UBC Med Chances

[FF20]

Hi Guys,

Could someone please comment on my chances of getting an interview from UBC Med. I have 91.4% average and I am in province. I did biology honours/chemistry minor degree. My extracurriculars are not great; I have included 5 awards (one entrance scholarship $16,000, the other 4 were between $500-1,000), I worked in a sunglasses kiosk for the summer, worked 4 years as a pharmacist assistant, worked 1.5 year in the university as a tutor. In terms of volunteering, I volunteered in ER, Seniors residence centre, and volunteered as an office coordinator in Canadian Cancer Society for 1 year. Volunteered for one year as a research assistant. Played piano in different events like funerals. Helped with a family business as office administrator. For Mcat I am waiting for my score but I believe I cleared all the section cut offs, knowing that UBC doesn't look at MCAT prior to interview, do you guys think there is any chance of me getting an interview, considering the fact that my gpa and ECs are not amazing?

Would appreciate your guys feedback.

 

[Excel-erate Your Breath]

I dread the day that a 91.4% average for an IP is considered "not amazing." Lmao. It's literally higher than the current average acceptance!

That GPA will score you in the general range of about 31 to 33 for your AQ, and if we assume the TFR cutoff for an IP interview invite will be between 52 and 54, then your NAQ score needs to be in the range of 19 to 23.

In other words, you need your NAQ to be in the 38th to 46th (roughly) percentile compared to all other applicants. And you've done quite a bit in your time, I could see you being in the 50+ percentile for NAQ easily (I have no baseline to compare you to or anything, but just from a general sense of posts I've seen on these forums).

I think you should be good!

[Hopefulm]

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[ubcstudent]

8 hours ago, Excel-erate Your Breath said:

I dread the day that a 91.4% average for an IP is considered "not amazing." Lmao. It's literally higher than the current average acceptance!

That GPA will score you in the general range of about 31 to 33 for your AQ, and if we assume the TFR cutoff for an IP interview invite will be between 52 and 54, then your NAQ score needs to be in the range of 19 to 23.

In other words, you need your NAQ to be in the 38th to 46th (roughly) percentile compared to all other applicants. And you've done quite a bit in your time, I could see you being in the 50+ percentile for NAQ easily (I have no baseline to compare you to or anything, but just from a general sense of posts I've seen on these forums).

I think you should be good!

What percentile NAQ do you need with a 96% average?

[Fast_Layne]

5 minutes ago, ubcstudent said:

What percentile NAQ do you need with a 96% average?

Try using these equations to calculate! 

 

[marsaturn20]

5 minutes ago, ubcstudent said:

What percentile NAQ do you need with a 96% average?

You'll most likely need between 17-20. Your average is very high, so you don't need to score very high score on your NAQ (unless you're one of those exceptional candidates where you have it all  ). Great job maintaining a VERY HIGH average! It definitely showed top notch discipline!

[Excel-erate Your Breath]

1 hour ago, ubcstudent said:

What percentile NAQ do you need with a 96% average?

1 hour ago, marsaturn20 said:

You'll most likely need between 17-20. Your average is very high, so you don't need to score very high score on your NAQ (unless you're one of those exceptional candidates where you have it all  ). Great job maintaining a VERY HIGH average! It definitely showed top notch discipline!

Theoretically though, you gotta keep in mind the "holistic nature" of the post-interview review process. Especially for UBC. I highly doubt they're accepting people who have 96% average but 17th percentile NAQ just because that's a really poor NAQ score...idk though. If I was sitting on an adcom I would want all accepted candidates to score about 40th percentile and above for NAQ (and of course the higher the NAQ the lower your GPA "needs" to be, to an extent). Needless to say I'm not on any adcoms though so idk lollll. 17th just seems madddd low.

But of course in terms of numbers (i.e. non holistic review process) and just meeting UBC interview cutoffs, yeah 17th should get you the job done. And I'm certain you will score much higher than 17th on NAQ anyways!

[marsaturn20]

50 minutes ago, Excel-erate Your Breath said:

Theoretically though, you gotta keep in mind the "holistic nature" of the post-interview review process. Especially for UBC. I highly doubt they're accepting people who have 96% average but 17th percentile NAQ just because that's a really poor NAQ score...idk though. If I was sitting on an adcom I would want all accepted candidates to score about 40th percentile and above for NAQ (and of course the higher the NAQ the lower your GPA "needs" to be, to an extent). Needless to say I'm not on any adcoms though so idk lollll. 17th just seems madddd low.

But of course in terms of numbers (i.e. non holistic review process) and just meeting UBC interview cutoffs, yeah 17th should get you the job done. And I'm certain you will score much higher than 17th on NAQ anyways!

I agree with you that when it comes to the "post interview," a low NAQ may hurt an applicant's overall score! Although, this may also apply to candidates with lower "Academic Average?" I belong to the latter group, so I am very sure that my AQ score will be in the very low 20s. I guess, only adcoms will know how this "holistic process" is conducted. 

[Excel-erate Your Breath]

3 minutes ago, marsaturn20 said:

I agree with you that when it comes to the "post interview," a low NAQ may hurt an applicant's overall score! Although, this may also apply to candidates with lower "Academic Average?" I belong to the latter group, so I am very sure that my AQ score will be in the very low 20s. I guess, only adcoms will know how this "holistic process" is conducted. 

Me as well me as well, I think my AQ will be about 20-21 (out of the possible 50) this cycle (can't wait for AGPA...but obviously the ideal is getting in this cycle). And yes it would work in the reverse direction too probably, you can have a 90th percentile NAQ but if your AQ is 20th percentile then it might be ropes. Luckily for us we're around 40th percentile for AQ right now

[marsaturn20]

3 minutes ago, Excel-erate Your Breath said:

Me as well me as well, I think my AQ will be about 20-21 (out of the possible 50) this cycle (can't wait for AGPA...but obviously the ideal is getting in this cycle). And yes it would work in the reverse direction too probably, you can have a 90th percentile NAQ but if your AQ is 20th percentile then it might be ropes. Luckily for us we're around 40th percentile for AQ right now

I'm a non-traditional applicant, so my AQ portion is pretty much "fixed" at this point  But, let's cross our fingers that we'll land an interview  

[Excel-erate Your Breath]

2 minutes ago, marsaturn20 said:

I'm a non-traditional applicant, so my AQ portion is pretty much "fixed" at this point  But, let's cross our fingers that we'll land an interview  

Always have high hopes! Even look at the stats for the entering class, 20% of the whole class had AQs in our percentile range. I hope we not only get an interview but also get in!

[FF20]

Thank you guys for commenting. I always read online comments and people's stats and ECs and that makes me feel inadequate and I feel I probably need more to stand out. This year is the first year I am applying since I just became a permanent resident, before I used to be an international student, I am very nervous for my ECs since I have seen people with good ECs who ended up in 25th percentile. Thank you guys all.

[marsaturn20]

4 hours ago, FF20 said:

Thank you guys for commenting. I always read online comments and people's stats and ECs and that makes me feel inadequate and I feel I probably need more to stand out. This year is the first year I am applying since I just became a permanent resident, before I used to be an international student, I am very nervous for my ECs since I have seen people with good ECs who ended up in 25th percentile. Thank you guys all.

Firstly, congrats on getting your PR. That's an big achievement IMHO. Also, it's hard to gauge how our ECs are assessed by the adcoms. I guess right now, let's hope for the best!