jero123 Posted February 22, 2019 Report Share Posted February 22, 2019 Does anyone know how the special year works for conditional acceptance?  I did a 4-year undergrad, and my last 2 year GPA were (3.74 and 3.86), however, I only had 28 CH in year 3, so it won't be considered a full course load by western. I am therefore looking to apply this year with only one year that meets the GPA cutoff. My question is: Do I have to take the special year courses during the application cycle?  In other words, I don't wanna waste my time taking another full year of undergrad classes if they are not gonna accept me. Or would it be possible to take the special year after I get my conditional acceptance?  I am currently in the 2nd year of my master's program and will graduate with 2 first authored publications by the summer. Also, does it matter where I go for the special year? Thank you all so much in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unduhkuvahbruddah Posted February 22, 2019 Report Share Posted February 22, 2019 10 minutes ago, jero123 said: Does anyone know how the special year works for conditional acceptance? I did a 4-year undergrad, and my last 2 year GPA were (3.74 and 3.84), however, I only had 28 CH in year 3, so it won't be considered a full course load by western. I am therefore looking to apply this year with only one year that meets the GPA cutoff. My question is: Do I have to take the special year courses during the application cycle? In other words, I don't wanna waste my time taking another full year of undergrad classes if they are not gonna accept me. Or would it be possible to take the special year after I get my conditional acceptance? I am currently in the 2nd year of my master's program and will graduate with 2 first authored publications by the summer. Also, does it matter where I go for the special year? Thank you all so much in advance! Ok I gotchu. I am in a similar situation but one year after you. So I did my undergrad (UWO) then MSc (UofT) now I’m in my special year (York). I applied this past September and have an interview coming up in March. To answer your last question, the special year can be at any school. You might want to email to ask so you have it in writing though. As far as I’m aware, you can’t be accepted conditionally if you’re not in the special year at the time of applying. In other words, you must be enrolled in full time classes (in the special year) while you’re applying. Let me know if I’m misunderstanding your question. It would be conditional on you finishing that special year with a full course load and a min gpa of 3.7 (and the other requirements, see their website under special year) 3 things to be careful of: 1. Western changed this year, adding the essays. Making the cutoffs no longer guarantees an interview, you have to write 8 decent essays (I saw some swomen students with really high gpa and mcats who weren’t invited for interviews). Not trying to discourage at all, but keep in mind there is a bit of risk with the special year if it only helps you for Western. 2. Western says you must be in non-degree studies for the special year. OSAP says you have to be in degree studies to get OSAP. So you can’t get OSAP or any of the grants that they offer bc for all those you must be eligible for OSAP. This was a big risk for me bc my family doesn’t have a lot of money and I wasn’t exactly rich after grad school. So I’m banking on this interview going well. 3. The admissions committee didn’t realize I was in a special year and originally denied me and said I didn’t make the gpa cutoff. I emailed back explaining my confusing academic history and the special year and they apologized and invited me for an interview. Just double check! Let me know if you have any more questions, I have never met anyone else in this situation so I’d be happy to answer questions for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jero123 Posted February 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2019 47 minutes ago, mothernature said: Ok I gotchu. I am in a similar situation but one year after you. So I did my undergrad (UWO) then MSc (UofT) now I’m in my special year (York). I applied this past September and have an interview coming up in March. To answer your last question, the special year can be at any school. You might want to email to ask so you have it in writing though. As far as I’m aware, you can’t be accepted conditionally if you’re not in the special year at the time of applying. In other words, you must be enrolled in full time classes (in the special year) while you’re applying. Let me know if I’m misunderstanding your question. It would be conditional on you finishing that special year with a full course load and a min gpa of 3.7 (and the other requirements, see their website under special year) 3 things to be careful of: 1. Western changed this year, adding the essays. Making the cutoffs no longer guarantees an interview, you have to write 8 decent essays (I saw some swomen students with really high gpa and mcats who weren’t invited for interviews). Not trying to discourage at all, but keep in mind there is a bit of risk with the special year if it only helps you for Western. 2. Western says you must be in non-degree studies for the special year. OSAP says you have to be in degree studies to get OSAP. So you can’t get OSAP or any of the grants that they offer bc for all those you must be eligible for OSAP. This was a big risk for me bc my family doesn’t have a lot of money and I wasn’t exactly rich after grad school. So I’m banking on this interview going well. 3. The admissions committee didn’t realize I was in a special year and originally denied me and said I didn’t make the gpa cutoff. I emailed back explaining my confusing academic history and the special year and they apologized and invited me for an interview. Just double check! Let me know if you have any more questions, I have never met anyone else in this situation so I’d be happy to answer questions for you! Thank you so much for your reply!! We are indeed in a very similar situation, and best of luck on your upcoming interview! One more question, Is there a particular reason why you chose York to do your special year, and how do you like it there? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unduhkuvahbruddah Posted February 22, 2019 Report Share Posted February 22, 2019 6 minutes ago, jero123 said: Thank you so much for your reply!! We are indeed in a very similar situation, and best of luck on your upcoming interview! One more question, Is there a particular reason why you chose York to do your special year, and how do you like it there? Thanks! np! I wanted to stay in Toronto b/c my PI wants a high impact paper from my MSc work so I'm still working on publishing it throughout the special year. Also, I had an amazing deal on a nice condo lol. I tried Ryerson first, it's near my lab but they said they didn't have any program that I could do where I could take any courses like that (but this is before I knew about the requirement to be in non-degree studies so I didn't look into that, they may have non-degree studies). To be completely honest, my friends who did undergrad in science at UofT all seem to regret it b/c it did some damage on their GPA, so I wasn't down for that b/c this special year is really my last chance. I chose York b/c it was the only one left in Toronto. I'm not trying to make enemies on here but I'm not a huge fan of York. I find the campus kinda dark and not very inviting (except a couple of newer buildings). They definitely give you a million opportunities to do well though (bonus marks and basically free marks, not very much content to study), much nicer on the GPA than Western was (this could also be because I have gotten better at critical thinking, time management, etc from the MSc though). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jero123 Posted February 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2019 6 minutes ago, mothernature said: np! I wanted to stay in Toronto b/c my PI wants a high impact paper from my MSc work so I'm still working on publishing it throughout the special year. Also, I had an amazing deal on a nice condo lol. I tried Ryerson first, it's near my lab but they said they didn't have any program that I could do where I could take any courses like that (but this is before I knew about the requirement to be in non-degree studies so I didn't look into that, they may have non-degree studies). To be completely honest, my friends who did undergrad in science at UofT all seem to regret it b/c it did some damage on their GPA, so I wasn't down for that b/c this special year is really my last chance. I chose York b/c it was the only one left in Toronto. I'm not trying to make enemies on here but I'm not a huge fan of York. I find the campus kinda dark and not very inviting (except a couple of newer buildings). They definitely give you a million opportunities to do well though (bonus marks and basically free marks, not very much content to study), much nicer on the GPA than Western was (this could also be because I have gotten better at critical thinking, time management, etc from the MSc though). Thanks again for the information, it's great to know! I will pm you with another question! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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