3 waitlists this cycle - how can I improve for next year?

[GoneFishing]

Applied almost everywhere in Ontario, plus UManitoba. Interviewed at Mac, Western and UManitoba, waitlisted at all three. 

4-year GPA: ~3.95 (11.5 McMaster GPA)

MCAT: 525 (131/131/131/132)

Notable EC's:
* 200+ hours volunteering at nearby Children's hospital, directly interacting with patients.
* Research experience with systematic reviews - 1 poster, 1-2 potential publications.

Clearly I need to add to my EC's to improve my chances of being interviewed at other Ontario universities, but I'm still trying to figure out how to do that over the next few months. 

[IMislove]

Well for Mac due to your GPA and CARS, interview definitely held you back. western as far as I’m aware interview is a huge part as well. So communication is key and interview practice. In terms of the other Ontario schools, continue volunteering at places you do, maybe add another or work experience, and seeing as no interviews in Ontario that take ECs in account, definitely might want to change how you’re writing your OMSAS descriptions. Have med students take a look, essays too.

[PFT22135]

It has to be your interview, your stats are great and you shouldn't have a hard time getting in with those scores. More ECs definitely wouldn't hurt either. 

I would strongly suggest that you do more interview prep. Have you done anything major in the past to help?

[GoneFishing]

Just now, AM22476 said:

It has to be your interview, your stats are great and you shouldn't have a hard time getting in with those scores. More ECs definitely wouldn't hurt either. 

I would strongly suggest that you do more interview prep. Have you done anything major in the past to help?

For interview prep? Nothing major, just practice with friends who were also applying at the time. Any suggestions for what i should try out? 

[IMislove]

29 minutes ago, GoneFishing said:

For interview prep? Nothing major, just practice with friends who were also applying at the time. Any suggestions for what i should try out? 

Definitely practice wih med students, that helps a lot. I also used MD consultants for one session which was with UOT students., but there are other options out there. Practicing with strangers helps because they tend to be more objective.

[PFT22135]

I second the practicing with strangers. You can also record yourself, I personally found that helped me to identify quirks I shouldn't be doing (e.g. that's how I noticed I fidgeted with my hair so I did half-back for my interview). If you know any doctors you could ask they randomly fire loaded questions at you and see how you answer, or just get friends or family to. My brother would randomly ask me questions from the mmi book with no warning when we hung out and that helped me personally because it gave me an avenue to practice. We are all different though so things that helped me may not help you! 

If you haven't read any resources that could help you too. I read Doing right and one book about MMIs that had a bunch of current topics in it (it was a UK book but still relevant). 

[SunAndMoon]

It's the interview but with stats like yours you don't even need to go overboard with the prepping. Just improve on the basics - know your CV inside and out, be able to talk about all of them and reflect on them in terms of failures, difficulties, challenges, accomplishments, etc. Speak in a structured manner (the STARR technique helps a lot). Be able to take a stance on something but show both sides of the issue, their strengths and weaknesses.

For acting stations, use active listening. Remain non-judgmental, get people to open up at first by inquiring about their situation, reflect and reformulate to make sure you're on the same page, identify the key issue, then delve into alternative solutions with them, always involving them in the decision-making process, etc. etc. 

This is pretty basic and I'm sure you can develop on those by looking through the forum or online but I really think that's all you need to do and you can definitely improve on those based on your stats because it's clear this is what held you back. On the bright side, this isn't too hard to do and, if you do it, I'm fairly confident you'll be great for next year!