doctorbetty Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Does anyone know how many women/men were interviewed at the U of A? If you are a woman, does this increase your chances? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redheadninja Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Well, I'd say probably not, it varies from year to year. As far as I know, the last two years there have been more guys in med at U of A than women, but I believe there have also been years where the opposite was true. I think they generally interview around a 50/50 split, but I could be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agregson Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 There is no preference for male vs. female candidates. The class of 2007 had more females than males when we started, but that might have changed as a few people have joined the class...We were the first class that was F>M. I think across the country there is an increasing number of women in medicine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medordie Posted March 6, 2007 Report Share Posted March 6, 2007 The class of 2007 had more females than males when we started, but that might have changed as a few people have joined the class... A few people have joined the class? What do you mean exactly, like transfers from other schools across Canada? Thanks.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heathcliff Posted March 6, 2007 Report Share Posted March 6, 2007 I think I'll qualify the statement "increasing numbers of women in medicine" by saying that, in my research, U of A was the only school I had found that had more men than women in the history of stats presented. (Usually a couple of years). All other schools ranged from 55%-65% women. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorbetty Posted March 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2007 I wonder how many women applicants there actually are..... If there are significantly fewer women in the applicant pool, would you say that the women have a better chance of getting in (just so the class is more balanced)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heathcliff Posted March 6, 2007 Report Share Posted March 6, 2007 Well, I think med schools are aware that women constitute a greater percentage of their students than men (in some cases the difference is probably not significant despite being present), so I don't think they would preferentially choose a woman over a man to make the class more balanced if women are already "over-represented" in the class. If anything, to give the class balance they would have to preferentially accept males. The only reason that I can think of that might explain active recruiting of women might be that, while there are more female med students, there still might be more practicing males. That's just a guess though, no factual basis for these claims...it depends on the existence of the push to equalize the genders in the field. Still, I don't believe that schools have specific aims regarding gender when they choose their candidates. For two reasons: 1) they can control who they give offers to, but they can't control who accepts them. So a class of 100 people might pick their top 100 candidates to send offers to, (lets say this is 55 female 45 male), but in the end the people who ultimately accept might create a class of 65 female 35 male. 2) I think schools just want to have the absolute best candidates. And it seems that this generally creates a nice gender mix, and though it may not be exactly equal, the benefits of creating a class with a certain gender mix might not outweigh the disadvantages of not having the top 100 candidates. again...just my thought process, nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallguy408 Posted March 6, 2007 Report Share Posted March 6, 2007 I think they look only for the best candidates under the criteria as specified, nothing less or more. If this meant class of 100% men or 100% women, so be it. Furthermore, based on other posts of yours etc., I really have to kind of wonder about this line of thinking and questioning, doctorbetty. Seriously, what are you looking for? Would it make your day if someone were to come out and say "Yes, U of A interviewed more men then women and actively recruits women, so by having an extra X in the ol' karyotype, you have a 16.6% greater chance of getting in"? I know this seems kind of harsh and abrasive, but you've been stats-mongering more than me on here, and thats quite a statement. If you had a good interview, are a good person, and have good numbers, you are in. At the risk of being hugely pretentious (who am I kidding, I am pretentious), please RELAX. There is nothing you can do to change what is going to happen. And to quote the ever-controversial Yukon Jack, "in the meantime, I'll just shut my big yap" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muchdutch Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 I would have to agree with heathcliff - they can control who they give offers to but they can't control who accepts them. For this reason I would imagine that they are accepting the candidates who are most qualified and, ultimately, who performed the best at the interview. As there is an excess in the number of applicants and interviewees, I would imagine that they could easily find a 50/50 ratio of M:F, but I'd like to think they are just picking the most qualified applicants regardless of sex. I would think that in this day and age with many overly qualified applicants of both genders, this isn't even an issue that crosses their minds so if I were you I wouldn't try to speculate your chances based on your sex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorbetty Posted March 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 I think they look only for the best candidates under the criteria as specified, nothing less or more. If this meant class of 100% men or 100% women, so be it. Furthermore, based on other posts of yours etc., I really have to kind of wonder about this line of thinking and questioning, doctorbetty. Seriously, what are you looking for? Would it make your day if someone were to come out and say "Yes, U of A interviewed more men then women and actively recruits women, so by having an extra X in the ol' karyotype, you have a 16.6% greater chance of getting in"? I know this seems kind of harsh and abrasive, but you've been stats-mongering more than me on here, and thats quite a statement. If you had a good interview, are a good person, and have good numbers, you are in. At the risk of being hugely pretentious (who am I kidding, I am pretentious), please RELAX. There is nothing you can do to change what is going to happen. And to quote the ever-controversial Yukon Jack, "in the meantime, I'll just shut my big yap" Why does it bother you if I am questioning? Actually, it probably would make my day if my chances were greater since I'm not a perfect candidate. You are right - I should relax, but my uneasiness doesn't affect YOU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallguy408 Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 My apologies. I am far from the perfect candidate myself. I just think looking for an advantage based on gender is a bit of a stretch. I'm sure my bias is simply due the fact that I don't fit any "minority" sterotypes. You are right though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorbetty Posted March 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Thanks for the apology. I think I've played around in this forum enough and I should think about other things until May........ Good luck to everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agregson Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 Most of the people who have joined our class have done so after taking time off for personal reasons or to complete research projects (Masters or PhDs). I don't think it would be ethical of any medical school to try to "even out" the demographics of the class according to sex. I believe that would be a violation of charter rights...they admissions people pick the best candidates based on the information that they have. The increase in women in medicine recently I think reflects that applicant pool more than anything. (ie. more women applying) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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