funkmunk Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 back up... writing sample might be R?? Where did that come from? I'm good with all the others, anywhere up to and including 12, but R?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koopa_troopa Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I would be very sad if an R is the requirement. I never really put much effort into the writing sample and used it more of a mental break. Guess that will come back to haunt me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcgirl33 Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 back up... writing sample might be R?? Where did that come from? Hear hear.... I'm with funkmunk.... where on earth did this come from? Was it introduced when someone with a Q was told they weren't invited for an interview, or are we just freaking ourselves out here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moltenflammingcore Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I called the Admissions Office and from what I was told they are still using the cutoff system of selection but not posting the cutoffs, and we will be informed via letter. I also gave my stats and was informed that I was not receiving an interview. Stats: MCAT 32Q (12P/10V/10B), last 2 years' OMSAS GPA 3.84. This is pure speculation, but I believe that they may have upped the verbal and/or bio subsection cutoffs, in addition to WS. Good luck to the rest of you. Because of this and similar postings... we believe that the ws cut off is R. There is an applicant with a 30mcat and R and this person apparently heard from admissions that they made the cutoff. I agree though that this is weird... Queens has 1851 applicants (see general premed discussions and the thread regarding no. of applicants) so if only 85% of individuals recieve R or above that means they are only interviewing about 270???? Strange... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 maybe they assess the mcat in a fashion that allows you to compensate one section with another, including WS? ie you need 10/10/10R or 10/10/11Q or 10/9/11R etc... that would be a bit difficult to write down as a posted cutoff explanation and would likely lead to some confusion... but the secretaries could easily assess if you had met the cutoffs. (eg a Q and only 30 would not be enough, but a 30 and an R would) it would also deal with some of the unfairness associated with the mcat cutoffs: ie 15/9/15 S gets no interview, whereas 10/10/10Q does. hahahaha i can't take my own advice and stop obsessing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moltenflammingcore Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 hey, I called Jennifer too. My 31Q MCAT (10BS,10PS, 11V) and 3.72 cumulative GPA didnt make it. She said I just missed the cutoffs. I'm guessing from what others posted that the cutoff is a 30R. Good luck with all the other schools everyone! Here is another example!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 Hear hear.... I'm with funkmunk.... where on earth did this come from? Was it introduced when someone with a Q was told they weren't invited for an interview, or are we just freaking ourselves out here? Just read the thread, it's all in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I agree though that this is weird... Queens has 1851 applicants (see general premed discussions and the thread regarding no. of applicants) so if only 85% of individuals recieve R or above that means they are only interviewing about 270???? Strange... that's assuming that a random sample of individuals applied to queen's... if you could get the stats to approximate how many applicants that met last year's cutoffs would also have an R, then you could determine how many people would be interviewed with the speculated change to an R cutoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 Because of this and similar postings... we believe that the ws cut off is R. There is an applicant with a 30mcat and R and this person apparently heard from admissions that they made the cutoff. I agree though that this is weird... Queens has 1851 applicants (see general premed discussions and the thread regarding no. of applicants) so if only 85% of individuals recieve R or above that means they are only interviewing about 270???? Strange... You're not using the statistics correctly. 85% of ALL PEOPLE TAKING THE MCAT receive an R or above, not 85% of people applying to Queen's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJaswal Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 Is it just me, or is this thread making your head hurt thinking about this over and over again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostintime Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 And there is also the factor that people with O or less probably didn't apply to not waste their money. Just like people with 7 or lower on a section wouldn't apply either. Before, many of us didn't know our scores, but this year, due to changes in MCAT timing, we do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moltenflammingcore Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 You're not using the statistics correctly. 85% of ALL PEOPLE TAKING THE MCAT receive an R or above, not 85% of people applying to Queen's. You are totally right! I didn't think of it that way... this makes more sense why they did this. But I still think they were just being lazy. WS is not a great way to cut people out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennethToronto Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I speculate that the change in administration of the MCAT (and consequently students knowing their score prior to application) is wreaking havoc with Queen's once functional strict MCAT cut off system. They may be reticent to release any strict cut-offs because there may be some difficulty with the numbers given the MCAT scores of the applicant pool should be fairly homogenous. Consequently, any tweaking of MCAT scores might result in an inadequate # of interviewees. My money is on the following: a) The MCAT cut off is only part of the equation. They may also be factoring in the score for your short essay questions. It's no longer a single cut-off, but a more flexible (but complicated) system where your GPA/MCATs are weighted. Anyways, it's all fun and games speculating just what is going on with Queen's admissions. I think it's about time Canada's medical admission system move towards a more integrated process (along the lines of the US AMCAS) where applicants are treated fairer and are at least kept into the loop via online status pages and more responsive admissions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie777 Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 I want to confirm that the PS & VR could not have gone up since I was told that I am "good" & I have 10 10 14 T (with a cGPA of 3.95). I didn't really want to post my stats, but I think that this clarifies the situation for all of us who are agonizing over it. It must be that the WS (& maybe the cumulative MCAT score) rose this application cycle. Good luck to all. Yeah, it seems like based on posts such as these, it strongly sounds like the WS cut-off is R (people with higher stats in all the other sections, but <R in WS "did not qualify for an interview.") The cummulative total sounds like >30 (based on another post about someone with a 30R qualifying). BUT this is all just speculation in the end. We'll only REALLY know end of January.