Q&a With Mcgill Med Ambassadors

[SunAndMoon]

You're correct. The Faculty said that they are hoping to release the decisions on the week of March 16th. I can assure you that they are really working as hard as they can to get the decisions out as soon as possible, but the reality is that the process of reviewing candidates' performance at the MMIs is a lengthy and challenging one, and the Faculty wants to make sure that every candidate is equally considered. Hang in there though - the week of March 16th already is less than a month away!

I'm sure they are. It looks pretty complicated. I tried to figure it out and think about how ranking is made but I couldn't. It doesn't seem that we'd be compared by interview day because the composition of each day seems rather heterogeneous and the quality of one interview day's applicants/actors might vary significantly from another day. It'd also be hard to pool all the scores together and rank applicants according to that score because interview sessions vary significantly from day to day...I'm so curious as to how the process works haha

[tameimpala]

I'm sure they are. It looks pretty complicated. I tried to figure it out and think about how ranking is made but I couldn't. It doesn't seem that we'd be compared by interview day because the composition of each day seems rather heterogeneous and the quality of one interview day's applicants/actors might vary significantly from another day. It'd also be hard to pool all the scores together and rank applicants according to that score because interview sessions vary significantly from day to day...I'm so curious as to how the process works haha

My guess is that they transform the scores for the participants of a particular day/session into Z-scores and then compare the transformed scores with other candidates.

[RGK]

You're correct. The Faculty said that they are hoping to release the decisions on the week of March 16th. I can assure you that they are really working as hard as they can to get the decisions out as soon as possible, but the reality is that the process of reviewing candidates' performance at the MMIs is a lengthy and challenging one, and the Faculty wants to make sure that every candidate is equally considered. Hang in there though - the week of March 16th already is less than a month away!

Can you please provide some insight on how the final decisions are made ? I know that it is 80% MMI and 20% prereq GPA.......but really how does the process work ?

 

I am assuming that the candidate is scored on each of the 10 MMI stations and then a total score is calculated. But if that's the case then a simple mathematical formula on excel could finish the whole thing in a couple of seconds   Does the committee review the actual answers that the applicant has given during his/her interview ? Is there a camera in the MMI stations video recording everything so that committee members could replay what an applicant has said during the interview as an aid in the decision making process ?

[McGillMedAmbassadors]

Can you please provide some insight on how the final decisions are made ? I know that it is 80% MMI and 20% prereq GPA.......but really how does the process work ?

 

I am assuming that the candidate is scored on each of the 10 MMI stations and then a total score is calculated. But if that's the case then a simple mathematical formula on excel could finish the whole thing in a couple of seconds   Does the committee review the actual answers that the applicant has given during his/her interview ? Is there a camera in the MMI stations video recording everything so that committee members could replay what an applicant has said during the interview as an aid in the decision making process ?

 

I think you have a pretty good understanding of the overall process: the candidate is scored on each of the 10 MMI stations and total performance scores are calculated. You are also correct about the committee reviewing the actual answers of some candidates to reach a consensus about the actions of these candidates during some stations. This is the step that takes a long time. 

 

I know the wait might seem never-ending, but it is definitely not because we just want to keep you hanging! Let me reassure you that it is a rigorous process where each candidate is carefully examined (although there are no cameras to my knowledge). We all passed by this wait before getting our offers, so hang in there, and good luck!

[perle]

Ambassadors--I was wondering if you could tell us more about what you like the most about your experience at McGill so far!

[McGillMedAmbassadors]

Ambassadors--I was wondering if you could tell us more about what you like the most about your experience at McGill so far!

 

Hey there, 

 

Someone asked us this question on page 1 of this thread. Feel free to check it out, and if there are any points you'd like us to elaborate on, let us know!

[SunAndMoon]

Do you guys have any idea as to whether Admissions will give us a clearer date as we approach the week of March 16th or will we have to compulsively refresh Minerva and premed101 every 10-20 seconds?

[thsc]

Do you guys have any idea as to whether Admissions will give us a clearer date as we approach the week of March 16th or will we have to compulsively refresh Minerva and premed101 every 10-20 seconds?

I think the latter lol. 

 

I'm sure someone here is talented enough to write us a program that allows us to automatically refresh emails and minerva portal. 

[perle]

I think the latter lol. 

 

I'm sure someone here is talented enough to write us a program that allows us to automatically refresh emails and minerva portal. 

 

Yes please! Aha I'm already refreshing premed101 all the time. I confirm it does not make time go by any faster!

[McGillMedAmbassadors]

Do you guys have any idea as to whether Admissions will give us a clearer date as we approach the week of March 16th or will we have to compulsively refresh Minerva and premed101 every 10-20 seconds?

