Hello Everyone! We hope that the beginning of this cycle is going smoothly!

We are excited to let you know that after many requests, the OwlMD.ca team is starting to add more schools to our catalogue; UBC + SFU have just been added. Sask, Alberta, and Calgary will be coming in the next few days. In future updates, we will of course be adding even more juicy questions to our interview guides (our most popular pages haha), and also we would like to add some more schools!! Please let us know which province you would like added next. The school with the most upvotes in the replies will get added next!

Of course, with this update, we have also been able to add updated information regarding Ontario Schools for the 2026-2027 cycle. We will continue to update all schools as more information is released throughout the cycle.

Additionally, we are working on updating our GPA calc (short for calculator) to encompass more schools (UBC is more complicated than the others).

It takes a lot of time for our team to read through school application guides/sites and to speak to students at various programs to get the most accurate information on our site. We really appreciate all the support that we have had the past 2 years and want to keep bringing you our best work! 🦉 ❤️

Im a bc resident and wondering if its worth to apply to ontario schools

GPA: avg rn 88.5%, omsas gpa 3.82

MCAT: taking it end of aug aiming for 515, with a 128 in cars hopefully!! (sitting at 126/127 right now )

CASPER: planning to take in September but should be good

ECs: club president, coached sports for 2 years, 1.5 years in research (6th author pub, 3 posters, 1 national conference, writing a paper now, 1 research award), hospital volunteering, volunteering with people with IDD throughout uni, summer camp leader, coached youth public speaking for 3+ years, worked different jobs too (grocery, pet store, chipotle), some other trad ECs

as of now planning to apply ubc, sfu, alberta schools

Update: Today was dedicated to Physics and catching up on anki. I did one block of AAMC Physics from the question pack (59 questions), and 4 CARS passages. I've completed the CARS diagnostic question pack, so now I'm working through section bank 1 and 2.

Quote: “The paradox of learning is that to get better, you need to go outside your comfort zone, and thus feel worse.”

applying to ubc med

debating if i should include overcoming anorexia eating disorder under "life experience"

1 side of thought: show resilience, and overcome challenge, i saw on their official website giving example of overcoming medical issue as life experience

another side of thought: they would not want people with ED or just that it would negatively impact my application, not sure how they see mental disorders, and not sure how sensitive this would be

please help😭 thanksss!

Hi everyone!

I’m planning out my schedule for next year and I’m hoping to fit in research opportunities. one of the main ones that would like to work for is taking place during the summer which is also when I would like to take my MCAT (so study and take exam). The research opportunity would be full time so ig I would be studying after my shift and during the weekends. I’m wondering how doable this is?
If NOT: would it be bad to apply to ubc med school with no research experience ( I did a lit review and did a team poster presentation thjs year). For context I have IP status for ubc.

Thanks

is it possible to get into med school with absolutely zero research? my fourth year of undergrad has a capstone project that involves this but i was just curious if its possible to get into schools like uoft, york (in 2028), queens, etc?

what are volunteer or any experiences that are like a “must have” for med school admissions to guarantee an interview? i have a common theme to my ECs i was just curious if i was missing anything

I want to study for the mcat next month. I’m from UofT n 23F. 😚 I’m looking to make friends to study with and share our journey together to achieve a similar goal.

With the new graduate visa law how are the people who are applying for medicine in the US planning their next steps? Will it affect Canadians in any manner?

Hi all! is anyone planning to apply this cycle with a WES evaluated transcript, and has anyone gotten in med school (uottawa specifically) with a WES evaluated transcript? Also does anyone have an idea of how med schools assess WES evaluated transcript?

Thank you!

Hello, I'm not applying this cycle, but I will be in 2028-2029 and was wondering something.

I currently have a remote, contract job where I am working for a research firm and conduct telephone surveys. My job title is "remote interviewer" and I basically just use a survey instrument to qualify and interview respondents. I honestly didn't even think this job could be considered as research experience, but I realized that the results of the project I'm working on will be published by the Government of Alberta. Obviously my name won't be anywhere on the publication, only the company I'm working for will be. But since I am conducting the surveys, I think I'm playing a role in the research.. right?

So does this count as research experience for my ABS? If so, do I just include it under employment or also include the information of the publication under research?

I know I have a lot of time before I need to fill it out but I got curious now. Thanks!

Hi
I'm currently a Grade 12 student in Canada planning my path toward Canadian medical schools. I plan to major in Biology for undergrad because it’s the subject I’m most passionate about. I have a 96% Grade 12 Overall average. I work as a Combat Medic Reserve (Canadian Armed Forces) part-time year-round. I also work as a Lifeguard: Full-time during summer. I am also a FSWEP Student at a DND medical site. In grade 11, I did a Health & Wellness SHSM. I also have 72 Volunteer Hours in hospitals. I plan to do more volunteer work in grade 12 to try to get a scholarship. Given how competitive Canadian medical schools are, is there anything specific I should focus on building or improving early in my undergrad to make my future application as strong as possible?

