Free guide · 2026–27 cycle · sources retrieved July 16–17, 2026
One transcript.
Four different GPA views.
“What is your GPA?” is often the wrong first question for a Canadian medical-school list. The useful question is: what GPA will this school construct from this transcript?
Why cGPA alone misleads
Schools do not all reward the same academic pattern. A rising trend can matter at a best-year school and barely move a cumulative formula. A full course load can determine whether a year qualifies. A percentage-based school can apply an adjustment that does not map neatly to an OMSAS number.
That means the same applicant can present four materially different academic profiles without changing a single grade.
Four official examples
McMaster: cumulative means cumulative
McMaster states that it uses a cumulative average across all undergraduate courses, treats years equally, and does not eliminate a weak year. Its published pre-interview formula then combines GPA, CARS, and CASPer.
Decision implication: a strong late year helps only through its effect on the full average; it does not replace an earlier year.
Western: two qualifying years, not simply your top two numbers
Western requires the minimum GPA in each of two qualifying undergraduate years. Its official requirements also define course-load, course-level, and pass/fail conditions for a year to qualify.
Decision implication: sorting yearly averages and taking the top two is not enough. First verify that both years satisfy the structural rules.
U of T: cumulative floor, current-year timing
U of T publishes a cumulative OMSAS-scale minimum for undergraduate applicants and explains that the current year is not part of the application-period calculation because those grades are unavailable.
Decision implication: a planned final-year recovery may not change the number used during the current application cycle.
UBC: percentage averages and an adjusted calculation
UBC evaluates an overall academic average in percentage terms and describes an adjusted average that may remove up to 30 credits from the lowest academic year when its conditions are met. It also publishes different full-file-review thresholds for BC and out-of-province applicants.
Decision implication: an OMSAS cGPA is not a drop-in substitute. Course conversion, adjustment eligibility, and applicant pool all need separate checks.
A safer five-step screen
- Start from the official transcript, not a portal summary.
- Label each school's formula before calculating anything.
- Apply course-load, year-level, pass/fail, and timing conditions before selecting years.
- Keep residency and pathway rules separate from the academic calculation.
- Re-open the official source before paying the application fee; retrieval dates are not guarantees of freshness.
Want the profile-specific version?
Put your own years through the screen.
The MedCompass founding audit applies 12 Canadian school models to one Ontario applicant profile, flags what needs manual verification, and links the official sources.
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