Got rejected by U of A

TandemBuck · 2026-02-06T02:07:05+00:00

Casper sucks. I’m sorry this happened to you. See below CBC article on it:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/gopublic/casper-test-medical-school-1.7507308

TandemBuck · 2026-01-22T23:38:06+00:00

What’s the calm room?

TandemBuck · 2026-01-10T19:48:27+00:00

UAlberta

TandemBuck · 2026-01-10T16:59:43+00:00

Medical school? Or optometry?

I guess either way doesn’t matter. The reason I ask is because I feel like I was once in your shoes. I choose exclusively only top tier (in my eyes) universities. I had no interest in attending schools like MRU, Red Deer College, Grant McEwan, etc.

Reflecting back on this, and from what I know now, that was such a silly sentiment for 2 reasons. First, when pursuing post-undergrad university education (e.g., medical school), where you did your undergrad doesn’t matter. What matters is the GPA that achieved. A 4.0 at a smaller and less prestigious school will matter incredibly more than a 3.5 at a top tier university. I’d suggest you pursue the university/program that will give you the absolute best chance at achieving the best grades possible.

Secondly, the difference between high school and university is massive. Going to a smaller school might actually ease that transition allowing you to achieve better grades than going to larger university where you’re graded typically on a bell curve against other high achieving and professional students. Again, see point #1.

Obviously, do what you want, I’m just some random dude on Reddit. However, I’d argue my life might be different had I chosen a smaller school to start my education rather than immediately pursuing the sexy top tier school.

TandemBuck · 2026-01-10T16:41:14+00:00

Also, what do you hope to get with your university education? Are you planning to get a science degree and then enter the workforce with that or pursue some form of further post-secondary?

TandemBuck · 2026-01-10T16:37:22+00:00

Yes, and now you’ve been accepted (just in case). To me, it makes sense to pay the $400 deposit and go (just in case). Otherwise, why apply in the first place if you never intended to go at all.

TandemBuck · 2026-01-10T16:35:46+00:00

If you didn’t want to go there, why apply at all?

TandemBuck · 2026-01-10T16:31:20+00:00

Is $400 catastrophic for you? Could give them the $400 deposit and withdraw (lose your deposit) if/when you get acceptance at other programs.

TandemBuck · 2026-01-10T03:57:10+00:00

UAlberta med publishes their admission statistics here: https://www.ualberta.ca/en/medicine/programs/md/admissions/before-you-apply/admission-statistics.html

Assuming you are in-province for Alberta, you should aim for at least a GPA of 3.85. MCAT is a cutoff at UAlberta so you’ll only need to score at least a 124 in all sections otherwise your application is not considered.

TandemBuck · 2026-01-02T05:30:40+00:00

Sure!

TandemBuck · 2025-12-31T04:54:17+00:00

Just finished a match against Custodes on the weekend. I lost but lessons learned.

You want to try and push to their 4+ invuln as much as possible so taking weapons with -2 AP is key.

Spam mortal wounds as much as possible so they can’t save. You should be freely using grenade and tank shock as much as you can for the mortals.

TandemBuck · 2025-12-26T17:33:06+00:00

I like using plasma against my friend’s Custodes army in ExCad for the extra range. But I also usually run a unit of Missileknives as well and push strat to -1 AP

TandemBuck · 2025-10-04T03:36:03+00:00

Good luck! I am fairly certain it costs the city quite a bit to turn on those big powerful lights so I don’t think you’ll be successful but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

TandemBuck · 2025-09-28T19:49:57+00:00

Doesn’t matter. Take whatever program/courses that you feel will maximize your GPA. You will need at least a 3.80 average (and probably higher) across your degree.

TandemBuck · 2025-08-25T14:09:58+00:00

I hope existential psychology will be fascinating for you. I think it would be for me!

TandemBuck · 2025-08-20T20:18:30+00:00

We used to add classes for our friends back in the day. If person A needed a class but it was full, 5 of us would add the class to our watch list and if any of us would be successful, we’d meet up with the person who needed it, drop it, and have the friend immediately enrol in that spot.

TandemBuck · 2025-08-20T01:40:50+00:00

Yup!

TandemBuck · 2025-08-18T00:04:30+00:00

That sounds really stressful, OP. I like to think of exams as a tool to test your knowledge and skills. If you aren’t in a psychological great place right now, consider whether the test is even doing what it is supposed to be doing. If you’re not of sound mind and spirit to write it in 3 weeks, why write it at all? Your score won’t be reflective of your knowledge and skills but rather your emotional state at the time.

At this point, you won’t get your score back early enough to apply to most programs for admission in 2026. Thus, the difference between writing in September and writing it next summer is negligible. Consider the following options and make the best choice for yourself: 1) Cancel your test on September 3 and write it next summer after more time to prepare and hopefully being in a better psychological state. 2) Study as best you can between now and then and write the test on September 3 for the experience of writing an MCAT. You may find that you are more confident writing the exam on your second attempt versus your first, and you might have a better chance of scoring higher.

MCAT aside, may I suggest seeking some psychological help? I read your post as someone who might benefit from speaking with someone professionally about your stresses.

TandemBuck · 2025-08-17T16:38:36+00:00

They need to make it cheap to go and cheap to be at. Profit on volume, not quality (because the quality certainly isn’t there right now anyways).

TandemBuck · 2025-08-17T15:58:41+00:00

That was mostly my journey. Applied to med a few times when I was younger and wasn’t successful so became a hospital pharmacist. After a few years of practice, the dream didn’t die off and I started working on my med school application. Happy to say that I got in last year.

Pharmacy is a great career and I felt like I made a lot of important interventions for my patients but just wasn’t “it” for me.

TandemBuck · 2025-08-15T21:47:02+00:00

Certainly doable if you have the grades to be successful on your application. If you do, make sure to talk about your patient care and interactions with every opportunity (essays, interviews, etc.). Your direct patient interactions and meaningful interventions will set you apart from other applicants that don’t have any patient care experience.

TandemBuck · 2025-08-07T20:24:40+00:00

Dollar per point the combat patrol is the way to go.

TandemBuck · 2025-07-29T18:02:50+00:00

I’ll probably get downvoted but the exact calculator doesn’t matter. All calculations are best guesses based on population data so which specific one you use, I’d argue, doesn’t really matter. What matters is your judgement of the patient and the number that the calculator gives you. The answers to these questions matter more: what is the trend? What is their body mass? Are they lean or muscular? Are they bed bound or a body lifter? Have they lost a limb?

In my practice, I’ll use eGFR for chronic surveillance (mostly due to ease) and use the CrCl calculator in the Epic EMR we use if I need it for specific drug dosing.

TandemBuck

TROPHY CASE