2004 Admissions Statistical Summary

[Guest physiology]

Here they are. Mighty quick this year too.

 

www.admissions.med.ubc.ca...&area_id=1

[Guest smooth operater]

woah! I didn't know only about 15% of applicants actually receive admission. I though it would be around 30%. I guess many ppl are applying for med schools. Is that percent about the same in different provinces throughout Canada?

 

Is it likely that BC med school will open up more space in the next 4 yr or so? (that's when I expect to attend med school if I intend to stick with the plan8o )

[Guest Jazz]

I think UBC will be expanding first yr enrollment to 224 next yr and 256 in a few yrs. It will probably be one of the "easiest" schools to get into by then. When enrollment was 128, it was so hard to get in, it seemed almost mythical to me (does the school really exists? If it does, how come no one ever gets in?).

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

The MCAT scores for those accepted are wild. I can't believe that's the average over the 500-odd applicants interviewed.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest not rex morgan]

No kidding about the MCAT averages. I don't think mine even touched the "applied" category, let alone the "accepted" category. Good thing I'm in already and graduating in 11 months...hopefully.

[Guest Ian Wong]

Geez... There's must be some kind of error with those MCAT scores. I can't believe that the average MCAT of an accepted UBC applicant this year was 37Q!

 

Average MCAT's of all applicants offered admissions (n=200):

 

VR: 11.4

PS: 12.6

WS: Q

BS: 13.1

 

Ian

[Guest Ollie]

Hi,

 

Re the MCAT average, I don't think that adding up the average for each individual section necessarily adds up to the average total. A lot of people will have one or two sections that are quite high, but not a super high combined score. But those are still super high averages. There have been a couple of people on here that have been accepted with lower scores, so I don't think people should be scared off by those scores.

[Guest flowers]

re. increase in seats this year, did you all notice that there will be 10 seats available for OOP rather than just five?

[Guest 4EverRose]

Hi there,

 

Yes those MCAT scores do look crazy indeed! However, I can reassure you guys that a low MCAT scores do not mean that's the end. I for one luckily got in this year and I score below average in all 4 sections of the MCAT, even when comparing to the all applicants category.

 

Also now that the stats for applicants offered admission are up, does this mean UBC has finished going through the waitlist and all 200 spots of the upcoming 2004 program are filled, unless applicants who will be/are activated from the waitlist not be included in the calculation of averages of the admitted pool?

[Guest physiology]

The tone and wording of that summary sound as if they're trying to impress someone.

 

I'm skeptical of those MCAT scores too, but remember, UBC will be under the microscope by the rest of Canada because of the distributed program and its satellite campuses.

[Guest ubcpharmer]

wow

those mcat scores are insane. i for one got in and am an average of two points below on each of the categories. also i know of people who got in with lower than average mcat score. so, it begs the question, if i get a 10 in bs does that mean there is a 15 out there? what surprises me is that all the numerical scores would be in the top 5-10 percentile of all people who wrote the mcat. therefore, is it purely coincindence that the scores ended up this way or does UBC actually put alot of weight on the mcat (as opposed to what they have said previously i.e mcat score is not important)?

[Guest not rex morgan]

I doubt they inflated the scores. UBC is being watched closely this year heading into the expansion, but I don't really think that high MCATs of those accepted is what they're looking for to impress anyone. UBC is leaning towards standardized tests for current students for comparison methods. At the end of second year, all students write a comprehensive exam written by the national board of medical examiners. Most of the written exams for your clerkship year are also written by the board. Most students find them to not be representitive of what they've learned, and find it a bit cumbersome that the lab values on the exam are in American units, but the faculty finds them useful for their purposes.

[Guest JC15]

Even though the MCAT scores of the accepted applicants are really high, I don't think UBC put more weight on the MCAT because look at the averages of all applicants...the scores are barely lower. I can't believe how high they are this year though for everyone who applied ... V10.9, P12.2, B12.7 .... that's insane!

[Guest md23]

There is no way those can be right...can they? I got 33Q and that was like 93rd percentile, and i'm below average for the entire applicant pool? Those 1200 applicants must have been in the top 2-3000 of everyone writing the MCAT (approx 60 000 people in 2003). And the average person applying would easily meet Queen's cutoff, which is the highest I'm aware of? Interesting nonetheless,

 

skeptical md23

[Guest md23]

for every person who got a 10 in bs, you would need a 15 to aveage 12.5 and the average was 12.7?

