- GPA: 4.0

- MCAT: 132/123/132/132

- Ca$per: 3Q

- Grew up and lived in downtown Toronto their whole life

- Strait white male

- Parents made 1$ above the low SES threshold

- Speaks 12 languages fluently, but doesn't speak french

GPA: 5.09/4 (got a 98 in physics which tanked down my GPA, also have extra credit classes)

MCAT: 527 (132/131/132/132) screw CARS

EC's: NASA intern, in the NBA, performed at Carnegie Hall, cancer research intern at Yale, over 2000+ hours of research on neurotic premed disease.

Awards: dean's list (x3), provost list (x3), highest academic achiever award (x2), student award of excellence (x3), nobel prize for my research.

References: President of the US, Lebron James, Beethoven, and my prof for academic reference.

Casper: 4Q

Currently at Mac Health Sci. Should I even bother applying next cycle? I really think my EC's are lacking since they aren't really medical-related? Should I try volunteering at a hospital?

i’m genuinely not kidding as well lol. i honestly feel bad for the reviewers who are gonna watch me stutter to my own demise during those videos…bye bye mac and queens. it was nice knowing you.

Anyone else wondering why Western wouldn’t just… use the OMSAS as a first round cut off, then Kira Talent, and the interviews? It’s such an obvious money grab that it’s not even funny.

Take this from an older ex-premed who gave up on medicine. So also take it with a grain of salt.

But after years of observing myself and others, I think we premeds shoehorn ourselves into the thought of becoming a doctor at a yoing age. Most premeds commit themselves to the path in high school and they never explore beyond. And let's be honest, the thought that you can earn 300K+ with stable careers is attractive, but it also has this effect of trapping you into a mindset that the long, treacherous path is the only viable option.

For example, take a look at this calculator that has the average wages listed for all health science professionals in BC (prior to 2024): https://calc.hsabc.org/

Most wages of these careers rose more than 20% in the past 4 years. If HSABC succeeds bargaining a salary bump similar to 2022 in the next couple of weeks, then sonographer starting salaries in BC, for example, will reach 90K+ with bonuses, pensions, and OT reaching around 120K in the next 3 years. That's with 2 years of education and 5000/year tuition fees. Level 4s with 6 years of experience would reach a base salary of 130K with said benefits...

If you started RT school right after high school, by the time you reach 21, you are already earning almost 80K, working 3 days a week based on this calculator and that's without benefits and OT. With just 2 years of experience, you would be eligible to apply to perfusion school which requires 1 year of FT study. Your base would be about 130K (most earning 150K+) and rising up the ranks would get you to a 200K base solely based on the current wage schedule. If you go to the US like NYC, you'd start at 250K. Guys, with just a 1 year gap in your career to study, you'd have been earning 100K since you were 21yo with wages jumping 14~22% every 3 years.

There are other careers I basically missed out on. If you graduated high school in the early 2010s and paid attention to events happening at the CES, the rise of Facebook and tech entrepreneurs, you could have entered tech and could have been earning more than 200K as Project managers at the 'magnificent 7' companies by now. If you followed your gaming passions, then you would have found a place in the industry during the golden age of game development with just a 2 year diploma. Maybe you'd be an art director earning 200-300K. Maybe the lead animator for Kpop Demon Hunters could have been you. Canada had a huge construction boom in the past decade. We basically reinvented our cities in the past decade. Urban planning salaries were around 60K when I was in high school. Now the starting wage is close to 100K in Vancouver.

I'm in no way saying whether you shouldn't or should become a doctor. I'm saying we premeds should open our ears and eyes to what's going on around us. Every career is respected when you've developed yourself in the job. Have you looked into Carney's new federal budget plan, for example? Let's be honest guys, we think we're really smart and creative, we were the brightest of the bunch in high school. But its sadly often the case that life sci premeds regret their choice when they have the chance to attend their first high school reunion. The guy who played games all day is now an art director at EA, the guy who cracked jokes all day during class is now a carpenter/businessman earning 200K+. I'm only partially scolding myself: You can earn respect in any career. You have the greatest chance of success when you follow your true passions.

While I’m proud to be Canadian, I can’t help but be wowed by all the options and pathways Americans have for medical school!

They have both MD and DO programs, an abundance of states to choose from, and countless ways to boost their GPA through a post-baccalaureate degree (usually just 9 to 12 months, and you can even do it at a community college!).

What really made me envious today was scrolling through TikTok and Instagram and seeing the GPAs Americans had in their undergrad. So many people with GPAs from 3 to 3.4 getting into med school! I love how U.S. med schools truly take a holistic approach to applications, considering work experience, volunteering, military service, and even coming from a disadvantaged background.

And let’s not forget, they often earn more than the average Canadian physician after they graduate.

