Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Cut-offs?


Recommended Posts

The usual tradition is after 1 PM on the last friday of January. The admissions committee meets over the lunch hour on the last friday of the month. The January meeting usually is a discussion about cut-offs. I can't confirm that this is what is going to happen this year, but that is how things have rolled out for the last 5-6 years at least.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's looking less likely that the cut-offs will be lowered IMO. I took the risk of applying based on that very assumption (i.e. the essay component being factored in pre-interview). I don't know how keen UWO admissions would be in actually reading all those short essays. The more that I think about it, the more I realize that they already have an efficient (i.e. less time consuming) process that works. Why would they change that?

 

I get the sense that the essay is just something that could be talked about during and after the interviews. Of course, I am hoping that I am wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know the cut-offs were posted online on that Tuesdsasy for sure, because I had a test on the wed, and also its documented in the forum here.

 

I think they meet on the last friday of Jan. to confirm the cut-offs, and they can be posted whenever they feel like.

 

Anyhow - will be soon and my 9 in verbal relegates me. Good luck to all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just called Western and the lady who answered the phone said that the cut-offs will be decided this Friday and should be posted by the beginning of next week (if we are lucky maybe on the Friday).

 

Hope this helps :)

 

I don't mean to be redundant, but is making the cut-off enough for an interview?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey,

 

YES it is! If you make the cutoffs, you'll get offered an interview. If you don't, you won't. Simple.

I remember reading somewhere that only Queens look only at grades/mcat, while Western looks at both gpa/mcat and essay for interview invitations. Any truth to that?

If you only have to make the cutoffs, that means last year only 400 people got above the mcat cutoffs + only one year above 3.7? That doesn't seem very stringent, relatively...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think a lot of people would have one year above 3.7, but it's the MCAT cutoff of at least 10 in each section which cuts the competition. Even if someone has 35 but a 9 in one section, they are out. I think this makes Western much more stringent than all the other universities, except for maybe Queen's.

 

 

I remember reading somewhere that only Queens look only at grades/mcat, while Western looks at both gpa/mcat and essay for interview invitations. Any truth to that?

If you only have to make the cutoffs, that means last year only 400 people got above the mcat cutoffs + only one year above 3.7? That doesn't seem very stringent, relatively...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you only have to make the cutoffs, that means last year only 400 people got above the mcat cutoffs + only one year above 3.7? That doesn't seem very stringent, relatively...

 

Depends on your definition of "stringent" I guess. It was roughly a quarter to a fifth of the applicant pool that got interviewed (don't have exact numbers in front of me) and yes, we shuffled 100 people a day through medsci for two consecutive weekends. Good times!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until this year, UWO has never had an 'essay' component to their application... so, how they are planning to use it is anyones' guess. However, in past years, meeting BOTH the MCAT and GPA cut offs got you an interview... period. Because there was nothing else to look at.

 

UWO does not look at your autobio sketches or your references in determining who will be interviewed.... nor do they look at them before/at/after the interview. Once you get an interview, the interview itself is worth 50% of the score with your MCAT and GPA making up the rest.

 

And yes, only ~400 people meet the cuts each year. This is intentional and is exactly how the cuts are set... The computer plays with applicant pool's GPA and MCAT stats and creates various different scenarios in which ~400-430 people exceed the cuts. Then the humans decide which scenario is the 'best' (ie higher GPA cut vs tweaking MCAT cuts...)

 

It is amazing to see how many applicants you can lose if you up the MCAT cut in a single category.... ie as an example: if the cuts are 3.7 with 9 9 9 P, you might have 700-800 people meeting those cuts... but if you up it to 9, 9, 9 10 P, you lose about 100-200 people and if you up it to 10's and a Q you lose about half of them... getting close to the magic 400 number.

 

This is done not because UWO feels that having a 10 vs a 9 necessarily makes you a better potential physician... but because they do not have the physical space or faculty members to interview >400 people... and realistically, 400 interviewees gives them more than enough people to fill the class.

 

Many people think it is arbitrary... and it is, but at least it is clearly apparent how you did/didn't get an interview and you can't argue that it was subjective.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...