Graduating this semester and...what now?

[FML.]

Hey everyone,

So I've made a thread in the past but I feel like my situation has changed a bit. I am finishing up a degree in science this semester at McGill and my GPA is just over 3.1, mainly due to a horrible, horrible first year. My second year was nothing special, but my last semester went pretty well (3.65) and this semester is looking good so far (straight As).

Anyways, I applied to pharmacy just for the hell of it and (obviously) got rejected at UdeM. They gave me a CRU of 29.3, and I haven't heard back from ULaval yet.

I was thinking of doing a second undergrad, but I don't know what I should do and where. From what I've read, it would be more beneficial for me to go to Ontario, where there are more universities that will consider my application only by looking at my second undergrad, whereas I'd be pretty much screwed here with UdeM, ULaval, Sherbrooke. By going to Ontario, I'd be considered as an IP when I apply to med, which would be good for me. Can anyone confirm this and tell me if my reasoning is good?

Also, I was waitlisted at Biomed sci at ULaval. That came as a bit of a shock for me, wasn't really expecting that but oh well.

I haven't applied anywhere in Ontario yet, but I did apply at UdeM and ULaval. I know the deadline for UofO is April 1st, but I haven't checked out the other schools.

I have also applied to medical school in France. I have pretty good chances of getting accepted, but I'm not sure I want to go through the whole PAES and risk wasting a whole year for nothing.

Thanks a lot!

[cluelesstilnow]

I unfortunately don't know enough to comment on your reasoning, but I was wondering how come you say you'd pretty much be screwed here with a 2nd degree at UdeM, Ulaval and Usherbrooke?

[FML.]

Originally Posted by cluelesstilnow

I unfortunately don't know enough to comment on your reasoning, but I was wondering how come you say you'd pretty much be screwed here with a 2nd degree at UdeM, Ulaval and Usherbrooke?

Hey man!

Again I can't say I'm sure 100%, but I'm pretty confident that UdeM and ULaval will check the grades of your first undergrad and consider them significantly. And yeah, a 3.12 won't be a good thing for me. Unless they see that my senior year went so much better than the 1st and the second, but at this point I don't want to risk that.

[cluelesstilnow]

yeah, I didn't even try to understand those equations for CRU, CAG, CRA and what not... but it sounds like maybe I should! Like I said, I wish I knew more to help, but I am just getting started in this whole med school applications craziness. I wish it were like engineering and they accepted everyone but made the first year difficult to get rid of people. At least everyone could get a fair shot at the actual material instead of trying to find the best way to just get in... anyways, good luck to all of us, I guess!

[jojoluvsu2]

Moving to Ontario probably won't give you any advantage. The only schools which consider location are Western (you need to have attended secondary school in SWO) NOSM (live in the north for 5 years) and Ottawa. Look up what Ottawa requires for you to be "from Ottawa".

Look at the second UG sticky to find out how all the different schools view a second UG.

[FML.]

Originally Posted by jojoluvsu2

Moving to Ontario probably won't give you any advantage. The only schools which consider location are Western (you need to have attended secondary school in SWO) NOSM (live in the north for 5 years) and Ottawa. Look up what Ottawa requires for you to be "from Ottawa".

Look at the second UG sticky to find out how all the different schools view a second UG.

Are you sure? I thought living in Ontario would lead me to be considered as IP instead of OoP if I applied from Quebec...

[MyGPAsucks]

Originally Posted by FML.

Are you sure? I thought living in Ontario would lead me to be considered as IP instead of OoP if I applied from Quebec...

Yeah, believe it or not Ontario doesn't reserve any seats for in-province applicants. So it's more beneficial to live somewhere else and qualify as in province there (ie Alberta, Manitoba, Sask, etc) and then you can still apply to Ontario without any disadvantage.

Like jojoluvsu2 mentioned, there are a few minor exceptions to this rule. I don't remember the specifics, but some schools give a slight preference to students who live in the immediate area, but it's not nearly as huge as the traditional in province advantage. Western gives a bit of an edge to applicants from South Western Ontario, but you actually need to have graduated from a high school in the area to qualify (meaning, you can't just move there for X years and get the advantage), but again, it's not that big of a deal anyway.

So the TLDR version- move to pretty much any other province to qualify as in province there (I'd recommend Alberta personally) and then you can still apply to Ontario.

On a related note: I've posted a few threads about second undergrads, and read through a lot of the posts on here, and apparently it doesn't matter what subject area your second undergrad is in- generally speaking, you don't get much of an advantage from taking a "tricky" program, so you may as well take something you know you can do very well in (in my case, it's psychology.) A few schools give a slight bonus to difficult programs, but it's not held against you if you take something "easier." The only thing to make sure you do is enroll in an honours degree, since that's a requirement for Western.

[MyGPAsucks]

Oh, and one other thing- have you considered doing a fifth 'special year' type of thing? You only need two years with high marks for Western and Queen's, so you could use this year if you continue to do well, along with the fifth 'special year.' A few advantages to this: you can't apply to Western until you're in the final year of your second undergrad, whereas the fifth year option would allow you to apply next year. Also, there's more flexibility since it's not part of a structured program- you can take whatever courses you can get top marks in (for Western there are some specific rules about the maximum number of intro-level courses you can take, though)

[FML.]

Originally Posted by MyGPAsucks

Oh, and one other thing- have you considered doing a fifth 'special year' type of thing? You only need two years with high marks for Western and Queen's, so you could use this year if you continue to do well, along with the fifth 'special year.' A few advantages to this: you can't apply to Western until you're in the final year of your second undergrad, whereas the fifth year option would allow you to apply next year. Also, there's more flexibility since it's not part of a structured program- you can take whatever courses you can get top marks in (for Western there are some specific rules about the maximum number of intro-level courses you can take, though)

That's super helpful man. Thanks a lot, I'm going to see an advisor tomorrow to talk about a possible fifth year. Again, thanks!