‘Most surreal feeling’: Albertan accepted into 7 Canadian medical schools

A 19-year-old from Grande Prairie applied to seven Canadian university medical programs and was accepted into all of them. She chose Calgary.

A 19-year-old woman from Grande Prairie, Alta., has chosen to attend the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine after being accepted into seven medical schools across Canada.

Oreoluwapo (Ore) completed her undergraduate degree in health sciences at Queen’s University in just three years, rather than the typical four, then began applying to medical schools.

She interviewed at Dalhousie University, The University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, the University of Alberta, Western University, McMaster University and, of course, the University of Calgary.

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Then acceptance letters began coming in.

“I FaceTimed my mom, she was jumping around, she was screaming,” Maxwell said. “I called the rest of my siblings and my dad as well. I told my friends, and it was just the most surreal feeling. I burst into tears, like, oh my gosh, I’m going to be a doctor, this is something that I’ve been dreaming about.”

School started on July 2, and Maxwell is the youngest medical student in her class.

She says she chose to attend the University of Calgary because it’s close to her family home in Grande Prairie – and because she likes the program.

“I think Calgary’s curriculum is quite interesting because it’s three years, so you finish a year earlier,” she said. “But I also really liked the ‘flipped classroom model’ – that’s what I had at Queen’s – (where) we watch podcasts at home and then we come into class and we discuss it or we have someone at the front teaching us.”

Maxwell says this allows her to learn at her own speed and then participate in tutorials at the university with groups of students.

Duaa Fatima is a classmate who compares applying for the program to the Hunger Games, saying it was difficult waiting for interviews and then watching the expressions of the faces of her peers exiting a meeting, knowing she had to soon endure a similar experience.

She says getting into medical school is hard enough with a minimum national grade point average of 3.90 needed.

“I don’t think many people realize that it’s not like you can just get into medical schools,” she said.

“Where you live really dictates your likelihood to get a certain medical school. For example, living in Alberta, there’s two medical schools; you have a greater chance of getting into these because of residency, they obviously want applicants from these areas so that they’ll retain that talent.”

Fatima says for Maxwell to be accepted into multiple Canadian schools is unheard of.

“To be able to get into seven is insane because then that means she got into out-of-province schools where the margin to get in is incredibly small – it’s like only one or two applicants sometimes in some of these schools.”

Maxwell was a standout at Queen’s University, which likely helped her applications get noticed at so many schools.

She served as an equity ambassador with the Access and Inclusion team, was a senior mentor for the Qsuccess Mentorship program, was co-lead for the Queen’s Health Sciences EDIIA Mentorship Action Committee and co-founded Queen’s Cancer Kids First to raise awareness about childhood cancer.

All the extra-curricular activities earned her the Agnes Benidickson Tricolour Award, Queen’s University’s highest student honor.

It’s something Olubukola Maxwell, Ore’s mom, is quite proud of.

“It’s amazing, not just for the achievement that she’s made but the work that she’s put into it,” she said. “Her dedication and the fact that she’s putting all the effort to achieve this as a 19-year-old.”

Maxwell says her family has been a big help in her education journey, along with many teachers at Queen’s who mentored her.

Her mom says Ore’s Nigerian culture likely played a part as well, because they believe education is a valuable asset.

“I had such great mentors that helped me along the way,” said Maxwell. “And that’s why I care so much about mentorship, because I have experienced that, and now I just have to pay it forward to the next generation.”