That you so much! I also remember from when I was in undergrad that there's a lot more American perspectives on this topic 😅. Ugh I feel you... sometimes the semester (or year) really just doesn't go your way. Take 1 weekend, regroup and plan out how you're going to change it moving forward! That was the most important thing that I did when it came to improving my own academics. Best of luck 🤙
Thanks man for the advice. I am still figuring it out myself what exactly to do but at least now you have given me some options to do. Keep up the great work and congrats on passing 1000 subs.
No problem brother, its not easy but keep working hard and doing your thing - from the sound of it, you've really been getting some serious work done lately 🤙 And thank you! I'm absolutely amazed that we were able to hit the 1K mark too 🎉 :)
great video as always. I have been described as a late bloomer, finding my path a little too late. I was aimless for most of my undergrad and my marks reflected it. Long story short, I am hanging around an additional year so I can apply to western and queens using their two year GPA - and of course doing exceptional on the MCAT. It is a long shot putting faith in two schools, but there is no other choice (barring international). I am lacking in the Ec's and working on getting involved with things I find value in as opposed to things that are done for the sake of it. Depending on how this goes, another undergrad, a masters, or considering international might be my only options. Ugh.
You're definitely not the only one that's had a slow start in undergrad buddy. I think the additional year combined with a strong MCAT is a great option for you in this case. I had done the same thing specifically to target Queen's and Western (b/c of the 2 year GPA as well). Never count yourself out at McMaster though! A great CARS and CASPer go a long way. Definitely work on getting some ECs that you find valuable and don't be discouraged at the thought of a Master's or 2nd undergrad if you have your sights set on med. I know a few students who didn't get in until their late 20's or early 30's - it's all about what you want :) Considering International is another option depending on your flexibility for where you will eventually practice. But just be sure to do your research on the schools first.
@@nxtgenmd Thank you for your reply, it is always appreciated. Even with doing well now, my cGPA for Mac would be 2.95, SOO CLOSE - that is of course assuming I am calculating correctly based on their formula, which I believe I am. Perhaps a video on those students who are in their late 20's/early 30's might be useful to some of us, providing they're willing to be on your channel - especially if they had low GPA's and so on. And yes of course! Ireland would seem most probable but damn is it expensive!
@@arjunsecondary It's no problem. And yeah that is super close, but in that case Western and Queens are still great options as you have already mentioned! And I'd love to have another student on the channel that could share one of their experiences - especially a more mature student. I'll definitely keep looking, but not everyone is comfortable with speaking openly on camera - which is totally understandable 😅. I have a friend who's actually at medical school in Ireland right now, and he seems to really like it. International programs are very expensive. I'll see if he wants to come on the channel when he comes home this summer to give his perspective!
@@marahmusallam5262 I think that definitely is something that I can touch on in a future video. Until then though, some quick tips are to shut your phone off, set realistic goals that you want to accomplish in a study session and check them off as you go through, and have pre-made study music playlists that aren't on youtube (RU-vid is super distracting when you're trying to study - speaking from experience 😅). Also, you can always try the pomodoro technique if you find that you get distracted after studying for a while.
Bro make some new vids. Love watching your channel. Really good to see how med school is for a non trad student. I've been debating going back to school and went to search your channel to see how things have been going for ya. Still hanging in there?
Hi, thank you so much for the video, it's really helpful and great as always! I got 3.7 GPA in the first two years of my bachelor degree, but did poorly in the last two years, which drag my GPA down to 3.25. So I'm planning to take another undergraduate degree as you recommend. Due to no Pre-med degree in the university, I'm planning to take a 90 credits bachelor of science program. After meeting with an academic advisor, I'm able to 'carry on' (not even transfer as she said, since it's from the same university) 24 credits of free electives courses, and one or two English course to the 90 credits BSC program. As Med school of Dalhousie University's GPA requirement says 'the 60 most recent credit hours of graded (alpha/numerical) courses from a completed or in-progress to be completed 90-120 credit baccalaureate degree'. So my plan is to graduate from BSC in two years, with only 60 credit courses to go. Do you think through that way, I will still be eligible for med school? Thank you :)
Hi Tingzhen :) Glad the videos have been helpful! Your situation is very specific and focuses primarily on 1 medical school (Dalhousie). In this case, I would recommend reaching out to Dalhousie directly via email and asking for their input on your plan and how it may affect your eligibility. From my perspective, your plan should be fine for schools that only look at your most recent courses i.e Dalhousie, Queens, etc. but I also can't be sure. Best of luck with everything!
