(CANADA) Does poor Grad School GPA matter?

[samuel9166]

Long story short, I am a Canadian in my late 20s that holds two undergrad degrees. I partied a bit too much during my first bachelor (BSc in biology) but smarten up during my second degree (BA in health sciences) which resulted in a steep upward GPA trend; I started with a 2.3 GPA during my 2nd year of BSc then finished with a perfect 4.0 GPA full course load for 6 semesters straight during my BA. Currently, I am in my last semester of Masters of Physiotherapy degree (MPT) with an cGPA of 3.7 (A-), I started the program strong but later struggled with constant migraine and diplopia (as confirmed by my neuro-ophthalmologist) which drastically impacted my grades near the end of my program. I now have my symptoms well managed with visual rehab and corrective lenses. However, I am hoping to apply into medical school as I realize now my dream is to be a MD. My physiotherapy placements at the hospital working with physiatrists and family physicians further confirmed this. Will my poor grad school GPA impact my chances of admission into Canadian med schools? I heard some schools in Ontario claim to not look at GPAs from master's programs.

ps: I am confident that I can ace my MCAT and am very seasoned with the CASPer and MMI processes.

Thank you!

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[bearded frog]

You might have more luck with Canada-specific questions over at premed101. For your specific question, most Canadian schools do not look at graduate GPA, but some do, like UBC if I recall. There isn't that many english language schools in Canada and each have slightly different GPA weighing schemes so its worth it to go to each school's site and see how the math works out with your transcript for each school to see if you have a shot there.

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

Did you just call a 3.7 GPA weak?

 

[bearded frog]

Did you just call a 3.7 GPA weak?

It is, relatively, in Canada.

 

[HouseJC]

Yes, as a fellow Canadian, I can confirm that most schools do not consider your graduate GPA. Some schools (i.e. McMaster) give you a bonus mark on your cumulative performance after the interview to determine where you land on the list (i.e. accepted vs. waitlist; assuming you get an interview). For UBC, if you do a PhD, they will consider you as an in-province application (as opposed to out-of-province, which has a higher threshold). If you apply in Ontario, they use the OMSAS scale (which typically bumps your GPA down a bit more), so you need to take that into consideration.

A 3.7 is decent but obviously better if higher. Furthermore, while you say that you achieve 4.0 over the next 6 semesters (congratulations by the way), but what is the final GPA? That's what matters and is used for the cutoff. You can argue that you have a strong upward trend, but if it is still below the threshold, your application will not move forward.

For reference, I applied to both Canadian and US MD schools and privileged to be accepted into a US school. So, I know a fair bit about the application process in both countries. Feel free to PM me.

Good luck on your application and I look forward to calling you my colleague.