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Western interview invites/regrets 2019


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8 minutes ago, TheBananaStand said:

I've just received a rejection that said my GPA was below the threshold, which I know is not the case. Did anyone else have something like this happen to them? 

That happened to me too, I emailed them about it now. I have one year that meets the cutoffs (MCAT sections all meet cutoffs too), then I did a MSc and now I'm in a special year (meeting all the requirements). I confirmed everything with admissions 100 times this summer to make sure I would be eligible. I don't think this makes any difference but I am SWOMEN. I'm worried because even if they did make a mistake, they have to go through my whole application now (marking aABS) and they may have already decided on how many ppl they are interviewing.

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7 minutes ago, Apex said:

Did you meet the cutoffs in each of your 2 best years?  If that is the case and you met all the other MCAT cutoffs, I'd strongly urge you to contact the admissions office right away.  

I did, only in year 1 I  did not, but it is not one of my 2 best years. MCAT cutoffs were far exceeded. I don't want to get my hopes up tho. I've contacted them. 

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3 minutes ago, mothernature said:

That happened to me too, I emailed them about it now. I have one year that meets the cutoffs (MCAT sections all meet cutoffs too), then I did a MSc and now I'm in a special year (meeting all the requirements). I confirmed everything with admissions 100 times this summer to make sure I would be eligible. I don't think this makes any difference but I am SWOMEN. I'm worried because even if they did make a mistake, they have to go through my whole application now (marking aABS) and they may have already decided on how many ppl they are interviewing.

traditionally if they find they have an error (they are human) then they fix it, and if you should have an interview then you end up with one eventually. The first step is to confirm there was a mistake - which of course won't be immediate as the office will be flooded. 

 

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29 minutes ago, TheBananaStand said:

Agreed this is my worry as well. But if the mistake is on their end sure offering 1 or 2 more interviews can't be that out of the question right? Idk what to think 

I would say you are right - admissions everywhere and western in particular may be at times cold but not unfair. I have always seen them correct any issue that pops up like this. More streamlined before all this ABS stuff but I still don't think anything fundamentally would change in that regard. 

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16 minutes ago, freesia said:

 

 

You should definitely call them as it seems as though both of you met the cut-offs for MCAT and GPA?? Unless they stated the ABS was the issue...

The wording of the email implied that MCAT and GPA are considered only non-competitively. Essentially, that achievement of the cutoffs (3.7, 128) was all that was evaluated, and that review of ABS and references was the main factor. Of course this is only speculation, but the wording of the email strongly suggested that.

Luckily, I would have had to cancel this or another interview because of interview conflicts - so my decision was made for me! 

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1 hour ago, Rabeprazole said:

Literally no clue what I should do. SWOMEN, exceeded all cut offs, rejected. Just really, really surprised. The only school that I have left is Toronto.

Congratulations to everyone else! I hope you all do great.

 

join the club, i exceeded all of the cutoffs and ABS was BY FAR the strongest part of my application and didnt get an invite, not a single invite in all of ontario, alberta, BC or the US. How many years do we keep our lives on hold waiting to just get lucky? they should just make it a lottery...

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Invite/reject: Invite :) 

Timestamp: 11:17 AM

IP/OOP: OOP

cGPA: 3.75 

MCAT (CHEM/CARS/BIO/PYSCH): 508 (126/129/128/125)

ABS Score (If available): Not published

I've posted below but here is a bit on my ECs and ABS (this is obviously what got me an interview) As ECs I've done a lot of  research both clinical and not for a finishing 3yr-bachelor student  (grants, presentations,articles in review, honors research program in my bachelor), volunteering as counselor and in medical accompaniment,  executive positions in clubs for 2years or more (Artistic, Amnesty International) as well as co-founding, organizing events, survival canoe expeditions and other shorter commitments. My ABS touched on all of these and I spent A LOT of time on it. 

I can't remember if Western looks at references but I also tried to make those diverse (Humanities professor, psychiatric nurse and MD research supervisor).

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ok clearly this year the ABS is playing a major role after cut offs have been reached. That is causing, and understandably so, frustration as now people don't have the seem level of information as per before. Honestly in years past this invite/reject thread wasn't really all that useful on a practical level as if you had the cutoffs you got an interview - not much to discuss. That is now different clearly. 

If people would add a brief summary of their ECS etc that probably would be of great use to further people. This is what is done in other subforms where people are more used to there being subjective sections involved in their evaluation. 

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10 minutes ago, dryorku said:

can you describe your ABS or ECs?

Sure, I assume many will be surprised by my invite.

As ECs I've done a lot of  research both clinical and not for a finishing 3yr-bachelor student  (grants, presentations,articles in review, honors research program in my bachelor), volunteering as counselor and in medical accompaniment,  executive positions in clubs for 2years or more (Artistic, Amnesty International) as well as co-founding, organizing events, survival canoe expeditions and other shorter commitments. My ABS touched on all of these and I spent A LOT of time on it. 

I can't remember if Western looks at references but I also tried to make those diverse (Humanities professor, psychiatric nurse and MD research supervisor).

