10 year rule under review

[garret9]

Called them, "when a dscision is made it will be posted on the website."

 

So they won't tell us anything until it is up there.

 

UGH! but I want to know now... Isn't today suposed to be the day?

[kylamonkey]

UGH! but I want to know now... Isn't today suposed to be the day?

 

yesterday was...

[sfuguy]

no more 10-year rule!

 

No mention of any replacement or anything that could help students that messed up early on like some other schools do!

[garret9]

no more 10-year rule!

 

No mention of any replacement or anything that could help students that messed up early on like some other schools do!

 

Where did you get your information from? I just checked the ubc website....

[sfuguy]

This page:

 

http://www.med.ubc.ca/education/md_ugrad/MD_Undergraduate_Admissions.htm

[garret9]

This page:

 

http://www.med.ubc.ca/education/md_ugrad/MD_Undergraduate_Admissions.htm

 

I think I'm going to cry

[sfuguy]

I think it is unfair as people set their med application plans many years ahead of application and this a total game changer! For me, this makes me uncompetitive for an interview due to weakness 10 years ago!

 

This totally puts the pressure on for the interview!

[garret9]

I think it is unfair as people set their med application plans many years ahead of application and this a total game changer! For me, this makes me uncompetitive for an interview due to weakness 10 years ago!

 

This totally puts the pressure on for the interview!

 

I know what you mean. That rule was the sole reason why my wife and I didn't move away to Toronto 2 years ago. Now she's been placed back and I'm stuck due to not having direction, goal, purpose or any idea of the consequences when i was young <edit>

 

I can understand that they may not want it in the format that they had but I think it isn't a true representation of what they state they are looking for in a doctor and what a person's ability is.

 

I'm screwed...

[emma3]

That is terrible I can't believe they got rid of the ten year rule. Ten years is a pretty long time.. A person can completely change in ten years. It is kind of scary, there is basically no second chance for a person who has a rough first couple years in university... Which happens to SO many people.

[garret9]

Hello Garret

 

Our website has just been updated with information about the 10-year rule which states the following "The current Exclusion of Early Coursework option (Ten Year Rule) will no longer be available" (please see Notes for 2010/2011 applicants on the main page of our website). Unfortunately we cannot provide any more information at present. We are finalizing details of an alternative option which we hope to have in place for next cycle. We will update the website as soon as possible - we anticipate by mid to late January 2011.

 

Admissions, MD Undergraduate Program

Faculty of Medicine, Dean’s Office

317, 2194 Health Sciences Mall, UBC

Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

Tel: 604.875.8298

Email: admissions.md@ubc.ca

http://www.med.ubc.ca/admissionsmd

/CW

[Mayan]

Yup, no more 10 year rule. I talked to an adviser. in January the admissions committee will be meeting to see how they change AQ to make up for this.

 

So the news might not be so negative after all. For all we know an updated policy might be more favourable.

 

I know what you mean. That rule was the sole reason why my wife and I didn't move away to Toronto 2 years ago. Now she's been placed back and I'm stuck due to not having direction, goal, purpose or any idea of the consequences when i was young

 

I agree it's a shame that they've so suddenly removed the 10-year rule. I wonder if they considered the option of phasing out the rule over a longer period, perhaps by notifying applicants that the 10 year rule will be removed in, say, four years from now. This would take into account applicants who have structured the last several years of their lives around the clemency of this rule (such as garret9). The actual number of years they would delay repealing the policy would be up for discussion though. How many years of investing one's life to gaining entrance to medical school based on the 10-year rule warrants recognition?

 

I'm truly sorry for those affected by this repeal. I hope the new AQ formula slated for installation in January still allows you to stay in the running...that or get a job in UBC Med admissions and change the rule yourself

[Chaplin]

On a somewhat unrelated note, i noticed on the website it says that

• The deposit to accept an offer of admission is now $1,000.

When did this increase happen and has this happened for some other medical schools across canada too?

[keepontrying]

I just want to say something, on a somewhat unrelated note The adviser at UNBC is very friendly. I would strongly suggest consulting with advisers if you can. They can be very helpful and save a lot of time in planning what to do to gain acceptance. They can also help to clear up rumours that you hear from others! I meet with the adviser here frequently and it's helped so much, at least in the last year I've known her.

