GPA

[Guest mitchie41]

On the UT website, it says that the last entering class had a GPA of 3.84.

 

Is that the GPA after grade adjustments(ie. Drop lowest year) have been made, or before they have been made?

[Guest cheech10]

I think that's after adjustments. Don't forget also that graduate students (which make up roughly 1/4 of the class) as a group have lower GPAs, so a 3.84 as an undergrad is not a guarantee of anything, though it is an indication that one has a good shot.

[Guest mitchie41]

Then what GPA is considered HIGHLY FAVOURABLE for someone trying to get in to UT Meds after 3 years of undergrad?

 

 

P.S. Thanks cheech10 for answering my previous question.

[Guest peachy]

4.0 :rollin

[Guest cheech10]

Despite the official word that GPA counts for 60% of your evaluation, my experience (and that of others) is that the interview is really the key determinant of acceptance. For a 3rd year applicant, assuming the rest of the application is fairly strong, I'd say 3.9 and up gets you an excellent shot, but this is more speculation than anything, so don't take it too seriously.

[Guest juan]

Cheech10: I can tell you that many of the grad student in the class do not have GPAs lower than the reported 3.84:p

 

I am in your class. Who are you by the way? Initials would help. I hope that you are enjoying writing your ethics essay.

 

U of T is not as focused this year on the GPA. They now have a quasi-collation team involved in the end decision-making process that will determined their rank order offer list. Interestingly, they are now looking at the type of undergraduate program and graduate program you may have taken and to stratify it on the relative percieved difficulty and adjust your file score accordingly (e.g. an engineering degree is more difficult than a biology or life sci degree in the eyes of the admission committee--- this is from a professor on the admissions committee that I know). Consequently, your file will be adjusted. Furthermore, the essay, autosketch, and particularly the letters of reference are going to be weighted much more heavily this year.

 

I hope that this helps quell some anxiety.

[Guest cheech10]

I didn't say that many grad students do not have 3.84 and up, and I'm sure many are above 3.84. I said as a group, their [average] GPA [from undergrad studies] is lower, which is an assumption, I admit, and could be wrong. The main point is that *no* GPA guarantees anything, and not to get complacent.

 

I just finished my ethics essay today. Now on to the DOCH readings...

 

I'm CL by the way. One of the guys that takes off between classes to play foosball (if that helps).

Who are you, if you don't mind my asking?

[Guest Shahenshah]

well juan that is very interesting information but quite honestly if this is how UofT is planning to conduct their admissions process this year in terms of ranking programs based on an even more subjective perceived 'difficulty', I think that is absolutely absurd and they have done a great job in deceiving a lot of undergrads...so basically one takes engineering instead of a science degree geared towards the field of medicine since the engineering background gives you more brownie points..so much for this line on their website:

 

'Students with university education in any discipline are encouraged to apply. Students should follow a program of study that will offer an alternative to medicine should they not be accepted.'

 

(www.library.utoronto.ca/m...info.html)

[Guest Krish]

Hi,

 

I was wondering what is exactly meant by the "quasi-collation" team that Juan referred to in his earlier post? What does that term mean?

 

Thanks,

Krish

[Guest peachy]

Word, Shahenshah! I too hate the idea of the U of T people arbitrarily deciding whether or not my degree was "hard" or "easy".. I mean, come on, we all know that within any program you can choose to make it either hard or easy by taking grad courses vs picking bird courses strategically, etc...

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Cheech - you playing foosball at FSS?

 

If so. . . you're going down! :b

[Guest Shahenshah]

hi peachy...I was considering asking the adcom but I don't know how accurate this info. really is, plus I don't want juan (as I am not sure if its his real name) to get into trouble in case this issue snowballs into a bigger issue cause his intention was to simply help us with the info..but one thing I have noticed is that the content on UofT's website on the medical admissions info seems to have changed quite a bit since the application process started..oh well, I guess I am going to just sit back and see how this admissions cycle plays out and hopefully not too many people will be get burnt by all this new info. being churned out.

[Guest SoHo]

I really don't think the admissions process is as cut-and-dry as many of us are led to believe (but correct me if I'm wrong). From my understanding of what Juan said, I don't think there will be an applicant-wide official ranking of undergrad majors - that would be next to impossible. Major may not come into play unless you've got a not-so-competitive GPA and assuming everything else is stellar - they may just cut you some slack.

 

If what Juan is saying is true (no offense Juan if your info is correct), I'm really glad that they are putting more emphasis on the sketch, essay, letters.

[Guest juan]

Folks,

 

Hold on for minute before writing "strongly-worded letters". Consider this, how do you begin to reconcile applicants from programs where the ability to earn 3.9 or 4.0 GPAs is clearly more difficult than in other programs? Adding 0.1 or 0.15 to somebodies adjusted GPA to compensate for that is not that big a deal when most of the focus is on what you submitted in your essay and what your references say about you.

 

Remeber, there needs to be a mechanism of standardization in place to ensure that assessments are made accurately and fairly. This occurs at every type of school, be it medical, law, graduate, whatever. Applicants present from different backgrounds (e.g. foreign applicants) and assessments are made accordingly.

 

Remember also that admissions is a blackbox for the most part. What undergraduate program you come from is actually completely insignificant when what the admissions committee is looking for is do you have the personality traits, thinking skills, and humanity that is required of a physician. If you have that and have been reasonably academically successful, then there should not be a problem.

