Application Question

[muchdutch]

Mine aren't up either. At this point I'm assuming it's because I am taking a course right now that can be considered a pre-req, and may improve my pre-req gpa. Once my marks are sumbitted to the RO, however, I will start to be concerned if there's nothing new on my app.

If this isn't the case for you and you are going to call them, I would call the med office and talk with them, although I'm sure they'll just tell you that the RO is slowly getting around to it. Let us know what happens if you do.

[Guest davehead]

Hi everyone

 

My marks are not up either. I'm in my 4th year right now, and I'm quite sure I've already completed all of my pre-requisites. I phoned the registrar's office about a week ago and I was told that they are slowly working their way through the pile (over 1000 applications) and that marks should be posted by the new year. I was also told that if we are missing any pre-requisites, this will appear in our beartracks under the "comments section". So, I'm not sure if the whole "maybe they're just waiting for one of my pre-req" logic applies. That being said, I think I'm just going to wait until the end of December, and if they're still not up I'll start to hassle people again in January.

 

:S

[Jixe]

Hi everyone

 

My marks are not up either. I'm in my 4th year right now, and I'm quite sure I've already completed all of my pre-requisites. I phoned the registrar's office about a week ago and I was told that they are slowly working their way through the pile (over 1000 applications) and that marks should be posted by the new year. I was also told that if we are missing any pre-requisites, this will appear in our beartracks under the "comments section". So, I'm not sure if the whole "maybe they're just waiting for one of my pre-req" logic applies. That being said, I think I'm just going to wait until the end of December, and if they're still not up I'll start to hassle people again in January.

 

:S

 

Thanks for that. I'm anxiously waiting for the GPA to show up.

 

By the way, I called the Registrar's office to ask what scale they use for Ontario schools and she gave me this:

87-100: 4.0

86: 3.9

83-84: 3.8

82: 3.7

81: 3.6

80: 3.5

 

I missed what she said for an 85...probably a 3.8.

 

By the way, does anyone know how the MCAT score out of 15 is calculated for OOP applicants? Is it just the average of the 3 sections? I know the WS is scored as follows:

T = 5; R/S = 4; Q = 3; P = 2; O = 1; N = 0

[muchdutch]

Yes it's an average of the three sections.

[Jixe]

My grades are up. I guess it's a Christmas present from Alberta U.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Oh yeah, my overall average is MUCH higher than predicted. I calculated my GPA using their scale with my 2 best years (1st year and 3rd year), and their calculated overall GPA for me is 0.1 higher! Maybe they take my top 10 half courses in a year, since in my first year I took 13 half courses (6.5 full course equivalents). I'll fool around with the numbers and see what I get...

[roboboy69]

My grades are up. I guess it's a Christmas present from Alberta U.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Oh yeah, my overall average is MUCH higher than predicted. I calculated my GPA using their scale with my 2 best years (1st year and 3rd year), and their calculated overall GPA for me is 0.1 higher! Maybe they take my top 10 half courses in a year, since in my first year I took 13 half courses (6.5 full course equivalents). I'll fool around with the numbers and see what I get...

 

 

Hey Jixe,

 

That's good news! I have a quick question though - why would you calculate your gpa from your best TWO years and not THREE years? I read on the UA website that they'll calculate the GPA of the three years of undergrad (dropping the worst year) if you've completed 4 or more years...they never said something about calculating the GPA of only the top 2 years... perhaps I missed something...

 

RB

[Jixe]

Hey Jixe,

 

That's good news! I have a quick question though - why would you calculate your gpa from your best TWO years and not THREE years? I read on the UA website that they'll calculate the GPA of the three years of undergrad (dropping the worst year) if you've completed 4 or more years...they never said something about calculating the GPA of only the top 2 years... perhaps I missed something...

 

RB

 

Well, my 2nd year's my worst year, and so I thought they'd calculate my overall using my 1st and 3rd year for now, and then later add my 4th year. Besides, there is NO way my overall GPA would be what it is with my 2nd year incorporated. I can't even see how they'd get such an overall average with both my 1st and 3rd years together either. A lot of other people from previous posts have had their GPAs inflated as well.

