vip_138 Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 I know most interview panels don't have your gpa or mcats when they interview you but is this a good thing? I do realize that it takes out some biases interviewers might have when looking at the individual, depending on how they associate grades. I also realize that there are seperate categories that should be assessed independantly of each other but i think there are good aspects too. In the interview they are trying to find out what type a person you are/understand who you are. Atleast for me, academics is a large chunk of my life (i have outside interests too) and i think i work fairly hard to achieve my goals academically (maybe not as hard as i should). Couldn't this show work ethic and comittment. People can always use jobs or volunteering to show these characteristics so why can't academics show this too. I also think this would offer opportunities for those who have less-than-stellar academics to explain why. Some ppl might have less EC's because they had to spend more time on their academics, which could also be explained. Instead of admissions just seeing a # and giving you a rank, they could associate reasons and explainations for this and i believe, give you a more holistic score that better represents you as a candidate. When they are assessing you, i don't think that one can fully understand who you are without also knowing your academic history. Many of us have studied hard and throughout highschool and university and i think this demonstrates a big part of your life that should not just be brushed-over. This is jutt my opinion tho, any others are welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurfette Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 Every school does it differently - I believe that the interviewers at Toronto do have access to your grades. But I don't really think it's necessary. (And I'm not biased because I have poor grades - I have what most people would consider a pretty good GPA/MCAT). Almost everyone who has gotten an interview has academic skills that are good enough to study medicine. The interview is assessing your other skills - communication skills, emotional stability, etc. Note that these skills are not necessarily independent of academic abilities. You are free to use your academic skills (by that, I mean your knowledge and your ability to think) in answering questions - eg. being able to formulate logical answers to scenarios, having a broad knowledge of current events, having cultural sensitivity, etc. If you have excelled significantlly in an academic sense, it would probably come through in your sketch anyways. Things like research positions and papers, whether you've completed graduate school, significant awards, and so-on. The only thing that doesn't really show up is the numbers (GPA/MCAT). P.S. You are certainly free to discuss academics in an interview. If asked about time management, for example, you could talk about balancing school with your EC's or with your personal life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clkt Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 At my U of T interview, there was one question about why my grades in a particular year was so low. So yes, they do look, and I bet they would form an opinion if they see you doing well in bird courses and badly in your degree program courses. I think it's great that they take into consideration your transcripts as a whole and not just some formula-calculated average, because your transcripts say alot about you as a person. But that's only U of T... Regarding what the original poster said about using academics to show dedication etc, I think it would show that you are too 1-dimensional. I try to use different activities to show different qualities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vip_138 Posted March 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 At my U of T interview, there was one question about why my grades in a particular year was so low. So yes, they do look, and I bet they would form an opinion if they see you doing well in bird courses and badly in your degree program courses. I think it's great that they take into consideration your transcripts as a whole and not just some formula-calculated average, because your transcripts say alot about you as a person. But that's only U of T...Regarding what the original poster said about using academics to show dedication etc, I think it would show that you are too 1-dimensional. I try to use different activities to show different qualities. I actually really like that idea of also looking at your transcript. A gpa # doesn't really give a lot of information. I wish more schools were like toronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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