Ottawa Interview Discussion 2015

[xkittens]

I hope that everyone that mocks me for noting that GPA is not that important has seen how it is absolute king at Ottawa and Toronto (and to some degree MAC).  Anything below a 3.90, EVEN from OTTAWA now, means absolutely nothing.  An incredible number of 3.95+ have also been rejected. 

 

For FUTURE PREMEDS - DO EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO GET MAC HEALTH SCI or ANOTHER BIRD PROGRAM.  Taking a rigorous program MEANS NOTHING in the admissions process.  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Now getting into MAC Health Sci is not super easy (you need at least a 90% HS average - which is actually pretty easy - but the supp apps are the difficulty).  But for SUPP apps, I know tons of people that hired agencies to write them (this is huge in the Asian community in particular).  Once you are in - you are set.

 

Do not for the life of you go to Toronto, or take engineering.  Even arts programs (historically seen as easy), are way too hard to get 3.9+ in.  The biggest thing to decide whether you get into medical school is the ease of the undergrad program you choose - not your hard work or what you learn doing undergrad.  Ignore this advice at your peril.

 

UWP

HAHA it's not a revolutionary idea that GPA is important

What is revolutionary (" ") is how you keep throwing asian people under the bus (while inserting the word "community" after it so it sounds... you know, not racist) I'm pretty sure that's why you get mocked 

[Borax]

Any word on what this means (taken from the email): " Please note that all of the interview day is considered your interview and not just the time spent with the interviewers."

 

Does this mean we will be monitored throughout the day? I remember last year a lot of the current med students were hanging out with us before the interview..... i wonder if they were spying on us! 

[E101]

They might just look for red flags, marking down people who are obnoxious etc.

 

Any word on what this means (taken from the email): " Please note that all of the interview day is considered your interview and not just the time spent with the interviewers."

 

Does this mean we will be monitored throughout the day? I remember last year a lot of the current med students were hanging out with us before the interview..... i wonder if they were spying on us!

[new2018]

Any word on what this means (taken from the email): " Please note that all of the interview day is considered your interview and not just the time spent with the interviewers."

 

Does this mean we will be monitored throughout the day? I remember last year a lot of the current med students were hanging out with us before the interview..... i wonder if they were spying on us! 

Basically anyone you talk to can get an impression of you and it is very helpful if they remember you as being a sweet or really interested/informed applicant when it comes to choosing you over someone else for example when you are tied. 

Source: someone on a previous admissions committee

[Fleming]

Any word on what this means (taken from the email): " Please note that all of the interview day is considered your interview and not just the time spent with the interviewers."

 

Does this mean we will be monitored throughout the day? I remember last year a lot of the current med students were hanging out with us before the interview..... i wonder if they were spying on us! 

 

I doubt that changes much for most interviewees. I think anyone who has made it this far is intelligent enough to realize that he/she shouldn't act like an idiot on interview day, even if it's not when directly interacting with interviewers.

[uwopremed]

HAHA it's not a revolutionary idea that GPA is important

What is revolutionary (" ") is how you keep throwing asian people under the bus (while inserting the word "community" after it so it sounds... you know, not racist) I'm pretty sure that's why you get mocked 

 

MeGusta - the Asian community (to be specific, recent mainland Chinese immigrant community in particular, and to some extent relatively recent Korean immigrant community) is very well known for being disproportionately involved in aspects of admission fraud and academic fraud.  China is so competitive and corrupt in some ways  - that cheating on  university admission exams to get ahead is considered standard fair (there were mass protests a few years ago when teachers tried to stop cheating at some sites http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10132391/Riot-after-Chinese-teachers-try-to-stop-pupils-cheating.html) . 

 

At the university of Waterloo, not too far from London, several university students get caught everyyear hiring impersonators for exams.  There are large websites that offer impersonators for all types of exams (including the MCAT) for virtually all countries that are in Chinese.  Fake applications for western schools are almost the norm - and western universities in general don't care.  Unfortunately, some of this has creeped into Canada - and hiring people to write essays and admission applications is big business.  IT's the reason why McMaster medical school brought in CASPER - because cheating had become so endemic.

