Complicated Question

[ghewson]

Hello Everyone,

 

I interviewed at Calgary Medical School this year and have a complicated question to ask. I read in the Applicant Manual that any course or courses taken during this year have to be above 3.2 on the 4.0 scale or your offer of acceptance will be taken away. I am wondering if this is a strict rule or if they look at each case individually and make exceptions. My problem is that I graduated in April of 2007, but decided to take French and Organic Chemistry II in the Fall of 2007. I dropped French as the course recommended to me was too advanced for my level and the Organic Chemistry II stands as an incomplete course. This is because I had various medical problems this year, which lead me to not be able to write my final or deferred exam. I am sorting out with the University of Guelph right now the dropping of this course, but if I am unable to do that and end up with a mark below 3.2 would I have a potential acceptance taken away?

 

Thanks for the help,

Sincerely,

Freaked out all my work will not matter in light of one stupid course!

 

PS. I am an OOP and I have a 4.0 for GPA for Calgary calculations (3.8 otherwise)

[bnface]

The following is from the admissions manual:

 

"Acceptances are provisional; one of the conditions is that the official transcript for course(s) just completed shows maintenance of an overall average of 3.20 on a 4.00 scale when converted to match the University of Calgary’s 4.00 point rating scale. This applies to both the Albertans and non-Albertans.

Students who are currently registered in a university or college are required to forward final official transcripts as soon as possible after final examinations are completed."

 

Not sure if this helps, but I don't see any indication that every single course has to be above 3.20, just that your overall AVERAGE does. Is that what everyone else is reading too?

[ghewson]

Yes I did read that, so I am wondering if there is anyone with inside knowledge of how things work. Also, since I only have one course it has to be 3.2 or above, I should have taken an easy course to balance out the marks. This is what makes me really irritated, what does it matter?!!?

[George]

First time I read the above excerpt I saw "maintenance of an overall average of 3.20 on a 4.00", which to me means that even if this course falls below 3.2, it's one course on an otherwise 4.0 transcript, so the cGPA's still gonna be >3.2

 

Second time I read it, I then noticed it says "the official transcript for course(s) just completed", which I guess means average of course (even if only one?) taken in the final year (ie. courses that showed as "in progress" back in October when you applied) - in which case maybe it's a bit more problematic?

 

ghewson I think this is a totally reasonable time to call the admissions office...

[ghewson]

Thanks for your response George.

I actually sent them an email, so I will post their response.

[youbrokeit]

I'm IP and also sitting uncomfortably close to a 3.2 GPA for this year. Advice for anyone who plans to apply in the future: DON'T take advanced organic chemistry as an option if you don't have to. I did. It was a BAD plan.

[boodog]

really?? i doubt it, considering they have at least 300 other people waiting for that position. the regulations are in place for a reason.

[Wolvenstar]

The biggest thing tends to be the interview, and the whole social scene that day. Alot of people overestimate the value of marks and underestimate how important the interview day is.

 

I had a chance to become friends with a resident who was on the admissions for med school (we will keep which school confidential). He pretty much told me that if you present yourself well enough and they really like you, you are getting in as long as you are not below cutoffs. It's not just the interview portion either, but the time before and after the interview, when you are mingling with everyone and socially interacting with them. They are really keen are seeing that you can function properly in a social environment.

 

He told me about this one applicant who had a high GPA (something above 3.75) and a mile of ECs. They thought he was the perfect applicant, but after all the interviews were over when everyone was chatting with each other, this guy just started dropping (and I quote) "F*bombs" the entire time, and that changed their perspective of him completely and he was rejected.

 

 

So in terms of cGPA just make sure that you have decent marks, because it won't be what distinguishes you from everyone else, and that is what gets you in, leaving an imprint in their minds. Numbers just doesnt do that.

[Jamer]

Not that I'm doubting you, but how are the admissions people observing the students outside of the interview? Are there secret spies walking around, seeing if the children play nicely together? Because besides my interview and a couple presentations where we didn't say anything to each other, I never saw a single admissions personale all day at U of C, really. Unless the med students who are helping escort you around are secretly being paid to spy on you, I can't see how that would work, at least at U of C. Maybe different universities have different interviewing day processes, though.

[Wolvenstar]

The example was not from the U of C but of a different university, where there was a social gathering of some sort after the interview for everyone. There were students (either 3rd year or 4th med students) who were interviewers and attended the social event. It's not spying, my god it's that imperative that they no every detail of your life that they actually spy on you. I didn't grill the guy on the fine details of the story, but what you can extrapolate is that they don't have to decide their scores right after the interview, and so after hearing this prospective student swearing as if it was going out of style they went back and changed how they scored him.

[Devari]

The biggest thing tends to be the interview, and the whole social scene that day. Alot of people overestimate the value of marks and underestimate how important the interview day is.

