Admission requirements!

[AnnieDH]

Hi all,
I'm a newbie so here's a bit about me: I'm a Dental Hygienist in Toronto..for those who don't know, this is a Regulated Health Care Profession in Canada...I've been practicing since July 2009 & before this I did my BSc at UofT. I've decided to go into medicine for so many reasons, as I'm sure most of you are familiar with by now.

Anyway, I've decided that SABA is a great school & I've heard wonderful things and feel it might suit what I'm looking for.
In terms of admission requirements, I haven't taken the MCAT & I only did 1 semester of organic chemistry (this was my program reqt when I was at UofT).
My grades at UofT aren't that high (had lots of family situations), but things brightened up for me significantly when I did dental hygiene (I convocated with Honours & was on Dean's list for all 2 years).
My issue is that dental hygiene is at the college level here...I'm not sure if SABA would recognize those college grades. The college courses in Anatomy & Physiology, Histology, & Pharmacology are comparable to university level classes. I have volunteer experience, > 500 hrs of patient care experience & variety of work experience.
Their website says "Exceptions are made on an individual basis" re: admission reqts.

Any idea what my chances are of getting in given the aforementioned info?
Has anyone been in a similar situation with university grades not being so high?

I emailed SABA this morning but no response yet.

Also, is going for admission in May 2010 going to increase my chances of getting in vs. starting Sept 2010?

Thanks in advance, look forward for any input.

Annie

[TEXAG]

my advice: apply and find out. you have nothing to lose other than the $75 application fee.

[AnnieDH]

my advice: apply and find out. you have nothing to lose other than the $75 application fee.

This is true & I'm def. applying. After all, my personal statement will *hopefully* be extremely strong!

thank you!

[sgMD]

Hi all,
I'm a newbie so here's a bit about me: I'm a Dental Hygienist in Toronto..for those who don't know, this is a Regulated Health Care Profession in Canada...I've been practicing since July 2009 & before this I did my BSc at UofT. I've decided to go into medicine for so many reasons, as I'm sure most of you are familiar with by now.

Anyway, I've decided that SABA is a great school & I've heard wonderful things and feel it might suit what I'm looking for.
In terms of admission requirements, I haven't taken the MCAT & I only did 1 semester of organic chemistry (this was my program reqt when I was at UofT).
My grades at UofT aren't that high (had lots of family situations), but things brightened up for me significantly when I did dental hygiene (I convocated with Honours & was on Dean's list for all 2 years).
My issue is that dental hygiene is at the college level here...I'm not sure if SABA would recognize those college grades. The college courses in Anatomy & Physiology, Histology, & Pharmacology are comparable to university level classes. I have volunteer experience, > 500 hrs of patient care experience & variety of work experience.
Their website says "Exceptions are made on an individual basis" re: admission reqts.

Any idea what my chances are of getting in given the aforementioned info?
Has anyone been in a similar situation with university grades not being so high?

I emailed SABA this morning but no response yet.

Also, is going for admission in May 2010 going to increase my chances of getting in vs. starting Sept 2010?

Thanks in advance, look forward for any input.

Annie

1-please post your question in the right thread not here. It's a sticky.

2-you still need to take all the pre-reqs (take them at Ryerson). If you study you get A+ at Ryerson unlike UofT where you study and end up with a B-.

3-enroll into the princeton review course and prepare for MCAT and take it in March.

4- you will get in if you do what I mentioned! Dental H is for sure an advantage, but you still have to do your pre-reqs and MCAT.

*just for reference, there are people with PhD's and MSc that apply to Saba and even those people have to meet the requirements.

[AnnieDH]

1-please post your question in the right thread not here. It's a sticky.

2-you still need to take all the pre-reqs (take them at Ryerson). If you study you get A+ at Ryerson unlike UofT where you study and end up with a B-.

3-enroll into the princeton review course and prepare for MCAT and take it in March.

4- you will get in if you do what I mentioned! Dental H is for sure an advantage, but you still have to do your pre-reqs and MCAT.

