Queen's MCAT cut-off.

[omaha]

Hello ppl, i was really disheartened after looking at the MCAT stat of past year applicants... mainly the seeming "R" cut-off for the Writing section. I have 11VR 12BS 13PS and a dreadful Q.... should've done some writing practice before i took it but i thot this part wasn't too important for med schools. I'm not actually bad at writing; I had A+(90%) and A (85%) in my two first-year English courses. It's just i'm not good at writing about some stupid random topic I don't care about in 30 minutes. Does anyone know how strict this cut-off is? Or, would they actually consider my 1st year English courses marks? I think I've seen like 1 person on this forum who got accepted on a Q. Has anyone heard of other cases? I mean I'd really love to go to Queen's for med school. I heard it's a really tight-knit community with a very good research/teaching culture.

Thanx in advance!

[rmorelan]

Hello ppl, i was really disheartened after looking at the MCAT stat of past year applicants... mainly the seeming "R" cut-off for the Writing section. I have 11VR 12BS 13PS and a dreadful Q.... should've done some writing practice before i took it but i thot this part wasn't too important for med schools. I'm not actually bad at writing; I had A+(90%) and A (85%) in my two first-year English courses. It's just i'm not good at writing about some stupid random topic I don't care about in 30 minutes. Does anyone know how strict this cut-off is? Or, would they actually consider my 1st year English courses marks? I think I've seen like 1 person on this forum who got accepted on a Q. Has anyone heard of other cases? I mean I'd really love to go to Queen's for med school. I heard it's a really tight-knit community with a very good research/teaching culture.

Thanx in advance!

 

I am afraid it is quite strict - in fact it is pretty much the main barrier to interview at Queens (GPA is the lowest in Ontario with two ways to get it and it doesn't count in the end post interview, rest of the mcat sections are not that high).

 

i am sure if you had to (painful I know) you could rewrite to pull that up - obviously you can do better in that section with practice.

[sfinch]

I am afraid it is quite strict - in fact it is pretty much the main barrier to interview at Queens (GPA is the lowest in Ontario with two ways to get it and it doesn't count in the end post interview, rest of the mcat sections are not that high).

 

i am sure if you had to (painful I know) you could rewrite to pull that up - obviously you can do better in that section with practice.

 

I agree for the most part. Though one should be cautious with the lowest GPA comment. The 'low GPA' is a cummulative GPA and takes into account summer courses (ie that organic chem course that many of you take and get a B in). And in some years, the most recent 2 yrs is higher than the cum gpa cutoff. So compared to Western (where you only need 1 year above the 3.7 or 3.75 or in the not too distant past, 3.6 and even 3.5), or UofT which lets you drop up to 4.0 whole courses from anytime in your undergrad, or Ottawa which uses a funny gradated system with low cutoffs for ottawa area people - the gpa cutoff at queen's can in fact be higher for some.

[neuronix]

I agree for the most part. Though one should be cautious with the lowest GPA comment. The 'low GPA' is a cummulative GPA and takes into account summer courses (ie that organic chem course that many of you take and get a B in). And in some years, the most recent 2 yrs is higher than the cum gpa cutoff. So compared to Western (where you only need 1 year above the 3.7 or 3.75 or in the not too distant past, 3.6 and even 3.5), or UofT which lets you drop up to 4.0 whole courses from anytime in your undergrad, or Ottawa which uses a funny gradated system with low cutoffs for ottawa area people - the gpa cutoff at queen's can in fact be higher for some.

 

 

hahhaahhahha

all hail king a$$hole

[nemesis]

Back from the bush, neuronix?

 

Haven't seen you on here for a while, buddy.

 

...

[omaha]

Hey guys thanx again for your imput. I would love to go to Queen's but I don't think I'll go through all the trouble of registering and writing the MCAT again... especially when i'm entering the 10/11 application cycle. I guess i should still apply to Queens just in case of that 0.01% chance lol... i mean that one person i saw in this forum got in with a Q (it was posted in 2009).

[supafield]

Hey guys thanx again for your imput. I would love to go to Queen's but I don't think I'll go through all the trouble of registering and writing the MCAT again... especially when i'm entering the 10/11 application cycle. I guess i should still apply to Queens just in case of that 0.01% chance lol... i mean that one person i saw in this forum got in with a Q (it was posted in 2009).

 

Pre 2008 - cutoff was always P or lower.

2008 cutoff was R

2009 cutoff was Q

2010 cufoff was R.

 

So, there's always a chance could might get by with a Q..... who knows.

[nemesis]

...by most measures, you should have ended up in the Class of 2014, at Queen's!

 

Pre 2008 - cutoff was always P or lower.

2008 cutoff was R

2009 cutoff was Q

2010 cufoff was R.

 

So, there's always a chance could might get by with a Q..... who knows.

[supafield]

...by most measures, you should have ended up in the Class of 2014, at Queen's!

 

Haha me and that interview never mixed.... I found it very difficult to engage people that refused to engage me back...

 

However, I obsessively figured out whatever I could while waiting to see if I was going to interview there, hence the posts that make sound crazy and stat obsessed.

 

Having 2 interviews and a sister at Queen's, I knew so much more about Kingston, Queen's and the curriculum than I did about Ottawa.... but my Ottawa interview blew my Queen's one away. Just goes to show you, you can prepare to a point.... but a lot of it will come down to the specific interviewers , the type of interview you get and luck among other things.

 

I'm going to try to make of point of annually organizing an effort to figure out the Queen's cutoffs as my thanks to help I received from premed while applying.

