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U of T acceptance


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Sweet.. Accepted!!

 

Still waiting on a med school, but still not sure which way I'll tip even if I did get in to the meds...

 

GPA: 3.91

AA:23

PAT:22

 

Interview: Thought it was the worst interview I had this year...

 

Written personality test: ... guess I'm not a closet psychopath eh :P

 

 

Congrats to everyone who got in! and good luck to those on the wait list!!!

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WL @ #43 :(

 

GPA: ~3.91

AA: 22

PAT: 20

Interview: felt like I bombed it and must have

 

Guess my chances are pretty low :(

Hopefully hear better news from other universities.

 

Just curious are OOP waitlisted in a different pool?

From reading previous threads it sounds like they might be, but my waitlist ranking of 43 would suggest otherwise, since only ~20 OOP are interviewed?

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WL @ #43 :(

 

GPA: ~3.91

AA: 22

PAT: 20

Interview: felt like I bombed it and must have

 

Guess my chances are pretty low :(

Hopefully hear better news from other universities.

 

Just curious are OOP waitlisted in a different pool?

From reading previous threads it sounds like they might be, but my waitlist ranking of 43 would suggest otherwise, since only ~20 OOP are interviewed?

 

supposed to but i think im gonna ask...

 

r u supposed to be OOP?

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do ppl kno for grad students, they calculate based on undergrad GPA even though they have high grad GPA and hence the overall GPA is only 3.85?

 

so like one may have 3.6 undergrad GPA and 4.0 grad GPA but UofT uses 3.6 for the class avg?

 

man, no one here posted has below 3.9...

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Does UT take the GPA of every year and average out, or also best 2 years like UWO?

 

UT drops worst year provided that it's not the last year you have completed.

 

UWO takes best 2 years regardless, and they look at percentile marks, not GPA.

 

So the different policies work to benefit/screw different sets of ppl differently. For example I'm screwed at UT because I basically failed my last year of undergrad (which can't be improved because I graduated) so I have 3.83. Western's formula helps me though because I have really high averages for the two best years. So each school is different.

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I'm wait-listed at #5. Sending in my Waiting List form tomorrow.

 

GPA: 3.847 (Averaged out the years I had on my application form, no grades dropped.)

AA: 20

PAT: 25

Interview: I emailed them to inquire the score. Thought it went well.

 

The email says we have to mail them our transcript to get a final acceptance. Considering marks don't get finalized till like mid-late May, when will actual acceptances be sent usually?

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Accepted! :cool:

 

Wow.... it's been a long ride but well worth it.

 

Stats:

 

Best 3 years: 3.77, 3.80, 3.91

DAT AA= 18 (I got 16 in RC:eek: ) Perception= 22

 

Oh... and I'm a Grad student

Grad GPA 3.85

 

To be honest... after talking to many people... and past students..... Im beginning to think that the interview is such a huge factor in gaining the admissions since so many people with great stats are being rejected while the others with less competitive grades are getting in right-off-the bat acceptances. This in itself is proof that the interview is something to indeed prep for once you get the interview so to future applicants... keep this in mind and best of luck. Congrats to all of you that were accepted and that are on the waitlist and can't wait to meet you all in September. Those who were rejected.... always stay positive and never get up and yes... you'll get in eventually. Cheers

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Yah ... judging from the responses on the board it does seem like the interview holds a lot of weight. It sucks that one part of your evaluation could bear so much weight but at the same time I think it's important for the interviewers to get an idea of how you can present yourself in front of strangers.

 

Remember, you will be seeing patients in first year (assisting older year students) and by second year, you will have your own patients.

 

Best of luck everyone

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Here's what I think...if you are at the very top pre-interview (70% of final decision is decided), the interview doesn't matter provided you don't FAIL the interview. If you are at the bottom then the interview doesn't matter either (you could do really well on the interview, but so can others). If you are in the middle, then the interview matters a lot, because everybody is pretty much identical and you are competing against ppl who are tied with you. So it is in this category that the interview can "make or break you" - it's effectively worth a lot more than 25% at this stage.

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I know of a friend who applied in to U of T with a 3.6 that was waitlisted very low on the waitlist (#13)... this was in 2004. Let's assume DAT plays a very minor role at this point (10%).

 

Why would a person at the time of applications with a 3.6 (arguably in the lower bracket of all the people interviewed) get so highly waitlisted? Interview! Its gotta be because I don't think everyone else in the interview pool bombed their interview and the mean gpa of the admitted class that year was 3.84 or something. I believe that everyone is on equal playing fields once you get the interview and the rubric of 60% GPA, 30% interview, and 10% DAT doesnt seem to quite justify why people with super high marks get rejected while other people with very mediocre grades get in.

