Guest 24medgirl Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hello all, I just received this e-mail from U of O Medical School Admissions. I'm confused because they say the cut-off for underserviced areas (which I'm apparently in) is wGPA of 3.55-4.00. I think (calculated it using the formula they provide) my wGPA is above 3.55 - so why was I disqualified? Anyone else get this e-mail today? Thank you for your application to the Doctor of Medicine program of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. The Admissions Committee will review approximately 3,160 applications this year for the 139 positions available and will interview about 520 candidates. This year, in our admission policies, academic excellence remains the first criterion used by the Admissions Committee for selecting candidates for interviews, followed by an evaluation that takes into consideration the detailed autobiographical sketch. This criterion is measured by an assessment of the academic record in comparison to that of the other applicants. Your application was carefully reviewed and we regret that your academic performance does not meet the set standard for the category of candidates from our historical catchments area for underserviced areas, which allows your application to advance further in the evaluation process. The required cut-off of grades for the weighted grade point average is 3.55 / 4.00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest silverjelly86 Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Nope . . . interesting. Are you a 3rd year or 4th year applicant? I hope I don't come to regret asking this question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 24medgirl Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hey SilverJelly, I guess technically neither. I have a 5 year (1 year internship) Bsc. (Applied Human Nutrition) and I've been working in my field as an RD for two years. Interesting that noone else received this e-mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yves m Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hey, I am a 4th year student. They told me I didn't get in because I didn't meet the cut-off of 3.87. My GPA is 3.87. This is a farce. Anybody know what is going on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nostalg Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I also received the dreaded email. Hopefully the outcome from other schools will be different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest satsumargirl Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hey Guys, Sorry you didn`t get an interview this year. Unfortunately, meeting the cut-off at Ottawa doesn`t guarantee you an interview. It just gets you to the next stage of having them review your autobiographical sketch and letters of reference and these 2 things are important for gaining an interview (mostly the sketch I think). So there will be alot of people out there who met the wGPA cut-off who didn`t get interviews. (If my memory is working...and it doesn't always...last year rough numbers were 800 met the cut-off and 500 were interviewed??) Good luck with the other schools! Sats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest matmac Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I also received a rejection e-mail today. It said I didn't meet the cutoffs for my graduate school grades, even though they were high enough to advance me last year into the graduate pool. Oh well, maybe policy has changed. Let's hope for better with the other schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EGral Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I did not receive an interview invite email last week but I did not receive a rejection email either. I thought they were sending rejections via snail mail. Perhaps they made a mistake with my interview...I do have a 4.0GPA and I thought my sketch was pretty good (aside from a spelling mistake/typo)...oh well, suddenly I have sliver of hope as long as I don't get that rejection email... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gattuso19 Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 hey yves what are you from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DancingDoc Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Does anyone know if they are supposedly sending all of the rejection emails today because I haven't gotten either yet as well. So if you are above the cut-off do they let you know what it was on your application that did not get you in? (If it helps I'm OOP) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest treehuggingbiologist Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Yup, i got one too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yves m Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hey, I am from St. John's, NL. I wish they clarified more in the e-mail about cut-offs. They said it was based on grades in mine despite the fact I made it. They could have easily said my sketch wasn't up to par... fair enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 24medgirl Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 hey yves, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you? I'm from St. John's originally - 25 y.o. Everyone the same basically knows each other that are from St. J. Just wondering if I know you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chrail Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Just got my rejection... Weird...my WGPA is 3.85 and I'm in province, out of Ottawa...but I made the cut-off's... Thank you for your application to the Doctor of Medicine program of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. The Admissions Committee will review approximately 3,160 applications this year for the 139 positions available and will interview about 520 candidates. This year, in our admission policies, academic excellence remains the first criterion used by the Admissions Committee for selecting candidates for interviews, followed by an evaluation that takes into consideration the detailed autobiographical sketch. Your application was carefully reviewed and although your academic performance did meet the required level, we regret that the evaluation of your detailed autobiographical sketch does not permit your application to advance further in the selection process. This decision is final and cannot be appealed. We are governed by an internal policy which does not allow us to provide feedback on the assessment completed by the Sub-Committee. Of approximately 1,013 sketches that were assessed the top 520 applications will be invited for an interview. Just to let you all know, Chrail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 24medgirl Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I guess that means there is no chance for me to appeal (see post HELP! Dilemna.