Prerequisite grades following new guidelines option 2

[Cardiolove01]

Hi Everyone, I read the website over a few times and I had the following questions

To give some context, I did not apply to Mcgill this year, I am re-doing option 2 prerequisites this year.  I did quite well on interview the times I applied but haven't gotten in due to prerequisites. This year I made the decision to not apply and re-do my prerequisites while balancing two jobs which has been tough I'm just worried if those prerequisites will still count? 

1) From my understanding prerequisite grades no longer count past the interview point, correct? based on this my understanding is 100 percent of admission decision is based on interview once you get the interview "For all programs, completion of all prerequisites science courses is required to maintain eligibility. Any of these courses taken as part of your Basis of Admission degree will contribute to your overall GPA for the academic assessment. CHANGES FOR THE FALL 2021 ADMISSIONS CYCLE: As of 2021, the GPA of the Basic Science courses is not re-used in the selection process"  

2) You still need to have the prerequisites done and have some sort of minimum grade what is that grade? Website only says this " As of Fall 2021, all basic science prerequisite courses must meet a minimum grade requirement; the GPA is not weighted in the selection process"  I don't know what this will mean if there needs to be a minimum if B+ for all prerequisite grades or an A-

3) Is option 2 classes done through athabasca, thomson rivers count still?  "a separate GPA for the science courses (collegial and/or university level) will not be weighted in the selection process. The final step of selection for the MDCM program will be based on the interview, harmonizing it with the Med-P selection process." AND "courses completed more than eight (8) years before the application deadline will not be considered; distance or correspondence education courses are acceptable only by special permission and at the discretion of the Office of Admissions"

So from my understanding, you will need prerequisites to be done ( within last 8 years if expired needs to be redone), there will be some sort of minimim requirement for these prerequisites( T.B.D what this minimum is)  but as long as you have done them and achieved the minimum and gotten the interview, the prerequisites won't affect your admission ie your interview score will decide your admission. I'm already going to be finished re-doing the prerequisites for this year cycle I guess I just don't know if McGill will now count them given my point 3 (athabasca, thomson rivers will hopefully still continue to count as it used to?) I'll be sad if all that time and money and effort and the prerequisites I re-took will no longer count. My option 1 prerequisites were done in 2008-2010 so they are no longer valid with the 8 year guideline. 

 

[Vons]

1) Yes. 

2) It looks like they'll require a C or higher (https://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/applying/requirements/requirements-edu/basic-science-prerequisites - go down to "Conditions for validity of prerequisite science courses" and "Minimum grades for valid science prerequisites, minimum MCAT")

3) Your first quote is correct: the exact GPA in your science prerequisite courses will not count, and the final admission decision depends 100% on the interview. As for your second quote, the only place I can find that information is in an outdated version of the eCalendar. That language does not seem to appear anywhere on the McGill MDCM admissions website, nor the current 2020-2021 eCalendar. McGill scrapped the 8 year policy a year or two ago, and there are plenty of people around here who have redone courses through Athabasca or Thompson Rivers and had them accepted. 

So in sum: you need to complete the prerequisites, each with at least a C (or whatever the minimum grade to be granted a degree/transfer credit is at your university I think). It doesn't matter when they are completed, and I don't think it matters where (within reason). And yes, your particular grades in the prerequisites won't affect your admission one way or another if you make it to the interview stage.

[Cardiolove01]

Thank you amazing very helpful! in that case I have all the prerequisites already, I did them all in 2008-2010. I will still finish option 2 anways as I'm almost done with them anyways and if they do end up counting the grades for future years I will have done them with an improved prerequisite score.

[zackattack881]

Is all of this for THIS upcoming cycle (2020-2021), or the next one (2021-2022)?

[Vons]

On 6/11/2020 at 7:42 PM, zackattack881 said:

Is all of this for THIS upcoming cycle (2020-2021), or the next one (2021-2022)?

I emailed them asking what "Fall 2021 Cycle" refers to but haven't heard back. Someone else told me that they found language on the McGill Med website that suggests that "Fall 2021" refers to the application cycle ENDING in Fall 2021. But I would have understood it as the cycle starting in Fall 2021. So idk.

Edit: but the McGill Med website is already updated to show that the final admission decision is 100% based on the interview, which would be a weird and misleading thing to change if the policy weren't coming into effect for the next cycle.

Edit 2: Admissions confirmed to me that the Fall 2021 Cycle is the one in which admitted students begin their studies in Fall 2021, i.e. those candidates would submit their applications by November 1 2020.

