eebee Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 The average of students who were admitted last year was 88.5%. This seems like one heck of an anomaly to me, given the constant 85%-ish average in the previous years. Anybody know what happened here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsweasley Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I read in another thread that it was because they had an usually high number of 2nd years get in, and to get in after 2nd year you need to have something like a 90%+ average. The person also said that those applying in 4th year with ~85% should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I read in another thread that it was because they had an usually high number of 2nd years get in, and to get in after 2nd year you need to have something like a 90%+ average.The person also said that those applying in 4th year with ~85% should be fine. I feel that this happens a lot..... People read what they want to hear and it makes them feel like they are in better standing than they are (ie. the person who probably wrote the above was probably a fourth year who was hoping he would be okay with his 85%). I don't believe what he said... for several reasons: 1) their formula for admissions is pretty clear on their website, and a lot of canadian schools follow formulas like this.. This makes it so there is no preferential treatment to certain 'groups of people' like 4th years. For this reason, I don't see them making a higher standard for applicants in their second year. 2) UWO only counts best two years anyways.. So that is already giving 4th years an advantage because (a) people usually do better in their later years, and ( you can drop a year you did poorly on. 3) It doesn't explain the reason why there were an unusually high amount of second year applicants... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juba Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I think maybe they are talking about transfer students into the second year of the program. Either way don't worry so much about the marks work on the interview now and remember the 88.5% or whatever... was an average. Some people probably had 90%+ and some had lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eebee Posted March 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I feel that this happens a lot..... People read what they want to hear and it makes them feel like they are in better standing than they are (ie. the person who probably wrote the above was probably a fourth year who was hoping he would be okay with his 85%). I don't believe what he said... for several reasons:1) their formula for admissions is pretty clear on their website, and a lot of canadian schools follow formulas like this.. This makes it so there is no preferential treatment to certain 'groups of people' like 4th years. For this reason, I don't see them making a higher standard for applicants in their second year. 2) UWO only counts best two years anyways.. So that is already giving 4th years an advantage because (a) people usually do better in their later years, and ( you can drop a year you did poorly on. 3) It doesn't explain the reason why there were an unusually high amount of second year applicants... actually...they do give bonus marks for having a degree. So, in order to make up for a lack of bonus points, 3rd and 2nd years have to have substantially high marks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 actually...they do give bonus marks for having a degree. So, in order to make up for a lack of bonus points, 3rd and 2nd years have to have substantially high marks. http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/dentistry/admissions_yr1.html "Graduated bonus points are added into the equation for active files at the end of the application cycle providing we have confirmation of honours, master’s or PhD degree completion. The bonus points do not compensate for non-competitive grades." I see bonus points being given to Honours over non honours bachelors, masters over non masters, and PhD over non Phd.. Where does it say that bonus points are given to those with a bachelor's degree over non bachelor's (ie. applicants who apply in their second year). Also, where in this excerpt did you make the leap of faith that applying 2 years later gives your marks a 5% boost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nine99_9 Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/dentistry/admissions_yr1.html "Graduated bonus points are added into the equation for active files at the end of the application cycle providing we have confirmation of honours, master’s or PhD degree completion. The bonus points do not compensate for non-competitive grades." I see bonus points being given to Honours over non honours bachelors, masters over non masters, and PhD over non Phd.. Where does it say that bonus points are given to those with a bachelor's degree over non bachelor's (ie. applicants who apply in their second year). Also, where in this excerpt did you make the leap of faith that applying 2 years later gives your marks a 5% boost? You forgot to bold the key word in the sentence "Completion". People who are finishing fourth years are confirmed that they have finished their honours degree while thats not the case for 3rd and 2nd years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 You forgot to bold the key word in the sentence "Completion". People who are finishing fourth years are confirmed that they have finished their honours degree while thats not the case for 3rd and 2nd years But it's talking about the completion of an Honours, masters, or PhD... not the completion of a Bachelor's.... see where I'm getting at? Why do I always feel like it is me vs the world? like no one else shares my viewpoint... everrr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fraises Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 just curious....don't all ontario universities give you an automatic honours in 4 years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 just curious....don't all ontario universities give you an automatic honours in 4 years? I'm pretty sure not. I know there is either the Life Sciences or Life Sciences Honours at my school. I think for the honours you have to mantain a certain GPA to get the Honours.. I don't know if doing a senior thesis is always mandatory to achieve Honours... But one thing for sure is: not all 4 year programs in Ontario give Honours.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsweasley Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 WHOA... ok I didnt think my post would cause this much of a ruckus. I was simply stating what I had read in a previous thread on this forum, and I believe it was an actually person from UWO class of 2012 who originally said that they had a bunch of people in their class get in after 2nd year of undergrad who had really high averages. Who knows if 85% is good enough, I certainly wasn't trying to make myself feel better of give anyone false hope. But look at these stats from the UWO website http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/Dentistry/docs/Statistics_Class2012.htm : 39 – HBSc / Honours equivalent 4 Yr. Degrees 5 – MSc 1 - PhD That's only accounting for 45/52 spots. So 7 people must have been accepted out of 2nd or 3rd year. Also IMO most people who are applying to dental school are in Honours Bachelors degrees. PS. Found the original thread I was talking about... see post #8 http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30426 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eebee Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 But it's talking about the completion of an Honours, masters, or PhD... not the completion of a Bachelor's.... see where I'm getting at? Why do I always feel like it is me vs the world? like no one else shares my viewpoint... everrr I spoke to Trish last year, and a 4th year student with an 85 is more likely to get in than a 3rd year student with an 85, simply because in addition to the DAT, grades and interview scores, bonus points are added