Didn't receive a single interview invite - any suggestions on what to do next?

[corgi321]

So I didn't receive a single invite this year, here are my stats:

3.76 cGPA (IP Ontario), MCAT 518 (131 CARS), and a wGPA of anywhere from 3.85 - 3.92

 

I thought my grades and ECs were solid so I'm feeling super dejected about not even getting a single invite to look forward to while I'm watching many of my friends doing interview prep

 

My current plan for next year is pursuing a one year Master's (MPH) while I reapply - do you think this is a better idea than going back and doing a 5th year of undergrad? I'm in my gap year this year 

 

This is of course while I continue to work on ECs and pay more attention to my descriptions/re-work my essays next year while getting better references

[naptime98]

Where did you apply?

[bearded frog]

Master's vs undergrad will depend on what your weakness is. If you think you have good ECs/research then focus on your GPA. A one year masters will only be worth your research production for an application next year, its usually not counted unless you've graduated by application time, if at all.

[corgi321]

19 hours ago, naptime98 said:

Where did you apply?

Mac, UWO, Queen’s, Dal, UBC, UofA, UofC, & UofT (haven’t heard from UofT yet but it’s probably an R if every other school said the same)

 

[corgi321]

19 hours ago, bearded frog said:

Master's vs undergrad will depend on what your weakness is. If you think you have good ECs/research then focus on your GPA. A one year masters will only be worth your research production for an application next year, its usually not counted unless you've graduated by application time, if at all.

I think my GPA is ok (especially combined with my MCAT score) so I’m leaning towards a 1 year MPH next year to have a serviceable backup plan as well + a practicum experience

 

I do think my ECs are good but unfortunately I only spent maybe a few days actually writing the applications this year without having a second pair of eyes reading over my descriptions/essays so maybe that was an issue as well, I also didn’t have any research whatsoever when i applied in October but I have been doing research this year and I will most likely even have a pub by the time the next cycle opens

[acrylicblue]

The amount of time spent on EC descriptions is super important. Your stats seem pretty good -next cycle if you spend 1-2 months on your ec descriptions, really re-work them, CANMEDs, get multiple people to look at them, you have a much better shot at ubc, queen's, uofa and uofc. Your casper could use improvement too given the mac results.

[IMislove]

6 minutes ago, acrylicblue said:

The amount of time spent on EC descriptions is super important. Your stats seem pretty good -next cycle if you spend 1-2 months on your ec descriptions, really re-work them, CANMEDs, get multiple people to look at them, you have a much better shot at ubc, queen's, uofa and uofc. Your casper could use improvement too given the mac results.

Yeah this. The MCAT is definitely good enough for most Canadian schools, so it really has to boil down to your descriptions and references (need STRONG references). GPA is good for most places as well as lots use wGPA, and with that CARS your cGPA for Mac should be fine barring a decent CASPer. Got a whole year to improve, just make sure you start early and have a few eyes take a look. 

[corgi321]

On 2/27/2021 at 4:45 PM, acrylicblue said:

The amount of time spent on EC descriptions is super important. Your stats seem pretty good -next cycle if you spend 1-2 months on your ec descriptions, really re-work them, CANMEDs, get multiple people to look at them, you have a much better shot at ubc, queen's, uofa and uofc. Your casper could use improvement too given the mac results.

That's fair! ECs & casper definitely were the problem....my typing speed for casper was only around 50 wpm when I wrote it but I've been working on my speed and got it up to 70 wpm so far so hopefully that makes a difference (I very rarely was able to answer the third question on my test bc too slow)

Any idea if there's sort of an optimal way to phrase descriptions (particularly OMSAS with the short character limit)? I recently got a med student to read over my descriptions that I submitted and they said the activities are fine but the descriptions were pretty bad i.e. they sounded like a job description where I just listed responsibilities and didn't really use canmeds/used verbs that sounded bad like "helping" (which makes sense considering I put it together in a few days & all the Rs)

[corgi321]

On 2/27/2021 at 4:55 PM, IMislove said:

Yeah this. The MCAT is definitely good enough for most Canadian schools, so it really has to boil down to your descriptions and references (need STRONG references). GPA is good for most places as well as lots use wGPA, and with that CARS your cGPA for Mac should be fine barring a decent CASPer. Got a whole year to improve, just make sure you start early and have a few eyes take a look. 

Definitely working on my typing speed to help me out on casper for Mac (in hindsight it may have gotten me screened out at the UofA & Queen's as well)....any suggestions on how many people I should get to take a look? I know everyone may have their own slight biases so I don't wanna have too many people changing things back and forth but a few eyes are definitely needed to pick out poor aspects of my descriptions