 

Honestly, they want you to do well and have people who care about their school to gain acceptance.

 

Regarding the 10 year rule, I asked her if she knows what the change in AQ might be. She could not tell me specifics but, knowing that I wasn't invited for an interview this year, she said it could very well benefit my application. We won't know more until January, and I'm not an applicant to which the 10 year rule would apply even if it was still present, but wait until January to see what happens. It might end up being a positive change. Best of luck to everyone

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It sure seems like they will augment the importance of last 60 credits and/or upper level courses. Otherwise, there's really no other way to compensate the removal of the 10 years rule.

[RyanMaverick]

My guess would be something similar to UofT or UMan wherein they eliminate a set number of your "worst" credits based on full time years/years of school/etc.

[notmeadoc]

Trying to use logic and stay out emotion....

 

Joseph Finkler is the current associate Dean of admission within the Faculty of Med. In reading several of the recent articles that he's been mentioned or quoted in - it appears that he wants to make UBC more accessible to a wider variety of students. He is aware that most med students are typically from a higher socio-economic status and that they are able to excel in the rigorous pre-med requirements. The faculty of medicine's student body does not currently reflect the socio-economic diversity that is found in the province.

 

I have faith in this process - it sort of sucks that they've released this just before Christmas - especially when so many students who are in this with every ounce of their heart and soul - need the 10 year rule......however.......I believe that they are going to come out with something that will benefit a larger group of students....

 

Perhaps it will be allowing your worst 30 credits to be eliminated.......which will allow students to apply sooner after screwing up a year or two........and apply after 6 or 7 years instead of having to hang around wasting time - ultimately getting those people through med faster is better for everyone.

[Chaplin]

Perhaps it will be allowing your worst 30 credits to be eliminated.......which will allow students to apply sooner after screwing up a year or two........and apply after 6 or 7 years instead of having to hang around wasting time - ultimately getting those people through med faster is better for everyone.

 

 

Sincerely hope they come up with this or some other alternative helping people who didnt have a good year in undergrad due to problems that were out of their control.

[medisforme]

My guess would be something similar to UofT or UMan wherein they eliminate a set number of your "worst" credits based on full time years/years of school/etc.

 

I hope it isn't identical to UofT, if someone (like myself) took even one part-time semester (ie. whether working full time, upgrading high school courses {my situation} or due to family/personal issues they will gain zero benefit from the rule. I would prefer a rule similar to UofA, where having a 4 year degree gives one a significant advantage with dropping lowest marks etc...

[stressed]

^I agree.

 

In the past when the rule was in effect and people had the option of dropping their worst grades, did you get to manually select which courses you would like to drop or did they do it on their own?

 

I ask because if they extend this policy so that people have the option of dropping their lowest credits...what if some of the lower marks were your pre-reqs as well as others but you don't want to retake the prereqs and just want to drop the other courses that you messed up? What a convoluted question.

 

Edited: Never mind. I think they just dropped courses older than 10 years and you would have to take the prereqs again if they were taken 10 years ago.

[RyanMaverick]

I hope it isn't identical to UofT, if someone (like myself) took even one part-time semester (ie. whether working full time, upgrading high school courses {my situation} or due to family/personal issues they will gain zero benefit from the rule. I would prefer a rule similar to UofA, where having a 4 year degree gives one a significant advantage with dropping lowest marks etc...

 

I didn't mean to imply exactly like U of T, but rather a system wherein it will benefit more applicants rather then the small minority that have 10+ year old courses that happen to be poor. Whether that will be based on full-time year equivalents, a conferred degree, or simply credits taken is anybody's guess.

 

In fact I'd suggest they will make a point of making it NOT identical to another school's policy so that they don't have a significant overlap in applicant pools.

 

Overall, whatever rule they do institute will likely benefit some greatly and others it may miss completely. I personally dislike the 10 year rule for a number of reasons (cost issue of applicants getting in much later, keeps applicants from finding alternative plans believing that in "4 more years once this year is gone I'm competitive" and then they might not get in at all, benefits a very small minority, etc.). My personal opinion of my favourite policy is the "drop X/Y/Z worst credits if you've taken A/B/C # of credits to a maximum of Q credits" which I believe UMan is using.

