Change In Requirements For Admission

[NonTrad911]

Disclaimer: The application cycle opening in 2017 for admission in August 2018 is NOT affected by the following information. 

 

As alluded to in a number of threads in this topic, the requirements for admission to the University of Alberta MD Program have been updated. As published in the University of Alberta Calendar¹, for the cycle opening in 2018, admission to the MD program will require an undergraduate degree. The minimum GPA for residents of Alberta remains 3.3, with out of province applicants at a minimum of 3.5 on a 4 point scale. Admission decisions will be based on the overall GPA, MCAT Score, Interview Score, Letters of Reference and Personal Activities. The lowest year GPA will be dropped from the GPA calculation, provided it is not the most recent year or the only year in which 30 credits were obtained in a contiguous fall/winter session. There is no information on whether courses in a Spring/Summer term are included in the GPA calculation. 

In the past, I have been caught by the statement "requirements for admission" at the UofA, as many other schools list "requirements to apply." Therefore, I obtained confirmation from the UME Office, "requirements for admission" means that an individual may apply in the summer between 3rd and 4th year of their undergraduate degree, as at the time of admission an applicant would be reasonably expected to have convocated their degree. Offers of admission to such individuals would remain conditional. I have not seen any information on the breakdown of scoring at the moment, but I would expect it to be released leading up to when the application cycle opens in 2018. 

This is unconfirmed: there was language described (but not in the calendar) that allowances may be made on a case by case basis for 3-year undergraduate degrees as well as degrees which are completed using credit from a diploma.  

As a non-traditional applicant who has started from scratch in my undergrad after completing a diploma in health care that is considered ineligible to apply, I was quite upset with these changes. It just puts up more barriers to getting in, and is a further fiscal barrier in the path to physician-hood. The discussion of 3 year and diploma completion degrees is somewhat reassuring, but not having any language in the calendar does not bode well. Thoughts?


¹ http://calendar.ualberta.ca/content.php?catoid=20&navoid=5076#doctor_of_medicine_(md)

[adhominem]

Just to clarify, where does it state in the calendar that the degree requirement begins for the class entering in 2019? I was under the impression these changes were effective for the 2017/2018 cycle.

[NonTrad911]

The admissions representative identified that changes made to the calendar must be published for one year before they come into effect. I heard the statement 3rd hand, but I am confident in the authority of who made the statement.

[GH0ST]

Disclaimer: The application cycle opening in 2017 for admission in August 2018 is NOT affected by the following information. 

 

As alluded to in a number of threads in this topic, the requirements for admission to the University of Alberta MD Program have been updated. As published in the University of Alberta Calendar¹, for the cycle opening in 2018, admission to the MD program will require an undergraduate degree. The minimum GPA for residents of Alberta remains 3.3, with out of province applicants at a minimum of 3.5 on a 4 point scale. Admission decisions will be based on the overall GPA, MCAT Score, Interview Score, Letters of Reference and Personal Activities. The lowest year GPA will be dropped from the GPA calculation, provided it is not the most recent year or the only year in which 30 credits were obtained in a contiguous fall/winter session. There is no information on whether courses in a Spring/Summer term are included in the GPA calculation. 

 

In the past, I have been caught by the statement "requirements for admission" at the UofA, as many other schools list "requirements to apply." Therefore, I obtained confirmation from the UME Office, "requirements for admission" means that an individual may apply in the summer between 3rd and 4th year of their undergraduate degree, as at the time of admission an applicant would be reasonably expected to have convocated their degree. Offers of admission to such individuals would remain conditional. I have not seen any information on the breakdown of scoring at the moment, but I would expect it to be released leading up to when the application cycle opens in 2018. 

 

This is unconfirmed: there was language described (but not in the calendar) that allowances may be made on a case by case basis for 3-year undergraduate degrees as well as degrees which are completed using credit from a diploma.  

 

As a non-traditional applicant who has started from scratch in my undergrad after completing a diploma in health care that is considered ineligible to apply, I was quite upset with these changes. It just puts up more barriers to getting in, and is a further fiscal barrier in the path to physician-hood. The discussion of 3 year and diploma completion degrees is somewhat reassuring, but not having any language in the calendar does not bode well. Thoughts?

