clever_smart_boy_like_me

Just type in SOLUS in google - it should pop up and then use the login you were given from your interview to access SOLUS.

Where is this email? Our ***@queensu.ca?

alas, also an athlete :/

Same

Check the waitlist thread.

I'm going to call later today too.

Well... this story is five years in the making so bear with me for length... It is quite the novel!! I wrote in the forum 2 years ago with hopes of gaining acceptance to UBC... hoping to write in this thread. Turns out it wasn't going to be that year, but finally... FINALLY .... this year. This is the year I get the honour of writing my success story!! For anyone struggling right now, it took me FOUR years of applications to get an acceptance! If you are continually improving yourself and your application/interview skills/grades/etc. stay focused on your goal and hang in there! I am 33 this year and began this journey five years ago while deciding to change careers from environmental/animal biology towards medicine. My first step was to go back to school for some prereqs for UBC during the summer. I had asked for time off from work and was so lucky to receive it. I completed the courses with good grades and began studying for the old MCAT. Then I saw that the MCAT was changing and got crazy stressed out so I signed up for a Princeton Review course to learn what exactly was going to be tested on this new MCAT. I found it difficult to focus my attention 100% on the MCAT as I was concurrently working fulltime. A tragedy struck my family and I had to take a month off from studying, and shortly thereafter decided to quit my safe, full-time job to float by on a part-time job and savings while dedicating myself 100% to my goal and dream: getting a good score on the MCAT and getting into medschool. I pushed my test date ahead once or maybe twice, can't remember, and when finally the day came for my test I arrived sleep-deprived because my cat had been sick all night and it was so hot out that I couldn't sleep... No matter! I scored decently well regardless (511) and forged onward with my first ever set of medical school applications! I applied broadly and received pre-interview rejections from all schools. I hadn't expected much because I knew it takes an average of 3 applications in Canada to get in. That fall (2015) I had gone back to school to take medically-relevant courses as I had not really done so during undergrad (just had done typical bio degree courses) so I had a lot to focus on regardless. I finished those up with awesome grades in April 2016 and began the process of reapplying. I rewrote all of my descriptions for UBC and added new activities and grades. I took some first aid courses and started working as a medic on construction/oil/gas sites. During the 2016-17 cycle I received one interview: UBC. I prepared extensively with the interview groups, taking time from work to focus on preparing. Interview day came and went and I felt confident but not overly hopeful so as to spare myself in case of rejection. Mid-May rolled around and the offers, rejections, and waitlist emails came out and I was gutted to find I had been rejected... No matter! Forging onward. It has only been 2 applications so far anyways... After a brief pity session I regained my composure and determination and set myself up for taking even more university courses and enrolling myself in an additional course that would eventually grant me employment as a paramedic. I felt the fire of my passion fueling me onward: “I will get in” was the feeling. I went back to school again at more than one institution and did a heavy load, full-time and got A+ in most of my classes... “This will be my year”... I got another interview with UBC for Feb 2018. Second interview, third application; this has to be my year! Mid-May 2018: post-interview rejection. “Ok.. I can recover.. I guess. One more try... I have all those courses I did... does that open any doors for me?? Oh, Queen's! McMaster?? Do I take the MCAT again? Ok, let's do that – I really don't want to”... I was scared I would get a worse score somehow... And to have to redo that test and work and ... “Let's just try re-applying again this year without redoing the MCAT... one last shot with this score and then I will re-evaluate”. I begin crafting my OMSAS applications, and re-doing my UBC application. All is well I think. I will probably get my UBC interview at least! (fingers were crossed) and maybe I would score an Ontario interview... December 2018 UBC interview results day comes: PRE-INTERVIEW REJECTION... My TFR dropped over 10-15 points, just like my jaw... my NAQ dropped from mid 30's to in the low 20's... What??? I was shocked... How??? I had added hours, courses, activities, my wording was excellent, I had been receiving interviews for two years in a row????? HOW!!!??? If you look back through the UBC threads around that time you will see that I wasn't doing well with the news and I wasn't expecting much from Queen's either as I had never received an interview with them thus far (I applied during my first application round in 2015-16 also). After feeling low for a few weeks or so I began to slowly gather my broken dream and tried to see a way to improve, again. Fifth time will be the charm I guess, mostly ignoring that I still had apps out in Ontario... I go on vacation to the Caribbean and forget for a while that OMSAS will be releasing interview invites. I don't have much hope but I check my email the morning of the second day of my vacation there to see I had received an interview!!! I cry with happiness!! This cycle may yet provide positive news!! I finish my vacation and return home. I take a month off work and set to focusing on my interview. I watched Ted talks, read, practiced solo and otherwise relaxed. Planned my trip to Ontario and set off in March 2019... The interview felt amazing. I loved the school, the people, the curriculum design... The panel was awesome, and I felt so confident when I got back to my hotel room. I spent the rest of the night in a positive buzz and then came home reservedly hopeful... The wait between interviews and decision day was agonizing... I had started to think about my 'what-ifs' for the year... If I get in – do I buy/rent? Do I get a new car? What about this? What about that? If I don't get in... redo MCAT? Go up north for work? Move to Alberta? Move to Ontario? Start Australia applications? Go to the States? What about Ireland... and on and on and on... to the point where I had considered quitting this goal and beginning to brain-storm alternate careers... I reluctantly decided I would give it one last try before giving up if I didn't get in for this cycle. This process had taken so many years from me and I felt stuck in limbo and stagnant. Mid-May rolls around... Waitlisted... Ok I guess that's better than being outright rejected, but man... MORE WAITING!!! I commit to my daily activities to stay busy. I have some hope but I try not to let it get too high – the waitlist for Queen's notoriously moves a lot, according to historical trends (as noted in the Queen's threads)... Many on the Queen's forum think that the first wave of waitlist offers are coming out May 28, 2 weeks after initial offers... I check my email like a crazy person early in the morning on May 28... and also the forums to see if there was any news yet... I go to bed (in the morning cuz I am a night person) only to be woken an hour later by a gardener with power tools... Okay, well if I am going to be awake for a bit again may as well see how the forum is doing... The waitlist thread is hot... “oh.. jeez, it's happening... let's see – yep people are getting offers. Better rip off the bandaid and check my email...” Queen's School of Medicine----- Oh my god. I don't even have to open this email to know what it is... Dear Clever_Smart_Boy_Like_Me, On behalf of the Admissions Committee of Queen's School of Medicine, we are pleased to provide to you a conditional offer of acceptance... I didn't even read any further than this, I just started sobbing...loudly... with the windows open... someone probably thought something terrible had happened... I start running around in my house sobbing and shaking!! All the years of hard work and determination and sacrifice I had made. All the hours I had spent working at this... Everything I had done in the past five years finally FINALLY paid off... I GOT INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL!! I feel almost moved to tears just writing this sentence. I called my dad and I couldn't even speak, I was just sobbing hysterically into the phone... between sobs I said “I got in” and started losing it again... he came over to my house right away with flowers and a card. I ran around all day telling those important to me that I finally got in. My family and I went to dinner that night to celebrate and I am planning a party to celebrate as well.. Logistics of this process have set in and I am working on all the info I have to provide for the school and getting finances in order and looking for a place to live but... the magnitude of this washes over me randomly throughout the day and I feel so elated and proud and like crying again all over. I AM GOING TO BE A DOCTOR!! I am the first in my immediate family to attend university. And within my family there are not many doctors (though I have learned I have at least 2?). This was a huge goal for me. From its inception in 2014 to its realization in 2019 I have grown so much as a person and with every decision I made towards improving myself and my application I reaffirmed my passion for medicine. It took five years of hard, gruelling work and determination, sleepless nights working on projects and courses, sacrifice, and planning to get where I am. It took four years of applications to get an acceptance. And I am finally in. I am finally in. QMED2023 PS: for those of you who are struggling or otherwise needing guidance on your applications I am willing to provide insight and advice

