Interview offers?

[Jade]

Hi all - when does UofA send out interview offers? Is it by email or post mail? On their website they say that interviews are conducted during February UofA Reading Week, but there's no mention of when offers are sent out...sorry if this was already discussed.

[muchdutch]

You'll hear in January sometime.

[Jixe]

Here's some info I found in past threads:

 

Fox wrote this:

 

This is my understanding of the admissions process (it changed a little this year). The first round of interviews (200 people) were held in Feb. and were only for people with a degree or who will complete their degree in April. There are 100 positions at U of A for this pool. 64 of those people were offered admission in March. I think the rest of the interviewees will be reevaluated after this year's marks are in, so how they do this semester may be a make-it or break-it situation. The second round of interviews (someone correct me if this isn't the case) are for 2/3 year applicants only. There are 25 positions for these students who are being interviewed in May. As for as I know, fourth year+ interviews are all done, but U of A takes a really long time to send out their refusal letters. Hope this helps.

 

ok, this is how it works. for each component of the application you get a certain number of points. so for gpa (pre-req) it is worth 25% of your overall ranking.... that equates to (for example, i really don't know) say a total of 1000 points for a perfect gpa (last year i saw the points total and people at the top had around 2500, so that's why i am making this number up). so, if your gpa was 8.5, you would get a certain number of points for that part of the application (less than 1000). same for mcat and overall gpa (which are worth a certain number of points (say maybe 500 and 350, respectively), but less than pre-req gpa). your ref letters, essay and interview are scored the same way. last year they were scored out of 5, so if you get 3.5/5 on your interview that is worth a certain number of points (interview counts for as much as the pre-req gpa, so a perfect interview would get 1000 points, 3.5/5 would be, say, 750). anyway, when the ad com meets each applicant has their point total and is ranked accordingly. the first 64 people (those with the 64 hihgest point totals) on the list were offered admission (basically as far as i know the ad com is there just to make sure the candidate is qualified and there is nothing shady about the application). so, having said all that, the second time the ad com meets this summer, everyone in the four year pool still waiting will have their scores adjusted for pre-reqs and overall gpa based on the marks including this year. so, unless you do REALLY well or REALLY poorly, your position in that list won't change that much. but, for someone who was near the bottom of the final 100 who will be offered admission, may move up a few with a really good semester. does this all make sense? besides the essay, ref letters, and interview, there isn't really much subjectivity concerning the u of a admissions process. once your points are totalled you're either in or you're not (so i've been told). so you can kind of see how a really good interview and letter may boost you up a lot of spots in the ranking since the variation in GPA between candidates won't be that much. it also shows why/how one or two points can separate successful and unsuccessful applicants. i hope this is clear and if i am wrong in any way, feel free to correct me. this is what i was told last year by marlene.

 

Oh and, for the last cycle, invites went out at the end of January/beginning of February for interviews scheduled 3 weeks into February.

[PD84]

are the offers emailed out or sent by regular mail? and are oops offered at the same time?

[Redheadninja]

Yeah i've had a few friends who have had interviews. The offers usually come around end of January/beginning of February, but I've also had a friend who was invited a few days before the interview, probably from someone dropping out of the running or something like that.

[Gadzillar]

@ PD84: Last year the interview package came out in a big envelope.

[candycane]

From what I understand they do not grant the early admissions for forth year students any more. It seems like that it caused too many problems in the long one.

[Gadzillar]

Yep, there's just the one interview round, no more rolling admissions.

[Jixe]

Source guys? Is it on the website somewhere or straight from an adcom's mouth?

[Saberial]

From:

 

http://www.med.ualberta.ca/education/ugme/admissions/dofm_interview.cfm

 

"Applicants will be notified regarding interview by the end of January beginning of February.

 

Interviews will be conducted in February (usually the third week of February - Reading Week for the University of Alberta). The Committee is aware that out-of-province applicants encounter considerable expense in traveling to Alberta and appreciates that many applicants will have interviews by other medical schools. Therefore,The Office of Admissions will attempt to match the date of the Alberta interview with the applicants traveling schedule."