 

Try looking at this from another point of view. OK..... so if the rubric is as stated in the aforementioned.... wouldn't after interviewing all 170 applicants and their scores being reported... they could just put their gpa, interview score, and DAT scores into some sort of an excel spreadsheet program and it rank everyone from 1-170? Why do the admissions committee even need two weeks to decide who's accepted.... they could do it in a couple days??? I believe that the adcom takes more into account and looks at other qualities that each applicant possesses and what they can bring and contribute to the faculty. In saying this, there definitely seems to be alot more thought that goes into the application process which in essence... is great for all the other applicants that may not have had the opportunity to shine in their undergrad academics but can offer other positive attributes to the faculty.

Just my 2 cents but I'm rooting for all of you that did not get in this year to keep plugging at the interview because I think it really does decide who gets in and who doesn't.... I mean everyone that is interviewed has the capacity to succeed in the program.... they gave you an interview because they are willing to accept you.... NEVER forget that :)

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Can those with successful interviews share some specific tips?

Did you guys prepare so much that none of the questions were unexpected? If not how did you handle those unexpected questions without stumbling and sounding like an idiot like i did?

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I went with the STAR method, but I still sounded like an idiot because I couldn't follow the whole question sometimes, but what I did do was asked them to repeat the questions at least once and take 10-20 seconds before I answered.

I think I rambled quite a bit so I'm probably not the best person to be giving out advice

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For situational Qs, I was very concise. I basically repeated "i would do ____ b/c ____". Pretty much listed the actions I would take in that format. I think they want to know your thinking process, so it's important to reason out your actions. I didn't use the STAR method - I definitely had planned on it, but once the question was thrown at me, I completely forgot about it ...:rolleyes: Another tip I have is to really picture yourself in the situation. Instead of thinking 'what's the best thing to do' or 'what kind of solutions do they want to hear in my answer', imagine yourself going through the situation and be honest and tell them exactly how YOU would react and why.

 

For behavioural Qs, I think it's important to find experiences that will answer many types of questions and show numerous qualities that you have. When practicing, be extremely analytical and try to dig out as many qualities as you can from a single experience. This way you'll have a few solid, well thought out experiences that can be used to answer a whole bunch of questions.

 

Hope this helps. Good luck everyone!

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For the interview I think it's very important to just relax and be yourself.... I was just joking around a lot with the interviewers ... got serious with a few difficult questions, but for the most part I just tried to have fun with it... and it worked! So ya I guess that's my advice :P

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Whether I can offer good interview advice is arbitrary... but here goes.

 

I would say my interview went better than I expected based on the results afterwards. I thought I started off slow and wasn't articulating myself well but I knew by the end of the interview... I tended to hit every point of my answers since I did see both of the interviewers nod at each other and say good answer... so what that materialized into my final score... I will never know?

 

STAR method is key as advertised by many interview help seminars like eliteinterview (which I attended). However, like harlow mentioned, its very tricky to follow the procedure when you are in a high stress, fast thinking scenario such as an interview setting. Believe me... as much as I would have liked to follow the STAR method step by step.... when there is pressure in the air... it is virtually impossible despite countless hours of practice. I'd usually regard myself as being very able to think on my feet and answer things spontaneously since I needed to do this during my presentations and oral defense during my masters. I'm also a pretty social and dynamic person. However... people tend to lose track of stuff during interviews because they are nervous and although I never tend to get nervous that often... dare I admit my mouth was sooo dry just prior to my interview.

 

Now having said that.... as Cdndent quite correctly mentions... sometimes you have to envision (in situational questions) what YOU would do yourself. Taking this route allows one to just express naturally what they would do in a situation similar to what the interviewer is asking. This way.... even though you are nervous... you arent trying to answer something you wouldnt really do otherwise and it will help in delivering your answer. Always always... remember to state the situation of what the problem is... then give answers to what you would do to correct it.... then give a conclusion.

 

On the otherhand... behavioral questions definitely require more thought and planning because as CDNdent illustrated, you want to use this opportunity to highlight any strengths and qualities that you have that dentistry would find appealing... maybe talk about volunteering, perhaps research, how you helped others... stuff like that. Now thinking of what to say for behavioral questions requires looking through a bunch of behavioral practice questions and being able to have several scenarios in your life that could answer an array of questions since they all tend to be pretty redundant. Eliteinterviews provides a book with 150 CDA style questions and alot of them are behavioral like (tell me a time when you....) and you just practice by thinking of situations in your life beforehand to answer the question. Chances are... when the real interview day comes.... you have a bunch of scenarios that are multi dimensional and are able to be used for several different settings. In behavioral questions.... there is no need to do an introduction... but you should provide a conclusion as to what you learned!

