OOP help

[FMX]

Hi, I'm currently studying in UBC Pharmacy, about to finish up within a couple years and just had a few questions.

 

1- Honours degree requirement.. The BSc Pharmaceutical Sciences - is just that, there is no Honors degree option. Will my degree be considered in their honors' category since my school does not offer a honors degree in pharmacy?!

 

2- OOP students.. According to the website they seem to be OOP friendly.. but according to the threads that I see, and the facebook group for 2012, it doesn't seem like any of the students came from out side of Ontario at all... so for those that know, are OOP's really on the same playing field as the IP's?

 

3- Interview format... - how is it like? did UWO adopt the MMI as well? or is it still a standard 3-1 interview?

 

4- Admissions criteria breakdown.. At UBC, GPA = 25%, Extracurrics = 25% and Interview = 50%.. these are the factors used to determine admission. Does anyone know what it looks like for UWO?

 

5- Location... where is UWO (Schulich School of med) located? In a urban area? or rural?

 

Thanks in advance!

[ploughboy]

 

1- Honours degree requirement.. The BSc Pharmaceutical Sciences - is just that, there is no Honors degree option. Will my degree be considered in their honors' category since my school does not offer a honors degree in pharmacy?!

 

 

The rule of thumb seems to be that if your degree will let you apply to grad school, it will be considered. I'd be almost positive you're ok, but I'm just a random student. If you're uber-paranoid, get confirmation from the admissions office. Maybe just don't do it for a few weeks, since they're probably swamped right now.

 

 

2- OOP students.. According to the website they seem to be OOP friendly.. but according to the threads that I see, and the facebook group for 2012, it doesn't seem like any of the students came from out side of Ontario at all... so for those that know, are OOP's really on the same playing field as the IP's?

 

 

My class has people from both coasts and almost every province in between. But on the other hand, I got in before there were two sets of cut-offs.

 

Since UWO adoped dual-cutoffs for SWOMEN and non-SWOMEN applicants, the class mix seems to be skewed toward students from southwestern Ontario. I don't think this is because of discrimination so much as sheer numbers. Since UWO's applicantion requirements are pretty minimal, I'd apply anyway.

 

 

3- Interview format... - how is it like? did UWO adopt the MMI as well? or is it still a standard 3-1 interview?

 

 

Three member panel: 1 doc, 1 community member, 1 med student. 45 minutes. Closed file. Two enter. One leaves.

 

Just kidding about that last part.

 

4- Admissions criteria breakdown.. At UBC, GPA = 25%, Extracurrics = 25% and Interview = 50%.. these are the factors used to determine admission. Does anyone know what it looks like for UWO?

 

 

Conventional wisdom has it that it's GPA 25%, MCAT (verbal + WS) 25%, interview 50%

 

5- Location... where is UWO (Schulich School of med) located? In a urban area? or rural?

 

Like, ohmigod you, like, don't know where Western is? It's like, where all the rich Toronto families have sent their daughters to find husbands since like *for-ever*. I like, totally can't believe that you like, haven't heard of us. We have a football team!

 

London has about 300,000 people, is the tertiary care centre for a cachement area of a couple of million, is half-way between Toronto and Detroit, and would have been known as the university that discovered insulin had not the administration been too cheap to fund Banting (yes, we're bitter.)

 

It might not hurt to check out the school's website for answers to any other questions you might have.

 

pb

[FMX]

Thanks PB! You are amazing! I will definitely check out with the admissions office lady.

 

Do you think you can explain the dual cutoff thing to me more? The way I understood it was that it is sort of like the UBC system where admissions to the northern/island part of the province's medical school is still done through UBC Vancouver Campus?

 

And what the heck is up with the Verbal + WS thing... I'm predicting those to be my worst subjects on the MCAT... I guess I should allocate all my study time into that then? Also.. in the breakdown, I see that you did not include an "extracurricular activity section.. does that mean they are all based on GPA/MCAT/Interview only?

 

 

 

The rule of thumb seems to be that if your degree will let you apply to grad school, it will be considered. I'd be almost positive you're ok, but I'm just a random student. If you're uber-paranoid, get confirmation from the admissions office. Maybe just don't do it for a few weeks, since they're probably swamped right now.

