Rate my NAQ!

[plastic]

Rate my NAQ!

 

Hi, I’m new to these forums and was hoping to get some constructive advice before I apply to med school this summer. I just finished my undergraduate degree and am currently doing my Masters in Biochemistry. I’ve worked in a few different labs and have a couple scholarships, the most notable of which is an NSERC scholarship for research.

 

From what I’ve heard, getting a good NAQ score is the major bottleneck to getting accepted into UBC so I was hoping I could get some feedback regarding what my NAQ score might be and what I need to do to improve it.

 

Here’s what I’ve got so far and thanks in advance!

 

Leadership

- directing honors student (350 hrs)

- TA 400 level Biochemistry lab (140 hrs)

- Biochemistry review committee (1 hr)

- Alternate captain for highschool soccer and hockey teams (several hrs)

- Organize fundraisers for microcredit loan system to be implemented in Tanzania, Africa (20 hrs)

 

Capacity to work with others

- Biochemistry and Microbiology Students Society (150 hrs)

- Director of development of Hospital Advocacy Project which is a

volunteer program in which volunteers accompany and advocate for street entrenched people at the ER (200 hrs)

- Production of Volunteer Victoria commercial (3 hrs)

- TA for grade 12 biology class and native American hockey team

 

Service Ethic

- Phone operator at local crisis line (200 hrs)

- Camp counsellor for disabled people (100 hrs)

- Hospital volunteering at renal unit (150 hrs)

- Hospital volunteering in ER (48 hrs)

- Volunteering at orphanage in Africa (200 hrs)

- MS walk/fundraising (4 hrs)

- Volunteer lifeguard/swim instructor (20 hrs)

 

Diversity of Experiences

- Running ie. 7 half marathons (140 hrs)

- Bikram / Ashtanga yoga (150 hrs)

- Golf (several hrs)

- Guitar/piano (several hours)

- ½ ironman triathalon (100 hrs)

- Travelling through Nicaragua for a month (several hrs)

 

High Performance in an Area of Human Endeavor

- Qualified for Boston marathon (80 hrs)

- Kamloops Juvenile Track athlete of the year (several hrs)

- Placed 5th in 800 m provincial race (several hrs)

- AA/AAA hockey (several hrs)

- AAA/high school soccer (several hrs)

- Placed in top ten of age group in a number of local races (100 hrs)

[UTPEOPLE]

Not funny... the NAQ is a very serious matter... you might scare someone new to the boards.. plus you cant even troll properly... who the heck TAs for Grade 12?

[thatonekid]

Not funny... the NAQ is a very serious matter... you might scare someone new to the boards.. plus you cant even troll properly... who the heck TAs for Grade 12?

My high school had TAs.

[plastic]

UTPEOPLE.. I have no idea why I offended you. I TA'd high school classes when I was a senior in high school.. a lot of people did that. And I'm not trying to troll; I'm just curious what my NAQ score is going to be so I have a realistic idea of whether or not I'll get an interview.

[UTPEOPLE]

Then I apologize... we dont have TA's in the ontario school system, so when you say u were a TA in grade 12 biology... from my point of view, it seems almost like an oxymoron. Interesting... what province are you from?

 

That aside. Your activities seem diverse and complete. Fun... although from reading previous threads... I would think that you should already know your level relative to the average applicant..

 

also, volunteering in africa for 200 hours... how long a trip was that?

[AndrewB]

Hi plastic,

 

UBC is notoriously stingy with giving away NAQ points. It's also rather subjective, so it's hard to give a range. I think you would score in the average range, which is anywhere between 12-15 *I think*. Your volunteering seems diverse and interesting and you might score well here. I don't think you will score well in the High Performance category, but that is tough to do. The rest is average at best. I don't mean this in a condescending way - we are all trying to do things to set us apart and it's not easy. A lot of it comes down to how well you can convey what you gained/learned from these experiences in only 250 characters or whatever.

 

Best of luck.

[GGGSaint]

Hi plastic,

 

UBC is notoriously stingy with giving away NAQ points. It's also rather subjective, so it's hard to give a range. I think you would score in the average range, which is anywhere between 12-15 *I think*. Your volunteering seems diverse and interesting and you might score well here. I don't think you will score well in the High Performance category, but that is tough to do. The rest is average at best. I don't mean this in a condescending way - we are all trying to do things to set us apart and it's not easy. A lot of it comes down to how well you can convey what you gained/learned from these experiences in only 250 characters or whatever.