*just for reference, there are people with PhD's and MSc that apply to Saba and even those people have to meet the requirements.

Hey,
Thanks for the response. How are you so sure about all this? Where did you get your info from?

You make a good point about doing courses at Ry, perhaps York will be just as easy.

Ok, so I'm not all that great with moving threads around..how do I make this a sticky?!

Thanks!

[AnnieDH]

I spoke to an admissions rep & was told to do either of the following:
- Upgrade marks in the pre-req's, OR
- Take MCAT

The choice is mine basically.

Thanks to you 2 for the advice anyway.


Annie

[TEXAG]

I spoke to an admissions rep & was told to do either of the following:
- Upgrade marks in the pre-req's, OR
- Take MCAT


did they tell you to take the other semester of o-chem? if i was in your situation, i'd give the MCAT my best shot.

[sgMD]

I spoke to an admissions rep & was told to do either of the following:
- Upgrade marks in the pre-req's, OR
- Take MCAT

The choice is mine basically.

Thanks to you 2 for the advice anyway.


Annie

so they are accepting you without you taking the OCHEMII if you take the MCAT? this is a first...

btw, if any of your pre-reqs are below B-, you will still need to take the MCAT... and I don't think you'd like to repeat all pre-req courses, so as I said, enroll into the PR MCAT course and take the MCAT this march or summer...

[sgMD]

Hey,
Thanks for the response. How are you so sure about all this? Where did you get your info from?

You make a good point about doing courses at Ry, perhaps York will be just as easy.

Ok, so I'm not all that great with moving threads around..how do I make this a sticky?!

Thanks!

I am not an admission officer! and the info anyone provides here is their best 'guess'.... but I've been on this forum for long enough (and dealt with admissions myself) so I can tell what they are looking for really...

and yes, believe me, there are people who got their PhD's from some Ontario University or their MSc, or have really good GPA's and had to take all pre-reqs...

In my own case, I took the MCAT and I still had to take OCHEMII ... I took it at Ryerson and I loved the professor and the course... he'd make sure that you really understand the material (unlike UofT) and I actually learnt alot in that course and I guess I deserved that A! If you study hard there, you get A... I highly recommend Ryerson U.

[AnnieDH]

I am not an admission officer! and the info anyone provides here is their best 'guess'.... but I've been on this forum for long enough (and dealt with admissions myself) so I can tell what they are looking for really...

and yes, believe me, there are people who got their PhD's from some Ontario University or their MSc, or have really good GPA's and had to take all pre-reqs...

In my own case, I took the MCAT and I still had to take OCHEMII ... I took it at Ryerson and I loved the professor and the course... he'd make sure that you really understand the material (unlike UofT) and I actually learnt alot in that course and I guess I deserved that A! If you study hard there, you get A... I highly recommend Ryerson U.


Hey ya'll,

So once I started reading everyone's comments, I called back the admissions dept & spoke to the same lady & explained my situation again. She NOW says I have to take Organic. I told her that that's not what she said when I spoke to her a few hrs earlier & basically I repeated what she told me cuz I wrote it all down as we were talking before...
So I insisted that I speak to someone else just to clarify for sure and the new person said I must take full year organic. I had a feeling something was fishy when I first talked to her, I mean, it just seemed "too easy".
Whatever, I guess sometimes miscommunication/misunderstanding occurs.

Alright so I'll be phoning up Ryerson now to find out about Jan. enrollment.
What was the professors name & if you can recall, what is the course code?

Thanks a bunch

Annie

[AnnieDH]

so they are accepting you without you taking the OCHEMII if you take the MCAT? this is a first...

btw, if any of your pre-reqs are below B-, you will still need to take the MCAT... and I don't think you'd like to repeat all pre-req courses, so as I said, enroll into the PR MCAT course and take the MCAT this march or summer...

Yep, I don't want to repeat the pre-reqs for which classes I didn't do well in. I'd rather just take MCAT & I'm aiming to test for May 2010.

Do you, or anyone else, know what constitutes "competitive MCAT scores"?

Thanks!

[AnnieDH]

did they tell you to take the other semester of o-chem? if i was in your situation, i'd give the MCAT my best shot.

I'm going to do both Organic part 2 and the MCAT. This will be exciting as I last did organic about 4 years ago.

[sgMD]

Hey ya'll,

So once I started reading everyone's comments, I called back the admissions dept & spoke to the same lady & explained my situation again. She NOW says I have to take Organic. I told her that that's not what she said when I spoke to her a few hrs earlier & basically I repeated what she told me cuz I wrote it all down as we were talking before...
So I insisted that I speak to someone else just to clarify for sure and the new person said I must take full year organic. I had a feeling something was fishy when I first talked to her, I mean, it just seemed "too easy".
Whatever, I guess sometimes miscommunication/misunderstanding occurs.

Alright so I'll be phoning up Ryerson now to find out about Jan. enrollment.
What was the professors name & if you can recall, what is the course code?

Thanks a bunch

Annie

I dont mean to bash any other MD schools in carib, but even the newest ones (with no reputation) and VERY easy to get admitted to DO require applicants to take all pre-reqs... now let alone the big 4 schools...


if your gpa is below 3.0, you probably need MCAT of 25+ (at least 9 on BIO and Phy) but again, these are just 'my' guess!

There is only one OCHMII at continuing education at Ryerson... CCHY242 Prof. Wynn.

[adryden]

SABA won't accept you unless you take the second organic chemistry? I only have the first organic as well, but I spoke to SGU, AUC and Ross, and all of them will substitute a biochemistry course with a lab for that second organic chemistry. If SABA won't do this then there isn't any point in applying for me, since I can't fit a second organic chemistry into my schedule, nor can I take it as a summer course. I don't plan on going back to take a 7th year of undergrad either to take a single class.

[TEXAG]

SABA won't accept you unless you take the second organic chemistry? I only have the first organic as well, but I spoke to SGU, AUC and Ross, and all of them will substitute a biochemistry course with a lab for that second organic chemistry. If SABA won't do this then there isn't any point in applying for me, since I can't fit a second organic chemistry into my schedule, nor can I take it as a summer course. I don't plan on going back to take a 7th year of undergrad either to take a single class.

i think they will take biochem in place of o-chem II. the website says one year of biochemistry[slash]organic chemistry w/ lab is required: Saba University School of Medicine - Pre-Med Coursework (http://www.saba.edu/saba/index.php/admissions/requirements/pre-med-coursew). i would verify this with Admissions though.

[sgMD]

SABA won't accept you unless you take the second organic chemistry? I only have the first organic as well, but I spoke to SGU, AUC and Ross, and all of them will substitute a biochemistry course with a lab for that second organic chemistry. If SABA won't do this then there isn't any point in applying for me, since I can't fit a second organic chemistry into my schedule, nor can I take it as a summer course. I don't plan on going back to take a 7th year of undergrad either to take a single class.

RELAXXXXX!

I only said that you NEED to meet the requirements, I never said they don't substitute other courses for OCHEMII... yes they do substitute OCHEMII with BIOCHEM.... so relaxxxx! :confused:

[adryden]

I'm perfectly relaxed :cool:

[AnnieDH]

I dont mean to bash any other MD schools in carib, but even the newest ones (with no reputation) and VERY easy to get admitted to DO require applicants to take all pre-reqs... now let alone the big 4 schools...


if your gpa is below 3.0, you probably need MCAT of 25+ (at least 9 on BIO and Phy) but again, these are just 'my' guess!

There is only one OCHMII at continuing education at Ryerson... CCHY242 Prof. Wynn.

Much appreciated. I will be heading to Ry this week to enroll.
I honestly don't know too much about other med schools in the carib, except MUA, which I hear is affiliated with SABA.
Thanks again for the tips on MCAT stuff!

[futureboy]

Yes, some US med schools also let you substitute biochem for ochem II