UofT's Information at the HBSU Medical School Symposium

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi,

 

Bill Gregg (MD Admissions Coordinator) and Leslie Taylor (MD Admissions Officer) were scheduled to be present last night, but only Leslie could attend. She presented the following information:

 

1) UofT will always use your most recent MCAT marks during the selection process. The MCAT marks are one of the first sets of criteria they use to reduce the size of the applicant pool. The GPA is the next criteria that is used. With respect to GPA, summer courses are not used in the GPA calculation unless the applicant is from a co-op program where a full set of courses (5.0 credits are taken during the summer term.

 

2) Leslie emphasized that applicants to the UofT medical school do not need research experience. The Admissions Committee recognizes that many people know that they do not wish to pursue research and wish to become clinicians, solely. As such, research is not a requirement for a successful UofT application.

 

3) Regarding letters of reference, UofT frowns upon letters received from family friends, neighbours or anyone who could be perceived as a peer. Furthermore, they do not place greater value on letters received from doctors or university professors. They would prefer to receive letters from individuals who can be objective and who can describe the applicant's behaviours and skills.

 

4) With respect to interviews, the interview team consists of a second year medical student and a UofT Faculty member. They will ask you questions from your sketch and essay and these may include questions surrounding ethics, problem solving or personal opinion (and support of it).

 

5) In terms of numbers, just under 2,000 applications were received this year (last year, 1576 were received). Of those 2,000, 450 interviews will be granted to fill a class of 198 students.

 

6) Regarding graduate applicants, there is no quota for the number of graduate students that are accepted into the program annually. In the assessment of graduate applicants, more emphasis is placed on graduate performance. Additionally, a second academic review, but of only graduate coursework, is performed.

 

7) Last year's entering class had the following make-up:

-27 were third year students

-127 were fourth year students

-40 were graduate students

-1 person had a professional degree

-61 students were from UofT; 102 students were from other schools in Ontario; 25 were from other Canadian schools

-6 students were from the United States and 1 was from an international university.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen