Thread: Honest opinion needed: Should I apply to the caribbean?

Hello
I went to the University of Alberta (im a Canadian) the last 4 years and finished with a 3.2 GPA and a degree in cell biotechnology (specialization). I had a 34N on the MCAT. My letters of recommendation are not very strong, Ive worked mainly with an old folks home and food bank for about 6 months total (weekends). I dont even have a LOR from a professor since I didnt really work with any 1 on 1, only a high school teacher/asst principal. What do you think my options are? Should I spend a few months getting better voluntary experience? Do I stand a hope in getting into a US medical school (Im sure getting into a canadian university is hopeless) or one in Ireland? How about SGU?

Your MCAT is fine, and your GPA is a little bit low for a US school. IMHO, the only thing that might help is to do some science research for a professor for an academic recommendation...

But apply to US schools first, and if that doesn't work out, apply to SGU.

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yeah, no chance for canadian school with that gpa...try DO...then caribb.

I reallly dont want to go for a DO..
What else would you suggest?

Do you have any clinical experience? I have never heard of anybody who got into medical school (US or Caribbean) without any hospital experience. As far as I know all US medical school (not sure about Caribbean, but I believe they are the same) require at least one letter of recommendation from a hardcore science professor. You GPA and MCAT are fine for US schools as long as you are not picky. I know people with worse GPA and MCAT of 31 who were accepted by several US schools. You just must be able to explain the reason you got a low GPA in your personal statement. But you have to take care of the technical stuffs (clinical experience and letter of recommendation). I worked for somebody who is a member of admission committee at UC Davis School of Medicine. Without those two it would be an automatic NO. As far as applying for DO schools, hey I hear we had a Surgeon General who was a DO.

Originally Posted by micoyeh

Do you have any clinical experience? I have never heard of anybody who got into medical school (US or Caribbean) without any hospital experience. As far as I know all US medical school (not sure about Caribbean, but I believe they are the same) require at least one letter of recommendation from a hardcore science professor. You GPA and MCAT are fine for US schools as long as you are not picky. I know people with worse GPA and MCAT of 31 who were accepted by several US schools.

Maybe that's the case for the Americans, but not for the Canadians..

what exactly is clinical experience?
shadowing a doctor?
working the convenience store at a hospital?

Have u tried applying to canadian schools at all? At least give that a shot before all else - cause u never know.

Originally Posted by micoyeh

You GPA and MCAT are fine for US schools as long as you are not picky. I know people with worse GPA and MCAT of 31 who were accepted by several US schools.

this may be true for americans, but for non-americans (ie. canadians) applying to american schools, it's a whole different story, and getting accepted with mediocre stats is next to impossible.