Is it still favorable to be SWOMEN?

[hiheyhi]

I remember a 5+ years ago, being SWOMEN increased your chances for an interview / acceptance significantly. I am wondering if this is still the case?

Sorry for the silly question but I haven't been up to date until I now since I am now actually eligible to apply to Western, so any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Thank you

 

[DrOtter]

If you refer to their website, being SWOMEN will still confer an advantage of having a lower MCAT cut-offs (GPA cut-off is still set at 3.70 though I believe), which isn't vastly different from how it was the past few years. The only thing that's changed recently was that Western now places more emphasis on ECs and ABS pre-interview than before, where meeting the cut-offs pretty much used to guarantee an interview invite. Last year, we started seeing people getting rejected pre-interview despite meeting cut-offs for MCAT and GPA, SWOMEN or not.

[hiheyhi]

1 hour ago, DrOtter said:

If you refer to their website, being SWOMEN will still confer an advantage of having a lower MCAT cut-offs (GPA cut-off is still set at 3.70 though I believe), which isn't vastly different from how it was the past few years. The only thing that's changed recently was that Western now places more emphasis on ECs and ABS pre-interview than before, where meeting the cut-offs pretty much used to guarantee an interview invite. Last year, we started seeing people getting rejected pre-interview despite meeting cut-offs for MCAT and GPA, SWOMEN or not.

Ah ok makes sense. 

I was under the assumption that they have a higher % of SWOMEN receive acceptances. 

I guess the only good thing about being SWOMEN is a lower MCAT cutoff, other than that, you are fair game with NON-SWOMEN applicants?

[DrOtter]

Yeah it does appear that way on the surface. They did have a higher proportion of their matriculants in 2018 being SWOMEN but they might have just come from the MCAT cut-off advantage alone. But that statistics was back before their recent ABS addition to the pre-interview assessment so ...

[hiheyhi]

11 minutes ago, DrOtter said:

Yeah it does appear that way on the surface. They did have a higher proportion of their matriculants in 2018 being SWOMEN but they might have just come from the MCAT cut-off advantage alone. But that statistics was back before their recent ABS addition to the pre-interview assessment so ...

Darn, I was banking on being SWOMEN. I'm not so much worried about my GPA or MCAT score (not competitive but makes the cut). I was always under the assumption that the majority of the class size is SWOMEN (like other out of province schools). 

[conbrio]

1 hour ago, ABCD13 said:

Darn, I was banking on being SWOMEN. I'm not so much worried about my GPA or MCAT score (not competitive but makes the cut). I was always under the assumption that the majority of the class size is SWOMEN (like other out of province schools). 

I wouldn't worry.

If you look at admission statistics, the percentage of SWOMEN applicants being accepted from the number interviewed is disproportionately high compared to those from non-SWOMEN. Since this is after interview, it probably means that there is a SWOMEN advantage that persists until the final decision (not just MCAT cutoffs). This was true as of 2017-2018.

I would still count on having SWOMEN status as a sizable advantage.

[hiheyhi]

18 minutes ago, conbrio said:

I wouldn't worry.

If you look at admission statistics, the percentage of SWOMEN applicants being accepted from the number interviewed is disproportionately high compared to those from non-SWOMEN. Since this is after interview, it probably means that there is a SWOMEN advantage that persists until the final decision (not just MCAT cutoffs). This was true as of 2017-2018.

I would still count on having SWOMEN status as a sizable advantage.

That's very encouraging to hear! I remember back in undergrad (I'm a mature applicant, so about 7+ years ago), all my friends raved about being SWOMEN. Now that I am in a good position to apply, it makes me regret that I didn't back then. But I'll have my fingers crossed. Thank you

[DrOtter]

1 hour ago, conbrio said:

I wouldn't worry.

If you look at admission statistics, the percentage of SWOMEN applicants being accepted from the number interviewed is disproportionately high compared to those from non-SWOMEN. Since this is after interview, it probably means that there is a SWOMEN advantage that persists until the final decision (not just MCAT cutoffs). This was true as of 2017-2018.

I would still count on having SWOMEN status as a sizable advantage.

I mean if you look at McMaster and their admission stats, their incoming classes are always hugely disproportionately from In Province as well. But they also don't apply advantage to being IP post-interview either and the huge difference just really comes down to their pre-interview quota of 10% OOP. I suspect it would be the same for Western, where their MCAT cut-offs are kept constant from year to year for SWOMEN and they adjust MCAT cut-offs for non-SWOMEN to fit their certain unpublished quota, which then results in the disproportionate admission of SWOMEN post-interview.

[conbrio]

19 hours ago, DrOtter said:

I mean if you look at McMaster and their admission stats, their incoming classes are always hugely disproportionately from In Province as well. But they also don't apply advantage to being IP post-interview either and the huge difference just really comes down to their pre-interview quota of 10% OOP. I suspect it would be the same for Western, where their MCAT cut-offs are kept constant from year to year for SWOMEN and they adjust MCAT cut-offs for non-SWOMEN to fit their certain unpublished quota, which then results in the disproportionate admission of SWOMEN post-interview.

Well, MCAT cutoffs are used to determine the number of applicants to interview. However, what I've seen in the admission statistics is that there are a lot more non-SWOMEN applicants interviewed vs SWOMEN applicants. Yet, a higher percentage of SWOMEN applicants are accepted among those interviewed, compared to non-SWOMEN.

As you're more likely to be accepted after the interview as a SWOMEN, I'm not convinced that an advantage doesn't exist.

[bruh]

16 minutes ago, conbrio said:

Well, MCAT cutoffs are used to determine the number of applicants to interview. However, what I've seen in the admission statistics is that there are a lot more non-SWOMEN applicants interviewed vs SWOMEN applicants. Yet, a higher percentage of SWOMEN applicants are accepted among those interviewed, compared to non-SWOMEN.

As you're more likely to be accepted after the interview as a SWOMEN, I'm not convinced that an advantage doesn't exist.

It might be that SWOMEN applicants are more likely to accept their offer of admission compared to non-SWOMEN applicants. It makes sense since SWOMEN’s typically reside near Western and would probably prefer going to that school whereas non-SWOMEN applicants are from elsewhere and more likely to decline their offers in favour of other schools.

[conbrio]

1 hour ago, RiderSx said:

It might be that SWOMEN applicants are more likely to accept their offer of admission compared to non-SWOMEN applicants. It makes sense since SWOMEN’s typically reside near Western and would probably prefer going to that school whereas non-SWOMEN applicants are from elsewhere and more likely to decline their offers in favour of other schools.

For sure, that's a possibility! Until Western ever releases a detailed breakdown, such as accepted vs matriculants, it'll always be guesswork. Still, at the interview stage, going by the numbers alone, I personally would be very optimistic as @ABCD13

[rmorelan]

On 11/8/2019 at 11:03 AM, RiderSx said:

It might be that SWOMEN applicants are more likely to accept their offer of admission compared to non-SWOMEN applicants. It makes sense since SWOMEN’s typically reside near Western and would probably prefer going to that school whereas non-SWOMEN applicants are from elsewhere and more likely to decline their offers in favour of other schools.

True but I would say there is enough general evidence from mining that stats to draw some conclusions.