Can anyone see anything on OMSAS yet? I only found it in SOLUS and paid my deposit...

Thank you!!! I am so glad and relieved and it just feels great it has been so long for me!

I was crying in my own kitchen this morning when I called my dad and he came over so yeah, same!!

Accepted!! Story post to follow in the 'Non-trad success stories'.

Fingers crossed! :)

Hey, I am just rolling thoughts around in my head as I sit on Queen's' waitlist. After 4 cycles, I am losing my patience with this process and feeling very stagnant and defeated. Trying to find ways to regain some control over my life and start moving forward... Something I have wanted to do is move to Australia. My partner and I have friends there, like the country and have no significant ties to Canada. I am looking at applying to Monash U's graduate medical program... primarily because my MCAT is out of date for all the other schools (and I am not prepared to retake it right now) and the next GAMSAT is in September. Potentially considering writing the GAMSAT so it doesn't mess up my MCAT for Canadian schools. What are my chances for receiving an offer - I can't seem to find stats for international applicants' matriculation percentages. How about chances for receiving an Australian internship/residency and completing my training and becoming a full doctor there? I am particularly interested in emergency medicine, ob/gyn, trauma surgery... I am not set on any State or city. I am open to rural as well. I am likely going to scout out the country for 6 months to a year on a Working Holiday Visa if I don't get into Queen's and make sure I would be happy to live there, but I'm pretty sure already that I would be happy to be there forever if not quite a few years. I really need to move forward in my life and I feel as though I can't because I am waiting cycle after cycle, putting pause on major life decisions I would like to start making. Thanks for any words of advice/input/etc.

Thank you for your service! And congrats for two offers

Is there any reason I should log into SOLUS? And how does one do so?

Good to hear there is some hope for WL because I'm struggling with the wait :/

My own uninformed guess was originally 80 ppl, but hearing that 94 were offered from WL makes me think somewhere between 120-200 ppl on WL. Meaning like 200-280 got rejected today. But I know very little about Queen's' process and am just grasping as well.

Do we know if they offer in cycles? Like every two weeks or could it be literally any day any time?

Omg, I feel sick... waitlist is almost worse than just knowing...

Result: Waitlisted (Accepted off waitlist!!!! May 28 8:17am PDT) Timestamp: 8:44am EDT GPA: 3.96 MCAT: 511 EC: diverse, etc. Geography: OOP Interview: went well, panel was good Year: already have BSc

I'm scared to look I don't want the let-down feeling if I'm rejected... but I also want to know... in case I am accepted... Going to wait until 9am EDT to check anything.... Damn this is hard.

^ your screen name has been my mantra for the last month and a half

This wait is crazzzzyyyyy. Especially since UBC heard today. Wish they'd do it all at once

Good luck guys! (I'm waiting for OMSAS so don't cry for me!)

I personally wouldn't, but I'm not into that culture anyway... idk what to tell you. I personally think the perception about cannabis products is still too risky for applications... bear in mind it might affect you at the US border too?? I travel a lot to USA and I would consider residency in the States so these things are important to me. But that's my opinion for me.