How does UofO select

[justifyd]

Once u pass ottawas gpa cut, is it purely the sketch taht decides interview or not? ie suppose someone has a 3.96 decent ecs, vs someone that has a 3.86 (right at the cut lets say, but slightly better ECS). Would the slightly better ECs beat him, or are both gpa and ec taken into conside. ie awesome ECs will compensate for a lower gpa relative to cut, or will high gpa compesnate for not as great ecs.

[hamham]

I think wGPA is the first cut-off. Then, they look at your ECs before sending out invitations for interview.

 

The interview component is very important at UOttawa. Applicants are ranked based on interview, and the interview score is heavily weighted in the post-interview selection criteria.

 

Basically, a high interview score can offset a lower GPA, but if you are asking to offset a GPA of 0.1 (3.96 vs 3.86), then I think your interview better have gone fantastic. Ultimately, when MCAT scores aren't considered, most successful applicants have a monster wGPA.

[Prof.A.DumbleDore]

Once u pass ottawas gpa cut, is it purely the sketch taht decides interview or not? ie suppose someone has a 3.96 decent ecs, vs someone that has a 3.86 (right at the cut lets say, but slightly better ECS). Would the slightly better ECs beat him, or are both gpa and ec taken into conside. ie awesome ECs will compensate for a lower gpa relative to cut, or will high gpa compesnate for not as great ecs.

 

This is the general consensus. However, if you look at the interview invite thread from last year, almost no one who posted on this forum with a 3.85-3.89 received an interview (small sample size though).

[DoktaEvergreen]

This is the general consensus. However, if you look at the interview invite thread from last year, almost no one who posted on this forum with a 3.85-3.89 received an interview (small sample size though).

 

Yep, last year i had a 3.86, with fairly good EC's I thought - heavy research with 2 publications, and a lot of volunteering with kids which I was passionate about.... I definitely think you need to reach the >3.9 threshold to be seriously considered...

[juliusc]

Yep, last year i had a 3.86, with fairly good EC's I thought - heavy research with 2 publications, and a lot of volunteering with kids which I was passionate about.... I definitely think you need to reach the >3.9 threshold to be seriously considered...

 

were u a 3rd year last year? cause it would make sense not getting interview with 3.86 if you don't have a bachelors. The bar is a little higher for 3rd years.

[benhc911]

I had a... 3.87 maybe? a little higher with their weighting I guess, I was fourth year chem eng, had decent ECs (I thought) including cofounding a charity program and doing international work with it etc across several years, conferences with the group etc... and I didn't even get an interview... Ottawa is, in my opinion, such a hard school to get an interview at since it allows 3rd year applicants, doesn't require (or look at) an MCAT, and has seats reserved for francophones... that leaves a relatively small number of seats for a HUGE applicant pool... they can be really picky, and I think in the end it comes down to trying to compare sketches.

[Legion]

This is the general consensus. However, if you look at the interview invite thread from last year, almost no one who posted on this forum with a 3.85-3.89 received an interview (small sample size though).

 

There were also people with 4.0s that got rejected pre-interveiw. It's all about how good your ABS is once you meet the cut-off. I'm still wondering how the hell they can possibly put a "cut-off" on ECs. I've seen people with PhDs and numerous pubs and excellent ECs get rejected.

[hamham]

There were also people with 4.0s that got rejected pre-interveiw. It's all about how good your ABS is once you meet the cut-off. I'm still wondering how the hell they can possibly put a "cut-off" on ECs. I've seen people with PhDs and numerous pubs and excellent ECs get rejected.

 

Yes, but the general consensus is that most successful applicants have very high wGPA. That explains why we hardly see anyone who got accepted with a GPA less than 3.9 last year.

 

Those who got rejected with 4.0s and good ECs probably did not do a great job in wording their ABS sketch. Of course, there could be other reasons. For example, Ottawa counts grades in years where the applicant took at least 4.0 full yr courses. And only undergraduate GPA counts!

[Legion]

Yes, but the general consensus is that most successful applicants have very high wGPA. That explains why we hardly see anyone who got accepted with a GPA less than 3.9 last year.