Thank you for the very helpful video! I'm currently working in healthcare (graduated a few years ago) and hoping to change career. McMaster is my dream med school but it'll be hard for me his year with 3.75 GPA and 128 CARS, guess I'll need a 90th percentile CASPER to get in then lol! I'll be watching your CASPER videos next, but wonder if you may have any other suggestions/advice for me? Thanks so much in advance!
Hi Ash :) Best of luck with your journey. For this cycle I would still recommend applying broadly - unfortunately with medical school apps in Canada, you really need to play the numbers game regardless of your stats. Take a look at all of the programs that you are eligible for and then focus on your ABS and essays. Good luck with everything!
my GPA is 3.2 is after my second year at uoft despite busting my ass :( which one of these options would you recommend for me? should I also transfer to an easier school to get those As before it's too late?
Sorry to hear about that, but it's not too late! There's no evidence that you'll do dramatically better by transferring to another school - although if something about your current program isn't conductive for you then you are more than welcome to go somewhere else (I'm not too familiar with how the process works though). My advice would be to take some time and evaluate your situation (as to why the first 2 years didn't work out the way you planned). Are you spending too long in commute? Working too many hours at a job? Not studying properly? etc. Then make a plan to fix it and finish strong in your 3rd and 4th years! A 5th year could also help here imo :)
I feel like there's nothing you would get from doing a second undergrad that you wouldn't get form a post-bac. I was going to say that strongly, however I'm in the U.S. and I realize this is a Canada video so maybe it's completely different.
That’s very interesting, seems like we’ve got the exact opposite situation over hear :0. But thankfully, I’m already a student in Canada - helps out because my family is here. I didn’t know you were from Bulgaria man, that’s so cool! :)
Hi, thank you so much for your channel, and hope you're having a great day! For your extra 5th year, were there any conditions for the courses that you took? Like did they all have to be Science/Biology courses, or did they have to be 2nd-Year-level courses upwards, or could they be courses from any fields and any year-level? If there were conditions on the courses you took in your 5th year, may I know how you knew about those conditions?
Hi , I just wanted to thank you for your informative videos , they really helped me understand how med schools work here in Canada. I have one question for you. Do you know if med schools recognize a bachelor degree gained through a credit transfer from college to university? Since it wasn’t a consecutive four year program. Thank you again.
I'm glad the videos help :) To my knowledge, courses will need to have been taken during a bachelors degree and at a university level in an accredited institution as per my most recent reading of the acceptance criteria. However, please clarify this with each school that you are interested in, just to be sure. Good luck!
During your time at the Ryerson Biomed program which particular courses did you find during your first and second years to be notorious as GPA killers? You mentioned that stats course in this video. Are there any other notorious courses? Are there any elective courses you felt were GPA boosters or interesting to you?
Thank you Amina! Biochem 1, Advanced Biochem, Stats, and orgo for some people - usually regarded as the Ryerson GPA killers when I was there 😅 Take business of chemistry with a professor named Ted, he was great! Other than that, I really enjoyed many of the psych courses and Geography of Danger was fun too. Definitely ask the upper years if you know any and best of luck!
