Anyone went to their Advising Session Yet?

[Guest Jazz]

Had mine today with Dr.Frinton. She gave me a sheet showing the raw scores for my interview. There was a 20 point difference between my two interview scores. Wondering if this was the case for any of you. I had "devil's advocate" as one of my interviewers, and am pretty sure the lower score came from her. I was just wondering how they come up with the total interview score, I averaged the numbers I had and it was 10 points lower than the score I got in the regret letter.

[Guest ssup]

Interviewers scores are scaled so maybe the scoresheets we were given were prior to the scaling. Just out of curiousity...who is the female interviewer playing "devil's advocate" that marked you low....remember the name?

[Guest Jazz]

Haha, thought most people would have guessed - the infamous Dr.Doudet.

[Guest mymomthinksimacatch]

Yes, yes. Funny how that one works. I share your fate, Jazz. Doudet; 22% lower on her interview. Interesting.

My lowest score: integrity. Ironic that she ended the interview by thanking my for my honesty, and saying how much she appreciated it. Also did poorly on communication skills and overall score. The other scores were just bad (for her interview). That is if I'm correct in presuming that those were her scores, and not the other interviewer's.

Didn't think much of doing the session with Dr. Frinton. Something bothers me about having her go over my horrible scores then having her on the adcom next year.

Can tell she means well.

I'm having trouble getting anything useful from this process.

[Guest Jazz]

I have the same concern. Dr.Frinton assured me we'll all start with a clean slate next year, and with panel interviews, this sort of discrepancy wouldn't happen. However, it's a little disheartening to know that my fate will be partially decided by the person who gave me 4/10s (vs. 8/10s for the other interviewer) next year.

[Guest ssup]

I'm not sure what the purpose of having Dr.Doudet on the adcom committee is!!!! Because of her, I'm left with a negative opinion of UBC's admission process, which undoubetdly reflects poorly on UBC's medical school. I really don't think that she approaches the interviews from an objective standpoint otherwise how would you account for the huge discrepancies in interview scores for most of her interviewees (trust me, mine were equally variable). Did anyone who had Dr.Doudet as an interviewer actually get in?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there ssup,

 

I had Dr. Doudet as an interviewer in the 2001/2 admissions cycle and was accepted to the MD program for that year.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed my interview with her and my interview score (which I saw well after) seemed to reflect that. However, I don't feel that I would have fared so well had I not prepared for the interview. There's no doubt about it: Dr. Doudet covered all the bases and puts you through a ringer--and justly so. Given that UBC used the interview evaluations for so much of the admissions evaluation (50%) I'd darn well hope that they spend time on their ringers!

 

An interesting aside: I was also interviewed by another interviewer whom Dr. Doudet considered to be quite tough (she mentioned this at the end of my interview with her). I enjoyed that interview too, although I scored one or two points lower with that individual than with Dr. Doudet. Interestingly though, it seems that the second interview score was weighted more heavily than that from Dr. Doudet, which means, presumably, that UBC may have considered his evaluations to be a little tougher than average as compared to Dr. Doudet's?

 

Just a wee grain of salt, I suppose.

 

Cheers, and good luck this year,

Kirsteen

[Guest Jazz]

Well, I am sure some of her interviewees must have gotten in, don't think she's on the adcom just to flunk everyone. Dr.Frinton did comment on her being a tough interviewer and that I could probably guess which scores came from her. I sensed that Dr.Frinton really sympathizes with the rejected applicants. However, comments and scores from Dr.Doudet were so unforgiving, at least in my case, that it almost didn't matter that I showed up at the next interview and did quite well (around the admission avg). That's the part that bothers me. Now I have to try to figure out if I am suppose to change anything for next year!

[Guest mymomthinksimacatch]

I know several people who have got into med after an interview with Dr. Doudet. She "picks winners" from what I can tell (aka has a wide spread on her scores).

I wouldn't say her "toughness" as an interviewer was not the deciding factor. I felt my performance under the stress she applied was appropriate, and I wasn't bothered by her demanding approach.

The only lesson I have gotten out of this so far is that I have to pretend to be someone/thing that I'm not.

Next question: am I willing to learn this lesson? :rolleyes

I have too many negative things to say, and not enough positive, so I'm going to stop now.

Have a good weekend.

[Guest Jazz]

The process is so competitive nowadays, it feels more like a game than picking out the best candidates as there are so many qualified ones. Figuring out what will get you points for ECs and then doing it to fill the box score doesn't really reflect on what kind of doctor you will become. For interviews, you can either be yourself all the time and run the risk of getting huge discrepancies in the scores like some of us did, or say what you think the person wants to hear. Anyways, don't give up, I am sure everyone who got in will make great doctors, and the rest of us would get in sometime, somewhere.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there Jazz,

 

I don't think, nor hope, that the approaches and outcomes of those good enough to be interviewed at UBC would be so dichotomous!

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest mitchie41]

How many people get interviews and how many people are accepted each year at UBC? (just wondering).

