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Looking for help with personal activities section (avg stats for this year is out)

instant_noodles

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instant_noodles Newbie

instant_noodles

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I just received my breakdown letter from U of A today and for those that are interested, here are the stats, with my stats for reference (I am a 4th year IP applicant that did not receive an invite for interview):

 

Avg being the average score of those who were offered an interview

 

CGPA: Max 4.0; Avg: 3.78 (mine: 3.6)

Personal Activities Score: Max 17.63; Avg: 8.16 (mine: 3.28:confused:)

MCAT Score: Max 14.33; Avg: 10.70 (mine: 10.33)

Writing Sample: Max T; Avg: Q (mine: S)

 

As you can see I am otherwise an average applicant but got completely destroyed on the personal activities section and am at a bit of a loss. I know this is a huge stretch but would any current med students out there be willing to spend some time with me to go over my application materials? I am completely lost about what I should do differently in re-applying this upcoming summer. I understand how extremely busy everyone is so do not expect anything substantial, but some quick advice would be much appreciated. Please send me a PM if it is at all possible for you to help. Thanks in advance!

 

Update: below are stats for OOP and 2nd/3rd year applicants that were offered an interview, thanks to papaya and Sniper_187!

 

The OOP max, average scores

 

cGPA: 4.0, 3.98

PAS: 19.95, 8.9

MCAT: 13.67, 11.42

writing sample: T, R

 

 

Here are the 3rd IP Max and average for each category:

 

cGPA: 4.0, 3.92

PAS: 14.10, 8.28

MCAT: 13.33, 11.12

WS: T, Q

 

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RiceWine Newbie

RiceWine

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I just received my breakdown letter from U of A today and for those that are interested, here are the stats, with my stats for reference (I am a 4th year IP applicant that did not receive an invite for interview):

 

Avg being the average score of those who were offered an interview

 

CGPA: Max 4.0; Avg: 3.78 (mine: 3.6)

Personal Activities Score: Max 17.63; Avg: 8.16 (mine: 3.28:confused:)

MCAG Score: Max 14.33; Avg: 10.70 (mine: 10.33)

Writing Sample: Max T; Avg: Q (mine: S)

 

As you can see I am otherwise an average applicant but got completely destroyed on the personal activities section and am at a bit of a loss. I know this is a huge stretch but would any current med students out there be willing to spend some time with me to go over my application materials? I am completely lost about what I should do differently in re-applying this upcoming summer. I understand how extremely busy everyone is so do not expect anything substantial, but some quick advice would be much appreciated. Please send me a PM if it is at all possible for you to help. Thanks in advance!

 

 

not a med student yet, but I'd definitely work on your activities.

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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I just received my breakdown letter from U of A today and for those that are interested, here are the stats, with my stats for reference (I am a 4th year IP applicant that did not receive an invite for interview):

 

Avg being the average score of those who were offered an interview

 

CGPA: Max 4.0; Avg: 3.78 (mine: 3.6)

Personal Activities Score: Max 17.63; Avg: 8.16 (mine: 3.28:confused:)

MCAG Score: Max 14.33; Avg: 10.70 (mine: 10.33)

Writing Sample: Max T; Avg: Q (mine: S)

 

As you can see I am otherwise an average applicant but got completely destroyed on the personal activities section and am at a bit of a loss. I know this is a huge stretch but would any current med students out there be willing to spend some time with me to go over my application materials? I am completely lost about what I should do differently in re-applying this upcoming summer. I understand how extremely busy everyone is so do not expect anything substantial, but some quick advice would be much appreciated. Please send me a PM if it is at all possible for you to help. Thanks in advance!

 

Are you not allowed to call the office and ask? that could be another source of insight.

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boodog Newbie

boodog

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I just received my breakdown letter from U of A today and for those that are interested, here are the stats, with my stats for reference (I am a 4th year IP applicant that did not receive an invite for interview):

 

Avg being the average score of those who were offered an interview

 

CGPA: Max 4.0; Avg: 3.78 (mine: 3.6)

Personal Activities Score: Max 17.63; Avg: 8.16 (mine: 3.28:confused:)

MCAG Score: Max 14.33; Avg: 10.70 (mine: 10.33)

Writing Sample: Max T; Avg: Q (mine: S)

 

As you can see I am otherwise an average applicant but got completely destroyed on the personal activities section and am at a bit of a loss. I know this is a huge stretch but would any current med students out there be willing to spend some time with me to go over my application materials? I am completely lost about what I should do differently in re-applying this upcoming summer. I understand how extremely busy everyone is so do not expect anything substantial, but some quick advice would be much appreciated. Please send me a PM if it is at all possible for you to help. Thanks in advance!

 

send me a message and i'll go through them with you.

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instant_noodles Newbie

instant_noodles

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Are you not allowed to call the office and ask? that could be another source of insight.

