Guest kooty Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 I was wondering if anyone knew about the policy on changing your referees... The reason I'm asking is that one of my referees disappeared about 4 months ago and is nowhere to be found. It was a pain in the ass because I had to change my referee for all of the other schools I applied to....What am I going to go.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Makunouchi Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 Hi, I don't know the policy but a call to the admissions office would be helpful. Hope it works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest canstowski Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 Hi kooty, I've already talked to UBC about this and here was the response they gave me: If you are invited for an interview and you wish to make a change, you must request in the form of a letter to the Associate Dean, Admissions explaining why the change is necessary. However, please note that requests will only be granted in extenuating circumstances, and that we will not grant additional time for your referees to submit the reference letters. If you want to make a change, you must be prepared in the event that it has been granted. I think its just a fancy way of saying "no u can't change ur referee" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kooty Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 Hey thanks Canstowski....I hope they consider a disappearing act extenuating circumstances....some people just aren't reliable. On a different note: does anyone know if reference letters count for as little as they did last year? I know that they just looked at the briefly ...just to make sure there's no hugely negative comments about you...what about this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest not rex morgan Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 If I was on the committee, I would consider an awol referee extenuating circumstances. I think the "something better came along" excuse may not necessarily hold up. As for how much reference letters count for, I can only speak from my own experience. When I was rejected, I was told that one of my reference letters was holding me back. I was told explicitely that only positive statements were made about me, and that the letter was, in fact, glowing. The only problem was that the referee didn't expand on anything. There were no examples supporting why he thought I was a stunning candidate, and this brevity was one of the top reasons I was a bit shy in my initial X/50 score. From what I can gather, they're looking for referees to fill that box up. That's something you may want to subtly express to your referees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Koppertone Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 My reference appears to be missing as well. I sent her an email telling her that I had an interview for the year and the response was "Going to Australia in a few days, I won't have any time for the letter. Sorry!" I'm like.... URGH I wish you had told me that say 7 months ago when I applied. Anyhow, I have yet to hear back from her and so I suppose I'll have to write the Dean of Admissions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest not rex morgan Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 Wow. It really sounds like alot of people are running into the same problem with this delayed letter-writing experience. Referees agree to do it, but then don't have time when the time comes. I guess nothing can be done for this year, but maybe next year's group can learn from the increadably frustrating experiences of this cohort. Next time around, the best advice to give would be to explain that it would be easier for all those involved to have a letter together in anticipation that the applicant will have an interview. I wonder that if enough people have disapearing referees, they might just scrap the whole delayed letter acceptance thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kooty Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 Ok, so back to the problem of my disappearing refere..She was supposed to be my community reference (I volunteer at a hospice) and she was the volunteer services co-ordinator. I suppose the next best thing would be to get a letter from someon else in the hospice...but this is a bit of a problem. The only person who actually gets to know all of the volunteers is the cook/care aid. I volunteered once a week on weekends, so there were never any supervisors/Dr.'s around..they just aren't required in a hospice setting. All of the nurses were too busy to sit and talk and get to know me although I am sure they can tell you I'm a hard worker...So the care aid/cook spends the most time getting to know and observe the volunteers...do you think that it would be appropriate to get her to do the reference letter? Even if she is a care aid/cook, do you think it would be a valid letter? Next option- to move my personal ref to become the community ref (he was my comm. ref last year) and get a new personal ref, which is easy to do. Only problem is this guy was my captain when I was an army cadet. WE did tons of volunteer work, but not in the area of health services. More like community cleanup, poppy sales, parades..etc. But I know he could definitely comment well on all of the qualities on the sheet.... Any advice??? I really don't know what to do and I have to send a letter to the dean of admissions tomorrow! Thanks everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest not rex morgan Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 Get someone who will fill up that box with wonderful things about you. That is more important that getting someone you think is prestigious. You can try to brag about all of your med volunteer work in your interview, depending on how much control you have over the discussion. One piece of info to seek out about the interviews this year is how long the interview will be. Interviewing so many people in four days may cut down the length of "look at me" time. Bear in mind that even if you don't have a reference from your med people, you will have likely talked about your experiences in your essay, and put them in your list of extra-curriculars. I had an interviewer pull an experience I had in archeology out of my list of extra-curriculars. I didn't talk about it in my essay, but he thought it was really interesting and didn't want to pass up an opportunity to hear about it. Best of luck guys. I remember the stress quite well. Of course, they had all the relevant paper work before my interviews, so that was one less thing to worry about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kooty Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 Hey not rex morgan, thank you so much for you input...but i guess i'm still a little unclear...so you're saying that it doesn't matter if the comm. service ref is related to med volunteering?...My last set of ref. letters had a community ref that was not at all related to medical volunteerring and Joy bennet said that she had no problems with them..... Care aid has known me for about 2 years...the other guy has known me since i was 12...but did not do med volunteer work for him... I guess I"m leaning towards the guy, not the care aid.