Do I have a chance @ an Ontario Med School ?

[outsourcing_sks]

Hi everyone,

My Background is as follows:

Undergrad in Electrical Engineering from Carleton University, with CGPA of B- (Full Time & Good Grades the 1st couple of years, and then 6, 7, 5 courses(all 0.5 Credits) per year in the last 3 years with mediocre to D- (no F tho) Grades).

After my BSEE, i took 4 EE grad courses at Carleton with A- Average.

Now at 28 I'm doing M.eng at concordia university, with a 3.5 CGPA, with the not-so-bad hopes of bringing my Grad CGPA up to 3.7, especially after I change my remaining courses to easier 1's. I'll be done with my M.Eng before I Turn 29, and probabbly start applying by 30.

And at this point, I'm missing the Anatomy and Biology Pre-Requisites, for Queens and U o T.

So I'm wondering if I do manage a 3.7 CGPA with my M.Eng, do I only then need to ace the Anatomy and Biology Pre-Requisites and the MCAT to have a decent shot ?

or Do I need to do Post-Bac, or, Pre-Med, or just enough under-grad courses (as an independent or special student)
to bring my BSEE B- CGPA to B (3.0/4.0) ?

or even worse, am I gonna need to do another Bachelor's Degree in Biochem or something with 3.8/4.0 under-grad CGPA ?

in any case, If I stop doing anything related to EE for more than a year, my EE M.eng will likely be considered obsolete by most commercial employers, and by then if I dont get into a med school, I think i'll be screwed for life.
especially with my total student loan outstanding at around 40,000 Cad by the time i get my EE M.Eng.

any opinions and feed back are really appreciated.

thanks alot

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[trustwomen]

I'm pretty sure the Ontario schools just look at undergrad courses, and having a master's just adds a certain amount to your undergrad GPA (0.1, I think). The best way to make up for past mistakes is to return to undergrad and take a FULL course load (very important) for however many years it takes for U of T and U of O and (I think) Queens to calculate your GPA with only those new, good grades. (Less than a 3.7 undergrad GPA, you have virtually no shot in Ontario... and with a B-, sorry, buddy, but no way. )

But you know the very best way? Go to the websites of the schools you are interested in, and see just how they calculate their admissions GPA. You may find that it is not worth getting a master's at all. Or, rather, that your master's may get you a good job but it won't get you into med school. Another undergrad degree (biochem is fine, but biology is easier) may be on the horizon if you want med school that bad.

Good luck.

Edit: and don't assume that the Ontario schools will look at an "improvement curve" or anything like that. They calculate exactly how they say they will calculate, with no exceptions. If you don't make the cutoffs, you will never get past the computer. I found this out the hard way.

 

[ssc_396]

A grad degree will get you a separate special ‘graduate’ review at Queens, Ottawa and UofT. This worked wonders for me and got me interviews at all three even though my ugrad GPA was on the weak side. But make sure you do well on the MCAT to offset your GPA.

 

[MeowMix]

A grad degree will get you a separate special ‘graduate’ review at Queens, Ottawa and UofT. This worked wonders for me and got me interviews at all three even though my ugrad GPA was on the weak side. But make sure you do well on the MCAT to offset your GPA.

In order to fall into this category at U of O at least, you must apply while you are still in grad school. If you get your degree and then apply, they will ignore your graduate work and consider only your undergrad GPA, even if it is a hundred years old. I know it sounds unbelievably stupid, but I argued with them about this until the admissions office did not want to talk to me any more.

 

[thadocta26]

In order to fall into this category at U of O at least, you must apply while you are still in grad school. If you get your degree and then apply, they will ignore your graduate work and consider only your undergrad GPA, even if it is a hundred years old. I know it sounds unbelievably stupid, but I argued with them about this until the admissions office did not want to talk to me any more.

Can anyone confirm this? Does this apply to Ph.D's as well as Master's?

 

[MeowMix]

It applied to my PhD.

If you are considering falling into this category, I would definitely call them ASAP. Hopefully they have changed this incredibly stupid policy in the past 3 years.

 

[Dreaming]

unbelievable.

what did you do your phd on?