 

Also, has anyone heared about any other changes(other than the reference letter change that Kirsteen was talking about) to the admissions process for next year??

 

Thanks.

[Guest soapyslicer]

Here are the things I have heard about:

 

1. reference letters will only be requested if you are accepted for an interview - wow one for ubc I have to admit.

 

2. Application online - obvious if you go to the web-site.

 

3. Panel interviews - 3 interviewers - ? scheduling - they are going to have to really crank people through on designated days/weekends.

 

4. You will rank your choice for school if you are accepted for interview.

 

FYI - the plan at this point is to have the students from uvic and PG attend UBC for the first four months. Over christmas they will be required to move to the expansion city. As well there will be trips back to Van for some assessments(not sure about how many and for how long at this point). I don't think any arrangements have been made for housing those who are only here for the 4 months so I would contact housing and get your names on a waitlist for thunderbird or gage. It may be quite difficult to find an apartment for only 4 months. I suspect people will have to omit mentioning it from their respective landlords, not a good thing for anyone. Also if you have kids you will qualify for family housing. It is really important to put yourself on the waitlist now! Typically it takes a year to get in so it should be perfect. Of course that goes for anyone applying for 2004 who has a family or who is expecting to have one(you do have to have proof of pregnancy though).

 

Soapy

 

Sorry forgot to say they typically interview 2.5 times the number of seats they have available. I have not heard of any changes regarding this for the upcoming application cycle.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

There were a couple of other differences that I noted in this year's application (judging from the online version that I had a look at today):

 

a) There are a few more categories that have been highlighted as sections for filling in activities in the extra-curricular activities area, e.g., rural/aboriginal community experiences; outdoor experiences, to name two.

 

We may be a little more restricted as to the amount of space we have for entering extra-curricular activities and work experience.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest soapyslicer]

Hi Kirsteen,

 

Have you been able to access the online version? I can't seem to get at it from the ubc web page how are you doing it?

 

soapy

[Guest canstowski]

I can access it fine...what problems are you experiencing?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there soapyslicer,

 

Yep, like canstowski, no problem accessing the system. Find your way to the "Admissions" page where, on the left hand side, there should now be an active link (no longer blue) to the on-line admissions system. You register a username and password and then this is sent to your e-mail for you to connect to your application.

 

If you give the above a go and still encounter problems, give the admissions office a call. I'm sure they'd be happy to help and they'd probably also welcome hearing about glitches that you may be encountering.

 

Cheers and better luck with it,

Kirsteen

[Guest soapyslicer]

Finally got it to work. Unfortunate I am sitting here finishing off the final draft of my thesis, like I need another distraction!!! I have come to the realization that research is a blast but the writing portion really bites!!!

 

Oh well, looks like I will be finished soon and will at least have August off to enjoy with my kids!:rollin

 

Hope everyone is out enjoying the beautiful summer, it somehow makes me feel better knowing someone is.

 

soapy

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi again soapslicer,

 

If you can, move that computer outside!

 

Cheers and good luck with your write-up,

Kirsteen

[Guest not rex morgan]

Hey Soapy. What draft are you on? 85/86? Does it look remarkably like draft 1 or 4 or 7? Keep your computer inside! Caring advice on the part of Kirsteen, but you're too easily distracted. Finish it up and wash your hands of it, so you can get on to filling in your on-line UBC app, and taking the girls on wild adventures.

[Guest jmh2005]

I rarely follow anything out of Ontario, but seeing as i'm on elective i have a bit more time on my hands (and have always wanted to visit BC...haven't made it there yet...)

 

Kirsteen...did you say that you got in to UBC in 2001?? Did you turn this down??

 

I wish all of you the best of luck with the remainder of this cycle and the next!

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there jmh2002,

 

Yep, I was accepted to the UBC MD program in May 2002, and I'd be a wee bit off my rocker to roll the dice and turn down the rarer animal of a med school acceptance in favour of pursuing another degree! The acceptance that I received was conditional upon being accepted to the PhD part of the MD/PhD program to which I applied--alas, that acceptance never materialized. Hopefully, this year it will!

 

Definitely place BC on your list of places to visit, or live. From the parts I've seen, it's a wee slice of amazingness.

 

Cheers and good luck with your elective!

Kirsteen

[Guest soapyslicer]

Alas not rex morgan your right! Despite the wonderful suggestion I would just sit and look at the mountains and not get a thing done. As well, everyone comes by to see how its going. Is it done yet? seems to be the first thing out of everyones mouths.

 

Its only draft 5 so I don't feel too bad. It looks like a tentative date for defense will be July 25. Of course that is if Photoshop would stop locking up on me so I could print my figs out!!!!!>:

 

I don't really care when it all comes together as long as it is on my transcript by Oct 1!!!!!!!!

 

We had a BBQ at the beach last week and as we were overlooking spanish banks out onto the mountains of the north side we all remarked on the fact that this is why we live here. Too bad we couldn't afford to do it more often!

 

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves,

 

soapy