[Jixe]

Okay, maybe they just calculated my GPAs wrong. My prereq GPA should be 0.05 higher than what is shown. I haven't finished either English course yet, so maybe that's the problem.

[Jixe]

Okay, thanks to roboboy69, it looks like they've averaged my top 6 courses from each year to calculate my overall GPA.

 

Now I wonder why my prereq GPA is 0.05 lower than it should be. I have 10 grades listed (both English courses are in progress), and I did a simple average of the 10 prereq GPAs. Could someone check their prereq GPA and see if there's any discrepancy, please?

[bioboy2007]

My pre-req GPA was as expected. I had all 12 courses completed, but a simple average of each GPA was taken (i.e. [3.7 + 4.0 + 3.3]/3 etc.)

 

On another note, I took a few courses this semester that could potentially count as pre-reqs and which would raise my pre-req GPA if included. I know that UofA takes transcripts including Fall 2006 grades but was wondering whether the grades (including the 'pre-req' grades) from Fall 2006 would be included in final calculations before determining interview invites.

[Redheadninja]

Yes, I would assume that your fall grades would count, when I asked Marlene about pre-reqs a while back, this is why she said they urge us to have all pre-reqs completed by the end of the fall semester of the year we apply in. I'm in the same boat, I had to upgrade one course (stupid stat 141!), so I do believe that it will count towards the GPA.

[Jixe]

Transcripts are due Feb 1st I believe and interview invites go out in late Jan, so I doubt Fall grades are used for interview invites.

[bioboy2007]

Transcripts are due Feb 1st I believe and interview invites go out in late Jan, so I doubt Fall grades are used for interview invites.

 

Yeah, this is what I noticed, too.

 

Still, Redheadninja brings up an important point. Oh well, guess we'll see how things go.

[vip_138]

i'm confused where to find your actual gpa on the website, where is it on beartracks? (if it is on beartracks) - i'm oop tho so i don't know if that matters

[Jixe]

i'm confused where to find your actual gpa on the website, where is it on beartracks? (if it is on beartracks) - i'm oop tho so i don't know if that matters

 

https://admissions.med.ualberta.ca/rologin.do

[jmarks3452]

my marks still are not up, is this abnormal? (i plan on contacting them)

[Guest davehead]

Hi, neither are mine. I'm going to phone them either today or tommorow to see what's up, but I have a feeling they'll feed me the same story as last time (see earlier in the thread).

[muchdutch]

Mine aren't up either, but I'm not going to worry until I know that my current school has sent a transcript with my fall grades.

[Saberial]

Mine aren't up either. If one of you contact the school, please post what they said here, if not I plan on calling them tommorow as well!

[bwbl]

Hi,

 

I'm new to this board but just want to add that my marks are also still not up yet and I just checked. For those who called U of A, do you mind posting what admissions told you? Thanks very much in advance.

[Jixe]

Admissions doesn't bite over the phone...play it anonymous or "Bob" if you're really worried that they'll deem you impatient or something.

[muchdutch]

I was told the RO is still in the process of doing this. I guess if their deadline is Feb 1st, then there's no need to worry until then, but I can see how time is running out and it's easy to get antsy.

[hopingforluck]

some schools, like McMaster, for example didn't even let students request transcripts for the previous term until Jan 12th (this past Friday). Which is why their UofA's transcript deadline needs to be so late...so at least you could request your transcript..mine hasn't even been sent out yet!!!

[xone]

my marks arent up either....I did call them on the 2nd of Jan to ask why not, and they said they had not gotten to my file. According to them, my transcripts were in and everything, so I am sure its just a slowness in the processing

[cutiepie]

The people actually calculated my GPA wrong! I tried to talk to them on the phone and they wouldn't even listen to me. So I drove up to Edmonton and talked to them and finally got it fixed. It was so frustrating.