[notmeadoc]

I agree with Ryan Maverick.

 

UBC appreciates students who have diverse experiences - particularly students who have overcome significant adversity as they make their way through post-secondary. Completely eliminating the 10 year rule and not replacing it with something beneficial I believe is unlikely because it would eliminate so many students who have overcome adversity and proved themselves later. I know one individual who is interviewing this cycle who's parents were severely ill alcoholics. Parents were always spending all of the food money, being evicted and this individual had to raise several younger siblings ranging in age from 4-15. She took responsibility for their nutrition, health, school work.....everything. Her first 45 credits were mostly C's and C+'s. However, after she was able to create a more stable environment and all her siblings were a bit older, her last 75 credits were all A's and A+'s. Is she not a candidate for medicine? She was 17 while dealing with her alcoholic parents and suffering siblings. The 10 year rule eliminates her. She is a fantastic individual who has so much to give. I refuse to believe that UBC won't come up with something that will benefit her(and the rest of us) in a different way.

 

Perhaps I'm just joyous because exams are over and Christmas is here - but jingle jingle - I believe in the good faith of UBC medicine.

 

Anytime I have spoken to someone from or associated with the Faculty of Medicine whether it's a prof, interviewer, student or TA - they all have one thing in common......they are human and they understand the "humanness" of applicants.

 

I do wish they would have removed the 10 year rule and revealed the alternative at the same time though.

[kylamonkey]

I agree with Ryan Maverick.

 

...

 

I do wish they would have removed the 10 year rule and revealed the alternative at the same time though.

 

I agree with both of these.

 

The 10-yr rule really helped me, but I'm still living down Ds etc from 2004. 10 yrs is a long time!

 

Interesting to hear about your friend... I had something kind of similar impact me too. In hindsight, I just should have dropped out of school and cut my losses, but hindsight is 20/20.

 

I'm looking forward to what they will institute, but I have a feeling it will also impact people in an unequal way... a lot of the "mature applicant" rules at other schools don't do anything to help certain applicants for one reason or another.

 

I'm considering myself "persona non grata" at this point, it's like I'm from Ontario.

 

Also, consider if they put something in like removing the lowest 30-credits.. it will push everyone's average up. Some people get to drop their B+/A- marks and others drop their F/D marks, but are still left with B+/A-. I'm not trying to make it sound like we don't deserve to have those poor marks considered, we should have to explain them in some way, but the spirit of the original rule was for non-trads and a blanket "dropping 30 credits" or whatever is not in that same vein.

 

I'm setting my sights more closely on Queen's and UofO at this point, UBC is no longer really on my radar. If whatever they institute benefits me, great, if not, that's just how it is. I roll with things as they come up.

[garret9]

Maybe a rule where they only look at your last 4 years of full time studies... that helps most non traditionals

[rmorelan]

Maybe a rule where they only look at your last 4 years of full time studies... that helps most non traditionals

 

That sounds logical - they problem with the 10 year rule as I see it is you are potentially sitting around waiting. That doesn't really doesn't help as much as some system where you can actively overcome some weakness in your application.

[TankMasterFlex]

My first guess at a replacement was changing the overall average calculation to a last 120 credits calculation, and then keeping the last 60 credits. I think doing this will push up the overall average of applicants somewhat and maybe lessen the benefit for some applicants who were really counting on the 10 year rule. Not many applicants were able to use it and those using it all would have likely had lower averages. A new rule looking at only the last 120 credits or last 4 years would benefit everyone to some degree. That being said, people would not have to wait 10 years to apply if they had a year of Cs and Ds.

 

Additionally, this may increase the average age of successful applicants as older applicants with 120+ credits would benefit the most.

 

As has been stated, I really think UBC admissions is more holistic and really does seem to value non-traditional applicants who may have started out slow for various reasons but have since proved they are capable of medical school. Hopefully we'll know soon.

[rburgundy]

What a crock of sh!t. Figures...the year before I can apply it, they take it away.

 

The 10 year rule gets used (IMO) so sparingly that its presence shouldn't make a difference. The least they could have done is give a one year moratorium after they made the decision.