[zackattack881]

2 minutes ago, wynndixie said:

I emailed them asking what "Fall 2021 Cycle" refers to but haven't heard back. Someone else told me that they found language on the McGill Med website that suggests that "Fall 2021" refers to the application cycle ENDING in Fall 2021. But I would have understood it as the cycle starting in Fall 2021. So idk.

Yeah, it's very unclear if I'm honest

[Cardiolove01]

Its for this coming year Application Fall 2020 - for admission for fall 2021 on their pdf  I am pretty sure  here https://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/files/medadmissions/admissions_update_for_2021_applications.pdf  it says " CHANGES FOR THE FALL 2021 ADMISSIONS CYCLE:" 

On main page it also says " changes for admissions for fall 2021" 

Fall 2021 admission cycle means you are applying this year for admission in 2021 year 

I've been trying for 3 years now,  so I really hope this will be my year, fingers crossed for getting an interview for next year. 

[ceelbe]

“At least 4 of 7 science prerequisite courses, including labs, must be completed (with official grades submitted) by the Nov. 1 application deadline. If applicable, the grades for a maximum of 3 in-progress science prerequisite courses may be submitted by May 30  prior to the beginning of the program.”

Does anyone know if this means we can technically do two courses in the fall and one course in the winter (or vice versa) of the year we’re applying for?? Since grades can be submitted by May 30? (Not sure how long grades usually take though so not sure if winter grades would be finalized and submitted by then?)

[Cardiolove01]

It says all grades need to be submitted by January 15 2021 from what I read I think?  please correct if i'm wrong. They send out offers in march so I don't think it would have a May 30 deadline 

[ceelbe]

9 minutes ago, Cardiolove01 said:

It says all grades need to be submitted by January 15 2021 from what I read I think?  please correct if i'm wrong. They send out offers in march so I don't think it would have a May 30 deadline 

I found the quote I posted at this link, under the tab conditions for validity of prerequisite science courses 

https://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/applying/requirements/requirements-edu/basic-science-prerequisites

I thought the same but I think they just changed it? I’m not sure though so asking what others interpret that as

[Cardiolove01]

I think deadlines for cegep and MDM applicants might be different too? due to different application times? 

[Great_Wumbo]

This is a game changer. Applying to McGill IP now that they extended the deadline for a pre-req in progress (Jan 15 scrapped in favor of late May). Amazing. 

[ceelbe]

7 minutes ago, Great_Wumbo said:

This is a game changer. Applying to McGill IP now that they extended the deadline for a pre-req in progress (Jan 15 scrapped in favor of late May). Amazing. 

Definitely a game changer!! So would grades first the winter semester typically be finalized and stuff by the May 30 deadline do you think? 

[medium fundamental]

Wow quite a few notable changes to the pre-reqs over the last 2 years...
Can't find the January deadline date on the page for pre-reqs anymore...seems like the May 30 grade submission date is for everyone.
Which I guess is reflective of the change to not using pre-reqs as part of the final rankings. In past cycles, they would have needed the grades for the pre-reqs a bit earlier (like in Jan) to rank candidates post-MMI, now that it's all relying on the MMI, I guess they technically don't need the grades before giving out offers. I suppose the final offers (even for the offers to the university category usually out in late March) could simply be conditional on finishing the remaining 3 pre-reqs with the minimum grade by May 30.

Grades for pre-reqs done in universities are definitely out on transcripts by May 30, those done in CEGEP I'm not sure though (don't some CEGEPS have final exams up to end of May?)...

[Great_Wumbo]

50 minutes ago, RN_to_MD said:

Definitely a game changer!! So would grades first the winter semester typically be finalized and stuff by the May 30 deadline do you think? 

At my school (Concordia University), the latest I've ever received a final grade was by around May 19th... So it is looking promising. 

[ceelbe]

6 minutes ago, Great_Wumbo said:

At my school (Concordia University), the latest I've ever received a final grade was by around May 19th... So it is looking promising. 

Amazing, thank you. I’ll likely be taking some at McGill, hopefully some at Dawson and wherever I have to lol so hoping they all would get grades in by then. 

[Medfool25]

Can someone help me understand how McGill uses MCAT scores? On their site they mention academic score is "90% is based on the undergraduate CGPA and 10% is based on academic context." In the next section, they state that the MCAT is used "in conjunction with academic results in the relevant science prerequisite courses (50/50 weighting)." So is the MCAT somehow factored into the academic score or is it just a way to meet minimum pre-req grade.

