Need help and advice for Canadian med school with low GPA
Hi guys, I came to Canada as an international student and completed my Bachelor’s in Kinesiology from University of Regina. During that degree I was given an undergraduate research award and also complete honours in my degree. I have decent amount of research experience from these 2 things ( 12 months). I did some volunteering as well during my bachelor’s degree ( though it was not very consistent). I recently graduated and I work as a kinesiologist at a physiotherapy clinic in Calgary, Alberta.
I am planning to go to med school in Canada, being a doctor has always been my goal and dream. My undergrad gpa is not the greatest. I am targeting University of Alberta and University of Calgary as I am already in Alberta. Currently I am not a permanent resident or Citizen of Canada. I have to wait for 1-2 years to get my permanent residency so I can apply to Canadian med schools.
Coming back to my profile. My gpa is 80.55 % for my entire degree (120 credits). I calculated my GPA for University of Alberta and University of Calgary using their gpa calculation method and it comes up to 3.512. My plan is to take additional 24 credits from athabasca university to improve my GPA . Even after that I guess I can push it till 3.6. I am aiming to apply as an in province applicant in the 2028-2029 cycle because of my status in Canada. I haven’t taken my MCAT yet, also my grades in biology,anatomy, physiology, motor control, stats, nutrition, psychology were all above 80% -85%. I haven’t taken any chemistry or physics in university but did them in high school and I was pretty good at it. I believe that I can learn all the concepts of biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, sociology as these subjects have always been my strong pursuit. I have low grades in courses where I was supposed to complete research papers and assignments and discussions. I am good at taking exams and I can usually score well with solid prep.
My question here is, do I have any chance of getting into any canadian med school especially U of A and U of C ( as an in province applicant) if I get additional courses from Athabasca University and if I score great on my MCAT and also work on my essay and do good on my interviews? These schools weigh gpa at 20% and 30% and the rest of the application is still under my control for now. Before I make a huge investment or commit to online resources I wanted to get a realistic answer on my chances of getting in after doing everything. My only weak point right now is my GPA because of which I am feeling very underconfident. The GPA does not reflect my potential. My first 2 years were really rough at U of R as I was an international student and was trying to adapt to a new country and new system of education. I used to be in the 99th -100th percentile in my high school. I am open to any suggestions on how do I go by this situation. Should I take this risk and grind and wait for 2 years. Any suggestions, advice and comments ate welcomed. Please help me in any way possible. I am only afraid because I will be investing a lot of time, money and energy into this and I want to know if stand a chance at all.
Sorry for the long text. I would appreciate any amount of help . Thank you guys !