 

Those who got rejected with 4.0s and good ECs probably did not do a great job in wording their ABS sketch. Of course, there could be other reasons. For example, Ottawa counts grades in years where the applicant took at least 4.0 full yr courses. And only undergraduate GPA counts!

 

 

The number of people that post their stats here definitely does not count as a majority. So I don't know why you think the "general consensus" is that most successful applicants have very high wGPA.

 

Even if the entering class GPA from last year was 3.93 (hypothetical), there are always people with 3.8-3.9 and even <3.8 who got accepted.

 

And I did mention that ABS is all that matters once you meet the cut-off Although I agree that the way you write your ABS carries a lot of weight, but I'm pretty sure there are certain EC (attribute) categories that you must meet in order for you to meet the cut-off.

[Savac]

There could be certain things that they're looking for, but I think that for the most part there aren't. I'm pretty sure that they're looking for a diverse class. Obviously there are several qualities that they are looking for, but these can be shown through several different activities.

[hamham]

 

Even if the entering class GPA from last year was 3.93 (hypothetical), there are always people with 3.8-3.9 and even <3.8 who got accepted.

 

I was referring to those who are out of Ottawa or out of province. The 3.85 GPA cut-off has been there for years, and many who barely meet these cut-offs were not invited for interview. Even if they were, most were rejected post-interview.

 

Unless you are Ottawa resident/French stream, there is no way you are invited at all for interview if your GPA<3.8. That's what I meant.

 

I still stand by what I say: the "general consensus" is that most successful applicants have very high wGPA". I am certainly not expecting the whole world to agree with me, but these are just my personal thoughts.

[Prof.A.DumbleDore]

I was referring to those who are out of Ottawa or out of province. The 3.85 GPA cut-off has been there for years, and many who barely meet these cut-offs were not invited for interview. Even if they were, most were rejected post-interview.

 

Unless you are Ottawa resident/French stream, there is no way you are invited at all for interview if your GPA<3.8. That's what I meant.

 

I still stand by what I say: the "general consensus" is that most successful applicants have very high wGPA". I am certainly not expecting the whole world to agree with me, but these are just my personal thoughts.

 

Post interview, you are ranked in groups based on your interview performance. Within that group you are ranked by wGPA; so technically if you have a 3.85 but did very well on the interview you should get in.

 

There was a member Supafield, who had a 3.845 or something and was bumped up to 3.85, received an interview and was accepted. So we do know it is indeed possible but yes I agree the past couple of years, many members of this forum who posted with 3.85-3.89 did not receive interviews.

I would agree that once past someone has past the cutoff, we know they are academically capable and other factors (eg. ABS) should be used to determine if they deserve a chance at an interview.

[Shan'er]

When I check the threads here and listen to other people's discussions, it seems that anyone without a GPA>3.9 get rejected pre-interview. I was just wondering if anyone knows someone personally who got in last year with a 3.85 (right at the cutoff?)

[Savac]

When I check the threads here and listen to other people's discussions' date=' it seems that anyone without a GPA>3.9 get rejected pre-interview. I was just wondering if anyone knows someone personally who got in last year with a 3.85 (right at the cutoff?)[/quote']

 

Someone got in with 3.846 (which was obviously rounded to 3.85), so it's possible.

[Legion]

Someone got in with 3.846 (which was obviously rounded to 3.85), so it's possible.

 

That was 2 years ago. I don't recall seeing anyone who got accepted at cut-off last year, at least for the English stream.

[juliusc]

I'm pretty Fd then. have 3.86. agh.

[Savac]

That was 2 years ago. I don't recall seeing anyone who got accepted at cut-off last year, at least for the English stream.

 

That's true, but it still serves to illustrate the point. It's possible to get in with a GPA that is lower than 3.90, it just seems to be much more rare. I wish more people posted on this forum so we had a better idea of the wGPA distribution in their entering class.

[Prof.A.DumbleDore]

I think it should be emphasized that you never know what your chances are. You can scour the past invite threads to attempt to find a pattern but there really isn't. A mod here, was once invited one year and then the following year not invited even though he/she improved their ABS. Once you get past the cutoff, just apply and hope for the best. No point in trying to decipher your chances, cause no one really knows. You have a chance and that's all that really matters.

