Need Serious Advice!

[Doctor Tech]

Hi SDN users,
I'm at a critical point now in my career and would like to ask about your opinions.

By the end of this academic year, I will be graduating with a BSc in Biology from McGill (Canada). My GPA is not so competitive (around a 3.0) and I need to find a way to boost it in hopes of pursuing a career in Medicine afterwards.

I looked at my options and discovered post-bacc programs in the states, pursuing a second Bac in Canada, or Masters. If you have any other suggestions, your advice would be greatly appreciated.

1. Do Med Schools prefer one option versus the other (post-bacc vs. Masters) to raise my GPA?
2. Does it matter if the post-bacc is non-degree seeking or degree-seeking?
3. If I decide to choose a degree-seeking post-bacc, do I have to finish it, or can I apply to medical programs every year? I will already have 120 university credits from undergrad at McGill.
4. Do MD schools consider GPA from Graduate degrees and disregard my undergraduate GPA, or is it a combination of both? How about Post-Bacc?

I am currently leaning towards a degree-seeking post-bacc and move to the states, as I can always apply to Med in Canada afterwards with an improved GPA. Master Programs do not really have great potential to raise my GPA significantly when considered at Canadian Medical School admissions.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

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[New_Slang]

A few questions...

1. Are you Canadian, or an American who studied at McGill? I know of a few people who did BA/BS work in Canada and still matriculated to US schools, but they are US citizens.

2. Did your BS degree cover the prerequisite courses (biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and physics)? If so, a post-bacc would only have you repeating those again. You can always look into enrolling as a non-degree seeking student and taking upper-level sciences courses, but every university has a different policy with that and transferring prereqs, etc.

3. Have you looked into SMP's linked to medical schools? I don't know much about them other than that seems to be an option for people like you who already have an undergraduate science degree.

4. If you are a Canadian citizen, you are aware of the extremely expensive American education system and how you aren't eligible for government loans to help with tuition? Just some food for thought.

 

[Doctor Tech]

A few questions...

1. Are you Canadian, or an American who studied at McGill? I know of a few people who did BA/BS work in Canada and still matriculated to US schools, but they are US citizens.

2. Did your BS degree cover the prerequisite courses (biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and physics)? If so, a post-bacc would only have you repeating those again. You can always look into enrolling as a non-degree seeking student and taking upper-level sciences courses, but every university has a different policy with that and transferring prereqs, etc.

3. Have you looked into SMP's linked to medical schools? I don't know much about them other than that seems to be an option for people like you who already have an undergraduate science degree.

4. If you are a Canadian citizen, you are aware of the extremely expensive American education system and how you aren't eligible for government loans to help with tuition? Just some food for thought.

Thanks for your reply!

1. Yes, I'm a Canadian citizen and I was looking at some schools in the states.
2. I have already covered all the pre-reqs. My only goal by doing a postbacc is to raise my GPA, and NOT fill in some missing pre-reqs. If I do the non-degree seeking pathway, can I apply to med after a year?
3. I'm not really sure if SMPs will help my GPA much and how they're viewed by med schools. Do med admissions just look at SMP GPA and disregard the undergrad one?
4. Yes, I am sure it will be expensive and I would have looked into getting student loans from Canada. However, in Canada we only have Baccs or Masters, and no postbacc pathway.

 

[New_Slang]

Hmm... so when you say post-bacc you want a more informal one where you just take more undergrad classes, right? Definitely don't go for one of the official "post-bacc programs" as they will cover courses you've already taken and are often for career changers.

For GPA enhancing, I think taking some additional undergrad courses could help.

I have a graduate degree in humanities, so the GPA appeared on my application (separate from my cumulative GPA from undergrad) but I highly doubt anyone paid attention to it. Any additional UG classes I took in my DIY post-bacc were calculated as "undergraduate" credits, then specifically my science GPA.

I'm not well-informed on SMPs as I was a career changer, but perhaps someone could answer a bit more on how they're viewed/how the GPA is factored into the app since they are science courses.

 

[Goro]

Answers are for US MD and DO schools. Don't know what the Canadians do.

No
1. Do Med Schools prefer one option versus the other (post-bacc vs. Masters) to raise my GPA?

No
2. Does it matter if the post-bacc is non-degree seeking or degree-seeking?

One year excelling (GPAS > 3.6) in a program should suffice.
3. If I decide to choose a degree-seeking post-bacc, do I have to finish it, or can I apply to medical programs every year? I will already have 120 university credits from undergrad at McGill.

For MD schools, they see your gGPA, but don't factor it into your cGPA. DO schools will. Post-bac is the same as a post-grad degree.
4. Do MD schools consider GPA from Graduate degrees and disregard my undergraduate GPA? How about Post-Bacc?

 

[Doctor Tech]

Thank you all for your reply. I think it's a safer bet for me as a Canadian to start another bachelor at McGill in Canada.
The states would be too expensive for me and even then it's a risk of not getting into med school.

Does anyone know specific MD schools that accept candidates even after completing 1 year of the second Bachelor's?