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Chances for Ontario? (Brutal honesty please) Canadian first time applicant


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Hello,

I am a long time lurker, and this is my first post. I was wondering if my fellow Ontario comrades that got interviews/invites could please give me some tips!

Also, I have the following stats, I would really appreciate some feedback and perhaps recommendations on certain schools that fit my experiences/scores:

516 on the MCAT (129/128/130/129)

3.8 GPA (Perfect GPA last 2 years)

ECs:

Lots of volunteering at a hospital in patient care (300+ hours)

2 publications with a neurosurgeon as a 3rd author

Spent the majority of my undergrad playing varsity tennis at Western University

The remaining time was spent teaching special needs students with a company in my community and coaching tennis (paid).

Did a few outreach clubs and have exec positions here and there, but nothing too serious outside of teaching, sports, and research.

Lots of awards by the university and province for tennis, high class standing awards, and a bunch of smaller things.

I have NO SHADOWING experience, given it isn't emphasized in Canada but please recommend if I should do that to improve my app. Please recommend what I should emphasize on my app, what schools to apply to/focus on, I am a newbie with applications as I am in my 3rd year. Also, if there's something missing or how I can improve my app. Also also, do I have a chance in American MD schools with my ECs? All opinions welcome!

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ECs are interesting although there is more nuance to it. MCAT and GPA is good for every school.

I think the varsity tennis will make you stand out to someone doing file review, but for schools that grade every EC and give it a value for a total file score, I would aim for more breadth to your list. 

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@xiphoid You caught me, I am trying to maintain a bit of anonymity. This wasn't a really smart way since I just realized people can see my other posts. :/ @2019goals I am not looking for attention bro, as xiphoid clearly pointed out, I didn't score an interview so I am not "all set", I don't have much access to expert feedback and thought people on this forum might be helpful. But yeah thanks for your feedback I guess :)

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From looking at what you wrote above, either your ECs were not written in the best way possible on your ABS or the number was not enough. Other possibilities of areas to improve are your U of T essays, references and CASPer. Your academics and mcat are not holding you back anywhere. On paper, you look pretty good so I imagine the issue may be in how you present yourself. Good luck!

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@billy55555 y1 = 3.6, y2 = 3.6, y3/4 = 4. All 4 years had a full course load. Yeah, my essays might have been the problem. Also also, I applied this cycle with a 510 (128/125/128/129), so maybe that hurt my chances? I rewrote it in Jan and received a better score (129/128/130/129). Hopefully, that makes a difference with my next app cycle. 

 

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6 hours ago, AdamMD said:

@m_jacob_45 Would you recommend consulting companies to help with this? I have always been pretty involved, but legitimately been bad at applications and essays :( Let me know if you have any companies in mind as I am looking deeper into it now.

I didn’t use one, so I can’t really comment on which are good but it may be worth it if you think this is a weaker area where you need more help. Also, I think it would be helpful to have med students or residents look over your ABS/essays as well if you did not get help last time. Your new mcat will likely help quite a bit as well.

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So i thought @2019goals was being fairly rude. I thought it was an honest question.. But at every turn you reveal a lie. Dude it is an anonymous forum. In your regrets for interviews you wrote that you had a 516 MCAT... why would you write that there. And now you say it was a 510? 

I don't have any advice for you because I have no idea what are your actual qualifications are. I hope your are more honest on your applications then you are on here.

All I can say is you should maybe work a bit more on your character before applying to medicine.

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1 hour ago, jp123 said:

So i thought @2019goals was being fairly rude. I thought it was an honest question.. But at every turn you reveal a lie. Dude it is an anonymous forum. In your regrets for interviews you wrote that you had a 516 MCAT... why would you write that there. And now you say it was a 510? 

I don't have any advice for you because I have no idea what are your actual qualifications are. I hope your are more honest on your applications then you are on here.

All I can say is you should maybe work a bit more on your character before applying to medicine.

The MCAT doesn't matter for Toronto as long as you meet the cutoffs. And he would have written that regrets post after having received his new score. I can see how one could make that mistake. 

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6 hours ago, jp123 said:

So i thought @2019goals was being fairly rude. I thought it was an honest question.. But at every turn you reveal a lie. Dude it is an anonymous forum. In your regrets for interviews you wrote that you had a 516 MCAT... why would you write that there. And now you say it was a 510? 

I don't have any advice for you because I have no idea what are your actual qualifications are. I hope your are more honest on your applications then you are on here.

All I can say is you should maybe work a bit more on your character before applying to medicine.

Lol that's why I said my comment. I clicked his profile and saw his past posts.. 

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22 hours ago, AdamMD said:

@billy55555 y1 = 3.6, y2 = 3.6, y3/4 = 4. All 4 years had a full course load. Yeah, my essays might have been the problem. Also also, I applied this cycle with a 510 (128/125/128/129), so maybe that hurt my chances? I rewrote it in Jan and received a better score (129/128/130/129). Hopefully, that makes a difference with my next app cycle. 

 

Your 125 CARS this cycle absolutely screened you out of a few schools this year. You should be a competitive applicant next year without needing a scam consulting company.

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@YesIcan55 I don't think you or @jp123 understand, I rewrote the MCAT. I am asking for feedback with my CURRENT stats. My old score was 510 which I should've mentioned on the other post, but I accidentally included the new score instead (but who cares, it's UofT).

 

 If you want to waste your time implying that I am insecure and running a full background check of my 3-day old profile, be my guest. Also, my gf is right next to me laughing at your previous posts where you're convinced London Ontario is full of white supremacists :D :D 

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+1 for getting med students, residents or other people to review your app/essays but I would not recommend wasting money with a professional company.

Don't rely on close friends who are going to be too nice to tell you if your writing sucks. Try not to use another premed as they might not have the experience to critique your writing. Try verbally talking about your ECs while someone reviews your app. You'd be surprised how often people can have fantastic experiences but be horrible at putting it down on paper-- their 4 months abroad teaching English and providing vaccines to orphans reduced to "i went to africa to help people lol"

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27 minutes ago, YesIcan55 said:

Why specifically say "first-time applicant" when in fact you are a second (but more likely a third time) reapplicant? no one mentions how many times they applied in their title because it is irrelevant. Also, if you are trying to be "elusive" why include such a specific and easily traceable EC like "Spent the majority of my undergrad playing varsity tennis at Western University"? Your stories don't add up dude.

They even have the entire varsity tennis team roster online:

https://westernmustangs.ca/roster.aspx?roster=1196&path=mten

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@YesIcan55 LOL well I never said that's accurate either ;) It might just be a different sport at a different school but at that level of competition. I told you, don't worry about the details. It's subtle and gives me the peace of mind that I am 100% anonymous. I don't get why people can't just answer the simple question, saves us all a lot of time.

P.S. I am paranoid about these things, it's my first time on these kinds of forums. 

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