Winter 2020 AdCom Letter

[lostapparently]

Hello everyone, 

This is my first post on premed101, how exciting!

I'm thinking about sending the U of T/Western/Queens/Dalhousie admissions committee a letter regarding the recent announcement that Winter 2020 grades will not be used in GPA calculations this year, and for all subsequent years. I understand that some students have been subject to unfair grading, and would prefer this term not count due to these unforeseen circumstances. However, it hardly seems fair to say point blank that no student's Winter 2020 semester will count as a result. I do have a personal gripe with this decision because I did much better in my fourth year than in any other years, and without my Winter 2020 grades I will hardly be competitive. 

Ideally, I'd like to see a system where GPA is calculated with/without the winter 2020 semester and the higher one be taken. Or that students are given an option on OMSAS where they can select whether or not they'd like the last semester included (given that every applicant probably knows whether or not Winter 2020 will help or harm their GPA)

Does anyone else feel similarly? Do you think sending a letter is a smart choice? (Note: I'd be happy to post my draft here, or email it to anyone who'd like to look it over). I really can't tell if I'm justified in my upset with all this. 

Thanks everyone, 

T

[offmychestplease]

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[premed72]

I kinda like the idea of them using the highest combo. It's basically what queens already does with the 2 year GPA vs. cGPA

[Malulu123]

I think U of T medicine addressed this in their most recent video. They talked about the decision to NOT 1) count winter 2020 for all and 2) give the option to either count winter 2020 or not count it (student chooses). @Tony_98, the second option describe what you want. You can watch the admissions recap video that states this from their website. As such, if you are planning to email the uni's, don't email U of T. Instead, I would encourage you to use the AEE for U of T to explain your situation.

[BBALLCBMJ]

Winter 2020 term was the best term of my undergrad. Am I happy with Winter 2020 term not counting for most schools? No. But do I think it is the most equitable way? Yes, absolutely.

Some cities like Toronto and Montreal were hit the hardest with COVID and I wouldn't be surprised if some applicants themselves were tested positive for COVID. On the other hand, less urban cities and rural areas were not as affected by COVID relative to large metropolitan areas. In my opinion, it is just silly for giving applicants an option to choose whether or not they can include Winter 2020 marks if it increases/decreases their GPA. 

For example, applicants who WERE NOT affected by COVID would choose to include their inflated Winter 2020 (mainly due to cheating) whereas applicants who WERE affected by COVID and performed poorly would choose not to include their marks. See the problem here? The problem is that it is not the applicants' fault that they were affected by COVID, it is just the nature of the virus and how it spreads more rapidly in densely-populated cities. 

In addition, some schools like UAlberta did not give students an option to get numerical grades (they all received P/F) so how is it be fair for some applicants' grades to count but not others just because their school did not want to provide students with numerical grading?

On top of this, some applicants may choose to "hide" courses that they did not do well in with P/F but keep courses that got 3.9 or 4.0 in, ultimately inflating their GPA.

Again, I am personally not happy with Winter 2020 term not counting, but this is one of those situations where you just accept it and move on. It is tough to swallow but it is what it is. Life goes on.

[lostapparently]

34 minutes ago, BBALLCBMJ said:

Winter 2020 term was the best term of my undergrad. Am I happy with Winter 2020 term not counting for most schools? No. But do I think it is the most equitable way? Yes, absolutely.

Some cities like Toronto and Montreal were hit the hardest with COVID and I wouldn't be surprised if some applicants themselves were tested positive for COVID. On the other hand, less urban cities and rural areas were not as affected by COVID relative to large metropolitan areas. In my opinion, it is just silly for giving applicants an option to choose whether or not they can include Winter 2020 marks if it increases/decreases their GPA. 

For example, applicants who WERE NOT affected by COVID would choose to include their inflated Winter 2020 (mainly due to cheating) whereas applicants who WERE affected by COVID and performed poorly would choose not to include their marks. See the problem here? The problem is that it is not the applicants' fault that they were affected by COVID, it is just the nature of the virus and how it spreads more rapidly in densely-populated cities. 

In addition, some schools like UAlberta did not give students an option to get numerical grades (they all received P/F) so how is it be fair for some applicants' grades to count but not others just because their school did not want to provide students with numerical grading?

On top of this, some applicants may choose to "hide" courses that they did not do well in with P/F but keep courses that got 3.9 or 4.0 in, ultimately inflating their GPA.

Again, I am personally not happy with Winter 2020 term not counting, but this is one of those situations where you just accept it and move on. It is tough to swallow but it is what it is. Life goes on.

I hear what you're saying, it seems like there's such a wide variety of pitfalls to including winter 2020 that it doesn't justify keeping it. I appreciate the time you took to reply to my message! Your response was thoughtful and gave me a lot to think about. Best of luck with this cycle!

[lostapparently]

54 minutes ago, Malulu123 said:

I think U of T medicine addressed this in their most recent video. They talked about the decision to NOT 1) count winter 2020 for all and 2) give the option to either count winter 2020 or not count it (student chooses). @Tony_98, the second option describe what you want. You can watch the admissions recap video that states this from their website. As such, if you are planning to email the uni's, don't email U of T. Instead, I would encourage you to use the AEE for U of T to explain your situation.

Hi there! I'll definitely check out the admissions recap and look into the AEE as a possible option as well. Many thanks!

[oneday1]

2 hours ago, offmychestplease said:

lol unfair grading? There are countless threads online, discord groups, group chats, newspaper articles, etc etc where a HUGE proportion of students were openly cheating in various forms on their online exams..it dosent take a rocket scientist to understand why most universities (rightfully so) are not including winter 2020 marks....

Well said. All schools know this lol

So not fair to include the winter 2020 grades! Hence they made this decision.