prereq gpa versus last 60

[Guest pazas]

what if your prereq average is really low but your last 60 units is really high? (ie prereqs only amount to about 60% but last sixty units are 4.0) and on top of that, i would be an oop...so is there any chance, or any point in applying?

[Guest scrubbed]

Hey pazas,

 

Last year a 40/50 score pre-interview was required for an OOP to get an interview.

 

Your pre-requisite GPA is not considered at this stage; it's really only used as a tiebreaker for two applicants that are very close otherwise.

 

Overall and last 60 GPA are worth 12.5 points each, with 85% earning a maximum score in each of these section. I'm not sure of the regression formula that calculates lower GPAs, though there isn't a substantial drop for lower percentages.

 

Your ECs are given a score out of 25, so you can estimate what your score will be.

 

If you think that you can 40, you should apply, though keep in mind that post-interview things are quite competitive for OOPs. Check previous admissions stats for more info.

 

Good luck with applicaitons.

[Guest Elliott]

Hey Scrubbed,

 

sorry, I am a little confused - if 12.5 is the max gpa score and 25 is the max ec score (equaling 37.5) - how can you acheive the 40? Is there somewhere else that the remaining points come from?

 

Thanks

 

Elliott

[Guest FungManX]

he meant that

overall = 12.5 max

last 60 = 12.5 max

 

this accounts for the 25 in the academic req's

 

when added to the ec = 25 (max)

 

you get 50

[Guest pazas]

Thanks, Scrubbed.

 

But what about the MCAT? Why is that not counted in the score?

 

And for ECs, how would I estimate my score? So far I have about ten different activities, but no lab experience, and only two different 'good' jobs.

[Guest kaymcee]

The MCAT at UBC is used at the very end of the applications process as a tie-breaker of sorts between people who are borderline for admission. If you've got four spots to fill with a pool of eight people with similar GPA/extra-curricular scores, then the MCAT will come into play. I agree with the speculation that the MCAT is merely a way to reduce the number of applications UBC receives. (Take a look at the number McMaster receives– they don't require an MCAT score.)

[Guest canuck1]

I may be wrong, but I was told by UBC that the overall is weighted slighly more heavily than the last 60 credits. I believe the rationale is that the last 60 credits is already included in the overall and therefore shouldn't be weighted the same.

[Guest scrubbed]

That very well may be the case, but that would come into play post-interview, perhaps in the realm of comparing similar applicants.

 

Pre-interview, the last 60 and overall are weighted equally.

 

As for the MCAT, it may come into play, for example, if someone has low English marks, and also has low verbal and writing sample scores. They may, then, reason that this applicant may not have suitable English skills to do well in the program. Likewsie, a strong verbal score may make up for poor English marks.

 

It's a bit of a black box and the end of the process; regardless of a person's scores, the aplicant needs to be suitable in every way in order to gain acceptance.

[Guest TKP 123]

To me, it seems that GPA weighs more than your MCAT.

 

In the GPA category, overall GPA probably weighs the most, followed by your last 60 credits. Your pre-req GPA, together with MCAT, is at the last stage when you have a tie with other applicants, as somebody mentioned before.

 

UBC always counts more on EC stuff than academic, provided that your academic score is not terrible.

[Guest MedAnxiety]

I think with UBC, if you even get to the interview stage, it's mainly based on your interview. If you think about it, everyone who receives an interview are very close in terms of their NAQ and AQ scores (last 60 credits and overall GPA only). And since the interview is 50% for admission, a person going in with a 45/50 pre-interview and receive a 16/25 on the interview can be beaten by someone with a 35/50 pre-interview with a 22/25 on the interview. In addition, they added that new criteria out of 10 on how well the interviewers can see the applicant as a doctor. So really, after the interview, even if your mcat score was terrible (and even your pre-req for that matter), the interview is pretty much the determinant if you get accepted. Of course there are the exceptions where a 4 on VR or a fail in some pre-req course may hinder your chances for acceptance, but nonetheless, the interview is the prime factor.

 

As for predicting your EC score, i think that's impossible because it's completely subjective. A friend of mine got 14 on his EC score last year (for 2004 admission) and this year (for 2005 admission) with more experience and with more volunteer experience, he got 13. so really, it depends on who is going over your application.

 

Of course we also don't know if the Adcom works 100% with the NAQ and AQ scores post-interview as well (even though they tell us that).

 

Best of luck!

 

MA

[Guest lex]

Pre-interview: as mentioned above, academic and non-academic count equally. Of the academic component, I guess you could argue that last 60 counts for more because it makes up 12.5 and a portion of the overall's 12.5.

 

keep in mind that trends are somehow taken into account as well. so, at the end, a strong last 60 will do more for you than a strong overall and a weak last 60. best thing to do is to forget about all of this and just work hard. the admissions committee will sort out the rest. since a significant portion of the process is kept behind closed doors, there's really very little value in guessing.

[Guest larasmith]

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[Guest pazas]

Thank you all for your help.

