Mcat Cutoffs

[keener12345]

.

[helicase]

They vary year to year. From the posts of those who have been admitted/interviewed, it seems like it's ok to have one lower section as long as 3/4 are like >127.

[slickvic]

507 total, 2/4 at least over 127

[dancex123]

507 total, 2/4 at least over 127

 

Is that what they told you on the phone?

[helicase]

507 total, 2/4 at least over 127

 

what no really?! That would be far more lenient than they have been with the old MCAT...

[Rabu]

what no really?! That would be far more lenient than they have been with the old MCAT...

 

From the interview invite/regrets forums it seems some received interviews with 10+ in 2/3 sections on the old MCAT, but yes it seems less stringent now with 127+ in 2/4. I guess it also depends if you're a graduate student or not.

[macd]

From the interview invite/regrets forums it seems some received interviews with 10+ in 2/3 sections on the old MCAT, but yes it seems less stringent now with 127+ in 2/4. I guess it also depends if you're a graduate student or not.

 

I think slickvic said it was 2/4 over 127, not 127+.

[macd]

From the interview invite/regrets forums it seems some received interviews with 10+ in 2/3 sections on the old MCAT, but yes it seems less stringent now with 127+ in 2/4. I guess it also depends if you're a graduate student or not.

 

Also, the MCAT cutoffs for graduate students are the same from my understanding. Just a lower GPA is accepted

[helicase]

From the interview invite/regrets forums it seems some received interviews with 10+ in 2/3 sections on the old MCAT, but yes it seems less stringent now with 127+ in 2/4. I guess it also depends if you're a graduate student or not.

I was more surprised with the 507 total (76th percentile).. considering the old accepted total cutoff was 32 (88th percentile). 

[Rabu]

I was more surprised with the 507 total (76th percentile).. considering the old accepted total cutoff was 32 (88th percentile). 

 

Well interviews were given last cycle to those who received 508, which is ~80th percentile, still far from 88th percentile.

[Rabu]

I think slickvic said it was 2/4 over 127, not 127+.

 

So 128+ in 2/4

[dancex123]

Are you guys basing the 507/128+ in 2/4 sections off last years posts or is this actually confirmed?

[helicase]

Are you guys basing the 507/128+ in 2/4 sections off last years posts or is this actually confirmed?

 

 

Well interviews were given last cycle to those who received 508, which is ~80th percentile, still far from 88th percentile.

 

Sigh such a black box! I find it hard to believe that they would actually confirm anything though tbh...

[Crispy_Dorito]

;

[IMislove]

Are interview invites based on ECs/reference letters at all? I know it's 100% post-interview

 

"The Queen's School of Medicine uses the detailed autobiographical sketch as part of the application evaluation.   This submission provides our assessors with a snapshot of a candidate's personal experiences and achievements."

 

"Candidates are required to have three reference letters with accompanying Confidential Assessment Forms submitted with their application.  These letters are considered in the assessment of applications. "

 

So yes, pre-interview it definitely counts in some way. I am sure everything gets ranked according to how the assessors mark your EC's/letters. It probably it something like Ottawa, they have a GPA cut-off, and then rank. Same with the MCAT. We just don't know the %weight of all the application components.

[helicase]

"The Queen's School of Medicine uses the detailed autobiographical sketch as part of the application evaluation.   This submission provides our assessors with a snapshot of a candidate's personal experiences and achievements."

 

"Candidates are required to have three reference letters with accompanying Confidential Assessment Forms submitted with their application.  These letters are considered in the assessment of applications. "

 

So yes, pre-interview it definitely counts in some way. I am sure everything gets ranked according to how the assessors mark your EC's/letters. It probably it something like Ottawa, they have a GPA cut-off, and then rank. Same with the MCAT. We just don't know the %weight of all the application components.

 

Also the fact that you see people being pre-interview rejected with 520+ MCAT and >3.9 GPAs...

[RicardoKaká]

Im pretty sure they do it this way

 

1. They have a certain GPA/MCAT cutoff, the computer screens out applicants based on these two initial criteria (Grad students seen separately in terms of GPA).

 

2. No more weighting is applied to GPA/MCAT after the screening process. Applicants are ranked in terms of ECs/LORs at this point.

 

3. Interview is determined based on rankings from #2.

 

This would make sense why you see 4.0's/528's being rejected from Queen's. They essentially dont see these components, just your non-academics.. So although you need to make the GPA/MCAT cutoffs, interview selections are coming from rankings based on non-academics.

 

Pure speculation however, take that with a grain of salt... but it makes sense.

[IMislove]

Im pretty sure they do it this way

 

1. They have a certain GPA/MCAT cutoff, the computer screens out applicants based on these two initial criteria (Grad students seen separately in terms of GPA).