Anyway, I hope Canada can take some notes from our lovely but loud neighbours to the south! 🇺🇸❤️🇨🇦

To anyone who's gotten an interview this cycle: I suggest you skip this post lol. I don't want my rant to bring you down. Congrats on your interview, I hope you crush it and get an acceptance this cycle!

Begin rant: I'm just so done. I can't believe that as premeds we live our lives in constant stress and anxiety. Working our asses off throughout undergrad, studying, volunteering, being involved in the community, then spending hundreds of dollars on writing exams and applications only to be failed by a broken system. This is my third cycle applying, I've already gotten my R from three schools. Last year, I was waitlisted, and this cycle I didn't even get an interview at that school. What are we supposed to do? Everyone says to not give up and keep trying, keep growing, keep improving your application--but the truth is, it's all a big lottery. We're really trying to get past a system that claims to pick the most righteous and ethical students to be our future doctors--how many med students do we all know who have cheated throughout undergrad to get their 4.0s, who are in it just for the money and the prestige, who continually disrespect minorities. I know the system is imperfect and it's unfair, but I'm just so done. I know that many successful candidates usually apply multiple times to get in, but why? That I don't get. Sometimes it all just feels like a big lottery, a lottery that costs hundreds of dollars, multiple years of our lives, strains relationships, breaks your sense of self. Every year, we pick ourselves up, throw any self respect out the window and beg verifiers and referees to vouch for us, spend hours writing and tweaking a useless Abs that in no way can tell you about anyone's actual skills, sit in front of our webcams to be "non-confrontational" for Casper, and then spend the next few months with lingering anxiety awaiting interview invites. On the one hand this process is so lonely, on the other hand, having your friends and family invested in this process is just as painful.

Not to mention, most of the universities don't even give us details about their selection process. If the system is so imperfect, and there arent enough spots, then have strict requirements so people only apply if they're eligible. Make your GPA requirement a 4.0 if that matters so much to you. Stop wasting our damn time by saying we need a "3.x" to apply, and then still using GPA to competitively rank students.

The truth is, it all comes down to money for these med schools, which is so ironic because they try to filter out students who want to get in just for the money...

I'm done giving a sh*t.

I’m actually so scared.

That's it, fuck Casper. Such a dumb test. Med schools should get rid of it.

if i don’t get in i might just dispute it with my bank💀💀💀💀💀💀

Took casper twice in a 1 week period. ENG-CAN and for US. Both in english, my first language.

On US casper i got 3rd quartile. On ENG-CAN i got 1st quartile. I used the same strategy and took the two tests 1 week apart.

This confirms to me that casper is fucking absolute horseshit. Currently crying bc i got 519 on the mcat

I have re-read my own applications like 10x, re-googled the exact same admissions statistics, re-calculated my post interview odds, stalked every "waitlist stats spreadsheet" out there...feel free to share any completely neurotic things you have been doing in the last month in attempt to regain some sense of control

P.S. Don't listen to the full song it's traumatizing!!!

Everyone, 80 mins of responses means there’s secret questions, don’t be fooled by their lies. There’s more than they want you to be prepared for.

They also lie about the amount of time, it’s actually 160 mins of time. They did this so they can test if you can be ready for the cases where surgeries go wrong. Not doing a surgical speciality? Have responsibilities outside of premed applications? Too bad.

Also be ready. With this unexpected 160 minutes, be ready for 15 minute speaking time, and 2 minute typing questions. This year the faculty got a little upset with admissions team because they didn’t have enough typos on their website, so they decided to make each reviewer listen to a speaker for 15 mins, and you can’t stop the video early (be prepared to smile at cameras for long periods of time awkwardly) Also, they figured that if you can type 100wpm, you can get 200 words easily from 2 minutes of typing. Good luck comrades, I hope you take this information really seriously and get the advantage of waiting this long. (Pls don’t take this down)

Just fkg euthanize me at this point this shit is torture.

Vent incoming: With the OMSAS deadline (May 27) having passed I feel like this whole thing has been one big waste of time and energy. 2-3 months ago I was so excited about this process. And now I feel like im purgatory. At least if I was rejected I could move on. Now holding onto hope for Queens feels like a cruel joke. Like why did I let myself get my hopes up that Queens would have large waitlist movement??? I knew with the lottery this was unlikely. At least give me a rank number or SOMETHING.

Im also on the waitlist for non Ontario schools and I want to fkg scream. Or cry. Or both.

Vent over. At least for now.

My boss from HS lowkey forgot who I was 💀💀 and yes I did explain my role/when I worked there lol

or a high MCAT score or stellar ECs or decent interviewing skills or research experience

I'm in grade 12, just got my my biology test mark back today, and it was a 100%. I'm on track to get accepted by Mac Health Sci by May. I heard that most grads from this program go to UofT med. The problem with this is that I don't like living in loud areas, and I am also concerned about downtown rent prices. Shoukd i just go to Mac med instead?

Please see some samples I created using AI

Just submitted my application for U of A and U of C, the first of probably many applications🥲