[omaha]

I guess i'll just have to hope that this year's cut-off is a Q for MCAT.

[mattg]

personally, I wouldn't even consider rewriting an 11 12 13 Q, now or in the future... the score is solid for Western, Mac, UofT, and essentially any school outside of Ontario... literally the only standards anywhere that it doesn't meet are Queens... and with them interviewing 800 and accepting 100, i don't think it is worth the risk or the time... especially given that the cutoff seems to possibly fluctuate between Q and R... definitely more than the 0.01% chance you mentioned, imo

[nemesis]

A composite score of 36Q with that distribution is a wicked score, I would probably never re-write the MCAT after that result.

 

personally, I wouldn't even consider rewriting an 11 12 13 Q, now or in the future... the score is solid for Western, Mac, UofT, and essentially any school outside of Ontario... literally the only standards anywhere that it doesn't meet are Queens... and with them interviewing 800 and accepting 100, i don't think it is worth the risk or the time... especially given that the cutoff seems to possibly fluctuate between Q and R... definitely more than the 0.01% chance you mentioned, imo

[PaedsDoc]

Does anyone know if Queens's has any number cutoff's?

 

WS seems to be Q or R, but what about the other sections

[HBP]

10 VR usually.

 

9/10 BS usually.

 

Total score above 30 or 31 usually.

[virdip]

In the Interview/Accepted/Waitlisted (look for the 2009 cycle) thread for Queens, there is somebody who was called in for an interview with a 9 in VR and 34Q cumulative. He/she got this result the second time s/he did MCAT. In his/her first MCAT, the student got 10 in VR. Does Queens look at the most recent MCAT or do they more or less pluck our best scores from individual MCATs? Can it be concluded that even if you do have say 9 in VR but a mark higher than a certain total you can still be called for an interview? What do you guys think?

[DXO]

In the Interview/Accepted/Waitlisted (look for the 2009 cycle) thread for Queens, there is somebody who was called in for an interview with a 9 in VR and 34Q cumulative. He/she got this result the second time s/he did MCAT. In his/her first MCAT, the student got 10 in VR. Does Queens look at the most recent MCAT or do they more or less pluck our best scores from individual MCATs? Can it be concluded that even if you do have say 9 in VR but a mark higher than a certain total you can still be called for an interview? What do you guys think?

 

There was also a person invited to interview last year with a Q in writing where the cutoff appeared to be R.

[HBP]

There was also a person invited to interview last year with a Q in writing where the cutoff appeared to be R.

 

WTF? where?

[Apixaban85]

Any chance of a 9V/12P/13B - 34R getting an interview? Damn that verbal

[HBP]

Rough...

 

I think Queens has been pretty consistent on 10VR.

[virdip]

Give a try buddy may be your total will off set your verbal disadvantage. I am giving a shot with my 14/9/13/R (PS/VR/BS/WS) (oh verbal). Its optimism to the max. I wish they could use GPA to neglect verbal... but they won't. Just to note I found another one in 2009 cycle who was called in for interview with 9 in VR at Queens. It might be that they had 10 in VR in earlier MCAT (one of them explicitly state that). Don't know if Queens considers individual scores from different MCAT. If the WS can sway between Q and R, then may be VR. But we will definitely lie pretty much at the bottom of the pile unfortunately. Hoping for the best, but won't bet my life on this.

[thatonekid]

There was also a person invited to interview last year with a Q in writing where the cutoff appeared to be R.

I believe that person had a R in a previous writing of the MCAT though.

[GGGSaint]

You never know guys. Only a few years ago there was a 9VR and WS R cutoff.

 

Although unlikely (mainly b/c Queen's uses your best MCAT so people rewrite until they hit the 10R), it's not impossible for that to happen this year and the sciences and/or GPA cutoffs to increase.

 

You never know right? I'm in the same boat (9VR w/ R), applying anyway but no expectations whatsoever.

[HBP]

Was it 9 and R? Damn I thought it was 10 and R

[GGGSaint]

Was it 9 and R? Damn I thought it was 10 and R

 

Yes, 3 years ago I believe.

 

I remember applying last year hoping it would go back to 9 and R like it was two years ago.

 

So I *think* 2007-2008 (9R), 2008-2009 (10Q), 2009-2010 (10R), 2010-2011 (???).

 

The 10R is the highest it's gone for verbal + WS combo for Queen's. Thing is, their emphasis has always been on a strong written component but not as much the verbal. I don't think they'll go 11 VR b/c that would mean sharing the same pool as Western or Mac.

 

Western showed us some drastic changes last year (all dropping and VR rising to a frigging 11) so Queen's shaking things up may happen. IMHO, if they do shake things up it will be verbal that drops.

 

If anything drops at all, wouldn't think they'd drop WS since that's their emphasis...and the sciences have nowhere to drop...they're like 9PS/10BS. So in this hypothetical (I really should stop wasting time), they'd drop verbal and raise any of PS/BS/GPA cutoffs. Raising both sciences a point would probably offset dropping verbal to a 9 and put the emphasis, some would argue, back on where it should be. Or, conversely, give ON residents who are stuck with a sub 10 VR an alternative option that Mac and Western really don't provide (I'm putting U/T aside here, they are much more holistic and difficult in a different way

 

*PS: HBP, did you end up moving out to Alberta to gain IP status? Just curious b/c I remember we were GPA twins at U/T this last cycle, hope it turns out better for you this time around!

[HBP]

Yup, in Edmonton right now.

 

Back-up list was a pain.