OOP Chances

[UBC Enthusiast]

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[pyridoxal-phosphate]

xx

[UBC Enthusiast]

Thanks a bunch for sharing your thoughts! Just wanted to clarify what you mean by "if its even looked at" when you mentioned the MCAT. 

[OwnerOfTheTARDIS]

1 hour ago, UBC Enthusiast said:

Thanks a bunch for sharing your thoughts! Just wanted to clarify what you mean by "if its even looked at" when you mentioned the MCAT. 

Beyond meeting the cutoffs, MCAT is only evaluated post-interview so if you don’t get an interview, it’s not looked at.

[ATG4B]

I agree that it’s incredibly difficult to judge someone’s chances, as there is definitely a lot of subjectivity to the process. I think you have a strong enough GPA and MCAT, but the OOP pool for UBC is stellar and I am sure they could easily extend many more invitations if they had more space. Beyond someone’s EC’s is also the way they are able to articulate them (with such limited space in the application) in a way that paints a coherent and distinct picture of who you are. At the end of the day, there are only a few people who will read your application and there is also a certain amount of “luck” involved in the process when it comes down to who gets selected for an interview and who doesn’t. There are so few spots and so many incredibly talented individuals that I think it only gets harder every year to stand out. I know this isn’t a clear answer to your question, but it’s the reality of the process not only at UBC, but across the country. 

[UBC Enthusiast]

My main worry is that my MCAT will hold me back. I feel like its pretty weak given the average entrance class stats on the UBC website. Not sure how big of a deal the MCAT is post-interview (if anyone knows please let me know). Hopefully we all hear good news in May. Good luck with your applications!

[OwnerOfTheTARDIS]

My friend had a 510 (124 cars) and another had a 512 and both got into NMP. A first semester roommate got into SMP with a 508. Definitely not an ideal score, but not unreasonable.

[this_process_is_death]

1 hour ago, OwnerOfTheTARDIS said:

My friend had a 510 (124 cars) and another had a 512 and both got into NMP. A first semester roommate got into SMP with a 508. Definitely not an ideal score, but not unreasonable.

Were they all OOP?

[Instagrammar]

My two friends accepted to UBC as OOP (first round, both VMP) had 88% and 90% averages with 514 and 513 MCAT, I really don't think the MCAT is weighted in such an aggressive manner that it will destroy an application. They ended up accepting their IP schools which to me tells me that with multiple offers, they excelled in their interviews. 

[UBC Enthusiast]

On 2/23/2019 at 2:48 PM, OwnerOfTheTARDIS said:

My friend had a 510 (124 cars) and another had a 512 and both got into NMP. A first semester roommate got into SMP with a 508. Definitely not an ideal score, but not unreasonable.

With SMP and NMP, isn't there a huge focus on rural experience? I'm assuming that could have helped them. How were their interviews? And, were they OOP?

[UBC Enthusiast]

1 hour ago, Instagrammar said:

My two friends accepted to UBC as OOP (first round, both VMP) had 88% and 90% averages with 514 and 513 MCAT, I really don't think the MCAT is weighted in such an aggressive manner that it will destroy an application. They ended up accepting their IP schools which to me tells me that with multiple offers, they excelled in their interviews. 

Yeah, it seems that 513-514 is the score for accepted students and 511-512 for rejected, which is why I am concerned.

[Instagrammar]

2 minutes ago, UBC Enthusiast said:

Yeah, it seems that 513-514 is the score for accepted students and 511-512 for rejected, which is why I am concerned.

Don't forget that these are averages. Just like how the OOP invite average was 91.44, which means we have some 95+ students, and some 85 students, the same goes for MCAT. I strongly believe UBC would not invite you to an interview if they knew you did not have a chance based on MCAT alone. I think it certainly has some weight, but there is no reason for a school to have students pay hundreds of dollars in accommodations, flight arrangements, and taxis to get to an interview and then have the school just disregard the applicant because of the MCAT score. If it is anything like Dalhousie's point system, there is not much difference between a 523(10/10)  and a 511(8/10), perhaps 2 application points (out of 100). 

[OwnerOfTheTARDIS]

5 hours ago, UBC Enthusiast said:

Thanks for sharing! With SMP and NMP, isn't there a huge focus on rural experience? I'm assuming that could have helped them. How were their interviews?

NMP is entirely designated rural, SMP has about 10/32 seats designated rural. The 510 guy was waitlisted on his first app and then rejected from the wait list with a below average interview, but presumably wouldn’t have been waitlisted at all if they didn’t consider him admissible. No idea whether he improved or how the other’s interviews went. Keep in mind that I’m IMP and generally got to know other distributies far better than any VFMP people. I haven’t mentioned any VFMP scores because I don’t know any - not because they were all super high.

6 hours ago, this_process_is_death said:

Were they all OOP?

The 508 SMP might have been.

[UBC Enthusiast]

Good point guys. Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts. I'm feeling much better now  The wait is much more bearable lol 

[ohimark]

Yeah just to reiterate the point about MCAT score distribution for matriculants - there's obviously an undisclosed range within the 288. There are plenty of anecdotes about people getting in with "poorer" scores (buddy of mine this last year with 507), just as there could be some 528s in the entering class (fricken kids these days). I'm a fan of @Neurophiliac's attitude to just about everything - you can't know until you know so why not be positive and try it out. I will just point out Table 8 on last year's stats (https://mdprogram.med.ubc.ca/files/2018/10/MED-2022-Admissions-Statistics.pdf) that your gpa is in a higher bracket than where the bulk of the refused OOPs landed. Food for thought - along with how much grey rainy sky can you handle?  

