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Taking summer courses can help ease the load, but some people have summer commitments (work, family obligations, etc) that get in the way of taking courses. Also, not all schools offer a robust catalogue of summer courses (e.g. of the 20 courses I need to finish my program, only two are offered in the summer semester). And while taking hard courses during the year may definitely contribute to burnout, doing a full year of school, with no summer break, presents its own challenges to mental health and well-being. Burnout suuuuuuucks. Between school, work, ECs, volunteering, family commi

Time stamp: 1:17 PM EST Result: Reject wGPA: 3.85 MCAT: 11/9/10 ECs: Diverse and long-term including employment, research, hospital volunteering, work with disadvantaged youth, mental health advocacy, intramurals, health promotion work, crisis hotline, community service awards, scholarships, etc Essays: Very happy with two of them, disliked the other two Year: 4th year UG Geography: IP Can't say I'm not disappointed, but it's at least nice to know!

Also just got my rejection. Hopefully there's good news coming for those of you who still haven't heard back yet

Yeah, no worries, I do recognize that a 3.8 wGPA isn't exactly in need of rescuing. I wrote my essay because I was dealing with some serious financial issues in my first two years that affected my GPA. My cGPA for my first two years was ~3.5, but my 3rd year (after getting financial assistance from school/scholarships) was 3.95. My wGPA came out to be ~3.85 and while I recognize that this certainly isn't bad by any means, it's also far from the previous wGPA accepted averages of 3.94-3.96, and I didn't feel like it represented my true academic ability. From reading over the past few years of a

Wait, so, is there any point of writing an academic explanations essay if we already have weighting and a 3.8+ wGPA? From what you guys are saying it sounds like the most they'll do GPA-wise is bring someone up to full weighting if they didn't previously qualify.

Seconding CBT! It's super helpful in confronting feelings of perfectionism, social anxiety, etc. In particular, try using a thought record (link to another sample worksheet + explanation of how to use it). Thought records really help facilitate that self-reflection piece and allow you to see things in a different light.

Now that an April wave has gone out, is it safe to assume that those of us who haven't heard back yet are among the aforementioned competitive rejections?

You seem like you've been super responsible and proactive in terms of study habits, and you should give yourself credit for that- it takes some people well into their 3rd/4th year to develop study habits like that. And, to echo what others have said, an 82 is a really strong grade in any first-year course, let alone an applied math course. Still, it's definitely disappointing when your grade doesn't match your goals. Few questions for you to think about: How have your marks been in other classes? Maybe there's something about calculus that just isn't jiving with you. However, if this is indic

Result: Regrets Time Stamp: 5:25 PM EST cGPA/wGPA: 3.80 Year: 4th year undergrad MCAT: 30 (11 PS/9 VR/10 BS) ECs: Average-strong, filled all 48 spots (5 long-term work commitments, 2 years of research w/posters and pubs, intramural sports, published a novel, work with underprivileged youth, founder/president of multiple clubs, crisis hotline volunteer, academic scholarships, etc) Geography: IP Congratulations to everyone who got an invite!

Does school have services for students with disabilities? Try talking to them about what you've been experiencing- it could be that you have an undiagnosed learning condition or mental health issue. I had this exact problem and spoke to a disability advisor, and long story short, I was diagnosed with a learning disability and got accommodations for tests/exams that allowed me to compensate for the LD, which prevented me from making stupid mistakes (and/or catching and fixing them before I handed in the exam). My GPA went from 3.6 --> 3.9+ after getting the accommodations. Feel free to PM me

Can I ask what school follows this formula? Last I heard U of T did 60% GPA, 10% essays, 9% ABS and 21% letters.

Nope, not yet. If it doesn't show up by Thursday I'm going to call OMSAS/the AAMC.

I did it today but feel like such an idiot.

According to the OMSAS website: "All online banking payments...must be initiated by October 1, 2016." (emphasis mine) I'm like 99% sure you're good!

Unfortunately, it's not included in this year's fee, so Mac applicants will have to pay the $125+50 (including taxes on the CASPER fee). Really sucks for us low-income applicants but what can you do. From the McMaster page on OMSAS: