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4 hours ago, Zuk said:

Have you thought about the ethical implications of what you are proposing here?

What ethical implications? Interview prep and advice on applications can be provided without breaking confidentiality agreements. There's quite a few people on these forums who offer help and many people, especially those from smaller schools without good pre-med advice, benefit from it. 

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13 hours ago, Zuk said:

 

 

13 hours ago, Zuk said:

Have you thought about the ethical implications of what you are proposing here?

 

9 hours ago, OwnerOfTheTARDIS said:

What ethical implications? Interview prep and advice on applications can be provided without breaking confidentiality agreements. There's quite a few people on these forums who offer help and many people, especially those from smaller schools without good pre-med advice, benefit from it. 

Yeah I don't get why people have issues with coaching. Teaching interview skills and application strategy can be extremely helpful, and transformative for applicants. Thus, it's a skill/service that holds valuable. And you certainly don't have to do anything unethical to provide that service!

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32 minutes ago, PhD2MD said:

 

 

Yeah I don't get why people have issues with coaching. Teaching interview skills and application strategy can be extremely helpful, and transformative for applicants. Thus, it's a skill/service that holds valuable. And you certainly don't have to do anything unethical to provide that service!

The original poster has edited their post since my comment. In the post they suggested that having been through the process recently and having talked to many of their fellow classmates they have been able to surmise what UBC is looking for. They are offering to pass on this insider information to others and they stand to gain financially from it. That concerns me. 

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Yes,  I did remove a sentence in my original post, which stated that I have noticed "broad similarities in many successful applications". Obviously, it is through noting these similarities that I am able to give advice as to academic/extracurricular planning. I certainly do not have any "inside" information, nor do I claim to be disseminating confidential information related to the application process.

I decided to delete that sentence from my original post, as it seems that it may be a sensitive subject for some people. However, please consider that many applicants have significant unfair advantages by having doctors in the family, growing up with physician mentors, etc. I am just trying to level the playing field for those people who need the extra help... 

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17 minutes ago, UBC.MED said:

Yes,  I did remove a sentence in my original post, which stated that I have noticed "broad similarities in many successful applications". Obviously, it is through noting these similarities that I am able to give advice as to academic/extracurricular planning. I certainly do not have any "inside" information, nor do I claim to be disseminating confidential information related to the application process.

I decided to delete that sentence from my original post, as it seems that it may be a sensitive subject for some people. However, please consider that many applicants have significant unfair advantages by having doctors in the family, growing up with physician mentors, etc. I am just trying to level the playing field for those people who need the extra help... 

"Level the playing field" - likely for a fee of course ;)

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49 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said:

"Level the playing field" - likely for a fee of course  

By;)

Of course, that's the point. Providing a service that is in demand, ethically, in exchange for compensation. Nothing wrong with that! No reason to throw shade for someone being entrepreneurial with a side hustle that helps to pay out inflated tuition fees.

Disclaimer: this has been my side hustle for years. Training on becoming a good applicant does NOT need "insider" knowledge. I've expanded my buisness from training med school applicants to corporate interviewees doing behavioral interviews. I use the same process and have the same success rate in both fields, no "insider" knowledge required.

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59 minutes ago, PhD2MD said:

Of course, that's the point. Providing a service that is in demand, ethically, in exchange for compensation. Nothing wrong with that! No reason to throw shade for someone being entrepreneurial with a side hustle that helps to pay out inflated tuition fees.

Disclaimer: this has been my side hustle for years. Training on becoming a good applicant does NOT need "insider" knowledge. I've expanded my buisness from training med school applicants to corporate interviewees doing behavioral interviews. I use the same process and have the same success rate in both fields, no "insider" knowledge required.

My point was its ironic to say "level the playing field" when it just creates a different field, no shade at all - by all means make money. Nothing is wrong with that.  No need to try and put some "spin" on it by saying "doctors kids get in".      Because there will then be those without $$ who are left on a different field.