 

 

 

 

My class has people from both coasts and almost every province in between. But on the other hand, I got in before there were two sets of cut-offs.

 

Since UWO adoped dual-cutoffs for SWOMEN and non-SWOMEN applicants, the class mix seems to be skewed toward students from southwestern Ontario. I don't think this is because of discrimination so much as sheer numbers. Since UWO's applicantion requirements are pretty minimal, I'd apply anyway.

 

Conventional wisdom has it that it's GPA 25%, MCAT (verbal + WS) 25%, interview 50%

 

Like, ohmigod you, like, don't know where Western is? It's like, where all the rich Toronto families have sent their daughters to find husbands since like *for-ever*. I like, totally can't believe that you like, haven't heard of us. We have a football team!

 

London has about 300,000 people, is the tertiary care centre for a cachement area of a couple of million, is half-way between Toronto and Detroit, and would have been known as the university that discovered insulin had not the administration been too cheap to fund Banting (yes, we're bitter.)

 

It might not hurt to check out the school's website for answers to any other questions you might have.

 

pb

[danceprincess88]

Hi pb,

 

I have heard from you and a few others that they only look at verbal and WS post interview, however no one official or in any literature on the schulich website has posted this. Where have you heard of this? In my experience, that rumour is not true as I know about 8 people who have gotten into Schulich and 3 of them had the 10 in verbal (non-SWOMEN) and 4 had 8 in verbal (SWOMEN) and I think the other one had an 11 and was SWOMEN. I cannot recall their writing sample scores, however the one with an 11 had an O.

 

My above paragraph wasn't meant to sound argumentative (though it does), it is just exasperating to continually hear that verbal and WS statement without anyone or anything backing it up.

 

Thanks,

dp

[mrgreek]

he didn't say it was fact....but do a search on the forums....the only piece of information is that its those 2,,,and it has never been confirmed,,,also,,,the way its compared for swomen and non-swomen is also not known...no point in further analyzing,,,its all been done, look at previous posts

[Alastriss]

Ive heard that from students as well. We did accompany the post interview selection for UWO with the disclaimer: the differences between your non-interview score (GPA + MCAT) are minimal when you consider the broad range of 10-15 and Q-T for non-swomen. The main deciding factor is in fact the interview. It is possible that your friends who had just passed the cutoffs interviewed very well.

 

Lets not forget - of course there will be people with 10s and Qs in the class. Why would they be interviewed in the first place if they didn't have a good shot to get in?

[sweet_rain]

Hi, I'm currently studying in UBC Pharmacy, about to finish up within a couple years and just had a few questions.

 

 

2- OOP students.. According to the website they seem to be OOP friendly.. but according to the threads that I see, and the facebook group for 2012, it doesn't seem like any of the students came from out side of Ontario at all... so for those that know, are OOP's really on the same playing field as the IP's?

 

Ontario is the only province that does not give preference to IP's as far as I know. If you look at other ontario schools, this trend of OOP less represented generally applies so it's not just western. The fact that there seems to be less OOP's is probably because many of them choose to study in their own province if possible.

[FMX]

Ontario is the only province that does not give preference to IP's as far as I know. If you look at other ontario schools, this trend of OOP less represented generally applies so it's not just western. The fact that there seems to be less OOP's is probably because many of them choose to study in their own province if possible.

 

Thanks to the contributors of this thread, but just in case I got drowned out in my previous post.. I was wondering if and how does UWO take into account my extracurricular activities (EC's)?

[Alastriss]

Ontario Does give IP status. Every school in ontario with the exception of Queen's and UT give preference to specific regions:

 

NOSM - Northwestern ontario, and maybe rural communities

Ottawa - Ottawa region and Ontario is slightly easier than OOP but really hard.

UWO - Southwestern ontario

Mac - Gives preference to ontario pop but there are so many applicants and its the only one with true IP status that its not very beneficial after its all said and done.