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yves m Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hey all, I just got off the phone with Ottawa. I can't beleive they actually called back. They told me they calculated my WGPA as 3.86 while OMSAS did it as 3.87. Oh well, the numbers don't lie. I can't believe how I have missed all of the cut-offs so far. I had a 31P MCAT with a 10VR. Queens was 32O. Western was 30Q and now I miss this by 0.01. Absolutely brutal. But that's life hey!! Good luck to everybody else!! Hey medgirl. I am 21. Grew up in the east end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 24medgirl Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Sorry to hear about the cut-off woes. It does suck - but good luck with the rest of your applications! Hmmm, 21 East End. I'm 25 West End girl - went to Heart. You're a little younger than my brother. I bet we know some of the same people! What were you in to in High school? I played soccer for Newfoundland. That was my main claim to fame. I miss St. J so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest McGillMed2010 Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 just got my rejection email. Actually, I thought I had a chance at ottawa U due to high GPA and loads of extracurriculars and research... Oh well... Now counting on McGill, U of T, McMaster and Sherbrooke, if not it's looking like a Master's degree for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest uOttawaBch Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hey all, I'm new to this, but anyway, I have a quick question: I just got my rejection email from uOttawa as well, but I did in fact make the academic cutoffs. They rejected me based on my autobiographical sketch. So I was wondering, why? And the best I can come up with is that when filling it out, for the different items, I just discussed my responsibilities, or roles, etc. But when I just looked on the Ottawa U website (at the admissions policies), I noticed they asked for more than this. I didn't mention anything about how it helped me "grow" or develop into a potential physician. I guess that was a pretty big no-no, but live and let learn i guess! (Just wish I could have my 75$ back, I might be able to buy some delicious groceries!!!) Anyway, when filling these details out, how did you guys/girls manage to describe the details in 100 characters? I could barely fit the duties/responsibilities, let alone how it helped me grow, etc?!!? Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest silverjelly86 Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 Same deal with me - autobiographical sketch, apparently (well, I knew it couldn't be my GPA) uOttawaBch, I had the exact same worry about the "how it will help me become a great physician" thing. Whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hellermk Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 Hey, I'm a first year Meds student at UOttawa. Just wanted to say that when I applied in third year I got a rejection letter saying I made the mark cutoff but my sketch didn't quite 'cut it'. anyway, after applying last year again with the same sketch...aside from an additional thesis work, I got an interview and got it. I think a lot of it has to do w/ what year you're in in undergrad. Not sure if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest uOttawaBch Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 Hey, thanks for your input! hellermk, just to clarify 1 thing, did you manage to add the "how it will help you become a great physician...etc" details into the detailed sketch, or did you just have the details of the volunteer work, job roles & responsibilities, etc? R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rhythm Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 I was lucky enough to get an interview offer for this year - after reading through this thread and what you guys had to say I went back through my Ottawa sketch to see if I'd really focused on how stuff would make me a good doctor, etc. FWIW, I didn't - and now that I look back at it I remember why, it's because it just wasn't possible in 100 characters. What I tried to do instead was make sure that my job responsibilities/the things I did were really clearly spelled out in those areas that *showed* traits that would make me a good doctor - making sure that I always pointed out when I had to do things like working with people, was in a leadership role, organized this and that, etc. Even if I was talking about sports, I would talk about team-building (soccer) or self-discipline (running). I don't know if that helps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest uOttawaBch Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 Yeah that's great, thanks! I basically did most of that, but I guess there's always room for improvement! Maybe I will have better luck applying during my 4th year. R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Parii Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 Hi there, got my rejection email this morning too. I am from BC. I doin't have a 4.0 but very strong extracurricular list. congrats to the ones who got interviews. Fot the ones who haven't: good luck with other schools or for next year. pari Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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