 

2. No more weighting is applied to GPA/MCAT after the screening process. Applicants are ranked in terms of ECs/LORs at this point.

 

3. Interview is determined based on rankings from #2.

 

This would make sense why you see 4.0's/528's being rejected from Queen's. They essentially dont see these components, just your non-academics.. So although you need to make the GPA/MCAT cutoffs, interview selections are coming from rankings based on non-academics.

 

Pure speculation however, take that with a grain of salt... but it makes sense.

 

Same thing happens at Mac and Ottawa. So I would say it has less weight than Toronto, and close enough to Mac to see that type of result happen often.

[RicardoKaká]

Same thing happens at Mac and Ottawa. So I would say it has less weight than Toronto, and close enough to Mac to see that type of result happen often.

 

Ottawa puts a lot more emphasis on GPA in terms of inviting for interview, whereas Queen's does not. That's why the mean GPA of people accepted at Queen's is a lot lower.

[IMislove]

Ottawa has a higher initial cut-off than Queens, that is why you see higher GPA at Ottawa. 3.85 vs 3.7/3.75ish (or lower for graduates it seems), least in the years I have seen since 2013/2014 cycle. At Ottawa, you still get people with lower 3.9's getting interviews and those with 4.0's and 3.98's not getting them, It's just a more narrow range. If we had to rank GPA weighting for the three, then yes I would probably say Mac<Queens<Ottawa. Again with the marking scheme, people's GPA become bunched up, that EC's are definitely used to distinguish people.

 

Now if your theory is correct about GPA only being used for cut-off, then yes GPA definitely matters a lot less than what I am stating, heck I would completely denounce my theory. But we only have the GPA's from the forums (which for UG's are noticeably higher than the graduate or non-trad applicants), we do not actually know what it is as they do not publish it. GPA mean could still be high, we do not know.

 

At the end of the day, we are definitely speculating, and all should be taken with a grain of salt as you said .

[helicase]

Ottawa has a higher initial cut-off than Queens, that is why you see higher GPA at Ottawa. 3.85 vs 3.7/3.75ish (or lower for graduates it seems), least in the years I have seen since 2013/2014 cycle. At Ottawa, you still get people with lower 3.9's getting interviews and those with 4.0's and 3.98's not getting them, It's just a more narrow range. If we had to rank GPA weighting for the three, then yes I would probably say Mac<Queens<Ottawa. Again with the marking scheme, people's GPA become bunched up, that EC's are definitely used to distinguish people.

 

Now if your theory is correct about GPA only being used for cut-off, then yes GPA definitely matters a lot less than what I am stating, heck I would completely denounce my theory. But we only have the GPA's from the forums (which for UG's are noticeably higher than the graduate or non-trad applicants), we do not actually know what it is as they do not publish it. GPA mean could still be high, we do not know.

 

At the end of the day, we are definitely speculating, and all should be taken with a grain of salt as you said .

 

Also remember we are only seeing a small fraction of the stats of invited applicants!

[Rabu]

Also remember we are only seeing a small fraction of the stats of invited applicants!

 

Indeed! If only we knew it all! 

[ema2iur]

I don't think the 2/4 128+ is not accurate. In the accepted and rejected thread on page 24 was waitlisted with a 127/126/128/127 with only undergrad completed. So they did get an interview. Another student that was in grad school was accepted with 127/127/129/127.

[Rabu]

I don't think the 2/4 128+ is not accurate. In the accepted and rejected thread on page 24 was waitlisted with a 127/126/128/127 with only undergrad completed. So they did get an interview. Another student that was in grad school was accepted with 127/127/129/127.

 

May have changed this year though. Can't know for sure!

[ema2iur]

Agreed. But at least we have evidence that just as recently as the last application cycle students were accepted with lower than 2/4 with 128+, so I'm not sure where this cutoff comes from. The committee wouldn't reveal this information as we know so could someone clarify how this number was created? I think historically with the old MCAT successful applicants needed a balanced score of 30+ with pretty much all sections 10+, but this doesn't seem to hold anymore as people have been interviewed and accepted with a low section here and there. To me if I was speculating all I would say is that it seems that there might be a better chance for current applicants with a section such as 125/126 (even lower) than past applicants with a 9 in a section, but just speculating.

 

By the way, the Associate Dean of Medicine at Queen's runs a blog (http://meds.queensu.ca/blog/undergraduate/). I remember reading an article he posted last year talking about wanting even more diversity in their school, which I heard is something he really believes in from a current medical student. This might mean that Queen's has softened their internal academic cutoffs more recently to look at applicants all the more holistically. This could be a factor in explaining lower MCAT requirements.  

May have changed this year though. Can't know for sure!