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Koppertone Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 So I finally got an email back from my reference saying "Oh I didn't know you couldn't change it, I'll mail it off before I leave!". So lucky me, I'm saved the pain of having to send a letter to the Dean of Admissions. But jeez, just when good news comes, bad news comes right after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest not rex morgan Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 That's right. It doesn't matter if your referrees are related to med. Go with whoever will provide you with a glowing reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest iddle Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I am having a similar problem. I just emailed my academic Ref to try to set a time to meet and give him the form. His response to me was "Congratulations on the interview. Sorry but i will have to decline. I am working on two fulltime jobs right now and I really do not have the time." Damn! I thought I fully explained it at the time. The last thing I want is to feel I'm forcing someone to do my reference letter. Worse than that, having someone writing it who really doesn't want to. This was NOT a problem last fall. iddle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tea Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 hi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tea Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 i like this year's system. Look on the bright side. There are over 1300 applicants this year. That adds up to another 3900 pieces of mail that needed to be sorted and filed. And that would only add to the agony of waiting for the result. I feel that it's also easier for our references too. At least now they know that we have a 1 :3 chances of being accepted. Whereas before... at least mine... wrote blindly, not knowing whether i would make it the next round or not. and when i didn't make the interview, they felt bad (and i felt bad too....- for wasting their time). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ollie Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 hi there tea, so last year you didn't get an interview, and this year you have one? I like to hear stories like this since it looks like I won't be interviewed this year (unless I get the e-mail in the next 3 days). Just trying to keep my hopes up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest coastal79 Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I'm another story like that Ollie. I only applied to UBC last year because I was living abroad and wouldn't have been able to afford to come home for more than one interview. But, I didn't even get the one. I can't remember exactly, but I think I was about 6 points away from getting an interview. That means I missed getting one by a mile. This year I have one at UBC, as well as at 3 of the 4 other schools I have heard from, and expect to get at least 1 more from the 2 I'm still waiting on. Bottomline is, if you want it, don't give up and keep working towards it. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest canstowski Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Tea, I actually don't have a problem with the idea that only applicants invited to an interview are require to hand in reference letters. I agree, with 1300 applicants, reference letters are not needed from everybody. HOwever, what bothers me is the fact that we CAN"T change referees! I think this is the MAIN issue! I mean, why not? What advantage does an applicant gain by changing referees? Right now i'm hearing stories of ppl getting frustrated b/c their referees are no longer available. I mean, is it our fault? Referees have a life too. Should we hold a grudge against them? Argh! >: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tea Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I don't think they would have problems with changing reference if we have legit reasons like yours. I think UBC has a "tough and cold appearance" but quite a "soft heart". It just means more hoops for us to jump through. that's all. (like we need additional stress here..) Oh well, c'est la vie. Ya Ollie, I've heard it for a long time (>5 years) that UBC is notorious for rejecting 1st time applicant UNLESS you're extremely competitive... ie. so good that they can't run the risk of losing you to another school then they'll accept you on your first attempt. I treated my 1 st attempt as a learning experience and didn't expect anything other than to learn the application process. So i felt bad when asking for references. I think UBC just want to see if you're committed to medicine or not. If you are, you wouldn't mind re applying over and over again. Personally, having been through what i've been through over the past decade, I'm prepared to apply and reapply until they accept me ... or until i drop dead; whichever comes first. :lol Nothing wrong with going to school at a ripe old age of 75. A neighbor of mine is 89 and she can outmaneuvered me with the Internet and computer related stuff. She learned all this when she was 85 year old. Quite an inspiration! tea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest threeputt Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I think it's inconsiderate of UBC to delay referee writing to this point in the process. Inconsiderate to referees, that is. All the other schools across Canada request letters in the fall, which gives writers the opportunity to write and send all the letters at the same time. Instead, just for UBC, they are asked to be hassled twice in the same year. As for being less work for the admin, once again, other schools across the country face similar challenges, but get through it, so why can't UBC? All I hope is that they rectify this situation for future years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vhung Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Hi guys, I know how frustrating it is to have to change your referee now. However, if you have a good reason you can have your referee changed. My original referee has left on maternity leave since agreeing to write my reference. I now have someone else writing my reference and UBC has approved this. I just have to write a formal letter for their records. Hope that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest canstowski Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I guess my rant is, if this "rule" were not in place, it would've saved us and UBC the trouble with all these extra e-mails, request letters and whatnot. But since this new application process is still in its first year running, i'm going to shad up now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 I'm having to hassle my referees three times.. once in the fall, just now for Manitoba, and again for Saskatchewan shortly(hopefully).. Five different forms each with their own deadlines, and I only applied to five schools 8o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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