Need help

[Ray22]

I am a french Canadian from Montreal and would like to attend med schools in the US. My situation is quite complicated. I have got my bachelor degree( BSc 01) with a very miserable GPA 2.56 from McGill University. I know i can`t go anywhere with this GPA but i am very motivated to improve my chance of getting accepted in medical schools. ? want to ask you some advices what should i Do to improve my chance.
Should i do a second major or starts a master degree. How do US med schools work. It is a better idea to do a master degree or retaking another major.
I am now studying for the MCAT for the very first time. i started today and i am really motivated. Do you thing it is possible to get accepted one day in med schools.
Please if you have any advices or comments that could help me please say it.

PS:Verbal reasoning question are very tough especially for french people i should also improve my english
GOOD LUCK ALL

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[alice]

i'd recommend taking postbac classes at columbia or georgetown or something like that. look into programs designed for people with bachelors' headed for med school. in many cases, masters degrees are too specific in another area to be directly pointing you towards med. if you have an area of definite interest, i'd do that, but if not, i'd spend two years taking courses in english (which should improve the language thing) and then apply. just my $.02.

 

[Ray22]

tHANKX Alice for the advice

 

[brandonite]

I hate to be a lone dissenter, but you will have a very difficult time. Your best option are those postbac classes at a good US school that Alice mentioned. However, if you are not a US citizen, you will have a bit of a disadvantage already. The only schools that generally take non-US citizens are the private schools, which are considerably harder to get into, on average. So, not only do you have to demonstrate that you are a strong student after your problems at McGill, you will also have to prove yourself as a foriegn student applying to the US. As well, you will not be eligible for financial aid, meaning you could be up to $200 000 US in debt by the time you graduate. I realize you are very motivated, but your best option is without doubt some of the schools in Quebec. I think Concordia is known as having a strong program, and there you will not have to confront language problems. I realize that this is probably not what you wanted to hear, but it is very hard to get into a private school at the best of times...

 

[Iliketosleep]

I agree that post-bacc work would help, but I don't think it's necessary to go to a big fancy school to do it. I'm sure the structured post-bacc programs are great because they offer a lot of support, but they are also very expensive! I'm not sure how the schools in Canada work, but I enrolled at my state university as a nondegree student to complete my science prereqs (I have a psych BS) and I've found that I've received plenty of encouragement and help from the faculty and advisors. If you can do very well taking several challenging science courses at a decent school (or maybe complete a 2nd major), you can raise your GPA and prove to adcoms that you're capable of excelling in medschool. Good luck!

 

[megkudos]

I'm not sure about this you'd have to double check but I think that Canadians are considered the same as U.S. citizens when applying. If anything I think they are not considered foreign students so their chances are better of being accepted than people from say Europe.

I think the post bac is a good idea as well. That way you would take the requirements needed for med school and have the ability to increase your GPA.

Good luck to you!! If you want it there is always a way.

 

[doppl]

If you haven't taken the pre-med courses then a post-bacc would be applicable but many post-bacc programs are not designed to retake courses you already took. Instead, a related health masters like the one at Boston U. would be more the better road. The main thing is you have to show the adcoms that you are no longer the person that got the GPA at McGill but rather somebody they would love to accept. Good luck

 

[reesie0726]

I think that you should go the post-bac route. I would not take the mcat until after I have completed at least a year of these postbac courses because they will also help you prepare for the exam. I do not think that it is necessary to go to columbia or some other expensive school. I went to a state school for my postbac and took alot of upper level science courses. The adcoms seemed to be okay with this.

 

[rajneel1]

why not go to a canadian medical school??????? that is my question.
also verbal on the MCAT kicks ass and the american med schools love to kill you for it. good luck.

 

[jase133]

just my opinion...

i agree with brandonite that your gpa will have to be improved significantly. for myself at least, i would not apply until i raised my gpa at least 3.5

the us schools, esp the private ones, will be hard to crack into.

with a 2.6 (over a 4 years degree presumably), you will need to essentially get almost 4.0s in everything for the next two years. this is the kind of work which is ahead of you.

i'd say just do a mini-masters in canada, and then apply to Canadian schools which will give you an advantage (especially for in-province in Montreal and, say, McMaster).

again, just my opinion. good luck