[Jixe]

From:

 

http://www.med.ualberta.ca/education/ugme/admissions/dofm_interview.cfm

 

"Applicants will be notified regarding interview by the end of January beginning of February.

 

Interviews will be conducted in February (usually the third week of February - Reading Week for the University of Alberta). The Committee is aware that out-of-province applicants encounter considerable expense in traveling to Alberta and appreciates that many applicants will have interviews by other medical schools. Therefore,The Office of Admissions will attempt to match the date of the Alberta interview with the applicants traveling schedule."

 

Thanks, but I was wondering about the source of Alberta no longer giving acceptances to 4th year applicants much earlier than usual.

[Saberial]

Hi,

 

The website states that first-round offers will be made on May 15, 2007 irrespective of what pool your in. I'm not sure when the policy changed but previously (I think 2+ years ago) UofA would start making offers in March and continue. Hope this helps!

[slypimpdip]

When we all found out last year, everyone was notified on May 15th, and that included 4th year applications as well as 2/3 yr. Also, the 2/3 yr interviews were held in February as well, during Reading Week. In fact, Andrea (admission officer) told me that all of the western Canadian medical schools notified their applications on May 15th.

[muchdutch]

Doesn't that seem so late to be notified? It seems late to me. I know that that's when it is, but it just seems so late in the game considering you may have already had to make other plans for that September. Don't get me wrong, if I were accepted, my plans would certainly be cancelled if I were accepted, butyou'd think, since the interviews are in February, they could at least let you know by the end of April, when school's out for most applicants and they are preparing to apply for loans/more school for the fall.

[Treg]

The reason that the U of A switched around the acceptance notification timing is that the rest of the Canadian medical schools all notify around May 15 as well. What ended up happening is that people would accept the U of A's offer early on, then back out later when they got in somewhere else. What happened one recent year is that they went through the entire waitlist during the summer and had to offer some really late interviews to get the class filled. So now, they tell around the same time as other schools, and they require a large nonrefundable deposit ($1000) to hold your spot.

[Jixe]

I called Alberta U today and the woman said interview invites would not go out for another 2-3 weeks; end of January to the beginning of February is what she said.

 

More waiting...

[Redheadninja]

Wow, I just had probably the worst day ever. My marks finally popped up, and they kinda messed up on calculations, my cGPA was apparently a 3.3, and they didn't use my higher level upgrades to calculate my pre-req GPA, so it was also a 3.3. And then my mice didn't come in, so I have to delay an experiment by two weeks, and apparently I have a grant application due today. Awesome. On the upside, I called the registrar and they fixed the GPA, so it's now a 3.5 for both pre-req and cGPA...but besides that the day is not improving. Sorry all, needed to vent there. I feel much better now.

[Saberial]

Hi redheadninja,

 

My marks are also screwed up...did you call the UGME office or the registrar's to fix your problem?

 

Cheers,

[Redheadninja]

Hi Saberial, I called the registrars office, I don't have the exact number with me... its back at my lab. But, the name of the lady who helped me was carmen, and she was really helpful. But yah, the med office can't fix your GPA calculations.

[Redheadninja]

P.S. Just call me ninja. it's easier. the redhead thing is just so people who already know who I am know me..... yes Joe, I'm talking about you!

[docapplicant10001]

Hi, could somebody just confirm for me, these marks you guys are talking about are under 'pre-requisite courses' in your submitted U of A application right? This is not on Beartracks. And if this is the case, am I the only one who still doesnt have their marks up? Thanks.

[vip_138]

yeah, i asked the same question a while ago. you can find your gpa here:

 

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

[docapplicant10001]

Yea, it's definetly not up yet.........am I the only one?

[Redheadninja]

Hey guys, I'm pretty sure that their deadline for having the marks up is February 1st, so don't panic if they're not up yet, mine just showed up on Friday. I think the same people are calculating the GPAs for all of the Med and Dent applicants, as well as occupational therapy, nursing, and physiotherapy etc etc(but don't quote me on that) so there is quite a backlog of applicants. And no, you won't find these GPAs on beartracks, just use the link from a couple posts up.

[UofTstudentX]

Hi all,

 

Are you talking about the fall term marks? or all the marks?

 

Thanks