 

Unfortunately, so far, the target date remains somewhere within the week of March 16th. If anything more precise comes up, I'll let you know for sure! It's now only approx 10 days left until the 16th

[AGlamar]

I think the latter lol. 

 

I'm sure someone here is talented enough to write us a program that allows us to automatically refresh emails and minerva portal. 

They make a program that cancels everyone's application instead.

[choghok]

Do you know if its possible to apply to both Med and Dent at McGill at the same time? some schools say it shows lack of comitment. I personally like Med but I mean Dentistry is so much closer to Medicine than for example a master degree in economics! Can they figure out at McGill if you applied to Dent too or not? also are the interwiers the same or the place?
thanks a lot

[dreamcometrue]

How bad is it to completely bomb one of the stations? Would it ruin my chances?

thanks!

[perle]

How bad is it to completely bomb one of the stations? Would it ruin my chances?

thanks!

 

Yeah I heard that with the MEMs, they used to (/still might?) drop your lowest station when compiling final scores. Do you know if that is the case for McGill? 

[Storm_Bringer44]

Yeah I heard that with the MEMs, they used to (/still might?) drop your lowest station when compiling final scores. Do you know if that is the case for McGill? 

We were never told that McGill drops any of their stations so I really doubt it.

Perhaps someone with more information can confirm.

[Vigilante]

Yeah I heard that with the MEMs, they used to (/still might?) drop your lowest station when compiling final scores. Do you know if that is the case for McGill? 

 

Oh that would be really great!

[SunAndMoon]

I'm fairly sure some of the francophone universities do it, but not McGill.

[RedLily]

I know you can't say for sure, but since McGill Med's twitter hasn't posted otherwise, is it fairly safe to assume that MDCM applicants should be hearing back Monday? 

 

This waiting… 

[Arztin]

Not before Monday for sure. i.e. it could be after...

It's that time of the year where you will F5 religiously and fanatically anyways.

 

http://endlessvideo.com/watch?v=xKJcNDZd7_I

Edited March 13, 2015 by Arztin

[McGillMedAmbassadors]

I know you can't say for sure, but since McGill Med's twitter hasn't posted otherwise, is it fairly safe to assume that MDCM applicants should be hearing back Monday? 

 

This waiting… 

 

 

I checked with the adcom and they are working really hard to get you the results by Monday guys!! It's soon; try to do something fun this weekend to take your mind off the stress (although we all know how easily said that is compared to how hard it is to do)!!

[McGillMedAmbassadors]

Do you know if its possible to apply to both Med and Dent at McGill at the same time? some schools say it shows lack of comitment. I personally like Med but I mean Dentistry is so much closer to Medicine than for example a master degree in economics! Can they figure out at McGill if you applied to Dent too or not? also are the interwiers the same or the place?

thanks a lot

 

It is definitely possible to apply to both dent and med at the same time at McGill. I don't know much about the dent admissions, but I have heard that at the moment, if you apply to both, you will get one interview (for both) since both faculties are using MMIs to evaluate candidates. Whether if it looks or bad, I think it would depend on your explanation regarding why you apply to both med and dent, should this question ever come up. 

 

Best thing to get more info about the interview process itself for dent is to contact the faculty of dentistry. After all, it is possible that although the majority of the stations are the same, people in dent might get an extra few stations evaluated by the faculty of dentistry. Good luck!

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

This cycle, the stations for med and dent were the exact same and applicants who interviewed for both did the MMI once. The results/scores are then sent to both faculties and each faculty individually evaluates/interprets the results. They did mention that each faculty may use the results differently bc they could be looking for slightly different things in an applicant.

[McGillMedAmbassadors]

For everybody who received their offer of admission: congratulations! Your hard work has finally paid off!

 

This is the official fb group for McGill Med Class of 2019: https://www.facebook.com/groups/803826626398728/

 

Those who are waitlisted: please do not lose hope! We know for a fact that the waitlist does move - applicants, for many different reasons (admission to another med school, location of the city, family and friends, etc), can choose to decline an offer of admission, and the waitlist stays active until very late in August, very likely until right before the beginning of orientation. 

 

If you have been refused, we would like to say that it does not necessarily mean that you were any less qualified. Med school admissions, along with the MMIs, sometimes simply do not work out in our favor, and many of our friends have had to apply more than once before getting in. If medicine is what you want to do, we urge you to reconsider your application and to re-apply in the following years.

 

Thank you all very much for considering McGill - best of luck in the future! 

[perle]

Thank you so much for all your time and help, ambassadors! It looks like we need a McGill email address to sign up for this group. Any idea when we will get ours?

[McGillMedAmbassadors]

Thank you so much for all your time and help, ambassadors! It looks like we need a McGill email address to sign up for this group. Any idea when we will get ours?

 

For the fb group, turns out emails are only generated come registration time, which is in a few more months...sorry for the wait!