Canadians complaining about tuition $ is still funny. We have it very good, yes it could be better, but its not terrible at all. The debt to income ratio is much better than the US. I'll take 80-100k$ in tuition costs in the short term, for the generally well above average salaries on the world scale. Sure other countries have very cheap tuition..but then their salaries are often much lower, and training times longer. 

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3 hours ago, JohnGrisham said:

"Level the playing field" - likely for a fee of course ;)

Offering Assistance with application does not even the playing field if it's unaffordable.  It may actually create another layer of inequality amongst applicants. However, if it's affordable, it MAYBE useful ( to a small extent). I 've no data to support what I'm saying, I'm just speaking from experience. 

When I was pre-med student, I was lucky to have been able to afford MMI coaching,  but at a certain point I started to think it was not very useful.  I believe MMI coaching is useful for beginners who have no idea how to organize their response, but beyond that, I don't think it is super useful. If anyone is unable to afford MMI coaching but would still like to know what's the content generally offered in MMI coaching, I would be very happy to share my notes  (feel free to PM me). 

Last year, I was accepted to all 3 med schools I interviewed at despite having a low GPA,  and I actually barely practiced for my interviews in the months prior to my interviews.  I just went with the flow and I followed no MMI script nor had any plans about how to respond their MMI questions ( as I used to do previously), and it worked out for me.  You don't necessarily need MMI coaching to succeed in your interviews. 

P.S. I don't think MMI coaching is unethical. However, I do know a lot of people in my med school, who think it is unethical and not okay.  Dr. Ian Walker ( part of the U of C admission committee) had a blog post on MMI Application services few years ago and what he thinks of it.

Good luck to everyone going through the interviews process!!

 

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1 minute ago, End Poverty said:

Offering Assistance with application does not even the playing field if it's unaffordable.  It may actually create another layer of inequality amongst applicants. However, if it's affordable, it MAYBE useful ( to a small extent). I 've no data to support what I'm saying, I'm just speaking from experience. 

When I was pre-med student, I was lucky to have been able to afford MMI coaching,  but at a certain point I started to think it was not very useful.  I believe MMI coaching is useful for beginners who have no idea how to organize their response, but beyond that, I don't think it is super useful. If anyone is unable to afford MMI coaching but would still like to know what's the content generally offered in MMI coaching, I would be very happy to share my notes  (feel free to PM me). 

Last year, I was accepted to all 3 med schools I interviewed at despite having a low GPA,  and I actually barely practiced for my interviews in the months prior to my interviews.  I just went with the flow and I followed no MMI script nor had any plans about how to respond their MMI questions ( as I used to do previously), and it worked out for me.  

Good luck to everyone going through the interviews process!!

 

Providing targeted advice and one-on-one training is time-consuming and involves hard work on my part, as I take it very seriously. That is why I charge a fee (albeit much, much lower than what a large prep company would charge). As someone who couldn't afford help from prep companies, I found it very useful and more financially-friendly to seek out help from med students. I appreciate everyone's different perspectives; however, I stand firm that I am offering a quality, ethically-sound service, for an affordable price! No, I am not making the playing field 100% fair, but I don't think anyone is in the position to do that.

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I think the issue I have with this is that no one really knows what UBC is looking for so it's difficult to say how a recently successful applicant like yourself can "improve" an average interviewee, for example. The advice can even go in the opposite direction here. Each year, I watch a few applicants interview in-person or over Skype and I mostly just provide a few general tips to applicants who are just beginning to prepare for their interviews. This way they can still formulate their own personalized approach to these questions which is important. They need to act like themselves. This is even harder with applications...no one knows what's going on behind closed doors. 

Personally, I do these for free because I had received the same kind of help when I was starting to practice for my own interviews. We can always make money later but that's just my take on it. Cheers!

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On 2/18/2019 at 11:14 AM, JohnGrisham said:

"Level the playing field" - likely for a fee of course ;)

Agreed, it would be a lot easier to believe that the aim is to level the playing field when there is no fee involved. 

 

On 2/18/2019 at 12:09 PM, PhD2MD said:

Of course, that's the point. Providing a service that is in demand, ethically, in exchange for compensation. Nothing wrong with that! No reason to throw shade for someone being entrepreneurial with a side hustle that helps to pay out inflated tuition fees.