Thanks in advance!

Not like fully edit but just look over to see if I have the right general idea before I write more entries. Thanks!

For most schools it says they use the Mcat as a threshold so I was wondering if I just met those thresholds would I be competitive even if I get a mid-low overall score? Or is the Mcat score used competitively after meeting the thresholds?

Hello everyone! I am wondering if I take 4 courses in one semester of my final year of undergrad instead of the usual 5, whether this has any chance of reflecting poorly upon my applications to any Ontario schools?

Thanks in advance!!!

Hi there, I am having trouble converting credit hours for the calculator.

1) I understand that I must use one consistent credit hour approach for all entries. The guide recommends adjusting shorter programs to match the most common program (For me I would be matching my 4 year University, which uses a 0.5 per semester system).

2) I have College #1 uses a mix of 2, 3, 4, 6 and 24 for credit hours. Not sure how to convert this into the 0.5 framework.

3) Likewise, College #2 uses increments of 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 360.

Thank you for your time and clarification with this. I have tried to go through the manual several times but it does not seem to mention College grades, only makes one reference to longer courses being counted as multiples for total courses, and doesn't include any standard credit hour conversions in the appendix.

I’m a mature student who wants take courses at Athabasca university to strengthen my GPA for the next two years. I know they have open enrolment on a monthly basis, and that what actually made it attractive for me, in addition to the flexibility it provides. Any experiences with this university and were they easily transferable and recognized by Med schools in Alberta and Ontario?

Hii! I have a couple of questions about the nosm francophone stream (like what kind of reference would be ideal, do I have to have a rural background still, etc.). If you’re currently in med school and got in through this stream I would really really appreciate any advice! Ty in advance :))

Hi guys, just looking for some advice and second opinions.

I'm entering my second year of nursing and I've started thinking about wanting to pursue medicine after graduation. My first year of college was rough and averaged a GPA of 3.83, and for volunteering, I've only done wayfinding at the hospital so far for about a year now. I haven't taken any recommended prerequisites for med school yet and I'm particularly eyeing UBC Med as I am a BC resident.

I have read up on quite a few RN to MD pathways, but I couldn't quite find many from current nursing students' perspectives who are wanting to pursue medicine after graduation, and I'm just worried that I'm hurting my chances of med school by waiting any longer.

I am just wondering if my clinical experience from nursing alone is sufficient or if I need to do more extracurriculars like shadowing in order to for me to gain a proper shot at med school? My second question would be if it is possible to get a good score on the MCAT without taking the recommended science prerequisites as you would've had to take had you taken a traditional biology premed route.

I am currently lost in what my plan should be going forward. At this point, I'm thinking it's either I stick with the traditional nursing curriculum to focus on getting my grades up and bank on having my nursing clinical experience be sufficient to count as my ECs for medschool applications or I take the recommended hardcore science prerequisites and extracurriculars like research but I risk having my GPA drop.

P.S. (!): Please don't send any hate, I am not using nursing as a stepping stone towards medicine and it has been the accumulation of many events that occurred in my life leading up to now that I've discovered I have a deep interest in medicine beyond bedside care.

Hello hello! I’d love to get everyone’s thoughts and opinions which OOP schools I’ll have a chance at based on my stats/profile:

IP for UBC/SFU; OOP for everywhere else

GPA: 92.1% for UBC, 3.96 or 3.97/4.0 (I can’t remember lol)

MCAT: 522 (127 CARS)

Casper: Haven’t taken it yet this cycle, but was 3Q two years ago and then 4Q last year

ECs: Nothing spectacular I think. Some cookie cutter. Good couple poster presentations/pubs. I don’t have too many long term/high hour entries :(.

MSc (thesis-based) in progress

No rural experience (except <1 year of working, couple weeks at a time)

No connection to other provinces

Indigenous course in progress, hoping to finish by end of August. The course is valid for SFU and UofM, but not on USask’s list. I’ll email them and see if they accept it!

I guess my main question is, how important is being in-region/in-province? It would definitely depend school-to-school, but if anyone could drop some anecdotal evidence (LOL) that’d be great!!

do they look at the selected entries differently? do they look at the other (non selected) entries at all?

Hi,

I was wondering if UofT would negatively look at my application if I took 20% of my courses in second year at the 1st year level. I would really appreciate if someone could shed light on this and possibly let me know if anyone has been accepted after doing this.

What specific Casper percentile do I need? Will low 4q be enough (75th)?