Apr 24, 2023

Admissions Blog: Upgrading your GPA

Top Application Tips
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By Ashleigh Calabrese (Revised)

Many prospective applicants find themselves in situations where, for whatever reason, their GPA does not meet our minimum requirements. If entering the MD program is still your goal, there are many different routes you can take in order to upgrade your GPA to meet our requirements. 

How is your GPA calculated? 

Your GPA is the average calculated from all of your university undergraduate courses that you completed as a full - time student. This includes multiple degrees and non-degree studies. Marks from graduate courses are not included. 

What is a full - time student?

At the University of Toronto, there is a difference between full-time studies and a full course load. Typically, 60% or a minimum of three courses per semester is considered full-time. A full course load is the equivalent of five full year courses, taken in the September - April academic session.

There is no requirement to take a full course load each academic session to be eligible to apply. The key is to maintain a full-time status during your program of study.  Full time status is required to determine your cumulative GPA. Part-time courses are counted towards meeting the prerequisite and degree requirements, but they will not be included in the GPA calculation.

Non-Degree Studies 

If your GPA does not meet our minimum requirement of 3.6/4.0 one option is for you is to enroll in non-degree courses. For non-degree studies to count towards your GPA, you must be enrolled full time (60% course load). Some applicants are able to bring their GPA up using this method, but the disadvantage of this is that if you are unsuccessful in entering the MD program, you may have taken courses that are not counted toward a degree.

Second Degree

Applicants who do not meet our GPA requirements may wish to enroll in a second undergraduate degree. If there is a significant difference between the GPA of your two degrees, you may apply for special consideration to be assessed on only one of your degrees, as part of the Academic Explanations Essay. The essay will be reviewed by the admissions committee, and no decision on how your application was assessed will be released to you. 

For all of these options, use the Academic Explanations Essay 

The Academic Explanations Essay portion of the OMSAS application is a beneficial tool if you find that you have taken a less traditional route into medical school, or have had extenuating circumstances where your GPA does not reflect your true academic ability. The Academic Explanations Essay is the first portion of the application that we assess – even before we look at your GPA. With that being said, due to the competitive nature of the program, we still require the minimum 3.6 GPA for your application to proceed to the next steps, and classify a competitive GPA for undergrads to be a 3.8. All requests for special consideration will be reviewed by the Admissions Committee and are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and may be subject to verification. No decision on how your application was assessed will be released to you.

We are always happy to answer questions at Enrolment Services and welcome you to call, email or drop in to chat about your options. Please get in contact with us if you have any questions about your application.