[Vons]

7 hours ago, Medfool25 said:

Can someone help me understand how McGill uses MCAT scores? On their site they mention academic score is "90% is based on the undergraduate CGPA and 10% is based on academic context." In the next section, they state that the MCAT is used "in conjunction with academic results in the relevant science prerequisite courses (50/50 weighting)." So is the MCAT somehow factored into the academic score or is it just a way to meet minimum pre-req grade.

That's still sort of unclear to me since there's no prerequisite science GPA anymore. My interpretation is that for anyone in an applicant category where the MCAT is required, they'll still require it, but you just have to pass a certain threshold (maybe still the 80th percentile that they require now?) as an eligibility requirement, and the score won't be used competitively/comparatively. 

It looks like the policy change effectively means that there's no possible advantage in writing the MCAT if it's not required of your applicant category.

[Vons]

16 hours ago, Cardiolove01 said:

Its for this coming year Application Fall 2020 - for admission for fall 2021 on their pdf  I am pretty sure  here https://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/files/medadmissions/admissions_update_for_2021_applications.pdf  it says " CHANGES FOR THE FALL 2021 ADMISSIONS CYCLE:" 

On main page it also says " changes for admissions for fall 2021" 

Fall 2021 admission cycle means you are applying this year for admission in 2021 year 

I've been trying for 3 years now,  so I really hope this will be my year, fingers crossed for getting an interview for next year. 

I just got a response from admissions and they confirmed that you're correct! The Fall 2021 Cycle is the one starting in Fall 2020 with admitted students starting their studies in Fall 2021.

[Great_Wumbo]

The application cycle is going to be interesting for sure. What is going to be the breakdown for pre-interview and post-interview (acceptance/reject) now that pre-req GPA is a thing of the past?

[cc11]

Not quite sure to understand how these changes apply to non-trad students. I did my pre-req during my first bachelor, does that mean they won't contribute to my cGPA ?

[Vons]

17 minutes ago, cc11 said:

Not quite sure to understand how these changes apply to non-trad students. I did my pre-req during my first bachelor, does that mean they won't contribute to my cGPA ?

If you've completed a second bachelor's degree, then any prerequisite courses you took during your first degree will not contribute to your cGPA. They'll simply check to see that you took them and got a certain minimum grade in each.

[lcs.tmng]

Extension for prereqs and up to 3 in progress?! This is great news! Most labs have been cancelled and postponed to winter 2021 at my uni.

[projectomaha]

13 hours ago, wynndixie said:

That's still sort of unclear to me since there's no prerequisite science GPA anymore. My interpretation is that for anyone in an applicant category where the MCAT is required, they'll still require it, but you just have to pass a certain threshold (maybe still the 80th percentile that they require now?) as an eligibility requirement, and the score won't be used competitively/comparatively. 

It looks like the policy change effectively means that there's no possible advantage in writing the MCAT if it's not required of your applicant category.

I didn't think of that. Has anyone confirmed whether the MCAT would not longer be evaluated for students that don't require it? In the past, MCAT scores could be submitted to be evaluated in conjunction with the Basic Science Prerequisite GPA. I'm wondering if they'll made changes regarding this. It looks like their site hasn't been entirely updated - I'm still seeing the note about the 50/50 weighting.

EDIT: It looks like they will still evaluate optional MCAT results if they render the application more competitive. 

https://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/applying/requirements/requirements-edu/mcat

This was the link that was provided relating to submitting MCAT scores in the Fall 2021 Update.

[Vons]

39 minutes ago, goldenelephant said:

I didn't think of that. Has anyone confirmed whether the MCAT would not longer be evaluated for students that don't require it? In the past, MCAT scores could be submitted to be evaluated in conjunction with the Basic Science Prerequisite GPA. I'm wondering if they'll made changes regarding this. It looks like their site hasn't been entirely updated - I'm still seeing the note about the 50/50 weighting.

EDIT: It looks like they will still evaluate optional MCAT results if they render the application more competitive. 

https://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/applying/requirements/requirements-edu/mcat

This was the link that was provided relating to submitting MCAT scores in the Fall 2021 Update.

Honestly I'm not really sure what to make of that. In what way could MCAT scores make someone more or less competitive? Before, it could balance a slightly lower prereq-GPA, but now that the prereq-GPA is not considered, what deficiency could there be that a high MCAT score would help make up for? My hunch is that that's just "leftover" wording or something. If you consider the components of the pre-interview (70% degGPA, 20% CASPER, 10% CV) and post-interview (100% MMI) rankings, I just don't see where an MCAT score can factor in for a candidate for whom the MCAT is optional or not required.