[Legion]

I think it should be emphasized that you never know what your chances are. You can scour the past invite threads to attempt to find a pattern but there really isn't. A mod here, was once invited one year and then the following year not invited even though he/she improved their ABS. Once you get past the cutoff, just apply and hope for the best. No point in trying to decipher your chances, cause no one really knows. You have a chance and that's all that really matters.

 

I agree.

 

About the mod though, it was probably due to the quality of the applicant pool. That's why you have to keep applying if you get rejected.

[appendix]

To the original thread idea about selection, I am curious as to whether it is really only the ABS that matters after you meet the GPA cutoff. I see it this way: an overwhelming majority of interviewed applicants invited for an interview are >>3.90. If it was really only about ABS, more <<3.90's should be getting interviewed, and that's not happening. Sources: the grapevine, the interview thread here last year- check out how biased invites were to >>3.90's. I know it's a small sample, but it still as random as we'll get. Also, by logic, if two people have equivalently impressive sketches, it would seem foolish to "randomly" pick the lower GPA person over the higher GPA person for an interview invite. There must be something else going on here. Thoughts?

[dirka]

To the original thread idea about selection, I am curious as to whether it is really only the ABS that matters after you meet the GPA cutoff. I see it this way: an overwhelming majority of interviewed applicants invited for an interview are >>3.90. If it was really only about ABS, more <<3.90's should be getting interviewed, and that's not happening. Sources: the grapevine, the interview thread here last year- check out how biased invites were to >>3.90's. I know it's a small sample, but it still as random as we'll get. Also, by logic, if two people have equivalently impressive sketches, it would seem foolish to "randomly" pick the lower GPA person over the higher GPA person for an interview invite. There must be something else going on here. Thoughts?

 

Gonna randomly speculate that they evaluate the sketch on a scale of 1 to X once they pass the GPA cutoff, it's really one of the only ways to do it with many different people reading applications. The smaller the scale, the greater the chances of ties. So if it's just a really small scale (1-5) then you pretty much have to score a 5 if you have low GPA to avoid being rejected due to a tie breaker.

[shady]

Gonna randomly speculate that they evaluate the sketch on a scale of 1 to X once they pass the GPA cutoff, it's really one of the only ways to do it with many different people reading applications. The smaller the scale, the greater the chances of ties. So if it's just a really small scale (1-5) then you pretty much have to score a 5 if you have low GPA to avoid being rejected due to a tie breaker.

 

Why not just a formula?

 

e.g. once past cutoff GPA, your score is X% GPA, Y%ABS and (100-X-Y)% referees. I mean, look at the people who got invites with low GPAs; they have exceptional sketches.

[Savac]

Why not just a formula?

 

e.g. once past cutoff GPA, your score is X% GPA, Y%ABS and (100-X-Y)% referees. I mean, look at the people who got invites with low GPAs; they have exceptional sketches.

 

For all we know, they might be doing this.

 

Given the fact that they heavily imply that the GPA is just a cutoff, I doubt that they're using a formula. At the end of the day though, it doesn't really matter how they're deciding who to interview. It's beyond our control now, so we just have to wait.

[All_nighter05]

I had a... 3.87 maybe? a little higher with their weighting I guess, I was fourth year chem eng, had decent ECs (I thought) including cofounding a charity program and doing international work with it etc across several years, conferences with the group etc... and I didn't even get an interview... Ottawa is, in my opinion, such a hard school to get an interview at since it allows 3rd year applicants, doesn't require (or look at) an MCAT, and has seats reserved for francophones... that leaves a relatively small number of seats for a HUGE applicant pool... they can be really picky, and I think in the end it comes down to trying to compare sketches.

 

Did your rejection letter specify whether you passed the wGPA cutoff?

[lacloche]

Did your rejection letter specify whether you passed the wGPA cutoff?

 

If you did not make the wGPA cutoff, the letter will state your application failed to meet the academic requirements.