 

But what if you overloaded in your third and fourth year? I would have 36 units for year three, and the same for year four. So if I apply in my fourth year, would 36 units from year three and only the best 24 units from year two be counted? But what if I did summer school inbetween year two and three? Would those count as part of the last sixty? And if I apply after fourth year, would the best last sixty be counted as I will have 72 units for year three and four?

 

I'm probably thinking about this way too deeply...I really want to follow your advice about not worrying about all this and just trying my best, lex, but it's soo hard!!

[Guest canuck1]

Pazas,

 

The following is from the FAQ on UBC's website:

 

Calculation of Last Sixty Credits' Grade Point Average

 

The grade point average of the last sixty credits, or equivalent, refers to courses completed closest to the application deadline and counting backwards until sixty credits are accummulated. Where possible, sixty credits are used. Sometimes, 58, 59, 61 or 62 credits are used depending on the number of credits/courses available. Where there are excess courses, the better grades are used.

[Guest TKP 123]

It always seems to me that UBC tries to do its best to forgive some of your poor GPA and take your good grades (even in MCAT). I know that some schools don't do that.

[Guest MekoMints]

I have to agree with TKP that UBC is slightly more forgiving for poor academic performances esp. earlier in your undergrad. But, if your pre-req's are in the 60's...it's an automatic RED FLAG for the AdCom comes final evaluation...regardless whether you have aced your interview or received a perfect NAQ score. That /50 score means very little at the final table...they basically critically evaluate every single aspect of application. My advice is to do superbly well on the MCAT cuz that'll set u apart from other applicants that also didn't do too great on their pre-req's (most ppl have very high last 60 credits...esp. graduate applicants).

[Guest docbil]

I realized that too.

 

They take your last 60. (including grad courses).

Other schools don't do that. Also UBC will remove courses that are older than 10years. Next year I get my community courses off the list.. YUPPYYY. I just have to wait 2 more years to get the other bad courses off

 

UofT is also forgiving for Grad students. Not requiring to have ~3.6/4. However, it is $hiT$ that OMSAS is involved. Last year they did not recognize my Laval Courses, saying that they don't count. Even though UofT and UVic does recognize them.

[Guest pazas]

They take your last 60. (including grad courses).

 

So do you mean if you're in your second year master's, and you did ten courses in your first year grad, then they look at fourth year of undergrad and the first year of grad for the last sixty?

 

Also, if you get a MD from any school in Canada...can you practice anywhere in Canada?

[Guest MekoMints]

yes pazas, ubc will take the 30credits from 4th year and another 30 from 1st year grad. also, say if you only have 27 credits from your 1st year grad...ubc will do a calc with 57 credits and do another one with last 60 credits [3 credits (3rd year) + 30 credits (4th year) + 27 credits (1st year grad) ]. ubc will keep whichever one is higher...so it isn't absolutely the last 60 credits...another one of their leniencies.

[Guest pazas]

Thanks, Meko and everyone else for your help.

 

I was also wondering about summer courses. If you took courses in the summer between 3rd and 4th, would those courses count as part of third year and therefore 'equally recent' as your other third year courses or would they be considered the more recent? I'm assuming more recent but just want to make sure because at my university those courses are considered a part of third year.

 

And (I'll try to make this my last question!!) what if you took summer courses in the summer after your fourth year? Would those still count even though you're done your degree?

[Guest kaymcee]

For your first question about courses between third and fourth year, I believe they would count as your fourth year. At most schools, the academic year starts on May 1st, and assuming you have the apropriate number of credits to be a fourth year student, the courses you took would be in your fourth year. As far as UBC is concerned, I believe they would be more recent than any courses you took in third year. This, of course, would be different at schools that don't consider the grades awarded for summer studies.

 

If you graduated after completing the spring semester, these courses would not be a part of your degree, but I believe they would also be counted. The UBC website states that all courses taken will be considered, regardless, I'm assuming, of which degree they are a part of.

 

...and don't worry about asking questions! The only stupid question is the one that wasn't asked. Just remember that the only people who can give you the absolute guaranteed correct answer are the admissions people at the medical schools you're interested in. (They're all really nice, patient, awesome people.)

[Guest pazas]

thanks, kaymcee.

 

and about the questions thing...ALL i do on this board is ask questions. never really answer any lol. but you're right, it doesn't hurt to ask.

[Guest kanayo101]

I was told by a very nice UBC admissions person that numbers aren't the bottom line. For example, if you have a high GPA they will, at final selection, delve deeper and see why! If you took all Education classes in your last 60 credits (sorry arts people) and got A+s they will take your grades with an extra tablespoon of salt.

 

However, if you have a high GPA but a lower last 60, that worries them because you should be performing better since you are in a more focused stage of your program.

 

MCAT scores are actually converted to an overall % score (by a very secret formula), just to make things easier to compare. Apparently VR is given more weight in the conversion.

 

Does that make any sense?

[Guest Ollie]

Pre-interview, the last 60 and overall are weighted equally.

I am pretty positive that the overall average is scored out of 15 and the last 60 is scored out of 10. When I went for my feedback in 2004 I got my score breakdown and that's what they were marked out of. So unless they changed it this year it is definitely /15 and /10. 85 and above gets full marks but they keep it a secret how they determine other scores.