[Guest drews97]

I'm sorry, but some of that data makes no sense to me...how can the MCAT average for accepted applicants be so disgustingly high when the overall average of those accepted is a "relatively" modest 82.67%. You'd think that people in the 96 %ile would have an average of 90+. And the average in BS of 1179 people was nearly 13!!!!! I guess all 1179 people that got 13+ on the MCAT just happened to apply to BC. This seems especially dubious since, at least as far as I know, BC doesn't have ridicuosly high MCAT cut-offs. There must be a mistake...this sems impossibe. Oh, and if you look at this years accepted/rejected/wait-listed thread the averages of the people on there sure don't equate to what the posted averages are. Of course this sample isn't representative, but it should reflect the overall average somewhat.

 

Here's a link to the August 2003 results: www.aamc.org/students/mca...3tbl1r.pdf

 

For interest sakes, out of the 32616 people who wrote the MCAT in August, only 2% of the people got a total of 37 or better, and only 1174 would have gotten a 13 or higher in BS. Now, of course this wasn't the only MCAT that successful applicants wrote, but this sample is pretty representative of the distrubution of all MCATs written. ~1200 applicants and only ~1174 people ACROSS NORTH AMERICA who wrote the MCAT in August 2003 got a 13 in BS...hmmm.

 

www.aamc.org/students/mca...ined03.pdf

 

Even with August and April 2003 put together only ~2233 scored a 13 or above on the BS. I'm not trying to trash UBC in any way or say that they're lying, but the numbers just don't add up to me and this may potentially discourage future applicants...I wouldn't apply with averages like that!!! If I'm missing something or have calculated something wrong please let me know:D

[Guest leviathan]

The thing is, the numbers are all basically the same if not HIGHER than they were before they added almost 100 spots to UBC med.

 

Normally, you would think adding that many available spots would decrease the average because of the ability to accept a wider range of people.

[Guest ewon2003]

I wasn't surprised by the stats.

 

The MCAT scores are insanely high, but I recall there were a few schools in the US, such as Washington University, that consistently report average MCAT score of greater than 35. (The last time I checked, one school had average of 37). As long as UBC put more emphasis on MCAT, the score will continue to increase, and make UBC look good on paper.

 

This year there are many more applicants than previous years, which may also explain why the averages remain the same, if not higher. The fact that UBC moved into panel interview format with standard questions indicates to me that the adcom probably wants the application process to be more objective, and perhaps put more weight on objective measures like gpa or MCAT rather than personal character.

 

I believe there are still lots of people who are accepted despite subpar grades and MCAT scores, but it seems to me that getting good grades and stellar MCAT scores will be more of an edge at the final selection in the future.

[Guest Jazz]

Just taking a guess here, but could it be that the scores are high coz UBC took the highest mark of each section for people with multiple scores?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

In the past, UBC have had a policy to consider any one set of MCAT scores that you indicate should be considered. However, unlike U. of Calgary, UBC have not had a mix and match policy where they selected the best MCAT scores from any sub-section to make your best composite score. Unless that changed this year...

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest Phager]

Keep in mind that not all the applicants who applied necessarily wrote the MCAT this year; so the stats might not correlate with the MCAT stats from AAMC. This year could just happened to be the year they all come together. It is strange though, that the averages are so high when most people I know who got in don't even have 10/10/10

[Guest physiology]

Bored at work, here is a link to Harvard medical school's stats: (notice that UBC has higher MCAT averages)

 

www.hms.harvard.edu/admis...ctors.html

[Guest Jixe]

So, has anyone found out whether or not the MCAT scores there are a misprint?

 

It seems that statistically, it's not possible for reasons already stated in this thread.

[Guest studentz]

There was a huge discussion on SDN about those numbers. I think it's BS personally. Forget the matriculants, or those offered admission, it seems ridiculous that the average for the applicants when the indiv. sections are summed is a 36. Suppose slightly over 1000 people get a 36+ on each administration, and 1/10 of all writers are Canadian. Even if we're smarter, and 20% of the 36+ scores come from here, that's only ~200 for any single administration of the test. That would mean that close to every Canadian that got 36+ on 5 admins applied to UBC, which is absurd cuz a lot of them would have got in and wouldn't be applying 2.5 years later. Or it could mean that half the people that scored 36+ in a calendar year applied to UBC, which is also absurd (& impossible) because UBC doesn't accept international applicants.

 

Does the AAMC itself report the stats for matriculants to the school cuz it's the only way I'd believe those #s

[Guest physiology]

Hey Studentz,

 

What's the link to this big MCAT discussion on SDN?

 

Thanks!