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Invite/reject: Invite  

Timestamp: 11:10 AM

IP/OOP: IP

SWOMEN: nope

best 2-year cGPA: 3.80 

overall cGPA: 3.38 (yikes)

MCAT (CHEM/CARS/BIO/PYSCH): 518 (129/128/130/131)

ECs: one publication (2nd author, in Nature), 1 paper in submission (lead-author), several conferences; MPH degree (course-based, completed); pretty good work experience with public health and research groups locally and abroad; volunteered with HIV/AIDS organization and through school as a peer-counsellor/mentor; lots of school ECs (mostly non-serious stuff though; cheerleading in highschool, theatre, frosh week, some student governance); a few awards in my master's degree

My undergrad GPA was ROUGH (2.74 gpa in first year, lol) so I really benefited from Western looking only at the 2 best years - have, as expected,  been rejected from others.

Best of luck to everyone !! Don't give up! 

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Rejected

IP

SWOMEN

best 2 year GPA- 3.83

MCAT 127/128/131/130/516

ECs: heres where I dont understand... 7 years in the royal canadian air cadets, 3 medals and 2 other awards with them, along with scholarships to earn my glider and private pilots licence plus 3 week survival course at CFB borden and 2 week basic training at CFB trenton. 4 years hospital volunteer, 2 years clinic volunteer, many other random event volunteering. 500 hours with the YMCA volunteer, worked at YMCA as camp counselor, worked at car wash for a year, worked in a factory over the summer, do lots of music and sports, very active outdoors, currently restoring a 23 year old land rover frame-off, played hockey for 14 years, coach high school track and field (and was an athlete in HS). 

only thing I dont have is research... apparently that is the missing ticket, even though I was told otherwise... Got no interview from anywhere in ontario, Dal, mcgill, alberta, BC or the states, not one. good luck to anyone with an interview

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Invite/reject: Invite  

Timestamp: 11:10 AM

IP/OOP: IP

SWOMEN: No

best 2-year cGPA: 3.92

overall cGPA: 3.79

MCAT (CHEM/CARS/BIO/PYSCH): 516 (129/128/128/131)

ECs: My activities were a long-term retail job, summer research job, other research with no publications, academic journal club president, varied hospital volunteering, and some other club exec positions I'm leaving out as they would dox me

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Rejected 

Timestamp: 11:54 AM

IP and SWOMEN

Best 2 year GPA- 3.94

cGPA- 3.9

MCAT - 128/128/130/130 - 516

EC’s - 7 years of employment as lifeguard and swim instructor, including many advanced qualifications.  Worked as a student recruiter at my local university. Medical mission trip in Haiti. 2 years of hospital volunteering. Exec member of many student clubs - clubs advocating for the homeless, mental health awareness. Golden key international honour society chapter social media exec. Former Rotarian with my local Rotary club, etc.

Finishing up a very competitive masters program. 

 

I honestly don’t understand. I managed interviews at Ottawa, Mac, and Toronto. I’m grateful for those opportunities, but Western was my dream school so I can’t help but feel disappointed.  Thought that this was the one school I was a shoe in for an interview for, especially being SWOMEN, but I was definitely wrong I guess. Perhaps it is my lack of research?? Not all docs need to be researchers. Seems to me like the school wants more publications in their name or something, who knows.

Wishing everyone out there the best of luck on their interviews. You all have worked hard and deserve it. And for those of you who are having a devastating day like me, I would just like to remind you that this is the fault of a flawed system and that you are all smart, capable, caring applicants. Don’t give up on the dream. 

 

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1 hour ago, weekendwarriors87 said:

Rejected

IP

SWOMEN

best 2 year GPA- 3.83

MCAT 127/128/131/130/516

ECs: heres where I dont understand... 7 years in the royal canadian air cadets, 3 medals and 2 other awards with them, along with scholarships to earn my glider and private pilots licence plus 3 week survival course at CFB borden and 2 week basic training at CFB trenton. 4 years hospital volunteer, 2 years clinic volunteer, many other random event volunteering. 500 hours with the YMCA volunteer, worked at YMCA as camp counselor, worked at car wash for a year, worked in a factory over the summer, do lots of music and sports, very active outdoors, currently restoring a 23 year old land rover frame-off, played hockey for 14 years, coach high school track and field (and was an athlete in HS). 

only thing I dont have is research... apparently that is the missing ticket, even though I was told otherwise... Got no interview from anywhere in ontario, Dal, mcgill, alberta, BC or the states, not one. good luck to anyone with an interview

I have zero research and got an invite so I doubt that's it. Sorry to hear you got rejected though. You seem like a great candidate. Maybe your ABS was a weak point?

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Rejected

IP 

Best 2 year GPA- 3.96

cGPA- 3.94

MCAT - 132/130/132/130 - 524

 

Cant believe it how this process works. Had good ECs and ABS. Got called from IVY schools, USA. I think there is a loophole in the system. The policies are not transparent. If anyone very well deserving  is looking into taking a legal route, do reply to me. Im in. I would like to know where i went wrong. I am sure there are a lot of deserving students who think the same way. 

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1 hour ago, AKGNF said:

I have zero research and got an invite so I doubt that's it. Sorry to hear you got rejected though. You seem like a great candidate. Maybe your ABS was a weak point?

I had a med student read over my ABS for 2 months and perfected it, I literally did my applications full time after my MCAT, so I dont think they were poorly written. 

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