Graduate vs undergrad admission

[Guest blobbo123]

What is the relative competitiveness of the grad vs undergrad admission streams? Is it more difficult to get in as a graduate applicant or as an undergrad applicant? Are the two ever competing against each other, i.e. after the grad students are evaluated and given some admission index, are they then graded relative to the total applicant pool or do they remain in a separate pool of just grad applicants throughout the whole process? How do they determine how many places are given to undergrad and grad applicants, if the two streams remain separate?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

Using some of the numbers from UTMed07's FAQ posting, here are some rough estimates in response to some of your questions:

 

There are ~1600 applicants per year for 198 seats. Interviews are given to ~450 applicants, therefore, on average, roughly 1 in 4 applicants receives an interview.

 

Given that ~450 graduate applicants apply every year and ~90 are given interviews, then 1 in 5 graduate applicants (20%) receives an interview.

 

That leaves 360 interviews out of the 450 interview invitations for the undergraduate applicants. Since ~450 graduate students apply every year, then (1600-450=1150) ~1150 undergraduate applicants apply every year for ~360 spots. Therefore, ~1 in every 3 undergraduate applicants (~30%) receives an interview invitation. From the above estimates, and assuming that the two pools are never combined during the application process, in terms of receiving an interview invitation, it would appear that the competition for undergraduate applicants is less than for graduate applicants.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't know the exact answers to your questions re: if or how the applicant pools are re-combined to make the offer list, or if there is an allotted proportion of seats for graduate students. A magic number that I have heard from another Admissions person for the percentage of total medical school seats that are for graduate applicants is 20% (akin to that for the University of Ottawa), but that's purely speculatory.

 

Just for fun, however, let's say that 20% of the total number of medical school seats are set aside for graduate applicants. Consequently, the post-interview level of competitiveness for the two groups becomes a little more equivalent:

 

graduate applicants: 90 interviewed for 40 spots = 1 acceptance for every 2.25 students interviewed

undergraduate applicants: 360 interviewed for 148 spots = 1 acceptance for every 2.43 students interviewed

 

Good luck to you.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest blobbo123]

Another thing to consider is not strictly the numbers, but the quality of the applicant pools. From what I understand, a lot of people who don't meet the numbers to get in from undergrad do a grad degree because the gpa requirements are not as stringent for people with graduate degrees. Does this make it easier to get in from the grad pool?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

I think the answer would be: not necessarily. Firstly, in order to enter most graduate programs (especially at UofT) you need a B+ to A- undergraduate average in your final undergraduate year, minimally. Therefore, graduate applicants generally will have been close to meeting the numbers in their final year, at least.

 

Secondly, most graduate degrees normally include at least a couple of graduate courses in their curriculae. If a graduate student has their heart set on medical school, and they've already been through the application rigmarole at the undergraduate level, what are the chances that they're working their bums off in their graduate courses? (Pretty high, I'd say. )

 

Finally, if the rumour is true that UofT looks at graduate course performance a little more closely than undergraduate, then overall, it's difficult to say how competitive the graduate applicant pool is, with respect to academics.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen