of scoring 522 is capping out at 3.7... are you in engineering? With an MCAT like that I don't see why you wouldn't be able to pull 3.9+ years in bio or another science. But if for whatever reason you don't find that you're able to get higher than a 3.7 then yes Canada is likely off the table. Canadian schools are not holistic at all, so it doesn't matter that you crushed the MCAT because your GPA will get your application tossed from the start unfortunately.

Your cGPA is still quite low especially for an international applicant to the US, so I don't know how much the MCAT will compensate. I'm not the best person to give advice about that part though, so you'll have to ask around some more.

 

[Terror Billy]

Cracking MDs in the US as an international is super competitive, but with that MCAT it's worth a flier. In addition, if you're open to DO, Michigan State is a school that seems quite receptive to Canadians

 

[SocialJusticeWarrior]

Kind of a confusing situation. If at your peak your GPA is 3.7 then doing extra years to improve your GPA isn't a great idea because that's still not good enough. But I don't understand how someone capable of scoring 522 is capping out at 3.7... are you in engineering? With an MCAT like that I don't see why you wouldn't be able to pull 3.9+ years in bio or another science. But if for whatever reason you don't find that you're able to get higher than a 3.7 then yes Canada is likely off the table. Canadian schools are not holistic at all, so it doesn't matter that you crushed the MCAT because your GPA will get your application tossed from the start unfortunately.

Your cGPA is still quite low especially for an international applicant to the US, so I don't know how much the MCAT will compensate. I'm not the best person to give advice about that part though, so you'll have to ask around some more.

I have to respectfully disagree with regards to the Canadian schools not being holistic at all. I also think some of the ways in which Canadian schools do GPA calculations can be more forgiving. For example, at least 2 schools off the top of my head drop your lowest year (UBC and U of A) and Queen's does a 2 year calculation. U of T also has a weighted calculation as does Western. Calgary has the 10 year exclusion (although that wouldn't apply to OP). Anyway, my point is, even from a metrics perspective, many Canadian schools are more forgiving. It becomes about strategically choosing which schools max out your GPA. Plus, some Canadian Schools are holistic. UBC for example calculates half your file score using EC's pre-interview and Calgary and Alberta both weigh EC's heavily. I have a very low cGPA, but still managed to get an interview at a Canadian school (I'm a dual citizen and did my undergrad at UBC). It's just really about researching the different admissions equations for each school and figuring out if any work in your favor!!

 

[NotASerialKiller]

I have to respectfully disagree with regards to the Canadian schools not being holistic at all. I also think some of the ways in which Canadian schools do GPA calculations can be more forgiving. For example, at least 2 schools off the top of my head drop your lowest year (UBC and U of A) and Queen's does a 2 year calculation. U of T also has a weighted calculation as does Western. Calgary has the 10 year exclusion (although that wouldn't apply to OP). Anyway, my point is, even from a metrics perspective, many Canadian schools are more forgiving. It becomes about strategically choosing which schools max out your GPA. Plus, some Canadian Schools are holistic. UBC for example calculates half your file score using EC's pre-interview and Calgary and Alberta both weigh EC's heavily. I have a very low cGPA, but still managed to get an interview at a Canadian school (I'm a dual citizen and did my undergrad at UBC). It's just really about researching the different admissions equations for each school and figuring out if any work in your favor!!

There's a difference between being holistic and having a forgiving wGPA calculation. Holistic schools would look at a low GPA but then factor in the trend and story of the applicant before making a decision, which is obviously a subjective process. Many of the Canadian schools that have a generous wGPA calculation will still have hard cutoffs. Ottawa for example only looks at your most recent 3 years with the most recent x3, second most recent x2 and third x1. They also throw all applications with under a 3.85 wGPA in the garbage (that was the number over a year ago it may have changed slightly). Yes it's a generous wGPA calculation if you've been showing improvement, but it's also the antithesis to a holistic review.

I'm glad that you got an interview with a lower GPA, and there are certain schools that this is more likely to happen with, but in general your prospects with a 3.7 GPA in Canada are very poor. You should definitely be planning alternate routes at that point, instead of hoping to be the exception (but by all means apply wherever you think there's hope).

Edit: My perspective is also coloUred by applying from Ontario where this is the most severe. You might be right about Western schools being less severe with cutoffs, but then there's also the downside of having much fewer of them. I'd still caution someone in that GPA range to consider other options as well.