 

Stating this does not make one racist one bit.  But pretending that this is not an issue is silly.  Of course it is an issue.  And of course - cheating exists among all communities.  But for whatever reason - it is bigger in the Asian community (because of people holding onto old societal norms) at the moment.  IT's like observing international terror is more an Islamic terror issue - the vast majority of muslims are peaceful, but islamist terror is more a problem than say jewish terror.  Stating that is not racist.  Making horrible comments about muslims as a whole (or Asians) is racist.

 

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/waterloo-student-accused-of-paying-man-to-impersonate-her-at-exam-1.2152279  another case in waterloo recently

 

New York Times article about the issue.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/the-china-conundrum.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&hp&

[penguin04]

Wow. Just, wow.

 

MeGusta - the Asian community (to be specific, recent mainland Chinese immigrant community in particular, and to some extent relatively recent Korean immigrant community) is very well known for being disproportionately involved in aspects of admission fraud and academic fraud. China is so competitive and corrupt in some ways - that cheating on university admission exams to get ahead is considered standard fair (there were mass protests a few years ago when teachers tried to stop cheating at some sites http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10132391/Riot-after-Chinese-teachers-try-to-stop-pupils-cheating.html) .

 

At the university of Waterloo, not too far from London, several university students get caught everyyear hiring impersonators for exams. There are large websites that offer impersonators for all types of exams (including the MCAT) for virtually all countries that are in Chinese. Fake applications for western schools are almost the norm - and western universities in general don't care. Unfortunately, some of this has creeped into Canada - and hiring people to write essays and admission applications is big business. IT's the reason why McMaster medical school brought in CASPER - because cheating had become so endemic.

 

Stating this does not make one racist one bit. But pretending that this is not an issue is silly. Of course it is an issue. And of course - cheating exists among all communities. But for whatever reason - it is bigger in the Asian community (because of people holding onto old societal norms) at the moment. IT's like observing international terror is more an Islamic terror issue - the vast majority of muslims are peaceful, but islamist terror is more a problem than say jewish terror. Stating that is not racist. Making horrible comments about muslims as a whole (or Asians) is racist.

 

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/waterloo-student-accused-of-paying-man-to-impersonate-her-at-exam-1.2152279 another case in waterloo recently

[premed005]

Congrats to everyone that got an interview!! Concerning the mock interviews, more infos on how and when to sign up will be posted in this forum within the next couple of days!  

[damha]

What day is everyone interviewing?? I'm March 30th!!

[武田信玄]

MeGusta - the Asian community (to be specific, recent mainland Chinese immigrant community in particular, and to some extent relatively recent Korean immigrant community) is very well known for being disproportionately involved in aspects of admission fraud and academic fraud.  China is so competitive and corrupt in some ways  - that cheating on  university admission exams to get ahead is considered standard fair (there were mass protests a few years ago when teachers tried to stop cheating at some sites http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10132391/Riot-after-Chinese-teachers-try-to-stop-pupils-cheating.html) . 

 

At the university of Waterloo, not too far from London, several university students get caught everyyear hiring impersonators for exams.  There are large websites that offer impersonators for all types of exams (including the MCAT) for virtually all countries that are in Chinese.  Fake applications for western schools are almost the norm - and western universities in general don't care.  Unfortunately, some of this has creeped into Canada - and hiring people to write essays and admission applications is big business.  IT's the reason why McMaster medical school brought in CASPER - because cheating had become so endemic.

 

Stating this does not make one racist one bit.  But pretending that this is not an issue is silly.  Of course it is an issue.  And of course - cheating exists among all communities.  But for whatever reason - it is bigger in the Asian community (because of people holding onto old societal norms) at the moment.  IT's like observing international terror is more an Islamic terror issue - the vast majority of muslims are peaceful, but islamist terror is more a problem than say jewish terror.  Stating that is not racist.  Making horrible comments about muslims as a whole (or Asians) is racist.

 

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/waterloo-student-accused-of-paying-man-to-impersonate-her-at-exam-1.2152279  another case in waterloo recently

 

New York Times article about the issue.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/the-china-conundrum.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&hp&

Damn those Chinese!!