 

Best of luck.

 

The OP's sketch looks pretty darn impressive TBH so if you're on the ball with your NAQ prediction there then it's actually quite an intimidating assessment at UBC (I haven't applied there before but will be doing so for this upcoming cycle).

[plastic]

Then I apologize... we dont have TA's in the ontario school system, so when you say u were a TA in grade 12 biology... from my point of view, it seems almost like an oxymoron. Interesting... what province are you from?

 

That aside. Your activities seem diverse and complete. Fun... although from reading previous threads... I would think that you should already know your level relative to the average applicant..

 

also, volunteering in africa for 200 hours... how long a trip was that?

 

 

Hey.. no worries about the misunderstanding. Regarding the trip to Africa; I was there for 6 weeks and volunteered at an orphanage for 50 hrs/week for 4 weeks. Would you include the number of hours I was in Africa and not just the number I was volunteering?

[plastic]

Hi plastic,

 

UBC is notoriously stingy with giving away NAQ points. It's also rather subjective, so it's hard to give a range. I think you would score in the average range, which is anywhere between 12-15 *I think*. Your volunteering seems diverse and interesting and you might score well here. I don't think you will score well in the High Performance category, but that is tough to do. The rest is average at best. I don't mean this in a condescending way - we are all trying to do things to set us apart and it's not easy. A lot of it comes down to how well you can convey what you gained/learned from these experiences in only 250 characters or whatever.

 

Best of luck.

 

Thanks for the response Andrew. Yeah mediocrity is the bane of the med school applicant. So what does it take to score above 15? Do you need more variation or is it more important to compile a large number of hours?

[AndrewB]

Thanks for the response Andrew. Yeah mediocrity is the bane of the med school applicant. So what does it take to score above 15? Do you need more variation or is it more important to compile a large number of hours?

 

Don't get me wrong, your activities are awesome...just as far as med school goes it's never enough it seems. I think the consensus around here is that showing commitment to activities over the long-term is looked upon highly. So having lots of 100 hour volunteer gigs isn't as good as a single 3-4+ year commitment of a 500 or 1000+ hours or whatever.

 

If I knew how to get a 15+ score I would tell you, but I've never achieved it. I did pretty crappy my first application and I thought it was the strongest part of my app...

[FMX]

Hey Plastic, my app is almost identical to yours, including africa! ( I was in Kenya x 3 weeks at an orphanage as well! definately an amazing experience .. I don't care what the 3rd world volunteer-haters say!), and minus the atheletics.. replaced with other very mediocre sports (recreationally). BUT, I have done the ride to conquer cancer (this year will be my second in a row!.. just reached the 2500$ limit).

 

In addition I have 3 work experiences where I have already around 3000-4000 hours of paid work cumulatively .. not sure how that will play out on my application. I come from a very poor family so I needed the extra work on the side to support my schooling.

 

As for guitar piano.. do you mean several hours in total? or several hours at major performances?

 

I will be applying this coming year as well .. first time. I think we should score in the either the high 10's or low 20's based on what I saw in the other thread. Good luck! Maybe we should meet up some time in the near future, should we both be blessed with the interview =)

[TankMasterFlex]

It's strange, when I applied in the past they never asked for the number of hours for paid work, only volunteer (but they do ask for start and end dates, so I guess they just go by that).

 

From my experience, you really need several high hour / long term volunteer commitments to score 16-17.

 

They also state on the application website that unless highschool activities were significant or are listed to show long standing service in an area, don't waste space listing them. They definitely won't hurt, but don't expect to get anything for them.

 

good luck!

[AndrewB]

I will be applying this coming year as well .. first time. I think we should score in the either the high 10's or low 20's based on what I saw in the other thread. Good luck! Maybe we should meet up some time in the near future, should we both be blessed with the interview =)

 

I wouldn't bet the farm on a score in the 20+ range. I don't know how realistic that is for the "non-Olympian" as cliche as that is on this site.

[plastic]

It's strange, when I applied in the past they never asked for the number of hours for paid work, only volunteer (but they do ask for start and end dates, so I guess they just go by that).

 

From my experience, you really need several high hour / long term volunteer commitments to score 16-17.

 

They also state on the application website that unless highschool activities were significant or are listed to show long standing service in an area, don't waste space listing them. They definitely won't hurt, but don't expect to get anything for them.

 

good luck!

 

Hey thanks for the advice regarding highschool activities. I had kind of figured that I should put more emphasis on what I'm doing now but I just included my highschool activities to be thourough.

[UTPEOPLE]

Thanks for the response Andrew. Yeah mediocrity is the bane of the med school applicant. So what does it take to score above 15? Do you need more variation or is it more important to compile a large number of hours?

 

Have a few high performance awards... like canadian millenium, canadian merit... the science competitions... win a few essay contests...etc... dont have to be all olympian... just high performance

[UTPEOPLE]

Hey Plastic, my app is almost identical to yours, including africa! ( I was in Kenya x 3 weeks at an orphanage as well! definately an amazing experience .. I don't care what the 3rd world volunteer-haters say!), and minus the atheletics.. replaced with other very mediocre sports (recreationally). BUT, I have done the ride to conquer cancer (this year will be my second in a row!.. just reached the 2500$ limit).

 

In addition I have 3 work experiences where I have already around 3000-4000 hours of paid work cumulatively .. not sure how that will play out on my application. I come from a very poor family so I needed the extra work on the side to support my schooling.

 

As for guitar piano.. do you mean several hours in total? or several hours at major performances?

 

I will be applying this coming year as well .. first time. I think we should score in the either the high 10's or low 20's based on what I saw in the other thread. Good luck! Maybe we should meet up some time in the near future, should we both be blessed with the interview =)

 

lol... I have a friend like that... except he was working at least full time since he was like 14... now hes 22... applying for med... 8*40*52 = 16640 hr of work... I would die...

[AndreaM]

I would guess a score of around 15 depending on how they are sold and number of years involved. I agree with AndrewB that UBC tends to be stingy with their NAQ points. In order to score higher you need activities that are long term, with a high level of involvement on a regular basis where you show that you have increased your role and responsibilities over time. You can't just add more variety at a low commitment level to boost things up.

 

I will give you a personal example of a high scoring leadership activity. I was involved with my student newspaper for 4.5 years, was managing editor for a year and editor-in-chief for 3 years, participated in 2 national conferances and was involved with the first national women's issues committee and helped elect the first female university press president. My overall time commitment in those 4.5 years was 10-20 hours per week during the school year (total hours over 2500).

 

With activities like that I scored 18.5 on my NAQ the last time I applied.

[yeeha]

Hey Plastic, my app is almost identical to yours, including africa! ( I was in Kenya x 3 weeks at an orphanage as well! definately an amazing experience .. I don't care what the 3rd world volunteer-haters say!), and minus the atheletics.. replaced with other very mediocre sports (recreationally). BUT, I have done the ride to conquer cancer (this year will be my second in a row!.. just reached the 2500$ limit).

 

In addition I have 3 work experiences where I have already around 3000-4000 hours of paid work cumulatively .. not sure how that will play out on my application. I come from a very poor family so I needed the extra work on the side to support my schooling.

 

Wow, when I read this I thought, "Did someone steal my application?!" I was in Uganda for 3 months one year and I went back for a visit the following year. I battled cancer in my last year of university, which I had to have 2 wide resection surgeries and 27 rounds of radiation in order to defeat (it kept coming back but now it's gone!). I've worked all throughout university (even during my cancer problems) in order to support my schooling because I do not have any financial help from my parents.

 

Sighh.. I thought my app/ECs were special, which I was hoping would help me out because my GPA and MCAT sure aren't...

[plastic]

Wow, when I read this I thought, "Did someone steal my application?!" I was in Uganda for 3 months one year and I went back for a visit the following year. I battled cancer in my last year of university, which I had to have 2 wide resection surgeries and 27 rounds of radiation in order to defeat (it kept coming back but now it's gone!). I've worked all throughout university (even during my cancer problems) in order to support my schooling because I do not have any financial help from my parents.

 

Sighh.. I thought my app/ECs were special, which I was hoping would help me out because my GPA and MCAT sure aren't...

 

Well in my opinion, working all throughout university and during cancer treatment does set you apart. Best of luck to you.

[future_doc]

There are so many wonderful applicants who have surmounted or working every day to surmount tremendous odds due to disabilities, cancer or other extenuating circumstances. And there are aceptances to med school of such applicants. Everybody's unique circumstances bring something special to the table and the adcoms take these circumstances and overall performance in the light of these into consideration. Good luck to all who need to or needed to fight the fight every day!