Have you gotten in with a mediocre CASPer?

[PirouetteCacahuete]

Hi current med students! 

I'm here for reassurance, I guess. I keep getting poor marks on my CASPer (I know because of my results in QC last year and this morning I received a notice from Dal saying I was more than 1.5 SD below the mean of my applicant pool).

I'm just feeling so discouraged. People keep saying that you'd have to be "a psycho" to do poorly on CASPer, but I beg to differ, I'm not perfect but I'm pretty sure I'm not a psycho. My answers are perhaps not well developed because I run out of time, and also as a bilingual person I struggle more than the usual with expressing myself quickly and effectively... 1.6 min/question is not a lot of time - but I always try to look at the situation from several angles, find the most pressing issue, not make quick judgments on the characters, and to explain myself as well as I can, etc. I'm set to take the French exam in 3 weeks and man, I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it. 

Anyway I'm looking for a glimmer of hope. Has anyone gotten an interview into a Canadian medical school knowing that their CASPer wasn't the best? Was your GPA, MCAT and ECs able to compensate? Were you still able to do well in the interview if you did poorly on CASPer? (Since that's supposed to be a predictor of interview performance).

Thanks for helping a girl out
At the very least let's have a discussion about CASPer
Be gentle, please. Not my best morning. 

[Smallysmalls]

Hello! 

I'm so sorry about your CASPer, and I can tell you're feeling discouraged right now... but don't! If you want to be a physician and you believe you have what it takes DO NOT GIVE UP! I know its not easy and there are many hoops to jump through, but if it were easy everyone would do it! 

A few questions: 

1. What exactly did the email from Dal say? 

2. Did you take the CASPer snapshot? If so, how was that? I have yet to take mine and I'm not sure what to expect! 

3. My advice for CASPer is just to keep practicing. Keep practicing your typing speed, keep practicing reading books just to get more comfortable reading and critical thinking...etc. 

[Smallysmalls]

Also, are you IP or OOP applicant for Dal?

[PirouetteCacahuete]

1 hour ago, LivySmall said:

Also, are you IP or OOP applicant for Dal?

I'm OOP so I knew it was going to be hard, but the fact that I was so far below the mean isn't a good sign for my other applications. The e-mail says my file review is complete and that my application was coded ineligible because I failed to meet the minimum CASPer requirement. For Dal that's usually 1.5 SD below the mean minimum, in your applicant pool. Still there's 6-700 people that apply OOP so I didn't do so hot. 

I took the CASPer snapshot. It was not as bad as I expected, but I don't think I knocked it out of the park either. Two questions were extremely similar, so I was a bit confused there. I don't think they reviewed the snapshot since my score wasn't high enough.

I did fine on CARS, I'm taking ethics & literature classes, I've done their practice multiple times, out of desperation from last year's performance I've read most of the (Be-Mo) book hoping that might help. I'm at a loss. 

Thanks  Not giving up but definitely feeling discouraged.

[Babyyoda4]

Hi I got the same email from dal this morning so you are not alone. I though the casper went pretty well and so I was a bit surprised. Not all Canadian schools require casper so there is still hope!  

[PirouetteCacahuete]

5 hours ago, Babyyoda4 said:

Hi I got the same email from dal this morning so you are not alone. I though the casper went pretty well and so I was a bit surprised. Not all Canadian schools require casper so there is still hope!  

Awww sorry. Only 5 of them don’t use it this year!  I wish they would be honest and let us know our scores as they come in. It’s like applying to Harvard with a 485 MCAT without knowing. Might as well throw money & time out the window. 

[DrOtter]

I got in to Ottawa without getting invited at Mac, with high GPA and CARS. So you might still have a shot at Ottawa there.