Trying to raise GPA but unclassified studies

[kge250]

I just finished my 1st year of unclassified studies (64%...very poor time management on my part with p/t job, volunteering, family commitments) in order to take some pre-requisites for UBC Med. Unfortunately, I went through some struggles during first two years in undergraduate (in the US) and got a cumulative gpa of 2.64 (before taking the worst year's 30 credits out)(although in 4th year I got several A-'s and B's).

I have one prerequisite to take (BIOC 300) but I obviously need to take more courses to raise my GPA. I understand that UBC frowns upon unclassified students taking courses just to raise GPA but does it only apply if people blatantly take easy courses? I was thinking of taking courses like ANAT 390, an IHHS class...I was also hoping to spend this upcoming year to take around 6 classes during the winter semester (18 credits) to raise my GPA.

1. Would this be my best plan if I discipline myself and produce good grades?
2. Does anyone know how to calculate the percentage I would need from 24
credits to change a 64% to about 80%?
3. Does UBC Med consider graduate GPA from Master's in the cutoff?
4. I found this on UBC MED evaluation criteria:

"Pre-Interview: The first cut-off for invitation to interview is based on a score derived from applicants’ Overall Academic Average or Adjusted Academic Average (if applicable) and a Non-Academic Qualities Score. At this stage the academic and non-academic scores are weighed equally."

Does this mean they could just evaluate me on the adjusted academic average ONLY rather than with the overall average? My undergrad school didn't use A+ in the GPA system so the conversion looks more favorable for me after the adjustment. With a rough look it looks like this conversion plus taking out the worst 30 creds may help my undergrad GPA. (Although my unclassified studies GPA is a different story.)


I would appreciate any advice I can get...Thank you all in advance!

[medigeek]

So you have a 2.6 cGPA over 4 years?

[Real Beef]

Dude, people with cGPAs of 3.93 are getting rejected. You will need to scrap your entire university course up to this point and start fresh and try to do an entire second degree to get a 3.7+ GPA, which itself wont guarantee you anything.

You have shown no evidence of being scholastically able to pull off high marks so it is a bit of a stretch for you to go from 2.64 to 3.7+.

I would SERIOUSLY consider alternate career choices besides medicine. Perhaps once you mature and get organized/serious about academia you can try again but at this point it is a pipe dream.

[medigeek]

Originally Posted by Real Beef

Dude, people with cGPAs of 3.93 are getting rejected. You will need to scrap your entire university course up to this point and start fresh and try to do an entire second degree to get a 3.7+ GPA, which itself wont guarantee you anything.

You have shown no evidence of being scholastically able to pull off high marks so it is a bit of a stretch for you to go from 2.64 to 3.7+.

I would SERIOUSLY consider alternate career choices besides medicine. Perhaps once you mature and get organized/serious about academia you can try again but at this point it is a pipe dream.

Keep in mind a second degree does open some doors but only at places that take the best 2 years/last 2 years. And that's only 3 schools I believe?
Because even with a 4.0 in a 2nd degree gives a cGPA of 3.3....

[Real Beef]

Originally Posted by medigeek

Keep in mind a second degree does open some doors but only at places that take the best 2 years/last 2 years. And that's only 3 schools I believe?
Because even with a 4.0 in a 2nd degree gives a cGPA of 3.3....

Agreed.

OP: I am not sure whether this is the type of reality slap in the face you were asking for. But there are alot of uber-applicants and repeat/mature/non-trad applicants improving their applications every year and you are starting from a big fat zero of a place so I would hit up the career counselling office and see what other careers tickle your fancy.

I've applied with a 3.59 one application cycle a long time ago (rejected, got interview d/t in-province status, waitlisted d/t partiucularly weak applicant pool), 3.69 another application cycle (rejection, no interviews), 3.89 (w/ graduate bonus at NOSM, 1 interview this application cycle). So really I havent had any serious bites from med school until I had an adjusted GPA of 3.89 this cycle. I bombed my first year of school with a GPA of 1.8 (academic probration) which pretty much screwed me over years later trying to apply to med despite nearly doubling my GPA years later. So you can likely recover from one blown year but pratically disqualifies you from many schools but blow a whole degree and you have in effect ruined your chances at most schools save a few who accept 2nd degrees. But you are talking about taking easy courses to boost your GPA .... but if ever by a miracle you get into med after taking 4 years of easy/bird courses how would you handle a full course load of difficult medical school curriculum when you got a 2.64 with normal university courses ... ?

[medigeek]

Ya OP this isn't so much about "how many 4.0 semester do I need to get x GPA" because you have not shown any potential of attaining A or A+ marks. 1st year some people can get away with excuses for getting Bs, but being down to where you are ... to be honest even with an extra 2 years you're a long shot for DO schools.

I would suggest looking into just getting a job and making some investments now. Please do not go to the carribean and lose 5 years of your life + 200k.