Vidhya Posted May 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 Thanks for the feedback Lostlamb, it's really interesting to hear other's experiences with their application. You're probably right with it differing according to who reads your application. I used the same references this year and last year, they even sent me copies of what they wrote so I know it was essentially identical both years. Last year I scored a 4.75/5 (so lets say 9.5/10 by this years scale) while this year the references only scored 7/10. I wasn't expecting that at all and I think it knocked me completely out of competition this year. My extra-curriculars even went down by 1 point. Even though nothing really changed. Oh well, hopefully I'll have better luck next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Louis the King Jr. Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 Yeah, it's definitely for people who didn't receive an interview. Also, since they haven't updated the web page, it's possible they haven't finished updating all the scores as well (just guessing here). No cutoffs were listed anywhere that I could see, which is killing me. I want to know how far off I was for next year! I received a 66 as well and I'm IP, so we know the IP cutoff was at least that much. I'm guessing it must have gone down from 71.05 with the extra seats this year. I'm putting my money on 69. I think Jochi1543 is totally right. 18/25 is pretty high. Considering i have a score of 67.8 with nly 15/25 on extracurricular, you may wanna work on some of the other areas like the MCAT as you mentioned. I wouldn't waste my time tryna better sometimes that's obviously not a weakness. Having said that, things do change from yr to yr and your best bet is making yourself better overall but know how to prioritize.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 My extra-curriculars even went down by 1 point. Even though nothing really changed. This may also be the result of the entire applicant pool's scores increasing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vidhya Posted May 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 18/25 sounds pretty high to me. Keep things in perspective, too. For example, I think I scored something like 9 out of 20 on U of A's "personal attributes" last year - and that was above the ADMITTED average (and this is people admitted right away, not including candidates off the waitlist). I believe the admitted average PAS was around 7 (someone here correct me if you have your papers from last year). That's really interesting. I'm starting to think my strategy was completely wrong these last five years. Not horrendously wrong but enough so to push me out of the running the last couple years. Five years ago U of C didn't precisely quantify the various categories (academic, extra-curricular, etc). As an older student I decided to focus on my non-academic qualities as my first undergraduate degree was pretty average from a decade ago. As a result I got a decent MCAT score (30S), but not outstanding. Also, my academic work was very good after that (about 3.60 GPA) but not outstanding. I was hoping the extra-curriculars would put me over. However, when U of C changed the admissions structure slightly so that academics was worth 50% I started to worry....now I'm pretty sure that's what got me this year again. I'll have to start hunkering down on my MCAT and pray that another year of graduate studies will pull my academic grades up. I don't think I can do much more with my extra-curriculars. Thanks for the feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeComet Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 That's really interesting. I'm starting to think my strategy was completely wrong these last five years. Not horrendously wrong but enough so to push me out of the running the last couple years. Five years ago U of C didn't precisely quantify the various categories (academic, extra-curricular, etc). As an older student I decided to focus on my non-academic qualities as my first undergraduate degree was pretty average from a decade ago. As a result I got a decent MCAT score (30S), but not outstanding. Also, my academic work was very good after that (about 3.60 GPA) but not outstanding. I was hoping the extra-curriculars would put me over. However, when U of C changed the admissions structure slightly so that academics was worth 50% I started to worry....now I'm pretty sure that's what got me this year again. I'll have to start hunkering down on my MCAT and pray that another year of graduate studies will pull my academic grades up. I don't think I can do much more with my extra-curriculars. Thanks for the feedback. Most of your Academic and your EC's are all opinion based. Your GPA counts but the courses you take to get to that GPA also count (ie those cheap courses that give you a high GPA have less weight then tougher more interesting classes). Your EC's are as much variety and quality then they are quantity. I am an older applicant with an average GPA (3.5) and an assortment of EC's of things I just love doing and a good MCAT (31R) and I am on the waitlist. I was rejected pre-interview last year and only re-wrote the MCAT (31M) and did some more volunteering and other things I enjoyed doing. I think alot on the application is how you justify the 5 things you choose. I choose a few things that were fairly abstract for med that I thought really applied to that career (ie photography). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubious Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Wow Jochi, that is an impressive list of extracurricular activities. Like I said earlier I got a 15/25 and I never stuck with any particular event for longer than 2 years, aside from personal interests like music, traveling and what-not. I wonder how much I'll be able to raise it in the next year. Another thing that I'll spend more time doing is actually writing the application. I rushed it last year and maybe should have gotten someone to read it over. Maybe get one of your academic references to read it over since they might have a better idea of what kind of extracurricular activities would be worth while to explain better, such as the personality building activities like photography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Wow Jochi, that is an impressive list of extracurricular activities. I think you meant Vidhya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vidhya Posted May 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Most of your Academic and your EC's are all opinion based. Your GPA counts but the courses you take to get to that GPA also count (ie those cheap courses that give you a high GPA have less weight then tougher more interesting classes). Your EC's are as much variety and quality then they are quantity. I think this is a great point too. My major is in the social sciences and I am weaker in the physical sciences. Most of my A's are in courses that are probably viewed as "easy". On a good note I have a couple pre-reqs that I still need to finish this summer so perhaps if I push hard and grab a couple A's it may help a bit. Does anyone know how many people actually applied this year? The last few years it's been around 1500, and I thought the letter from last fall stated that over 1700 applied, but I wasn't sure if that included only accepted apps, or also those that were discarded for not meeting minimum application requirements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoami Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 I know of one person at least who got the reject pre interview with a 73.something, OOP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thejuice Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Don't over think this process too much. There are so many intangibles that it really varies year to year. First time I applied, I interviewed but was rejected. The second time I applied, I added a degree, the dean's silver medal, a volunteer trip to africa, a publication, a promotion in my hometown volunteering, and a promotion in my job to my application. I was rejected pre-interview. The third time, I was accepted. Really, it's a calculated lottery man. Do what you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Louis the King Jr. Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Don't over think this process too much. There are so many intangibles that it really varies year to year. First time I applied, I interviewed but was rejected. The second time I applied, I added a degree, the dean's silver medal, a volunteer trip to africa, a publication, a promotion in my hometown volunteering, and a promotion in my job to my application. I was rejected pre-interview. The third time, I was accepted. Really, it's a calculated lottery man. Do what you can. woow!! that's a hard story to believe...damn!! you're right, after reading your story i'm gonna stop worrying about cut-off points and do my best for next year and leave the rest to GOD or luck as some of you may call it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calgaryguy Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Most of your Academic and your EC's are all opinion based. Your GPA counts but the courses you take to get to that GPA also count (ie those cheap courses that give you a high GPA have less weight then tougher more interesting classes). Your EC's are as much variety and quality then they are quantity. I am an older applicant with an average GPA (3.5) and an assortment of EC's of things I just love doing and a good MCAT (31R) and I am on the waitlist. I was rejected pre-interview last year and only re-wrote the MCAT (31M) and did some more volunteering and other things I enjoyed doing. I think alot on the application is how you justify the 5 things you choose. I choose a few things that were fairly abstract for med that I thought really applied to that career (ie photography). Thanks for the posts BeComet and Vidhya, I am pretty much an identical applicant to you guys. Its good to see that other people are in the same boat as me, and your insight is appreciated! I thought I significantly improved my ECs over last year but only improved a point or 2. I think i'll take your advice to heart, and better pick my top5. I'm also gonna work on improving my MCAT score (31O) so if anyone's down with creating a UofC rejectee MCAT rewrite study group, pm me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vidhya Posted May 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Hey everyone! The cutoffs are now available pre-MMI. They are: Albertan - 68.4374 / Non-Albertan - 74.5626 (originally posted as 74.5624) So IP scores have continued to decrease every year as the class size has increased. Sooner or later it has to level off, but it's a good sign for next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vidhya Posted May 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Hey Calgaryguy, I agree it's great to see that we're not alone. I have to admit I was feeling a bit down this year but all the feedback has picked my spirits back up. It will be fun going through the admissions process this year with you. I have a good feeling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Louis the King Jr. Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Holy cow!!! i missed by 0.625..Godamn!! i'm a bust my ass off for next yr. At least i should be able to land me an interview...yeaaah, it's about time..let's go y'all '09 "rejectees"!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9mAoTo Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Amazing...I scored above the cutoff and got rejected pre-interview. Anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Amazing...I scored above the cutoff and got rejected pre-interview. Anyone else? How's that possible? Contact them ASAP, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entorhinal Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 Of all years - I had to choose an an alternative reference that I'm convinced bombed my chances as opposed to the other years. While the other individual missed it by 0.6, I missed it by 0.4. Painful. -Entorhinal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9mAoTo Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 Sent off a quick email and instead of a reply they updated the website. It seems that I am the reason the cutoff has four decimal places! I missed it by 0.0001 hahaha What a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubious Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 OMG. I'm so sorry 9mAoTo, missed it by 0.0001. That is just brutal. But look on the bright side, you're guaranteed an interview next year. Just bust your butt off like was said earlier to make sure you have a great pre-MMI score. We're all not too far off, let's kill it next year, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vidhya Posted May 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 Sent off a quick email and instead of a reply they updated the website. It seems that I am the reason the cutoff has four decimal places! I missed it by 0.0001 hahaha What a joke. Ouch. I agree you'll definitely nail it next year! Did you apply to any other universities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9mAoTo Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 Thankfully, I was accepted at Toronto. Here's hoping they don't rescind my offer due to a late PhD defense. Fingers crossed for things to work out for all of us one way or another! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Louis the King Jr. Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 does anyone know what the cut-off for the last 2 or 3 years were? I'm just wondering by how much it varies from year to year???? Cheers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vidhya Posted May 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 Hey Martin, I've noted the IP cutoffs for the past few years, unfortunately I only have the OOP cutoffs for last year, and it barely changed. Here are the IP cutoffs: 2006 (76.60) 125 seats 2007 (75.57) 135 seats 2008 (71.04) 150 seats 2009 (68.44) 180 seats From 2006-2008 the total applicant pool varied from between 1400 and 1500, I have no idea what it is for this year. It's interesting to see the dramatic decrease in cutoff as the class size has increased. I also suspect that the cutoff will go down slightly next year even if the seats remain at 180. I base this reasoning on the stable applicant pool. The applicant pool has not increased at the same rate as the number of seats. But I will need to see this years applicant totals to see if that's changed at all. For fun I like to guess what the cutoff is every year (yes I have no life ) so my money is on 67.5 assuming no increase next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkles3288 Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 Wow, that's quite a decrease in just a few years. Gives me some hope, haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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