 

I had a chance to become friends with a resident who was on the admissions for med school (we will keep which school confidential). He pretty much told me that if you present yourself well enough and they really like you, you are getting in as long as you are not below cutoffs. It's not just the interview portion either, but the time before and after the interview, when you are mingling with everyone and socially interacting with them. They are really keen are seeing that you can function properly in a social environment.

 

Any personal opinions that are formed before or after the interview should be totally separate from the actual interview itself. An applicant should be expected to remain professional and courteous at all times between arriving for an interview and leaving the building but you shouldn't be "evaluated" based on social interaction, etc. outside of the actual interview itself. Assessing performance before or after an interview as some type of "social setting" is really rather retarded. You're simply waiting for an interview, you aren't supposed to be evaluated by anyone. This is probably one of the reasons why many schools are starting to change to an MMI interview to minimize the effects of personal biases influencing the interview scoring.

 

He told me about this one applicant who had a high GPA (something above 3.75) and a mile of ECs. They thought he was the perfect applicant, but after all the interviews were over when everyone was chatting with each other, this guy just started dropping (and I quote) "F*bombs" the entire time, and that changed their perspective of him completely and he was rejected.

 

The example was not from the U of C but of a different university, where there was a social gathering of some sort after the interview for everyone. There were students (either 3rd year or 4th med students) who were interviewers and attended the social event. It's not spying, my god it's that imperative that they no every detail of your life that they actually spy on you. I didn't grill the guy on the fine details of the story, but what you can extrapolate is that they don't have to decide their scores right after the interview, and so after hearing this prospective student swearing as if it was going out of style they went back and changed how they scored him.

 

If I was an applicant and this happened to me I'd definitely complain to the admissions department. An optional social event is NOT an interview nor is it part of the application process in any way. It is entirely optional and is really designed to allow the applicants to meet some of the students and learn about the school. As far as I'm concerned changing interview scores on the basis of personal opinions formed outside of an interview is very improper, although obviously the applicant wouldn't know that their scores were changed and would have no idea that they should complain.

[avenir001]

Any personal opinions that are formed before or after the interview should be totally separate from the actual interview itself. An applicant should be expected to remain professional and courteous at all times between arriving for an interview and leaving the building but you shouldn't be "evaluated" based on social interaction, etc. outside of the actual interview itself. Assessing performance before or after an interview as some type of "social setting" is really rather retarded. You're simply waiting for an interview, you aren't supposed to be evaluated by anyone. This is probably one of the reasons why many schools are starting to change to an MMI interview to minimize the effects of personal biases influencing the interview scoring.

 

lol i've come to LOVE how u use that phrase

[Wolvenstar]

Well things are how they are. I am just telling you the story, and frankly I believe it to be true. There are many things about the pre-reqs that i believe to be retarded, but that's life, we have hurdles to jump all the time, but finally getting into med school will be worth it. It wasn't my intention to start a debate, I just wanted to point out that during the entire time you are there, you might want to be friendly, and polite. The short and simple of it is don't act like an idiot, sounds simple but it's amazing how many people actually do.

[Devari]

Well things are how they are. I am just telling you the story, and frankly I believe it to be true. There are many things about the pre-reqs that i believe to be retarded, but that's life, we have hurdles to jump all the time, but finally getting into med school will be worth it. It wasn't my intention to start a debate, I just wanted to point out that during the entire time you are there, you might want to be friendly, and polite. The short and simple of it is don't act like an idiot, sounds simple but it's amazing how many people actually do.

 

I agree completely that an applicant should act professional at all times during the application process, I was just pointing out that these types of issues can make the application and interview process annoyingly subjective and random at times. I've also heard of situations where events can work in an applicant's favor as well. For example, I spoke with a medical student who mentioned that prior to his interview he could hear the interview committee discussing his application in the next room and so he already knew some of the topics and questions they were going to ask before the interview started. He may or may not have done substantially better on the interview as a result, but these types of coincidences can sometimes make the difference between being accepted or rejected. Interviews tend to be particularly important because at that point in the process factors such as GPA, MCAT, ECs, and so on tend to even out and the deciding factor is really the interview itself. That's why I tend to view the interview process with a large degree of cynicism, because there are so many subjective factors that come into play during the interview and ultimately it's an issue of whether or not the interviewers "like" or "dislike" the applicant.

[rushlane]

Yes I did read that, so I am wondering if there is anyone with inside knowledge of how things work. Also, since I only have one course it has to be 3.2 or above, I should have taken an easy course to balance out the marks. This is what makes me really irritated, what does it matter?!!?

Did anyone find out about from the admissions office about this 3.2 maintenance gpa? I'm a grad student who took ONE course this year and it looks like I'll get a B. Will this void an offer of admission? That would really suck.

[ghewson]

You can apply to their committee for an exception to this rule. Send any documentation that may help your case, etc. That's what they told me. I am sure they are pretty reasonable.