for having completed their degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael777 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I spoke to Trish last year, and a 4th year student with an 85 is more likely to get in than a 3rd year student with an 85, simply because in addition to the DAT, grades and interview scores, bonus points are added for having completed their degree. Hmm, well I know you can get a three year honours degree in the program that I am in, but I am not sure if they even know that or if any other program has that :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilee Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Hmm, well I know you can get a three year honours degree in the program that I am in, but I am not sure if they even know that or if any other program has that :S In the summer, UWO asks that any students who have just completed a degree to send in proof that a degree has been/will be conferred during the summer, so they would know that you got a degree if that was the case and then can apply the "bonus points" to your score. I don't think they broke it down on the class of 2012 stats, but on the class of 2011 stats (I believe.. maybe it was 2010) they actually broke down the Bachelor degrees into 3-year degrees and 4-year degrees. Needless to say, there were only a few people with three-year degrees accepted - the majority of the degrees were four-year ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuhee Posted March 15, 2009 Report Share Posted March 15, 2009 being a student at UWOdents I can confirm that part of the reason the avg is higher is due to the abnormally high number of 2nd years. Bonus awareds are given for completing a 4 year honours degree and thus if you get an interview and have an honours degree, you are more than competitive, have a good interview and you have a very good shot at getting in. Sometimes they tell you that the honours degree gives negligible bonus points, but trust me, everyone in the program knows that the bonus points aren't negligible. The difference between DAT marks and a university avgs are pretty negligible when it gets to the interview stage (unless u have like a 93+ avg), what really seperates people when you get to this stage is a good interview and the degrees you have completed (honours, masters, PhD) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eebee Posted March 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2009 being a student at UWOdents I can confirm that part of the reason the avg is higher is due to the abnormally high number of 2nd years. Bonus awareds are given for completing a 4 year honours degree and thus if you get an interview and have an honours degree, you are more than competitive, have a good interview and you have a very good shot at getting in. Sometimes they tell you that the honours degree gives negligible bonus points, but trust me, everyone in the program knows that the bonus points aren't negligible. The difference between DAT marks and a university avgs are pretty negligible when it gets to the interview stage (unless u have like a 93+ avg), what really seperates people when you get to this stage is a good interview and the degrees you have completed (honours, masters, PhD) Wow, that clarifies a lot. And coming from a dental student, its very comforting knowing that the bonus points really do count. I just have a question then: whats the deal with the whole "equation" thing? You know, where they pretty much put all your scores into a computer and that determines acceptance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuhee Posted March 15, 2009 Report Share Posted March 15, 2009 the equation is out of 100 (I think - 15 DAT, 25 interview, 60 2yr avg ). if you think about it, the difference ebtween an 85 and a 90 for the 60 points given to the 2 yr. avg isn't very much. The DAT mark also doesnt vary by much. Therefore, really doing well on the interview is a place that you can really seperate yourself. Scores on interviews vary quite a bit. Some people get close to 100% (and pretty much gaurantee admission) while others do poorly and get 50-60%. THey stopped giving out interview marks last year, but if you know what they want in an interviewee, you pretty much know how well the interview went. The bonus points also add extra marks to these 100 points. How many bonus points is something that no student is completely sure about. But one thing is for sure, the bonus points ARE NOT negligible. My avg was less than 87% and AA of 20, yet I received early admission in the 2012 class. That just goes to show that interview and an honours degree really are important Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted March 15, 2009 Report Share Posted March 15, 2009 the equation is out of 100 (I think - 15 DAT, 25 interview, 60 2yr avg ). if you think about it, the difference ebtween an 85 and a 90 for the 60 points given to the 2 yr. avg isn't very much. The DAT mark also doesnt vary by much. Sure, the difference between an 85 and a 90 isn't a lot. But, we don't know which method (see below 1-3) they are calculating our score out of 65%. 1) It could be that they grab all those interviewed (say the range of percentages is from 80% - 95%) and they normally distribute these scores. So someone with a 95% could get 100% out of the 65% academic session, but the second best average in the pool could be 95% out of the 65% or whatever it works out to be. 2) Alternatively, they could even do soemthign like, since there are 200 applicants, the person with an 80% gets 1% out of 65, then the person with the 80.2% average gets 1.5% out of 65, etc. 3) The point is: it may not be a direct GPA Percentage x Weight they place on GPA = Score for Admissions. (ie. 88% x 65% = whatever). But if they do this, then you are correct, GPA becomes much more insignificant at this point... Unless, of course, you know something we don't.. Since I am a cynic by nature, I am also wondering how you are so sure that the 'bonus points' for those with Honours degree is very meaningful? What made you come to this conclusion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fraises Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 yeah i think Trish said the GPA scores are put on some z-score that only they know how to calculate =) so marks aren't as insignificant as it might seem if you're thinking about the gpax60 method Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jlee629 Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 12r2351341412412412 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T00thFairy Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 My school doesn't give out percentages with our marks, just the GPA. Does anybody know then how an A+ would translate? Do they just take the minimum for each mark (i.e. 90% A+) cuz that would be totally depressing if a 4.0 GPA was only a 90% maximum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 My school doesn't give out percentages with our marks, just the GPA. Does anybody know then how an A+ would translate? Do they just take the minimum for each mark (i.e. 90% A+) cuz that would be totally depressing if a 4.0 GPA was only a 90% maximum! the median percentage.. if an A+ is 90-100, then you get 95% for an A+. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T00thFairy Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 oh that's great! what a difference that makes in my percentage calculation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael777 Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 the median percentage.. if an A+ is 90-100, then you get 95% for an A+. Where did you hear that from, because like the Toothfairy said that does make a huge difference. I might phone Trish tomorrow to ask about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 Where did you hear that from, because like the Toothfairy said that does make a huge difference. I might phone Trish tomorrow to ask about that. please do. im curious to know too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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