[武田信玄]

MeGusta - the Asian community (to be specific, recent mainland Chinese immigrant community in particular, and to some extent relatively recent Korean immigrant community) is very well known for being disproportionately involved in aspects of admission fraud and academic fraud.  China is so competitive and corrupt in some ways  - that cheating on  university admission exams to get ahead is considered standard fair (there were mass protests a few years ago when teachers tried to stop cheating at some sites http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10132391/Riot-after-Chinese-teachers-try-to-stop-pupils-cheating.html) . 

 

At the university of Waterloo, not too far from London, several university students get caught everyyear hiring impersonators for exams.  There are large websites that offer impersonators for all types of exams (including the MCAT) for virtually all countries that are in Chinese.  Fake applications for western schools are almost the norm - and western universities in general don't care.  Unfortunately, some of this has creeped into Canada - and hiring people to write essays and admission applications is big business.  IT's the reason why McMaster medical school brought in CASPER - because cheating had become so endemic.

 

Stating this does not make one racist one bit.  But pretending that this is not an issue is silly.  Of course it is an issue.  And of course - cheating exists among all communities.  But for whatever reason - it is bigger in the Asian community (because of people holding onto old societal norms) at the moment.  IT's like observing international terror is more an Islamic terror issue - the vast majority of muslims are peaceful, but islamist terror is more a problem than say jewish terror.  Stating that is not racist.  Making horrible comments about muslims as a whole (or Asians) is racist.

 

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/waterloo-student-accused-of-paying-man-to-impersonate-her-at-exam-1.2152279  another case in waterloo recently

 

New York Times article about the issue.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/the-china-conundrum.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&hp&

What's a Jew terror?

[武田信玄]

Just because you meet the cut-off doesn't mean that your GPA becomes irrelevant. It simply means that your file as reviewed and not simply discarded. The way they phrase the message, it sounds like GPA doesn't matter after you meet the cut-off, but it does. 

I'll go with their website then:

 

Candidates will be invited based on the minimum WGPA set for that year for the particular group to which they belong, combined with the results of the detailed autobiographical sketch assessment. A composite score of the interview assessment combined with the WGPA is then calculated and a final selection is made for the offers of admission."

 

To me, the whole statements seem to suggest that GPA is merely used as a cut-off for interview invitation, and only after interview will GPA be used as part of the composite score to determine the final offer.

[thsc]

I'll go with their website then:

 

Candidates will be invited based on the minimum WGPA set for that year for the particular group to which they belong, combined with the results of the detailed autobiographical sketch assessment. A composite score of the interview assessment combined with the WGPA is then calculated and a final selection is made for the offers of admission."

 

To me, the whole statements seem to suggest that GPA is merely used as a cut-off for interview invitation, and only after interview will GPA be used as part of the composite score to determine the final offer.

Well it clearly says that a composite score of the gpa and abs is calculated. Therefore your composite score is affected based on what your GPA is. Otherwise a composite score wouldn't make sense if everyone above 3.85 was the same.  

 

I keep saying this every year but most people that get rejected refuse to believe that having a GPA above their cutoff actually makes a huge difference. 

[武田信玄]

Well it clearly says that a composite score of the gpa and abs is calculated. Therefore your composite score is affected based on what your GPA is. Otherwise a composite score wouldn't make sense if everyone above 3.85 was the same.  

 

I keep saying this every year but most people that get rejected refuse to believe that having a GPA above their cutoff actually makes a huge difference.

You are not reading that statement. It says "a composite score of GPA and INTERVIEWS ASSESSMENT (note: not abs, but Interview assessment) will be used for the final offer of ADMISSION (Not interview invite, but the actual final offer)." Nowhere in that statement does it say the composite score is used for interview invitation.

 

However, Gpa is important to obtain an interview as a break-even factor as the rumour goes. Therefore, aquarisa and his brother's similar background yet different outcomes may be such a case. In fact, it is reasonable to further infer that both were sitting on the borderline of getting an interview as far as the ranking goes (no offence to both), and that 0.06 difference ultimately gave his brother the edge.

