Why would you aim to go to a Caribbean school? It's ridiculously expensive and your chance of coming back to Canada is very slim.

Even if you're guaranteed a spot in the states, the quality of residence programs are incredibly variable.

Re: people with 99% cGPA not getting in ... they probalby didn't do anything in their community or they messed up the MCAT or they were just terrible communicators. As long as you have decent comunication skills, volunteer experiences, meet the cut-offs you're pretty much set.

You're in first year - protip: if you know you can't get into a Canadian school after your first year of university alone, don't bother trying to become a doctor. I'm not saying give up entirely, but try improving your GPA and extra-curricular activities in the next couple years.

I disagree. There are different weighting systems, one bad year will hurt your overall chances of getting in, but multiple schools do not count your 1st year.

Originally Posted by Lois

I disagree. There are different weighting systems, one bad year will hurt your overall chances of getting in, but multiple schools do not count your 1st year.

I said don't give up entirely, but try to improve your GPA in the next couple years.

I don't mean "it's impossible to get in if you do poorly in 1 year" but instead I'm saying "if you don't have the drive to excel at this point and you don't improve in the next couple years, what's the point?"

I guess it's possible to get like a 6 GPA in first year and 11+ from years 2-4, I just think that's a little strange and probably somewhat rare.

Originally Posted by arathbon

I wouldn't say that high at all. If you have >3.6 you definitely have a shot (particularly if you also have residency in another Province. That doesn't mean its not a much lower shot but its a shot none the less. Also a few Ontario schools have weighting formulas. Ottawa's favours your upper years, U of T drops 2 marks for each year of study if you carried a full courses load every year, Western takes your two best years and Queens looks at your two most recent if you don't meet their GPA cut off for interviews otherwise. (Also Queen's doesn't consider academics once you get to the interview stage)

At Mac for the 2010 admissions,

8 people got in with a GPA of 3.6-3.7, but 84 people got in with a GPA from 3.9 to 4.0. Yeah you "definitely have a shot" but the chances are pretty crappy compared to a near perfect GPA. EDIT: Ah, I see you noted that. Well like you said, you always have a chance, but it's just quite unlikely with a relatively low GPA.

Originally Posted by Alchemist11

I said don't give up entirely, but try to improve your GPA in the next couple years.

I don't mean "it's impossible to get in if you do poorly in 1 year" but instead I'm saying "if you don't have the drive to excel at this point and you don't improve in the next couple years, what's the point?"

I guess it's possible to get like a 6 GPA in first year and 11+ from years 2-4, I just think that's a little strange and probably somewhat rare.

Some people don't know by first year that they want to be a physician. A lot of people have a hard time adjusting to life at university or they have personal issues that prevent them from doing well in their first year.

Mac is different as it uses cGPA. Other schools understand that the transition is hard which is why there are alternative marking schemes that drop poor marks or count other years instead. One of my classmates did poorly in first year, but she did well enough to get in. It's not that rare.

Originally Posted by nerual

I have a friend who went to Windsor School of Medicine in St. Kitts...basically, she needed a full year of first-year chem and bio to get in. There was also a brief phone interview that apparently was something along the lines of, "Have you ever done drugs? No? Welcome to Windsor". She went after first year, and it's school year-round for two years or something like that, and then internship/residency or whatever in the US. It's a US-accredited med school, so not super-sketchy.

Can you tell me what caribbean school that was? Also, did you do the mcat?

Originally Posted by luna

Can you tell me what caribbean school that was?

I have a friend who went to Windsor School of Medicine in St. Kitts...basically, she needed a full year of first-year chem and bio to get in. There was also a brief phone interview that apparently was something along the lines of, "Have you ever done drugs? No? Welcome to Windsor". She went after first year, and it's school year-round for two years or something like that, and then internship/residency or whatever in the US. It's a US-accredited med school, so not super-sketchy.

so y'know.
12char

plus If I can work in the states that's fine too, it doesn't have to be canada. But so far I would say that caribbean is my last choice. I looked at some schools and they are expensive in just the tuition then there's also residence (on and off campus), travel, food, etc. It's just too costly.