Disclaimer: this has been my side hustle for years. Training on becoming a good applicant does NOT need "insider" knowledge. I've expanded my buisness from training med school applicants to corporate interviewees doing behavioral interviews. I use the same process and have the same success rate in both fields, no "insider" knowledge required.

I agree that there is nothing inherently wrong with providing services in exchange for compensation. Also it sounds to me like you are have considered the ethics of your business. Based on what I saw written in the original post, it sounded shady to me. The language seemed designed to draw people in with a claim about having insights into the application criteria at UBC specifically, that the poster has been able glean from their own experiences and the experiences of others; All of whom have been afforded privileged access to that information for the expressed purpose of being evaluated as a candidate. Just because someone doesn't divulge specific questions that they were asked at an interview, does not mean that they should not consider wether their actions violate the spirit of the confidentially agreement that they have signed. So I thought it would be a good idea to ask about it, incase the original poster really hadn't thought this through all the way. I guess I also wanted to start a discussion, otherwise I could have sent it in a PM.

Edit: It turns out that I should have sent a private message and maybe started a discussion later on. As it happens my well intentioned comments lead to someone being targeted by threats. I'm really disappointed. Lesson learned.

 

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I very much echo @PremedToronto on this.

I've been applying to UBC for quite a while now.  During the process, I've been very grateful to have had the opportunity to meet many individuals, whether it be premeds, med students, faculty, or staff – over this period, I have come to understand a few things that could be potentially helpful in terms of writing one's application for UBC and how to prepare for the MMI effectively.  In conjunction with my own interview experiences, I think it's fair to say that I may know a thing or two.  But emphasis on "a thing or two" because what I know/have experience in may only be the tip of the iceberg.  Not to say that UBC's evaluation process is God-level complicated, because it needs to be practical and plausible.  However, it is complicated enough as it takes a while before decisions are reached, whether that be deciding if an applicant is suitable to receive an invitation to interview or if a candidate is admissible to the program.

In short, no one knows the process other than the admissions board.

I personally have nothing against any prep companies regarding application writing, MMI courses, or both.  I simply emphasize that these prep companies or anyone for that matter, except for the admissions committee, do not truly know what is the effective method (if there is such a thing).

I, too, love helping people completely free of charge.  Like I mentioned, I've been at this for a long time... throughout, I've received lots of help and support from numerous individuals.  I love contributing to that momentum for others when I have the time, especially for folks who've been struggling like myself.  But that is me.

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3 hours ago, Neurophiliac said:

I very much echo @PremedToronto on this.

I've been applying to UBC for quite a while now.  During the process, I've been very grateful to have had the opportunity to meet many individuals, whether it be premeds, med students, faculty, or staff – over this period, I have come to understand a few things that could be potentially helpful in terms of writing one's application for UBC and how to prepare for the MMI effectively.  In conjunction with my own interview experiences, I think it's fair to say that I may know a thing or two.  But emphasis on "a thing or two" because what I know/have experience in may only be the tip of the iceberg.  Not to say that UBC's evaluation process is God-level complicated, because it needs to be practical and plausible.  However, it is complicated enough as it takes a while before decisions are reached, whether that be deciding if an applicant is suitable to receive an invitation to interview or if a candidate is admissible to the program.

In short, no one knows the process other than the admissions board.

I personally have nothing against any prep companies regarding application writing, MMI courses, or both.  I simply emphasize that these prep companies or anyone for that matter, except for the admissions committee, do not truly know what is the effective method (if there is such a thing).

I, too, love helping people completely free of charge.  Like I mentioned, I've been at this for a long time... throughout, I've received lots of help and support from numerous individuals.  I love contributing to that momentum for others when I have the time, especially for folks who've been struggling like myself.  But that is me.

FYI I am a non-traditional student who has been employed in the past to hold interview development courses for working professionals. Interview skills can be developed just like any other skill. You don't need inside information to become a good interviewee :) Best of luck in your medical journey.

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