return to undergrad.

[Hellofloyds]

Hi Everyone,

For the past several years I've been considering a career change in the direction of medicine, particularly in the area of surgery. I understand the level of commitment and dedication required of surgeons, and I'm ready to take on all the demands to realize this dream.

I am 28 years old, and I'm currently working as a computer animator. I have a bachelor's degree in visual art, and a diploma in visual effects & animation. My question is in order to be considered at any Canadian medical school, would I need to do a new degree from scratch? The grades I received the last time around weren't that great. I had grades all across the board, mostly C's. Would I need to only complete the medical school pre-reqs, do the mcat & volunteer? If I would only have to do the pre-reqs, would they calculate my GPA based only the newly taken pre-reqs, or would they average everything I've ever done?

thanks kindly

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[CnckChk6]

Hi Everyone,

For the past several years I've been considering a career change in the direction of medicine, particularly in the area of surgery. I understand the level of commitment and dedication required of surgeons, and I'm ready to take on all the demands to realize this dream.

I am 28 years old, and I'm currently working as a computer animator. I have a bachelor's degree in visual art, and a diploma in visual effects & animation. My question is in order to be considered at any Canadian medical school, would I need to do a new degree from scratch? The grades I received the last time around weren't that great. I had grades all across the board, mostly C's. Would I need to only complete the medical school pre-reqs, do the mcat & volunteer? If I would only have to do the pre-reqs, would they calculate my GPA based only the newly taken pre-reqs, or would they average everything I've ever done?

thanks kindly

Hey, that's awesome that you want to pursue medicine and I'm sure you have a ton of questions about it, it can be super confusing to get it all figured out! Anyways, most schools will look at your first degree and if the marks aren't stellar and you don't have the prerequisites for applying then it will be very difficult to get in. If you take a second degree, there's a good possibility that they won't consider it, that's something I would recommend talking to all the med schools separately about as it will vary. If you do start taking classes again, they usually have to be taken such that you will get a degree out of it, not just random classes taken just to take them. So then you would likely have to take at least two years with a full courseload (usually at least 4 classes per semester - UofOttawa is super picky on this one and requires 5 last time I checked...) and you'd be best to do all the science ones as most of the unis have pre-reqs (check into the individual requirements of each school as well, they're all a bit different!). Lastly, your best chances to get in are usually in your home province, and you know what, don't forget you can always look at an international school too, for example Australia might be a great choice for you as they may take your previous degree even though it's a bit low on marks, as long as you have a good MCAT. Anyways, lemme know if you have any more questions!