kamille Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 I'm an IP for UBC but received Rs pre-interview two cycles in a row. I was hoping for some miracle with other schools but also received Rs pre-interview. I know it takes an average of 2-3 times to get into med school but not even receiving an interview has got me thinking that I'm not a good candidate. If anyone can give me any advice on what to add/change to my application, that'd be appreciated! GPA: 3.80 (3.90, 3.83, 3.51, 4.0), 89.3% for UBC MCAT: 510 (127/128/127/128) is the most recent BUT 511 (128/124/130/129) is the highest EC: rep. for undergraduate student society (65h), leadership positions in university's emergency response team (970h), responder of emergency response team (1330h), chem course tutor, volunteer providing free transportation (52h), volunteer at walk-in clinic (280h), volunteer at hospital (13h - cut short due to COVID + 94h from high school), volunteer swim instructor for children with disabilities (18h), intramural sport, couple high school activities Employment: research assistant (ongoing), private tutor, resident advisor, residence life advocacy committee Research: completed honours bachelor. Completed master's. Presented at conferences. Hopefully submitting a paper at the end of this month. Awards/ other : major entrance scholarship, award of distinction from student government, recruitment award for master's After receiving an R last year, I rewrote my application and got my UBC med friends to look over it and added a couple more activities. I hoped that that would help me get an interview but I was rejected again. It seems like my NAQ score is the thing that's holding me back but I'm not sure how to improve it. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Monkey Posted February 9, 2022 Report Share Posted February 9, 2022 Hey Kamille, I believe you are right in your assumption and you are scoring low on NAQ. With your GPA and listed EC's you should be getting interviews. If you like, you can message me your NAQ items and I can give you feedback on your writing. kamille 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadesofCyan Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 Hi Kamille! From what you have said, I am a bit surprised you didn't get an interview. It doesn't mean you aren't a good candidate... it is just SO competitive. I know how hard it is to be rejected and continue to apply. If this is really what you want you should apply again. Your academics are strong enough so I would focus on your NAQs and how they are written. Is there anything you can add to them? Feel free to DM me and we can chat more. Best of luck! kamille 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Persephone Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 I got some advice back when I applied to UBC med that helped me land an interview, re: NAQ descriptions. If you're interested I can pass that on, it's fairly comprehensive. All the best! kamille 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nt2324 Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 Hi Kamille - four time applicant here who just had my first interview. I agree with the other comments that your application should be enough to get you an interview so it’s likely the NAQ descriptions causing some trouble. In my descriptions I used similar rules to resume writing - numbers and figures to support my descriptions (e.g clarifying how many people you helped, how many applications you prepared, how many dollars you raised, that sort of thing), concise descriptions of the activities without any embellishment (avoiding hyping up activities too much, keeping vocabulary simple and efficient, sticking more to the facts than emotions/feelings unless appropriate to do otherwise). I didn’t reword my descriptions through each of the four applications but NAQ has steadily risen (from adding activities and hours). GPA has been basically constant at 86-87. Admissions at UBC is pretty much a black box - as long as you’re determined, just keep trying. I mentioned before that I’ve had friends who didn’t rewrite their applications and dropped 10 points in NAQ (old system). Try to do things you’re interested in in the meantime, my application had a bunch of random nontrad stuff and may have helped me a little bit. Keep doing your best and don’t give up. Good luck! kamille 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamille Posted February 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 @nt2324 thank you! I'll keep adding to my application and continue applying. And congrats on getting an interview! @Persephone @ShadesofCyan @Dr. Monkey I PMed you! Persephone and ShadesofCyan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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