 

Peace

("quasi-collation team" is in reference to a team similar to that at McMaster where a group of people get together one afternoon after interviews and dissect each applicant to determine who receives offers)

[Guest cheech10]

UWOMED2005 - I might be playing foosball, but I will be playing indoor soccer for sure. At any rate, we've got players that skip class to play foosball, so I doubt we "go down".

 

Folks, don't get hung up about program selection. This info is all new to me, and I suggest you contact admissions if you're worried about it.

[Guest Shahenshah]

don't worry juan..as I mentioned earlier..I will not write any sort of letters to them for the earlier mentioned reasons...I'm gonna edit my earlier message in case it gave the impression that I was gonna write a letter now..If you knew me, you would know that I am not that type of a person at all to just get fired up and shoot off letters..and even if I did, it really would mean nothing..I am in the same game as everyone else and if the adcom thinks this is fair, so be it as long as the rules apply to everyone which I am sure it does..I am sure the other schools have their own secrets/methods and so I guess its pointless to worry about which methods affect who and how..the only reason I got a little concerned here is that unlike the other rumours flying around, the point brought up of not ranking programs was implied on their website..

[Guest Akane200]

While I do not intend to confirm nor refute what juan has claimed to have heard. I want to caution everyone here as to the substance of his/her claims. It is only hearsay.

 

I've read the posts carefully, and there is nothing to suggest the truth of juan's sources. Juan may very well know a faculty member who made such statements. Or, he/she may not. But as they are stated here, there is nothing to show that they are true. We do not know juan, except that he or she is part of the first year class (which, doesn't participate in the admissions process except to be tour guides for interview weekends). We do not know the name of the faculty member who made this statement, and we do not know in what context that it might have been made.

 

I do not know why juan would even try to make these unsubstantiated views of the admissions process, and then back track to emphasize personal characteristics. It didn't alleviate any anxiety. Only perpetuated rumours, and stirred up a lot of emotions. All of us who have been part of the process know that there are things that are not for us to make public (it is not for us to say). If you make it public, then you need to back it up with names (including yours), and facts. Perhaps juan should be a little more responsible with his/her words.

 

What I do know of the admissions process is that they have official policies stated on the web page. These are official, and you can trust them to be true in regards to their disregard to the program that you are enrolled in (for this year anyways). I do not intend to argue which way is more fair than the others. But the admissions process is by far a lot more complex than it is made to be by juan or by the official guidelines (I've participated in it last year). What I can confirm is that it is in a state of change which began last year. How far and how different it is this year, we all can already see with the change in gpa and MCAT requirements. Aside from these, you may draw your own conclusions, but don't base them on something unsubstantiated, written by an anonymous person, who heard it from an anonymous faculty member. I'm sure everyone has more common sense than that.

 

And as for U of T admissions, it is indeed that black box. Every case is looked at individually. And in the end, I think it does work. It isn't perfect either, but nothing ever is. Good luck to everyone applying this year.

[Guest Chieka101]

I understand the concerns, but please no fights This is supposed to be the "nice" premed forum. I come here for solace from the big, mean people (:evil ) on the student doctor network.

 

C.

[Guest Shahenshah]

thank you akane200 for your response..like you wrote, there is absolutely no way of knowing for sure what goes on during the adcom decision making process this year unless you are in the committee this year....again the reason I didn't want to inquire anything is because other than getting someone else unnecessarily into this, I have no proof that there is even an iota of truth in all of this..and even if there is, there is no reason why the adcom will fess up and confess to me or the rest of the applicants...as long as they don't post any 'misleading' information, they really have the right to conduct their own business the way they choose to

 

chieka- ..don't worry, no fights:) ..we all are just trying to help each other out

[Guest SoHo]

Not to drag this out any further, but just in case someone out there is desperate for 'official' word.

 

www.library.utoronto.ca/m...rgrad.html

 

Under "Undergraduate studies".

 

"The coherence and rigour of the program of study, and the relative standing of the applicant in that program will be assessed in the interpretation of GPA."

[Guest Mikey59]

"The coherence and rigour of the program of study, and the relative standing of the applicant in that program will be assessed in the interpretation of GPA."

 

How would U of T assess this for an out of province applicant or someone who studied outside of Canada? My U.S. transcript has only the letter grades and grade point average (no class ranking or indication of difficulty). Seems pretty subjective to me, but I guess they have methods to sort out the madness.

[Guest mitchie41]

So,

 

If I apply to U of T in my 3rd year, they will ONLY count my first two years when calulating my GPA, correct?

 

I'm currently attending UBC, and we have some 4 credit, 3 credit(typical), and 1 credit courses.

Is there any type of weighing system used at UT for courses that have more\less than 3 credits?

[Guest Lisa88]

I was wondering if anyone knows how the gpa figures into getting an interview at UofT? It says on their site that 3.7 (or 3.6?) iis the bare minimum...is there a new cut-off determined for each year? Does anyone know what it is? thanx

[Guest Biochem10]

I'm not in U of T meds, but I've followed the requirements for med school entrance over the last couple of years. The minimum GPA has stayed at 3.6 in the last three years. (as stated in the brochure) It does not fluctuate with the applicant pool. (although the minimum MCAT marks changed this year to 9's in every section--previously it was 8's) The whole process of ranking is a bit of a mystery, so my interpretation is that if you have the minimum GPA and MCAT marks your essay will be read and then they will determine whether or not to invite you for an interview.

[Guest Lisa88]

ah, ok. thanks