 

[mdpwns]

Does anyone think they look at scores individually or the mcat as a whole?

[Neurophiliac]

@UBC Enthusiast

Don't stress about it too much!  I know it's difficult not to think about your performance and to quantify by even the slightest bit if you'll likely gain an offer or not – believe me, I do this and I'm sure others do too haha .  But try your best to focus on the moment.  Whether you did great or average or poor, what's done is done.  I'm sure you gave it your best and hopefully you get the result you're looking for.  What's important is that we won't be certain until May 13th or 14th (I think?), AKA D-Day (lol), comes.  As @ohimark nicely articulated, there's a wide range of MCAT scores among those that become accepted.  From my point of view, and considering your GPA, I think you should be okay with an MCAT of 510 (even if CARS is 125).  Don't take my word for it though as a guarantee!  But to put your mind at ease, I think you should be okay.  Do you have any idea if your reference letters that were submitted are strong?

21 hours ago, mdpwns1763 said:

Does anyone think they look at scores individually or the mcat as a whole?

I think it's fair to say they look at both.  On average, they would like to see if your individual scores are pretty much even and if your overall score is competitive (by percentile and also in comparison with other candidates' scores).  But again, this is my perspective and what I think happens.

[mdpwns]

54 minutes ago, Neurophiliac said:

@UBC Enthusiast

Don't stress about it too much!  I know it's difficult not to think about your performance and to quantify by even the slightest bit if you'll likely gain an offer or not – believe me, I do this and I'm sure others do too haha .  But try your best to focus on the moment.  Whether you did great or average or poor, what's done is done.  I'm sure you gave it your best and hopefully you get the result you're looking for.  What's important is that we won't be certain until May 13th or 14th (I think?), AKA D-Day (lol), comes.  As @ohimark nicely articulated, there's a wide range of MCAT scores among those that become accepted.  From my point of view, and considering your GPA, I think you should be okay with an MCAT of 510 (even if CARS is 125).  Don't take my word for it though as a guarantee!  But to put your mind at ease, I think you should be okay.  Do you have any idea if your reference letters that were submitted are strong?

I think it's fair to say they look at both.  On average, they would like to see if your individual scores are pretty much even and if your overall score is competitive (by percentile and also in comparison with other candidates' scores).  But again, this is my perspective and what I think happens.

Hmm. Yeah it is just stressful. I have a really competitive score (517) but a bad cars (125). So uncertain how to feel 

[Neurophiliac]

49 minutes ago, mdpwns1763 said:

Hmm. Yeah it is just stressful. I have a really competitive score (517) but a bad cars (125). So uncertain how to feel 

Same!  Don't sweat it – hopefully we'll be okay .  We won't know until D-Day arrives haha.  I'm also hoping they put an emphasis on the overall score, but there are so many variables in one's post-interview evaluation.

[victoriaQ]

3 hours ago, Neurophiliac said:

@UBC Enthusiast

Don't stress about it too much!  I know it's difficult not to think about your performance and to quantify by even the slightest bit if you'll likely gain an offer or not – believe me, I do this and I'm sure others do too haha .  But try your best to focus on the moment.  Whether you did great or average or poor, what's done is done.  I'm sure you gave it your best and hopefully you get the result you're looking for.  What's important is that we won't be certain until May 13th or 14th (I think?), AKA D-Day (lol), comes.  As @ohimark nicely articulated, there's a wide range of MCAT scores among those that become accepted.  From my point of view, and considering your GPA, I think you should be okay with an MCAT of 510 (even if CARS is 125).  Don't take my word for it though as a guarantee!  But to put your mind at ease, I think you should be okay.  Do you have any idea if your reference letters that were submitted are strong?

I think it's fair to say they look at both.  On average, they would like to see if your individual scores are pretty much even and if your overall score is competitive (by percentile and also in comparison with other candidates' scores).  But again, this is my perspective and what I think happens.

Out of curiosity, why do you say May 13th/14th as your guess for D-Day?   @Neurophiliac

[Neurophiliac]

14 minutes ago, victoriaQ said:

Out of curiosity, why do you say May 13th/14th as your guess for D-Day?   @Neurophiliac

So typically offers come Wednesday onwards (based on previous years, like Thursday and Friday).  But this year, May begins mid-week on Wednesday, so the Thursday and Friday of the second week (9th and 10th) are perhaps a bit too early. So, maybe just maybe, this time it’ll be the beginning of the week on perhaps 13th or 14th (Monday or Tuesday) — but, it’s just a guess!

[UBC Enthusiast]

Yeah on the interview day i think they also said that the invites are expected to go out mid-May. 

Also @Neurophiliac and @ohimark tysm for sharing your thoughts on my application!

[Cross]

Hiya. I think your MCAT is probably going to be your biggest hinderence. However, my good friend is OOP and had a similar MCAT score and in in yr 1. Good luck, I've got my fingers crossed for you!

On 2/21/2019 at 11:28 AM, UBC Enthusiast said:

MCAT: 510 (125 cars)

GPA: 91%

Interview: Average

5th Year UG

 

[keener12345]

9 hours ago, Cross said:

Hiya. I think your MCAT is probably going to be your biggest hinderence. However, my good friend is OOP and had a similar MCAT score and in in yr 1. Good luck, I've got my fingers crossed for you!

 

Hi what Mcat score did he/she have exactly ?

[UBC Enthusiast]

12 hours ago, Cross said:

Hiya. I think your MCAT is probably going to be your biggest hinderence. However, my good friend is OOP and had a similar MCAT score and in in yr 1. Good luck, I've got my fingers crossed for you!

 

How was their interview?