med school

i can’t be a doctor because i hated the cow eyeball lab in AP bio.

Hey there,

I’m a third year student at utm and I have a cgpa of 3.71 but an omsas gpa?of 3.56 which puts me below the 3.6 cut-off for U of T med school. My?volunteer activities aren’t that impressive either: I volunteer about 6 hrs?a week on campus as a first aid responder and I’m a research assistant in a?psych study. I also plan on volunteering at a clinic/ hospital this summer?but that’s all I have so far. In the past, I did tutor kids voluntarily in?high school and was a prefect and the chairperson of my school’s science?club.

Realistically, what do you think are my chances of making the cut? Do you?have any advice (again, realistic advice)?

Out of curiosity, when U of T says the average accepted applicant has a gpa?of 3.88, is that on the omsas scale or in general? Also, do you know if the?american scale (AMCAS) converts grades in a similar way as OMSAS? Because?omsas is killing me.

Thanks!

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hey there,

since 3.6 is the?cut-off, i doubt you would have much chance getting in if you hadn’t met that. HOWEVER, you are only in third year. you have (at least) three more semesters to get your GPA as high as you possibly can.

now, i’m no admissions committee, but i wouldn’t call your volunteer activity unimpressive. obviously, i have no way of comparing you to everyone else who is going to be applying to uoft med school in your year, so my opinion isn’t authoritative. i find everyone impressive, honestly. i find getting to class on time impressive – but that’s another issue.

still, i wouldn’t despair just yet. if you stay on track with your plan to volunteer this summer, i think you’ll be doing ok. (again, i can’t REALLY answer this question because i – tragically – haven’t been invited to be a part of any admissions boards, but this is just MY FEEL of the situation. if you want some more professional?advice, i’d recommend talking to uoft med admissions).

focus on your GPA. take advantage of utm’s?academic resources (before you object: 1. you’re paying for it already, you may as well use it; 2. no it’s not an admission of defeat to ask for help).

get a tutor, if you think it will help. if you’re taking some pretty specialized courses that don’t often get tutored, ask around the department of the courses you’re having trouble with to see whether there are any grad students willing to help you. go to your profs’/TAs’ office hours. put aside one more hour of the day for studying. there’s a lot you can do.

you’re already doing a great job – all you need is to make one or two small changes that can push your academic career from ‘really good’ to ‘competitive.’ try and figure out where you need to make some improvements, and seek out help in those areas.

to see how your grades would convert on the AMCAS scale, take a look at the very last table on the last page of this document.

best of luck with it!

aska

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