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14 hours ago, typical_dreamer said:

I'm wondering if it's worth applying as an OOP for Western with what I feel are relatively strong ECs (but nothing stellar). My OMSAS GPA is quite low at 3.83 and I'm taking the MCAT this summer but I think I can score around 129-130 in each section. My question is whether GPA and MCAT are taken into account for getting an interview after you meet the cutoffs. And whether they're considered for admission post-interview as well.

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

GPA is definitely considered beyond just whether you meet the cutoffs, but I'm not sure about MCAT. To be honest, with a 3.83 it would likely be difficult to receive an interview as an OOP applicant, but there may be a chance.

I've heard that post-interview GPA is considered, but a large majority of the weighting goes towards the interview itself

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10 hours ago, offmychestplease said:

don't say things you don't know about. If you have 3.7+ from 2 years of study assuming you met the course level/load requirements, you have fulfilled the GPA requirement regardless if you are IP/OOP 

Yeah poster referenced is fake news. I got in with a 3.83 and 127 cars this cycle. Def possible 

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11 hours ago, offmychestplease said:

don't say things you don't know about. If you have 3.7+ from 2 years of study assuming you met the course level/load requirements, you have fulfilled the GPA requirement regardless if you are IP/OOP 

I do know what I'm talking about - Western does not use GPA as just a cutoff. Even once you meet the cutoff they look at your GPA when deciding who gets interviews.

 

1 hour ago, Hammmmmy said:

Yeah poster referenced is fake news. I got in with a 3.83 and 127 cars this cycle. Def possible 

I never said it was impossible? I said it was difficult, and frankly your GPA is definitely more of an exception than the rule

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Based on their admissions criteria on the site I don’t think they use gpa for determining who gets interviews after the cutoff is achieved (might have been the case in the past before introduction of the essays maybe?). They very well might after the interview, not sure, but as stated above the interview accounts for the lion’s share of your score at that point anyways, so as long as your MCAT ends up above the cutoff ranges you typically see for Western definitely worth giving it a shot! 

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my mcat was at (not above) cutoffs for 2/3 of the sections this year and I still got in... but my gpa was 3.95 so maybe that took precedence over it? it’s hard to know unless u are on the admissions team I think. for example most people told me not to apply to Ottawa this year bc my wGPA was a 3.86 (They avg around 3.95) and I got in lol so it’s always worth trying I think! Make your essays stand out and give it a shot :) 

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52 minutes ago, bbtlove said:

my mcat was at (not above) cutoffs for 2/3 of the sections this year and I still got in... but my gpa was 3.95 so maybe that took precedence over it? it’s hard to know unless u are on the admissions team I think. for example most people told me not to apply to Ottawa this year bc my wGPA was a 3.86 (They avg around 3.95) and I got in lol so it’s always worth trying I think! Make your essays stand out and give it a shot :) 

It looks like both MCAT and gpa are both assessed only by cutoff for interview purposes, so if you nail the interview borderline numbers matters a lot less, at least for western. Which you likely did considering that you also got into Ottawa and they’re also very interview score heavy! So end of the day OP, if you meet the cutoffs, definitely apply to western and practice up for that interview :)

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1 hour ago, offmychestplease said:

Western DOES NOT use GPA as anything more than a cutoff when determining who gets interviews....

I know for an actual fact that Western uses the GPA for more than just cutoffs. I was explicitly told this by someone from admissions. Is your belief really that a 3.7 is looked at exactly the same as a 4.0? That's incorrect, and I'm curious what your source is

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5 minutes ago, offmychestplease said:

stop propagating lies...there is overwhelming evidence from this forum over many years and on the admissions site that meeting the cutoffs is all you need to do...yes a 3.7 is equal to a 4.0 in Western's eyes.

Link me to anything on the admissions site that says that

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16 minutes ago, TheStern said:

I know for an actual fact that Western uses the GPA for more than just cutoffs. I was explicitly told this by someone from admissions. Is your belief really that a 3.7 is looked at exactly the same as a 4.0? That's incorrect, and I'm curious what your source is

Huh that’s interesting, wouldn’t have guessed from the site, but I suppose admissions ppl know best, thanks for the info. I still think if you’re above the cutoffs it’s worth to give it a shot, but it is good to keep in mind that it’s a longer shot than if you’re closer to the 4.0. Interesting.

To be clear you do mean for pre-interview scores, yeah?

