*OMSAS GPA Conversions?

[Ian Wong]

Author:*Kelly
Date:***9/14/2000 9:42 am*PST
*
I've gathered the idea that GPA is really critical to get into med school. So I just want to make sure that I have enough information.
In my school I am assigned the letter grades, of course which is A+, A, A-, B+.... And there's numerical points according to letter grades, like A+=4.33, A=4.00, ...
I was wondering how OMCAS (?) will convert those grades.

[Ian Wong]

Author:*Jeff S, UG2
Date:***9/14/2000 2:30 pm*PST
*
It depends on which school you go to. Typically, an A+ would be a 4.0 on the OMSAS (Ontario Medical School Application Service), A a 3.9, A- a 3.7, B+ a 3.3, and B a 3.0. Get this year's OMSAS application from www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/pdf/OMSAS2001e.pdf (http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/pdf/OMSAS2001e.pdf) (it's in Adobe Acrobat format) and check out what conversions apply to your university...

[Ian Wong]

Author:*moo, UG3
Date:***9/14/2000 4:28 pm*PST
*
It is my understanding that on AMCAS, A's and A+'s were both 4.0's.

[Ian Wong]

Author:*Jeff S, UG2
Date:***9/14/2000 6:20 pm*PST
*
Yep, as far as I know, American schools count all A's or better (85+) as a 4.0 on the AMCAS scale... but I thought Kelly was asking about OMSAS (though now that I look at her message again, I could be wrong...)

[Ian Wong]

Author:*Kelly
Date:***9/14/2000 9:08 pm*PST
*
Yup! I was asking about OMSAS. But still AMCAS scale info is very helpful, obviously, we never know... :)
Thanks for quick replies!
You guys are so awesome ~

[Ian Wong]

Author:*Ian Wong, MS2
Date:***9/15/2000 8:52 pm*PST
*
Yeah, you guys ARE awesome. Thanks for saving me from writing about something that I don't really know that much about. :)

In addition to GPA, don't forget to check out MCAT requirements. They're quite a bit more strict for the Ontario med schools than they are for the rest (well Western part anyway) of Canada. If you don't make the MCAT cut-offs, then the GPA won't help you in any case.

Ian
Can, MS2

[Ian Wong]

Author:*Jeff S, UG2
Date:***9/16/2000 6:43 pm*PST
*
For anyone who's interested, here were last year's MCAT requirements in Ontario:

Toronto: 8V/8PS/8BS/N writing
Queen's: 10V/9PS/9BS/30 total/N writing
Western: 9V/8PS/9BS/Q writing
Mac/Ottawa: None

Note that the Queen's or Western requirements may change if they have too many people reaching these cutoffs, since their criteria for giving interviews is ONLY academic (GPA/MCAT based).

[Ian Wong]

Author:*Paul
Date:***9/16/2000 8:07 pm*PST
*
How is the grading on the essay section like for example what is a N equal to. Also please give me the equivalent percentages for each particular score. Thanks!

[Ian Wong]

Author:*Jeff S, UG2
Date:***9/17/2000 12:16 am*PST
*
Here are the percentile ranges for each score for the April 1999 MCAT:
T - 99.5-99.9
S - 95.3-99.4
R - 83.9-95.2
Q - 62.3-83.8
P - 47.6-62.2
O - 34.2-47.5
N - 23.5-34.1
M - 8.3-23.4
L - 3.6-8.2
K - 1.6-3.5
J - 0.0-1.5

So for example, if your writing sample was judged to be better than half of the other test takers (i.e. 50th percentile), you'd get a P.

[Ian Wong]

Author:*Jenny
Date:***11/12/2000 10:01 am*PST
*
Hi,

I have a question about the writting part since I got an M this August but my overall is 36. The UT and Queen need specificly N or whatever that is 25% for that specific MCAT. Say, the 25% for this August is M instead of N. Will they still need an N? Any information will be highly appreciated!

thanksssssssss. Jenny