CASPer and recent rejections

[JLLP 13]

Good morning all, the below was pulled from an email sent to me by DAL today.

This might clear up why some IP applicants received a rejection. Given that DAL had a 1.5SD cut-off for the CASPer published on their website up until yesterday, this saddens me. I expected better from them.

See you all next year, fellow 20th percentile psychopaths.

[WinterWasp 13]

Well forgive my language, but this is absolute malarkey. 

 

I totally get that they need to narrow down the field somehow, and honestly CASPer is probably a good way to do it, but to do it this way seems sneaky and underhand. Very unimpressed with Dalhousie's transparency. This would have taken one email to update applicants, instead of changing things at the last second. Be better, Dal. 

[Premedwithadream 18]

So 0.75 SD threshold was applied to all applicant pools...

Ugh, as an OOP applicant I really hope my rejection was not due to this...

[UalbertaG 2]

37 minutes ago, Premedwithadream said:

So 0.75 SD threshold was applied to all applicant pools...

Ugh, as an OOP applicant I really hope my rejection was not due to this...

Fr that’s more scary than the rejection. I wish we could email and ask if we fell below the Casper threshold 

[Premedwithadream 18]

3 minutes ago, UalbertaG said:

Fr that’s more scary than the rejection. I wish we could email and ask if we fell below the Casper threshold 

I don't see why they wouldn't provide this information. I know last year, in their rejection to IP applicants, they told them that their rejection was due to the CASPer.

Maybe they would tell you if you asked, who knows. 

[corgi321 99]

On 10/30/2020 at 11:48 AM, Premedwithadream said:

I don't see why they wouldn't provide this information. I know last year, in their rejection to IP applicants, they told them that their rejection was due to the CASPer.

Maybe they would tell you if you asked, who knows. 

Anyone have any luck asking about this? That OOP ship at Dal has sailed but I'd like to know if I should be considered about my IP Mac application LOL

[Willy Wonka Golden Ticket 5]

Not to add to any conspiracy, but I keep coming back to how different this situation would be if they had retroactively changed MCAT cut-offs instead of CASPer. I think this situation would be wildly different if they had changed a metric that people actually knew (GPA/MCAT). To change CASPer behind the scenes is just particularly..sketchy, because nobody has any idea of what their score is and therefore no applicant has any agency to verify anything on their own. 

Not that this would ever happen, as I do have faith that the school wouldn’t do this, but Dal could’ve easily just lotto-style selected a middle portion of the applicants to reject, and since they pinned the blame on CASPer, no one would ever know any different. Again, I don’t think they did or would do this, but it’s frustrating that we just have their word to go on, and we just have to trust that they did what they say they did. I personally have lost a good amount of trust in Dal med over the way they have handled certain things in these past two application cycles, and though I don’t think they would just outright lie like that, I just have that nagging feeling in the back of my head that by choosing to change CASPer cut-offs, they are free from scrutiny. No one can look too closely or question anything because no one but the school knows how they did on CASPer. Did I feel good about CASPer? Honestly yeah. But can I say without a doubt that I did well? Of course not, I have no clue what my actual score was, or what the average applicant score was.

At least with schools like Queens, they are very upfront with their lack of transparency. We have no idea what their cut-offs are, or what causes a rejection, but we know that when we apply. But Dal is pretty clear about their cut-offs and their supposed guaranteed IP invites, so for them to change them after the fact, discreetly change their website, and then not tell anyone (until people explicitly asked) that’s already pretty sketchy. The fact that they used a blackbox score that no one could possibly contest just adds to that sketchiness imo. Not saying that it’s necessarily untrustworthy or anything, but I just really hate that they decided to pick the one thing no one could call them on. 

Sorry for the long-winded rant, folks, I just needed that off my chest.

[FutureMD7 5]

2 hours ago, Willy Wonka Golden Ticket said:

Not to add to any conspiracy, but I keep coming back to how different this situation would be if they had retroactively changed MCAT cut-offs instead of CASPer. I think this situation would be wildly different if they had changed a metric that people actually knew (GPA/MCAT). To change CASPer behind the scenes is just particularly..sketchy, because nobody has any idea of what their score is and therefore no applicant has any agency to verify anything on their own. 

Not that this would ever happen, as I do have faith that the school wouldn’t do this, but Dal could’ve easily just lotto-style selected a middle portion of the applicants to reject, and since they pinned the blame on CASPer, no one would ever know any different. Again, I don’t think they did or would do this, but it’s frustrating that we just have their word to go on, and we just have to trust that they did what they say they did. I personally have lost a good amount of trust in Dal med over the way they have handled certain things in these past two application cycles, and though I don’t think they would just outright lie like that, I just have that nagging feeling in the back of my head that by choosing to change CASPer cut-offs, they are free from scrutiny. No one can look too closely or question anything because no one but the school knows how they did on CASPer. Did I feel good about CASPer? Honestly yeah. But can I say without a doubt that I did well? Of course not, I have no clue what my actual score was, or what the average applicant score was.

At least with schools like Queens, they are very upfront with their lack of transparency. We have no idea what their cut-offs are, or what causes a rejection, but we know that when we apply. But Dal is pretty clear about their cut-offs and their supposed guaranteed IP invites, so for them to change them after the fact, discreetly change their website, and then not tell anyone (until people explicitly asked) that’s already pretty sketchy. The fact that they used a blackbox score that no one could possibly contest just adds to that sketchiness imo. Not saying that it’s necessarily untrustworthy or anything, but I just really hate that they decided to pick the one thing no one could call them on. 

Sorry for the long-winded rant, folks, I just needed that off my chest.

CASPer as a whole is such a scam and it infuriates me that it is being used by an increasing number of Canadian med schools when there is so little evidence to justify its use. 

[jero123 10]

3 hours ago, Willy Wonka Golden Ticket said:

 

but I just really hate that they decided to pick the one thing no one could call them on. 

Dah. I honestly think that’s why CASper exists and why schools chose to use CASper in the first place. 

[RepresentativeSalad 1]

PSA: residency programs are also starting to take CASPer scores during applications for residency. 

[med1 0]

On 10/30/2020 at 10:35 AM, JLLP said:

Good morning all, the below was pulled from an email sent to me by DAL today.

This might clear up why some IP applicants received a rejection. Given that DAL had a 1.5SD cut-off for the CASPer published on their website up until yesterday, this saddens me. I expected better from them.

See you all next year, fellow 20th percentile psychopaths.

Hi. I was wondering how you got this information. Thanks

[med1 0]

On 10/30/2020 at 10:35 AM, JLLP said:

Good morning all, the below was pulled from an email sent to me by DAL today.

This might clear up why some IP applicants received a rejection. Given that DAL had a 1.5SD cut-off for the CASPer published on their website up until yesterday, this saddens me. I expected better from them.

See you all next year, fellow 20th percentile psychopaths.

HI. I was wondering how you got this information.Thanks

[mastermucocele 20]

5 hours ago, med1 said:

HI. I was wondering how you got this information.Thanks

I think they wrote in their original post that they emailed Dal and that was the response they got.

[WizardPalace 4]

Speaking of this, does anyone know where to find the scores for your application? Does Dal provide those?

[avocado_toast 41]

34 minutes ago, WizardPalace said:

Speaking of this, does anyone know where to find the scores for your application? Does Dal provide those?

This is what is posted on their website for their final score breakdown. You are not told your final score unless you are waitlisted. 

I don't believe you are ever told your CASPer score.