[ralk]

Well it clearly says that a composite score of the gpa and abs is calculated. Therefore your composite score is affected based on what your GPA is. Otherwise a composite score wouldn't make sense if everyone above 3.85 was the same.  

 

I keep saying this every year but most people that get rejected refuse to believe that having a GPA above their cutoff actually makes a huge difference. 

 

It's hard to say based on the available evidence that minor changes in GPA make an overriding difference on your chances to get an interview at Ottawa - there are simply too many counter-examples. For the past few years, more than a few people with wGPAs closer to the minimum and good-but-not-amazing ECs have received interviews, while more than a few with near-4.0s and similarly good-but-not-amazing ECs haven't.

 

I suspect GPA has a small but meaningful impact on a person's chances for an interview at Ottawa, while variability in EC evaluations plays a larger role. That means GPA still matters - it shifts the curve on what you might get for your EC score - but there's a degree of subjectivity on EC evaluations that can override that effect. It's a bit of a game of chance, unfortunately. Ottawa's been notoriously difficult to predict interview chances, I'd argue rivaled only by Queens.

 

Basically I agree that a person's wGPA could have held them back from getting an interview at Ottawa, but above the cutoff I don't think there are many cases where it can be said confidently that a person's wGPA did keep them from an interview, or that an improved wGPA would have made the difference.

[Biophysics2015]

For those who got invites, it says to provide written confirmation, but is there a form that we fill out and scan in?

 

I was just wondering if someone could answer this. I am confused as well.

[kiki2009]

I was just wondering if someone could answer this. I am confused as well.

I just sent a confirmation email saying I'll attend with the date and time specified as well.

 

Last year I was sent the interview package a week later. This year I received an email on the same day saying they got my confirmation.

 

So there is no form. All you need to do is simply confirm you'll be attending your interview.

 

[roro2555]

Hmm i sent in my confirmation email and I didn't get a reply back yet, and this was back at 10 am...

I just sent a confirmation email saying I'll attend with the date and time specified as well.

 

Last year I was sent the interview package a week later. This year I received an email on the same day saying they got my confirmation.

So there is no form. All you need to do is simply confirm you'll be attending your interview.
 

 

 

[Candie]

I just sent a confirmation email saying I'll attend with the date and time specified as well.

 

Last year I was sent the interview package a week later. This year I received an email on the same day saying they got my confirmation.

 

So there is no form. All you need to do is simply confirm you'll be attending your interview.

 

 

I did the exact same thing, and only got an auto-response.. Is that it & now should I just expect more information in about a week? Will they send that by email too? 

[BeeDoc]

I sent an email to confirm that I'll be attending my interview and got an auto-reply email and then an actual reply saying that they've received my confirmation. 

[kiki2009]

I wouldn't worry about it. Immediately after the initial email, you get the auto reply. A few hours later I got the more personal, we've received your confirmation email. I responded pretty soon after getting the invite so that may explain why me & BeeDoc already heard back.

The interview package is sent by email as well.

[coldpizzahotsriracha]

"Status of application - Faculty of Medicine - University of Ottawa"

 

Which scared the crap out of me because Mac's actually had 'interview invitation' in it. Status of application seemed neutral enough to be a rejection but was pleasantly surprised.

This so much haha. I woke up this morning and saw that I got an email around ~7 am PST and was like "damn" until I read it. Then I was like "DAMN!" 

[Candie]

Oh ok, yeah I sent my confirmation at the end of the school day for me, i.e. almost 5pm.. so hopefully I get the actual response tomorrow. 

 

Thanks! 

[medGate]

Does anybody know what the format of the interview will be? I.e. Panel or MMI? I've heard that it is panel but can't find anything on uOttawa's website.

 

Thanks!

[anonymous12]

Jeebus, I can't believe Ottawa only accepts 164 from around 575 interviewees! Brutal stats... 

 

Just because there are 164 spots, doesn't mean they only accept 164 people. They have to accept around double the amount of spots to account for non-matriculants.