10-year rule

[Guest CoconutSmasher]

Hey guys,

 

So, I was pondering my future yesterday and I came up with this question.

 

As I've mentioned, I'm 35 and am now in my second semester at College, planning to transfer to UBC into 3rd year (physiology, molecular bio. or something...), then apply to Med School at UBC. I have previous schooling spanning about 7 years at SFU. I want to use the 10-year rule to exclude all that schooling and just show my new (much better GPA!) schooling.

 

Now, has anyone used the 10-year thing? And if so, how does it affect your personal statement or interview in terms of having a "gap" due to your previous schooling? I mean you don't want them to look at it, but do you need to discuss it? Maybe it's a common sense answer, but I'm just trying to be as prepared as I can.

 

Thanks for the time.

Peace,

Stuart

[Guest nucleardove]

Hey there,

 

I used the 10-year rule in my application last year. Or rather, they used it on me: I didn't request it, they just notified me (via the Application Status screen) that I qualified for its use and that they would be applying it. Yay me! (Since 10 years prior was not a pretty time, GPA-wise)

 

As for a "gap" in my personal statement, there was no gap to speak of, since I did many things in the interim that I was happy to write about. It never came up in the interview, as UBC used pretty standard questions (e.g. "Define integrity", "What is the most important issue facing society..." etc.) for everyone-- I hardly talked about myself at all!! I got into UBC, so seems they like us old folks after all (I declined, and go to U of T meds now).

 

Hope that helps!

 

ND

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

I too, used the 10 year rule and it was moot regarding all other parts of the UBC admissions process. I assume this would be the same for you if you've managed to be productive during your "gap" years.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest happy2bme]

How does it work if your prereq's were mostly done 10 years ago, and your more recent schooling doesn't have all your prereq's. Are you still able to have the 10 year rule? or does your prereq GPA factored in to your more recent school years?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi,

 

If some of your pre-requisite courses were completed more than 10 years ago, and you have not taken higher level courses in those disciplines then you have two options:

 

1) Apply the 10-year rule, but only if you can take higher level courses in those pre-requisite areas before the application deadline.

2) Do not apply the 10-year rule.

 

Essentially UBC needs to count all of your pre-requisite courses in your evaluation, and the 10-year rule can be applied only if your coursework in the most recent 10 years includes all of the pre-requisite courses.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest supa76]

I applied the rule this year, and according to an admissions advisor at UBC med, a lot of people apply it without any negative consequences to their app.

 

The only problem, as mentioned above, is if there are prereq's in the year you exclude. You can either replace these courses with higher level courses in the same area (pending approval from the adcom), or, as I did this past summer, redo them. It really worked in my favour, as taking first year biology is a real cakewalk after taking 4th year biochem and physiology!

 

Again, as said above, a big gap in your education can really work in your favour, especially if you have lots of interesting experiences from that period (you'll stick out from the rest of the interview mediclones) and if you have made a significant improvement in your grades since the first period. UBC especially looks highly at strong trends of improvement.

 

supa