 

Hey sv3, I did indeed contact the office and was basically told that two members of the admissions committee scores the personal activities section and no further feedback other than the score is available. The only advice was to improve my personal activities which is what I am trying to figure out now :o

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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Hey sv3, I did indeed contact the office and was basically told that two members of the admissions committee scores the personal activities section and no further feedback other than the score is available. The only advice was to improve my personal activities which is what I am trying to figure out now :o

 

ah ok. def take boodog up on their offer. I would try to ask friends you know with above avg scores what they did (or even to look at their activities section if they let you) and how they wrote. My guess is that although the nature of the activities matters a great deal, so does the way you convey them (did you focus on what you did only, or the bigger impact? etc etc).

 

If you're applying to meds, you've likely got a decent EC line up as it is, my guess is you didn't convey it all that well. I don't know my score but would bet my life i did well - my gpa is way below average and something had to make up for it.

 

gluck

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crimson Newbie

crimson

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Also remember it's HOW you present your extracurricular activities. If you mention your responsibilities in your role, how they have impacted your life, why they make you a better candidate, etc it'll go a lot further than just saying "I was a volunteer at Place X for Y years."

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Jochi1543 Newbie

Jochi1543

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You had to have been severely deficient in at least 2 of the 5 categories to score 3 points. Check out your app and see which 2 categories (could be more, of course, maybe you had 1 really good category and 4 terrible ones) are lacking in terms of amount of activities and length of commitment. E.g. maybe you have no employment history.

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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Also remember it's HOW you present your extracurricular activities. If you mention your responsibilities in your role, how they have impacted your life, why they make you a better candidate, etc it'll go a lot further than just saying "I was a volunteer at Place X for Y years."

 

not explicity right? I never once said anything to the effect "...this quality would be an asset in medschool"

 

just wondering......

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instant_noodles Newbie

instant_noodles

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You had to have been severely deficient in at least 2 of the 5 categories to score 3 points. Check out your app and see which 2 categories (could be more, of course, maybe you had 1 really good category and 4 terrible ones) are lacking in terms of amount of activities and length of commitment. E.g. maybe you have no employment history.

 

Hi Jochi1543, yeah that is what I figured must have went wrong, and it is the reason why I am at a loss because it is quite difficult to judge objectively which section on my application was so seriously lacking that my application warranted only 3.28/20 :( Hopefully I will get a better understanding of what went wrong soon.

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instant_noodles Newbie

instant_noodles

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Does it show the averages of ALL applicants or just the applicants from your year? I am a 3rd year applicant and the averages in my letter are different from yours.

 

(ie. the average cGPA was 3.92 so I am thinking its the average for the 3rd year applicants)

 

What I posted on the first post is all it said on my letter, so I guess it must be for all 4th year applicants. And 3.92 for 2nd/3rd year applicants sounds about right

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deadmonton Newbie

deadmonton

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So I don't know much about this in terms of how its marked etc since it's my first time applying, but I went to CAPS to get a personal statement consultation and it was so helpful. I think the way you say things does make a difference, ya you don't have to say 'me volunteering at this place makes me a great doc' but saying stuff about your contributions is way better than just saying i volunteered.

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LookingForInfo Newbie

LookingForInfo

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So I don't know much about this in terms of how its marked etc since it's my first time applying, but I went to CAPS to get a personal statement consultation and it was so helpful. I think the way you say things does make a difference, ya you don't have to say 'me volunteering at this place makes me a great doc' but saying stuff about your contributions is way better than just saying i volunteered.

 

What's CAPS if you don't mind me asking? (Sorry -- first time applying and I'm OOP so I don't know any of the acronyms lol)

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Dufferindas Newbie

Dufferindas

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I'm OOP (Ontario) and was rejected, and the averages listed on my letter were different as well... so I think there is a good deal of stratification (i.e. 3rd vs 4th year, IP vs OOP).

 

For those interested, the cGPA for OOP interviewees as 3.98. I was 3.85, so I guess I never had too much of a chance. I can't remember the other average scores listed on my letter, though, I'll try and post them later.

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cnb88 Newbie

cnb88

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What's CAPS if you don't mind me asking? (Sorry -- first time applying and I'm OOP so I don't know any of the acronyms lol)

 

CAPS=Carreer and Placement Services (I think). It's a service thingy at the UofA where you can look for jobs, get career advice, have them read your resume, etc. Your school probably has something similar.

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instant_noodles Newbie

instant_noodles

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I'm OOP (Ontario) and was rejected, and the averages listed on my letter were different as well... so I think there is a good deal of stratification (i.e. 3rd vs 4th year, IP vs OOP).

 

For those interested, the cGPA for OOP interviewees as 3.98. I was 3.85, so I guess I never had too much of a chance. I can't remember the other average scores listed on my letter, though, I'll try and post them later.

 

Wow 3.98 OOP...no wonder there are threads with people talking about moving to Alberta for IP status

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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The OOP max, average scores

 

cGPA: 4.0, 3.98

PAS: 19.95, 8.9

MCAT: 13.67, 11.42

writing sample: T, R

 

oh and all of my scores were below average except for the MCAT.. haha

 

holy crap....19.95/20???

that is insane. s-i-c-k

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