Queens Med Panel Question

[MDrapper]

Does anyone know if panel portion of queens med is worth as much as the MMI? Some people say that Panel portion is only used to catch red flags.

[88rising]

I hope it is because my panel went great LOL. I think nobody actually knows the answer to this as Queen's isn't super transparent about it.

[tea-otter]

Considering those of us who interviewed online yesterday just received and email saying that the panel is only being offered to those who performed best on the virtual MMI, and that the panel was always meant to be a final step prior to offering admission, I would hedge my bets that it is more of a red flag screening tool. 

[hijkl]

omg i hope the panel is not only for catching red flags... :'( my MMI was okay but i really felt like i killed the panel

[RaptorsFan123]

Yeah, I heard from someone in the adcom that it IS USED for red flags. Queens uses it to grill you on your ABS to ensure you didn't make stuff up, which a lot of people tend to do. 

[tea-otter]

1 minute ago, RaptorsFan123 said:

Yeah, I heard from someone in the adcom that it IS USED for red flags. Queens uses it to grill you on your ABS to ensure you didn't make stuff up, which a lot of people tend to do. 

I have heard this from multiple Queen's medical students as well, some of whom might have some inside knowledge of this (take that with a grain of salt, though!). 

[MDrapper]

Oh okay, I also heard that the panel can be weighed pretty heavy. So maybe its both for red flags and evaluation

[RaptorsFan123]

If it is weighed that heavily, why would the admissions committee remove it for applicants that have an average MMI? If it was weighed heavily, someone could offset an average/poor MMI with a good panel... 

[MDrapper]

3 minutes ago, RaptorsFan123 said:

If it is weighed that heavily, why would the admissions committee remove it for applicants that have an average MMI? If it was weighed heavily, someone could offset an average/poor MMI with a good panel... 

Thats a fair point. I was more so talking about in-person interviews. I've talked to students who believed they completely bombed MMI, where they didn't even answer the prompt question and several times were told to re-read the prompt in 2 stations but did well in panel and got in. 

[88rising]

I think that the panel must be worth something and isn't just used for red flags. Why wouldn't they just contact verifiers through OMSAS instead if they suspect a candidate is fabricating part of their ABS? Just doesn't make sense to me...

35 minutes ago, MDrapper said:

Thats a fair point. I was more so talking about in-person interviews. I've talked to students who believed they completely bombed MMI, where they didn't even answer the prompt question and several times were told to re-read the prompt in 2 stations but did well in panel and got in. 

I also have heard of people who felt like they did poorly on the MMI but still get in, giving me further reason to believe that the panel carries some weight.

[tea-otter]

44 minutes ago, 88risingsun said:

I think that the panel must be worth something and isn't just used for red flags. Why wouldn't they just contact verifiers through OMSAS instead if they suspect a candidate is fabricating part of their ABS? Just doesn't make sense to me...

I also have heard of people who felt like they did poorly on the MMI but still get in, giving me further reason to believe that the panel carries some weight.

Just to play devil's advocate, I've seen it pointed out on multiple occasions that applicants are poor judges of their interview performance. 

 

Also, it's not difficult for applicants to give fake info for their ABS references, especially if they already fabricated the experience... And wouldn't it take more time to check references than it would be to grill a candidate for 10-20 minutes? 

 

Anyway, all that to say, I'm sure the panel still has some weight. I just think the MMI is worth far more. 

 

Here's an excerpt from the email we received:

 

"The Admissions Committee uses the objective evaluation of your MMI performance, as well as your File Review, to determine your ranking amongst other applicants. Prior to making an offer for Admission, the Admissions Committee reviews individual Panel Interview performance."

[MedGoldfish]

Thanks for making this thread! I have also been speculating about the panel and the weighting attached to it.

I have one theory. Maybe applicants are first ranked based on file review + MMI performance, and then the panel is used to settle any ties between scores or similar scores? When you are evaluating 500+ interviews, it will be easy to have several candidates produce identical scores/very similar scores, and adcoms may not feel comfortable picking someone just because they score 0.5 higher let's say. So then, they may turn to the panel performance to break the tie.

I am leaning towards the prediction that the panel has some weight. Who knows, maybe they will offer most of the online interviewees a panel interview, and they will only eliminate those that have low combined MMI + file review scores which historically have never received an offer, no matter how high their panel score was.

I have no idea though. It is fun to speculate!

[88rising]

44 minutes ago, tea-otter said:

Just to play devil's advocate, I've seen it pointed out on multiple occasions that applicants are poor judges of their interview performance. 

 

Also, it's not difficult for applicants to give fake info for their ABS references, especially if they already fabricated the experience... And wouldn't it take more time to check references than it would be to grill a candidate for 10-20 minutes? 

 

Anyway, all that to say, I'm sure the panel still has some weight. I just think the MMI is worth far more. 

 

Here's an excerpt from the email we received:

 

"The Admissions Committee uses the objective evaluation of your MMI performance, as well as your File Review, to determine your ranking amongst other applicants. Prior to making an offer for Admission, the Admissions Committee reviews individual Panel Interview performance."

Fair enough, and that's true about applicants giving fake verifiers. However, I think that if someone is going to lie that much on their application then they might be a sociopath comfortable with lying in front of the admissions committee. I didn't even feel grilled during my panel, it was more like a friendly conversation and them wanting to know more about me. 

The MMI is definitely worth more... I guess we'll never actually know to what extent they use/weigh the panel  Our speculation is moot lol