@@nxtgenmd you are such a genuine individual Gianluca. Thank you! My heartfelt wishes for your continued success. You’ve helped me so much through your RU-vid videos so sending my deepest gratitude and thank you. 🙂
hi gianluca, thanks so much for these videos! McMaster is my dream school and by the end of undergrad next year my gpa will be on the lower end of the 3.0-3.49 range so it will meet the cutoff but it won't be competitive. bc of this i will try a 5th year but according to my calculations it would still put me in this 3.0-3.49 range with 4.0 grades so there’s not much to gain there. according to the yearly admission stats a few students in this area get accepted every year so i'm praying for a miracle here. do you have any idea if it's just a matter of being stellar in the mcat and casper areas that made a difference for these types of students? a second degree is not at all feasible for me and it looks like McMaster will combine the gpas from the first and second degree which will likely place me back in the same range even if i average 4.0. do they look favourably on an upward trend (which i have) or stellar grades in a particular year/years?
Hi Uyi :) I can confirm that McMasters breakdown for interview invites is 32% GPA, 32% CASPer and 32% CARS with the remaining 4% being allocated for bonuses for masters and PhD students. Students are accepted to the class every year with a GPA between 3.00 and 3.49 and in those cases, their CARS and CASper scores would have had to have been very high. So if McMaster is your top choice, then that is what you should be focused on. But, keep in mind that other schools like Queens, Ottawa and Western will have GPA breakdowns that respond very well to a 5th year of undergrad if you can do well
Here's the OMSAS grade conversion table: www.ouac.on.ca/guide/omsas-conversion-table/ Break your grades up into different years (excluding summer courses for most schools) --> Convert your grades to the 4.0 system --> find the average for each of the years (you do this bonus step because some schools don't look at all your grades) --> add all the grades together and divide by the number of courses taken = cGPA calculation Remember that each school will vary in how they view your GPA. So check with their websites first just to be sure :)
Depends on your GPA trend - Some schools only look at your most recent 2 years, some look at your best 2 years and some will drop courses entirely. Feel free to reach out on insta if you need help figuring it out 🤙
Hi! Thank you so much for making these videos, they help me a lot (especially during difficult times)! I was just wondering about your perspective onP/F for certain courses? I recently got a B+ on a course- which I know isn't terrible in hindsight, but it will definitely drag my second year GPA into the 3.8s...I relly wanted to apply to Mac this coming cycle and was going to grind for the MCAT to get a high mark for CARS but I'm not sure if I'll b e able to make it into Mac or any other med school. I'm going to be applying in third year btw. I feel pretty shitty since I worked my ass off but I guess the final exam kicked my ass instead lol
Sometimes those final exams really put a damper on things 🥲 happens to the best of us. don't sweat it for 1 course 💪 I wouldn't recommend a P/F if your letter grade would be a B+. I'm not an adcom, but seeing a "P" I feel like I'd automatically assume that it was worse than a B+... maybe in the C or D range. 3.8s is a whole standard deviation above my GPA when I got in! Focus on the MCAT and CASper and then if need be, bring the GPA higher in 4th year :D
Great video! I just finished my third yr, but I'm very worried about my chances of getting into medical school because even after my third year, my cGPA is around 3.46 (based on what I heard about how med schools calculate your cGPA). My first two years were not my best performance, but in my third year GPA was 3.7 (there was an upward trend in my years if you look at each year's GPA separately). Would you recommend that I take a 5th year or something different? McMaster is actually one of my top choices to apply to. Thank you!
Hi Nusaibah :) first off be sure to check your GPA using the official OMSAS gpa tables if you're applying in Ontario. If you're not, each of the other schools will have info on their GPA calculations on their website (best not to go based off of what other people say in my experience 😅) If your 3rd year was a 3.7 then your goal should be to prioritize McMaster (because of casper and CARS making up most of your application) and also the schools that only look at your last few years like Queens, western and Ottawa. I'd recommend a 5th year, but do your calculations and your research. Best of luck!