 

Glenlivet mentioned an interesting thing about joking around with the interviewers. Gauge them I guess.... I personally would not joke at a U of T interview since we historically know that many of them are stoned face and are told to be that way. I guess Glenlivet got some chuckles outta them which is great (really pumps you up and instills self confidence) but what if you dont elicit the reaction you want from the interviewers??? Than you just lost more confidence than you originally had because you start thinking (Crap... do they like me... did I say something stupid) and then tend to lose focus from the entire interview altogether. It may work in other settings like Western but maybe not U of T? Who knows but glad it worked out for you Glenlivet.

 

Oh.... one thing that is important is that you should never, never NEVER try to look at the interviewers sheets. Some might be better at hiding them but others dont care if you look. You dont know how many people Ive talked to who look at their sheet and when they see a 3 or something... BAM... they are cooked for the rest of the interview because they start to think of the negative outcome and lose focus of the remaining questions... NO GOOD..... try not to look at the paper and stare directly at them (I know easier said than done but try). My interviewer addressed at the beginning that they would be writing down stuff during my interview and not to let that bother me and I just smiled and said... no problem, Ill just stare directly at both of you then... they sort of chuckled.

 

Im fairly good at articulating myself in high stress situations but yeah... I was nervous for the first couple questions. They expect that! You will sound choppy... you will sound like a Grade 8 talking... but you know what... most others interviewing are likely to sound like you as well so relax a bit and just do your best.

 

I practiced and had a bunch of experiences in my head incase I needed to recall on them. I only had 1 behavioral question and the rest were situational. I know most people got a split but guess they wanted to test me situationally? Ill give you an example of both my behavioral and situational question I got on my interview.

 

Behavioral: Tell me a time you made a mistake and what did you do about it?

 

I said:mentioned my masters- and how I was required to do seminar talks in front of the department about my research and that at the end, I answered questions. One of the questions I got was very simple and a fundamental part of my research and I answered it totally wrong and it was embarrassing. I said I apologized to my supervisor afterwards of how it was one of my first presentations and I was nervous and that i blurted the first thing on my mind. He said it was ok since its a learning process. Then I finished this question by saying although I made a mistake... it was something I learned from and moved forward because people make mistakes in life but as long as you learn from them you develop yourself into a better person. That was the only behavioral question I got but it allowed me to show my strength like how I did research.

 

Situational Question: They asked me in my interview (this was last question) If i was a math tutor and I was helping a student... Im leaving a session and you see the dad say to the student... dont worry son, I wasnt that good at math either... then you see the student a bit embarrassed ... what do you do?

 

Answer: I answered this question by addressing the scenario of how its a scenario that you need to address both the father and the son individually as to not cause controversy between each of them. You need to take them aside separately and address the problem. I said I would take the father aside and tell him that he cant be saying that to his kid because it discourages him and promotes failure and that he should be more positive.

Then not wanting to undermind the father in front of the son, I would take the son aside and tell him that he is a very intelligent kid and that ever since I have been tutoring him, he has excelled dramatically and that his progression is outstanding. The last thing I said was to tell the son "And always remember that if you try your hardest in anything you do in life... you will never fail".

 

Then I concluded this question by saying.... the most important thing was to address each individual separately but to negatively reinforce the fathers actions and to positively reinforce the sons actions.

 

All in all... always remember that there is no right or wrong answers.... actually there are definitely some WRONG answers for sure but they are obvious enough. I really believe that they are trying to test thought process above anything else so if you stop in the middle of the answer and say.... hmmm, or ummm i would tend to think... etc... i think it is perfectly find since it is showing active and dynamic thinking.

 

Oh lastly.... the 7 questions are trying to test for 7 competencies..... i think like conscioustiousness, communication, integrity, sensitivity to others, tact and diplomacy, and I dont remember what the other two are at the moment...but remember, you wont have time to think of which competency this is in the question... NO WAY! Some are obvious but trust me that you will not remember...... but always remember the few that the interview tests you for TEAMWORK, SENSITIVITY TO OTHERs, COMMUNICATION .... just remember those since they seem to encompass most of what they look for.

 

At the end of the day... my interview went decent.... I know others were probably alot better but I wasnt disappointed that much afterwards. Just do your best with developing past experiences, try to be yourself and imagine situations of what you would do and know at the end of the day that the interviews know you are nervous and that you are also human with your answers:D . Hope this helps? Good luck to all

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Shoot I was gonna call today to ask what my interview score was and I completely forgot about it. I doubt they'll disclose that information though...I'm gonna try tomorrow.

 

I emailed them yesterday re: interview scores. They didn't even bother to write back. I'm just gonna let it go.

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