Ontario Med Schools - Where to Focus for Upcoming Applications?

[Collin Brisson]

Hi everybody,

I'm a non-traditional applicant in Ontario, Canada. I've just determined that I want to make the jump and apply for med school. I have a science undergrad and a Bachelors of Education, and I've worked as a teacher and a tutor for the past two years in Ontario. I'm looking for advice about where to spend my limited time leading up to this year's applications. From my understanding, there's about 5 months until applications. I have a pretty strong GPA; my undergrad was 3.94 and my teaching degree was 3.96. However, I have very little volunteer experience; I volunteered for maybe 40 hours at the tutoring company that I currently work for, and that's pretty much it. I also grew up and am currently living in northern Ontario, so NOSM is a really distinct possibility.

My problem is that between the two jobs, time is pretty limited. Would I be better off spending that time doing more volunteering to strengthen that part of my application, or focus on studying for the MCAT to increase the number of schools I can apply to (Without the MCAT, my understanding is that only NOSM and University of Ottawa are possibilities).

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!

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[Mr.Smile12]

While Canada is not our expertise, I have a few questions.

1) How long ago did you earn your bachelor's degree?
2) Can you calculate your science GPA and BCPM GPA? I presume that they'll both be near 4.0, but I want to get a sense of how many prerequisites and upper-level courses were included given the area of your degree.
3) Have you talked to anyone in admissions at the schools you are interested in?
4) Do you want to move away from northern Ontario?
5) How much time are you willing to allocate for MCAT preparation?
6) How well-resourced is/are the schools where you work? I want to get a sense of how much "extra" work you are doing on top of just teaching.

 

[Collin Brisson]

Hi Mr. Smile,

1) My BSc. was earned about 4 years ago now, and my B.Ed was just about 2 years ago.
2) Science and BCPM GPA are both 3.96 - a few thousandths apart. I have all the course prerequisites I would need for Ontario med schools (Gen chem, bios, organic chem I, biochem I, etc...)
3) I haven't spoken to admissions people - that would be a good idea?
4) Ideally I stick to Ontario - not necessarily northern. I don't think that moving to the states is something that could work financially for me.
5) If it's MCAT vs. volunteering and I chose to study for the MCAT, I'd probably be able to invest about 2-3 hours per day
6) I'll be back to supply teaching after my temporary contract is over in a week or two, so there shouldn't be much take-home unless something else were to come up. That said, tutoring runs from after school until about 7:30 Monday-Thursday and a Friday irregularly.

If you have any other questions please let me know, and thanks for the help.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks. Yes, I would contact admissions professionals at the schools where you want to go. Now that we are narrowing to Canadian programs, that helps matters in how to advise you.

As far as I can tell, Canadian schools are not as "holistic" compared to most American schools, but there may be a couple of schools that have social missions. If you have worked a lot with minority or indigenous populations, that could help. I agree that a strong MCAT will be helpful. Knowing what these schools look for and value will help you think of the application effort is worth it.

 

[Collin Brisson]

What kinds of questions should I be asking admissions professionals - what exactly am I trying to find out in relation to admissions?

My understanding is that most Canadian schools look at MCAT, volunteer/experience, and essays with similar weighting. From that perspective, MCAT would be rather beneficial. I'll look deeper into the expectations of each individual school that I'm interested in and what they value most.

Thanks again for the help.