Just have a quick question I didn’t have that good of a gpa I was around a 3.4. I thought about the things you said in the video and I just can’t get over the thought that if I do do one of those things and still don’t get in then I wasted my time and money. Which is why I was thinking of just going abroad to India and completing med school there at least I would have a med degree and could come back to Canada and practice though I wouldn’t be able to match into a competitive residency but I would still have a good chance at matching into family med or something. Just wanted your thoughts on this?
Hi Harry :) As it stands right now, the process for internationally trained doctors coming to work in Canada is very difficult and competitive. The only way to ensure that you end up practicing here is to study at a Canadian medical school and graduate from a Canadian residency program. The advice that I give students is - only study abroad if you'd be happy working as a doctor in another country outside of Canada. While it is possible that you'd be able to get back into the country, it can't be guaranteed, which is why I'd recommend this mindset if you're going out of country. Best of luck!
@@nxtgenmd Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I just have another question I’ve looked at the stats for carms and the match rate is around 25-30% overall including both first and second iterations but first iteration students that are fresh grads have a 50-70% match rate give or take for imgs. The chances of getting into med school in Canada is around less than 20%. With those odds wouldn’t it make sense to train internationally and roll the dice rather than attempting to maybe get accepted into med school in Canada.
Dalhousie will directly include it in one of their GPA formula options. U of T will bump you into an entirely different applicant pool and there may be others but I forget off the top of my head. Please see my video going over each of the Canadian medical schools for further questions :)
That needs to be checked on an individual school basis. I believe that many of the Quebec medical schools do accept GED but I'm not completely sure of their process
It's been a while since I checked into this extensively and requirements tend to change as time goes on. Please check the official website for up to date info :) mdprogram.mcmaster.ca/md-program-admissions/faq after reading this, I believe the answer is still yes (but again, can't confirm)
What is the best pre medical major to someone who wants to have plan B if only we couldn't be accepted in medical school? I'm not Canadian so I don't know how each major is in canada, but I like psychology in addition to medicine But I also really care about the future of my major, I expect a good salary and enough work/life balance
Depends on what you're interested in doing for work :) There's no right answer but some people will saying nursing because you still get to be heavily involved in patient care - it depends on what you want to do. The thing about a plan B is that it shouldn't distract from your plan A, otherwise your plan B will become your plan A by default.
@@nxtgenmd you are right. The only reason I asked that question is that a lot of people told me that it's unlikely to get into medical school cause it's really competitive in Canada. and I'm not Canadian or even American so I don't know how hard it really is. For example I don't if I should study 10 hours a day just to get 3.8 gpa or it's not that hard. I'm not lazy, I'm just confused but when I calculated my gpa to canadian standrad I got 4.
@@nxtgenmd so that was the reason I thought about plan B. I love medicine but then again I didn't experience the process out there to realize how much capable I am.
Not my first choice but also not a bad choice 🤙 choose a school where you think you will do best and get the best grades. That should be your #1 priority
I'm gonna stop you at the "jUsT dO a 2nd UnDeRgRaD" option right there bud. Not many of us have the luxury of having the financial means to have mommy and daddy pay for a second round of schooling. Is re-taking classes at a CC not considered good enough when applying to "University of Mississippi Medical Center"? Talk about minorities not making mistakes due to life problems because we don't have the financial support to re-do an entire college experience.
Hi there :) I want to answer this question because I feel like it’s important for other students who might be considering this option. Many Canadian medical schools will not accept community college credits. I do not know if there are exceptions but I’ve never heard of it being done in Ontario. In America, I have heard that this could be a viable option though. Dr. Andre Pinsett has talked about this in a few of his video so it might be worth it to check those out. In regards to your second point. The 2 students that I know have taken a second undergrad to get into med have both told me that they covered their expenses using the OSAP student loan program which they will need to pay back after completing school. I’m not sure if programs like this exist elsewhere, however, many of us students are paying for our entire education using government funded or private student loans. While a 2nd undergrad is a very taxing option that definitely cannot be possible for everyone, it remains an option for admission if your particular situation will allow for it. Good luck with your own medical journey and all the best :)