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5 minutes ago, offmychestplease said:

stop propagating lies...there is overwhelming evidence from this forum over many years and on the admissions site that meeting the cutoffs is all you need to do...yes a 3.7 is equal to a 4.0 in Western's eyes.

It is true that for getting an interview, it is very likely that a 3.7 is equal to a 4.0. However, we really don’t know how they use GPA for the post-interview selection. It might be a coincidence that the average gpa of incoming classes is usually around 3.91 but gpa may also still play a part in the selection processes after the interview, we really don’t know anything for sure! :) 

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3 minutes ago, TheFlyGuy said:

Huh that’s interesting, wouldn’t have guessed from the site, but I suppose admissions ppl know best, thanks for the info. I still think if you’re above the cutoffs it’s worth to give it a shot, but it is good to keep in mind that it’s a longer shot than if you’re closer to the 4.0. Interesting.

To be clear you do mean for pre-interview scores, yeah?

Sorry, I will clarify that I am not sure at which phase, whether pre or post interview, GPA is looked at more closely. But I was told it is looked at beyond cutoffs

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1 minute ago, TheStern said:

Link me to anything on the admissions site that says that

Certainly not specifically that, BUT "applicants are evaluated based on a composite of information including achievement of GPA and MCAT minimum thresholds and a description of unique life experiences that demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to the School’s core values of diversity, teamwork/leadership, social accountability/responsibility, and self-directed learning/critical inquiry" 

There's certainly been a lot of discussion about this in the past, but I've also been under the impression that once the minimum has been met, you're considered on an equal stats footing. You can also see that there's a pretty good sample of people with much "lower" GPAs (being closer to 3.7) that were interviewed/accepted this year.

And yes, since post-interview admission criteria is essentially a black box, we really don't know, but if GPA is at all considered competitively, it seems to be a pretty small factor compared to other factors like the interview/essays/refs, since the GPA range is pretty "big" of accepted students at Western.

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Historically you hit the cut offs you get an interview. For interview purposes that is enough. The entire point of picking those cut offs is to end up with a particular interview size that the school can actually manage. Doing anything else with them PRE interview doesn't make much sense. Other wise you could simply raise the cut off and get the exact same result but be open about it (since behind the scene you would effectively have a higher cut off anyway). Western has again historically being very open about what they want - it is part of their overall approach. 

We do know in the past, and the acceptance numbers seem to continue to support this, that the GPA and MCAT again have a role post interview (higher therefore is better). However we have people across the entire range of allowed MCAT/GPA scores that get in. In other words the school doesn't bother interviewing people that have no hope of getting accepted - practically they just wouldn't waste their time. So again if you get an interview you must approach that like you have a realistic chance of getting in - because that is actually the case. 

This goes for any school as well - if you have a chance at an interview - doesn't really matter how high that chance is you take it. Why would you do anything else? You could get in ultimately - great, or you could could learn and advance further in some other way having gone through the process. Never turn down opportunities to potentially advance - particularly because part of this process does depend on luck.

 

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1 hour ago, SportiiMD said:

I was also told by admissions this year that GPA and MCAT are assessed competitively beyond the cut-offs. But not sure if this is pre or post interview or both

This is all bit new - but I would suspect it was post (which is no different than any other year). 

The acid test for this is not super hard (?) - how many people on this form that meet the cut offs (after confirming) didn't actually get an interview? 

 

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On 6/13/2020 at 12:43 PM, TheStern said:

I do know what I'm talking about - Western does not use GPA as just a cutoff. Even once you meet the cutoff they look at your GPA when deciding who gets interviews.

 

I never said it was impossible? I said it was difficult, and frankly your GPA is definitely more of an exception than the rule

There were several who got offers with lower GPAs than mine on the accepted thread boss 

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We really do not know how GPA and MCAT are assessed now that the aABS is part of the application. There are plenty people who meet/exceed the cut-offs that didn't get an interview. And then there are people who barely meet the cut-offs that get interviewed and eventually accepted. The aABS and the interview definitely matter a lot. But higher GPA and MCAT wouldn't hurt. Admissions have also mentioned in some unofficial e-mails to applicants that GPA is looked at competitively (but not known to what extent).

If you feel confident and fill out all 8 essays for the aABS, do apply! If the impression (or delusion) that GPA and MCAT are just cut-offs helps with your confidence, there's really no harm in thinking that. Med school competition is anxiety-inducing enough without having to sit around speculating your chances (I totally feel you cuz I do it too).

Once you've made it to the interview, just focus solely on smashing it. Don't let the distractions of GPA and etc. muck up your confidence then!

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