 

Pretty much if you are from the GTA or any of the areas not selected above your best case scenario is NOT getting a disadvantage, but otherwise you get some sort of "IP" status

[sweet_rain]

Ontario Does give IP status. Every school in ontario with the exception of Queen's and UT give preference to specific regions:

 

Pretty much if you are from the GTA or any of the areas not selected above your best case scenario is NOT getting a disadvantage, but otherwise you get some sort of "IP" status

 

I'm from GTA, that's why I feel there's no IP status I guess. Pretty much for every school I applied, I'd be happy not get an disadvantage.

so for FMX, your status is somewhat like ppl from GTA, and many of us do make it to Western.

[sweet_rain]

Thanks to the contributors of this thread, but just in case I got drowned out in my previous post.. I was wondering if and how does UWO take into account my extracurricular activities (EC's)?

I actually have no clue how Western computes EC's. For me personally, I find it hard to summarize what I've done in one line in the autobio sketch.

The best bet would be try to use them as examples in your essay and talk more about them during your interviews. This allows you to explain the activities to your advantage. Keep in mind the interviews are worth a lot.

[medwannabe08]

Western computes your ECs by how well you can discuss them during your interviews. I think a lot of the interviewers have experience and can tell when you're shootin' the bs

[ploughboy]

Hi pb,

 

My above paragraph wasn't meant to sound argumentative (though it does), it is just exasperating to continually hear that verbal and WS statement without anyone or anything backing it up.

 

Thanks,

dp

 

Hey,

 

It's conventional wisdom, passed down from generation to generation of med students. My source is some really old posts from a Meds '06 who was on the adcom. It may or may not have been published somewhere in an official UWO document, but I don't actually have a citation for that.

 

pb

[ploughboy]

Do you think you can explain the dual cutoff thing to me more? The way I understood it was that it is sort of like the UBC system where admissions to the northern/island part of the province's medical school is still done through UBC Vancouver Campus?

 

And what the heck is up with the Verbal + WS thing... I'm predicting those to be my worst subjects on the MCAT... I guess I should allocate all my study time into that then? Also.. in the breakdown, I see that you did not include an "extracurricular activity section.. does that mean they are all based on GPA/MCAT/Interview only?

 

 

Dual cutoff - applicants from southwestern Ontario have to meet a different set of MCAT cutoffs than those who aren't. Details on the admissions website, but since you're from BC, you're not a southwestern Ontario applicant

 

ECs - talk about 'em in your interview.

[FMX]

So then, since the EC's are computed 'during the interview', is it true that if I meet their cutoffs for that year (i.e. 3.7 GPA with a 30MCAT (10/10/10), I will very likely have the interview?

 

 

Also.. how does OMSAS calculate my UBC GPA? I've roughly got a 80% average - totaled over my 3 completed years at UBC. Do they take my total overall average and then switch it to a GPA? or do they take individual courses and switch those into the GPA format, then re-calculated the GPA based on those numbers? I think the latter one would hurt as I have a few C+'s and B-'s to add into the picture

[danceprincess88]

Hey pb,

 

Just a thought, up until the applicant class of 2010, western's cutoffs were 8 8 8 or 8 7 8 (something significantly lower than they are now for non SWOMEN) so maybe back then they rated verbal and WS higher since there wasn't the 10 and Q cutoff.

 

dp

[sweet_rain]

Western computes your ECs by how well you can discuss them during your interviews. I think a lot of the interviewers have experience and can tell when you're shootin' the bs

 

The interview itself is closed file and they grade you right on the spot, so I'm confused as how they can compute your ECs this way. Of course how well you discuss your ECs do matter.

[medwannabe08]

So then, since the EC's are computed 'during the interview', is it true that if I meet their cutoffs for that year (i.e. 3.7 GPA with a 30MCAT (10/10/10), I will very likely have the interview?

 

If I told you no, would you still apply?

 

Instead of worrying about things you absolutely have no control over - like how OMSAS calculates averages and what the 2009 cut offs will be - why don't you just apply come September because you seem to be "around" the historical cut offs. Que sera, sera.

[mcpherv]

Hey pb,

 

Just a thought, up until the applicant class of 2010, western's cutoffs were 8 8 8 or 8 7 8 (something significantly lower than they are now for non SWOMEN) so maybe back then they rated verbal and WS higher since there wasn't the 10 and Q cutoff.

