ten year rule

[Guest transplant]

Does anyone know if there are students who have been accepted who used the 'ten year rule'? I am a mature student and have good marks over the past ten years but not good (enough) marks in earlier years. I am wondering if invoking the 'ten year rule' reduces my chances of admission.

[Guest me maniac]

transplant,

 

I used the 10 year rule. No, it does not limit your chances. The only problem you may have is that if any of the courses from > 10 years ago were prerequisites for courses done say, in the past few years, you can't use the recently completed courses either. At least that is my understanding. It was not an issue for me as I repeated all the subjects anyways, but it may be for you.

 

me

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there transplant,

 

I requested the 10 year rule to be applied to my application last year and it didn't seem to hurt it, since I was accepted. If you do wish to invoke the rule then you must make sure that the coursework you have completed in the past 10 years includes courses that fit all of UBC's pre-requisites. If you're short even one half credit then the 10-year rule cannot and will not be applied. Now, for example, if you took first year biology more than ten years ago, (as I did), as long as you have a higher-level biology course for which the first year biology is a prerequisite, then you can use the higher-level course in your group of prerequisite courses.

 

Although the rule seems to be applied without prejudice, the admissions folks can still see your entire academic history. Therefore, although those marks are not counted when it comes to calculating your academic ranking, they do count when it comes down to the wire when they're checking your whole package out to decide whether or not you receive a nice, big acceptance.

 

Cheers and good luck,

Kirsteen

[Guest mandm]

Hi Kirsteen:

 

What exactly is the 10 year rule?! Can you please state it verbatium for those of us who have never heard of such a thing? Also, do you know if any other schools have something similar?!

 

Thx

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

The details surrounding the 10-year rule are listed within the UBC med school admissions website. Basically, if you have any academic records that are 10 years old or older and if you feel that they may hurt your academic assessment compared to your most recent academic performance, then you can request to have them removed from consideration during the selection process. In order to be able to implement the 10-year rule, however, you must have all the UBC-stated prerequisites within your last 10 years of coursework, e.g., the general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, biology, English, etc. If you do not have ample credits for each of these pre-requisities within your last 10 years of coursework then the 10-year rule cannot be applied.

 

I'm not aware of any other schools in Canada that use such a rule; is anyone else?

 

I hope that helps explain things a bit,

Kirsteen

[Guest mandm]

Thanks! Yup, that clarifies it. I take it this is not to be confused with the mature student clause-- e.g. bonus points for people over 30? I don't know about UBC but UA has something like this I think.

 

I would be interesting to see if other schools have comparable caveats for mature students.

[Guest mandm]

Thanks! Yup, that clarifies it. I take it this is not to be confused with the mature student clause-- e.g. bonus points for people over 30? I don't know about UBC but UA has something like this I think.

 

I would be interesting to see if other schools have comparable caveats for mature students.

 

BTW: do you have to have a full course load in each of the years included in the most recent 10 years?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there mandm,

 

A full course load in each of those 10 years is not a steadfast requirement and will not technically affect your academic score. I believe, however, that it is noted if you fall short of a full courseload.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen