Alberta Cuts

[sfinch]

An interesting byproduct of the anticipated 100 seats being cut in Alberta is how they will effect possible movement at schools like Queen's and Toronto - which treat all Canadians equally. Queen's in particular - because it is a school that gives low GPA people a chance.

 

My gut feeling - less waitlist movement at Queen's as many Alberta people may now be forced to take an OOP spot at Queen's instead of an in province position.

[quereus]

is this for this year or next year?

[sfinch]

It IS FOR THIS YEAR. THIS CYCLE.

 

Much like the government can add spots last minute, they can take away last minute as well.

 

This is well dicussed on the Alberta med school forums here. Having people I know at both schools, it IS FOR THIS CYCLE. Like the butterfly effect, it will effect people at other med schools as well - in particular queen's and toronto.

[sfinch]

they could cut seats, not that they surely would? no?

Also, wouldn't Queens be increasing class sizes in the next couple of years with the new building and all? Perhaps that could offset the Alberta effect?

 

Queen's issue is that they are in a small city - even 100 students is almost too much to handle, and Queen's rejected increases in recent years for that reason. A city the size of Kingston really should not be training more than 100 students a year (in fact, I would actually say 60-75 would be ideal, and that is in the belief that Kingston should even have a medical school...it's a historical thing as to why they have one, and there was talk in the early 1990s of the NDP government wanting to close the school down entirely).

 

The medical school today (and probably forever) does have a great reputation. By a US publication I saw a few years back, it was ranked the 6th best medical school in the country (uoft, mcgill, ubc, uofa, and mcmaster ranked higher).

[supafield]

Alberta and Calgary had similar class sizes (to those assuming maximum cuts this year) only 3 years ago or so.... They've had massive seat increases in the last couple years.

 

Any AFMC waitlist data you read on these boards are numbers from a time when Alberta and Calgary had class sizes ~ 130-140.

 

Either way, the waitlist still moved a fair bit. So while yes you'll probably see a couple more Albertans at Queen's that may have not came otherwise, the effect will be small as it is spread across Canada.

 

When you consider they interviewed 230 people less at Queen's this year, regardless of Alberta, interviewees are looking a lot better. Making a potentially flawed assumption that those 230 people were evenly dispersed in the overall rankings last year..... of those extra 230.... 30 people were in the top 100 (again, based on a potentially flawed assumption made for simplicity's sake).

 

Just a very rough thought, to keep everyone's spirits high. This year should be much better than last year even with a couple more Albertans accepting offers.

[sfinch]

Alberta and Calgary had similar class sizes (to those assuming maximum cuts this year) only 3 years ago or so.... They've had massive seat increases in the last couple years.

 

Any AFMC waitlist data you read on these boards are numbers from a time when Alberta and Calgary had class sizes ~ 130-140.

 

Either way, the waitlist still moved a fair bit. So while yes you'll probably see a couple more Albertans at Queen's that may have not came otherwise, the effect will be small as it is spread across Canada.

 

When you consider they interviewed 230 people less at Queen's this year, regardless of Alberta, interviewees are looking a lot better. Making a potentially flawed assumption that those 230 people were evenly dispersed in the overall rankings last year..... of those extra 230.... 30 people were in the top 100 (again, based on a potentially flawed assumption made for simplicity's sake).

 

Just a very rough thought, to keep everyone's spirits high. This year should be much better than last year even with a couple more Albertans accepting offers.

 

I agree. Compared to last year things look good. However, compared to how things were panning out just a month ago, they look worse. Many Albertans may not be able to reject Queen's anymore. Even 5-10 extra Albertans will significantly impact absolute waitlist number movement.

[supafield]

I agree. Compared to last year things look good. However, compared to how things were panning out just a month ago, they look worse. Many Albertans may not be able to reject Queen's anymore. Even 5-10 extra Albertans will significantly impact absolute waitlist number movement.

 

I wouldn't be surprised it the # of people actually caused to accept a Queen's offer due to a lack of Alberta seats is less than 5.

 

But either way, compared to a month ago, you're right... the odds are slightly worse, and maybe critically so for several people right on the fringe.

 

Compared to last year? Way better.

 

Life's relative lol... I plan on drinking from the half-full glass. Even if I'm #176 and it goes to #175 this year... I'll never know.... ignorance is bliss (the last of my upbeat cliches).

[future_doc]

the unintended ripple effect is alive and well

[RiceWine]

this will affect more than ontario schools.

 

 

so many applicants are in-prov for both Alberta AND B.C

[Dr Pepper]

this will affect more than ontario schools.

 

 

so many applicants are in-prov for both Alberta AND B.C

 

lucky people...