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KilgoreTrout Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 The cummulative total sounds like >30 (based on another post about someone with a 30R qualifying). Can anyone confirm that 30R allowed someone to qualify? I think that info would solve the Queens cutoff mystery. Also, if Jennifer was telling people over the phone that they made the cut based on a quick report of an MCAT score and maybe a GPA, I highly doubt that a complicated equation is involved - it must be a strict cutoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcgirl33 Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 Also, if Jennifer was telling people over the phone that they made the cut based on a quick report of an MCAT score and maybe a GPA, I highly doubt that a complicated equation is involved - it must be a strict cutoff. LOL ....if Jennifer should only know the hours and anaytical brain power dedicated to investigating the daily events of her 9-5. I can't imagine how surreal it would be to have entire forums deconstructing what I said on the phone to people at work. I'm looking forward to the fallout on Feb 1st -- if for nothing else we can solve this mystery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KilgoreTrout Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 hahaha i know it is pretty funny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-Swirsk Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 After a lot of thinking about the R cut-off for writing, it just still doesn't make sense. Imagine if one of the other sections increased by 2 points, i.e. if BS or VR was a 12 this year and at the same time VR was decreased to a 9??? Alastriss - I agree with you I would have bet my pinkie finger or maybe even more, that this situation couldn't possible happen. It's so unlikely in my opinion (keep in mind I have a Q – I am admitting my bias) I think that some other factor must be in play... Dante I think you hit the nail on the head when you suggested that if you miss the cut-off in one section you may be able to make it up in another. In the past when they have increased the overall total to 32 this gives those that score high score in WS no advantage. So my geuss is that similar to schools like Alberta, they are assigning a numerical score to the WS and then summing all the sections and there is one overall total that must be met to get an interview. This is why we are seeing people with a 30 and possibly a 9 in one section but a high WS being told they are going to get an interview. Just a thought after a lot of thinking and this would explain the 'changed administrative process' Who really knows...we shall c on Jan 30th.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButterflyInTheSky Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 As a semi-related question, what was the change in applicant numbers between this year and last? 494 http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/administration/Deans-newsletters/Deans_Report_2007.pdf Page 34. Edit: Oops. This is the difference for UWO, not Queens. My mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallinar Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 one more week and all this speculation ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscoDoc Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 My money is on the following: a) The MCAT cut off is only part of the equation. They may also be factoring in the score for your short essay questions. It's no longer a single cut-off, but a more flexible (but complicated) system where your GPA/MCATs are weighted. God, I hope you're right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 Twenty pages of speculation. That's pretty hardcore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMG007 Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 494 http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/administration/Deans-newsletters/Deans_Report_2007.pdf Page 34. Edit: Oops. This is the difference for UWO, not Queens. My mistake. Thanks That is a pretty cool document! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 I speculate that the change in administration of the MCAT (and consequently students knowing their score prior to application) is wreaking havoc with Queen's once functional strict MCAT cut off system. They may be reticent to release any strict cut-offs because there may be some difficulty with the numbers given the MCAT scores of the applicant pool should be fairly homogenous. Consequently, any tweaking of MCAT scores might result in an inadequate # of interviewees. My money is on the following: a) The MCAT cut off is only part of the equation. They may also be factoring in the score for your short essay questions. It's no longer a single cut-off, but a more flexible (but complicated) system where your GPA/MCATs are weighted. Anyways, it's all fun and games speculating just what is going on with Queen's admissions. I think it's about time Canada's medical admission system move towards a more integrated process (along the lines of the US AMCAS) where applicants are treated fairer and are at least kept into the loop via online status pages and more responsive admissions. But they did say they were using some sort of a cutoff system, and how could they have told people they were "fine" simply by hearing their stats? you would need to take the stats, subject them to the more complicated system, which would mean that they couldn't tell you right away whether u were fine or whether you were rejected Even tho I really wanna side with you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButterflyInTheSky Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 I feel ridiculous. I keep checking and re-checking and triple checking this thread, as though in the 10 minutes I've let it go in the background will be the 10 minutes in which something massive will have been discovered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.