 

 

¹ http://calendar.ualberta.ca/content.php?catoid=20&navoid=5076#doctor_of_medicine_(md)

 

Hello there, 

 

First off after going through your entire post and reaching the end I cannot begin to imagine the frustration you may feel as a result of this new admissions requirement change creating a barrier for you. One supporting argument for this change was to help the school try to promote students to explore their life choices rather than those applying within 2 or 3 years thinking only about medical school admissions. The MD program at the UofA is slowly trying to be more holistic in their approach to medical school admission and trying to put less emphasis on grades alone (we'll leave the debate of whether or not this new rule is fair or unfair for another time). Unfortunately from your situation it does seem unfair that you slipped through the cracks. I don't know how I or the UME admissions office can help with your plight but I wish you well in applying to medical school. 

 

Best wishes, 

 

- G 

[carebthenarb]

Disclaimer: The application cycle opening in 2017 for admission in August 2018 is NOT affected by the following information.

for the cycle opening in 2018, admission to the MD program will require an undergraduate degree.

 

means that an individual may apply in the summer between 3rd and 4th year of their undergraduate degree, as at the time of admission an applicant would be reasonably expected to have convocated their degree.

 

Oh, I was under the impression it was effective immediately. I'm finishing up my 2nd year now, and if I finish my degree in 4 years, will I be in time for the 2018 cycle? I thought I needed to wait a whole year before needing to apply to the U of A again if I don't do well in the interview tomorrow. Or do I need to actually finish my degree and have it in my hands before applying?

 

I personally don't really like the change to be honest. If the admissions want students to figure out what to do with their life choices(by requiring a degree) instead of just thinking med school admissions, why not make the just requirement to be 4 years of post-secondary? You'd achieve mostly the same effect, as most degrees require 4 years, so a student will still pick their degree and work towards it anyway, and finish it by 4 years, then apply. This would allow those who made a life-choice halfway through their first degree to still apply.

 

I'll use myself as an example. I've recently started realizing that I really enjoy Biochem. So I'm thinking of switching into a Biochem major if I don't get into med school. However, as it stands, I think I'll have to finish a year late due to the way my schedule ended up in the past two years before getting my degree. If I want to apply to medical school, this would dissuade me from going to Biochem and just do general chem because I'll finish it faster.

 

I know a friend who would want to apply to the U of A, but she's in 5th year and still hasn't completed her undergrad due to switching degrees and whatnot. She's crazy intelligent, has really good interpersonal skills and ECs, and honestly one of the best candidates for MD I know. She won't be able to apply due to the degree requirement and would have to spend more time and money to finish it before doing what she really wants to do(after thinking about it for a while).

[HiHopes]

I think that schools are slowly realizing that there must be something kind of wrong in a system that asks you to have some university education just for the sake of getting into the school. I think the move towards Canadian med schools needing a degree will happen sooner or later (and I am pulling this out of my @$s but it's something I always reckoned would happen) because it's just not right having these people go through 2-3 years of education and then plucking them out of this education, many of whom will never finish it afterwards, and put them in med. The way I see it, if they want equitable access to medicine, which Canadian schools have shown more and more interest in (this means that they are slowing moving away from applicants with a homogeneously rich background, with a homogeneously perfect academic score, to include more mature, less rich, more diverse populations), they either choose to pick people straight out of high school, which I don't see happening in my lifetime in Canada, or they ask for an entire degree.

Now how is that reasonable? For someone of a poorer background to have to do 4 years instead of two? Well, the way I see it is that in the four years case, you are actually working toward a degree and thus there is a pay-off independent of med. If you worked through 2 years of undergrad just for med and you never get in med, there was no intrinsic value in the 2 years you studied. This is compounded by the fact that most high schoolers with an interest in med will still do science in university as a pathway to medicine (whether or not they want to or like doing it necessarily).

Lastly, it will certainly make for more mature candidates.

 

Overall, there will be cases that get kind of messed up because of the change, but I think they're moving towards needing a degree for a reason, and that the decision is a hard but important enough one that they are just doing it (albeit giving a small time frame in which for applicants to become accostumed to the change). Thinking in their shoes, it makes their process easier, their applicants better, and the system a tad bit more equitable.

 

 

**Edited to make something clearer.

[adhominem]

I think the move for a degree vs. X number of years of school is that they want graduates of U of A med to have credentials that match their level of experience. There is more value to saying a person has completed their bachelors degree in X rather than they've completed a couple years in a couple different programs

[HiHopes]

Right. I was kind of assuming that "completely bachelors" = 4 years when in fact it can take any number of years. Good observation!