 

dp

 

The other thing that I've been thinking about here is that Western has a mandate to produce rural physicians for the SWOMEN area - which is why they have the lower interview selection cutoffs for individuals from Southwestern Ontario (8/8/8/O vs 9/10/11/Q this year). If admissions were still using just VR and WS to determine the post interview MCAT score for their candidates, many SWOMEN candidates would be at a disadvantage post-interview. These guys still must have a 30 total on the MCAT though, which means that if they changed over to using the total MCAT score, SWOMEN and non-SWOMEN applicants are suddenly on an even playing field post interview. Seems likely to me that they might have changed their approach here in order to prevent the negative bias. Pure speculation though.

 

EDIT: One further thing - I was reading some of the SWOMEN network newsletters prior to my interview, and the first page of the one linked below details some of the changes to the admissions policies that Western has made over the last few years to increase the number of SWOMEN area candidates that end up in Western's class. Point being that they have been very proactive about changing their admissions policies to accomodate SWOMEN candidates. Additionally, it indicates that before the MCAT cut adjustment, they had provided a post-interview bonus to SWOMEN applicants, but scrapped it in favour of the MCAT cut alteration, as they found the bonus points didn't have much affect on the class composition.

http://www.swomen.ca/uploads/Newsletter/newsletter_vol4_final.pdf

[sweet_rain]

So then, since the EC's are computed 'during the interview', is it true that if I meet their cutoffs for that year (i.e. 3.7 GPA with a 30MCAT (10/10/10), I will very likely have the interview?

 

 

Also.. how does OMSAS calculate my UBC GPA? I've roughly got a 80% average - totaled over my 3 completed years at UBC. Do they take my total overall average and then switch it to a GPA? or do they take individual courses and switch those into the GPA format, then re-calculated the GPA based on those numbers? I think the latter one would hurt as I have a few C+'s and B-'s to add into the picture

The MCAT cutoff depends on the application pool of each year. There's a trend of ppl scoring higher on MCAT's now and with the increase in cutoff for a few schools this year, you might want to aim for at least 11 on each section.

[ploughboy]

Hey pb,

 

Just a thought, up until the applicant class of 2010, western's cutoffs were 8 8 8 or 8 7 8 (something significantly lower than they are now for non SWOMEN) so maybe back then they rated verbal and WS higher since there wasn't the 10 and Q cutoff.

 

dp

 

Who knows. Though the cutoffs haven't been 8's and 7's for a long time...Quoting from my interview invitation (2004/2005 application cycle for matriculation in Sept 2005 as part of the class of 2009) :

The minimum GPA for this admissions cycle is 3.70 (this is based on a minimum course registration of five full or equivalent courses - 30 credit hours, September to April only), and the minimum MCAT scores of: Physical Sciences 9; Biological Sciences 10; Verbal Reasoning 10; Writing Sample P. *If you have not met these requirements, please contact us immediately.

 

 

So they've gone up a bit (non-SWOMEN cutoffs this year were 9/11/10/Q with total numeric score over 30).

 

Just do the best you can, and don't stress about things beyond your control.

 

pb

[medwannabe08]

The interview itself is closed file and they grade you right on the spot, so I'm confused as how they can compute your ECs this way. Of course how well you discuss your ECs do matter.

 

Talk about taking a statement too literally!

 

When I meant they "compute" them during the interviews, I mean the interview score encapsulates ECs + all those other things they're probably looking for in applicants.

 

UWO isn't like UBC. They don't attempt to 'quantify' ECs, like giving 1 point for a published paper, 2 points for being an Olympian, etc etc.

[ploughboy]

Seems likely to me that they might have changed their approach here in order to prevent the negative bias. Pure speculation though.

 

Ya, who really knows? I could just outright ask Dr. Chan, but he's not likely to tell me...

[mcpherv]

Ya, who really knows? I could just outright ask Dr. Chan, but he's not likely to tell me...

 

Haha - while you're at it, could you ask him to change the policy regarding the office refraining from giving out wailist info?