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Interview or rejection letter


Guest Laurent27

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Guest UOMeds05

Best i can say GordUW is to hang in there... Nicole is the best! I am sure that she is doing everything she can to get you an answer. As hard as it is, try and hang on a bit longer, I'm sure she will get back to you. Monday was only the day before yesterday, and i am certain that she is completely swamped right now. Give her a bit more time and if still nothing than maybe look into it, you still have a bit of time though, interviews haven't even started yet.

 

Best of luck.

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Good luck GordUW! I emailed Nicole two days ago with explicit details about my case. I haven't heard yet, but I'll call tomorrow and I'll tell you how it goes. I know the frustration about them not even looking at your file. I guess we'll know soon :)

marty

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Guest UOMeds06

GordUW,

Did you apply elsewhere? I'm curious as to why it seems like Ottawa is the only school with this problem....though I haven't been on the other boards, but you've made it sound like it was Ottawa that short changed you and not OMSAS. I'm surprised that this would happen. Guess they haven't taken into account the small group of students in your scenario....doesn't seem right.

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Apparently my transcipt said i was going to be on Co-op for the jan-April term. But even in that case i would be doing an academic term in May-August - still 2 school terms in a trisemester year.

I just don't feel good about Ottawa assuming things. They put up the 3 full year prerequisite and have the very right to reject me if they find out I won't have 3 full years.

I did apply to other schools and haven't received a thing. :( well, no news = good news rite?

 

still waiting anxiously

Gord

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Guest Kirsteen

Hi guys,

 

I received the 'ole heave-ho from Ottawa recently, but I have to say, in my experience with them, they are among the most personable and pleasant admissions crew with whom I've interacted. I believe that it was Nicole who I spoke with a couple of weeks ago (as I wasn't sure how my MBA would be considered) and she was extremely helpful. Shortly after receiving my rejection, I contacted one of their people (the same person who provided the cut-offs in a weekend e-mail) and the following day I received a phone message from the Assistant Dean of Admissions. My voicemail service didn't pick his name up very well, (I'd love to know it if anyone has a clue?) but he was so nice and funny! In any case, he provided some good chuckles and good advice for next year's applications. Very impressive.

 

Also, he provided some details regarding the graduate admission process that were new to me, so here you go... You all know that Ottawa treat graduate applicants a little differently from undergrad applicants and I suppose, since Ottawa may have been receiving applications from more non-research Masters applicants, e.g., MBAs, MHAs, etc., just last year they decided to do something a little differently. Since they felt that it was tough for course-based Masters applicants to uphold an A average (compared to traditional, MSc. programs where a lot fewer courses are typically taken), they decided to evaluate those applicants by using their graduate courses in the WGPA formula, as well as undergraduate courses. They adopted the same approach this year too.

 

Also, here are some details regarding the graduate applicant pool for Ottawa this year: around 500 graduate applications were received in total and of those, over 100 met the B+ undergraduate WGPA cut-off. Of that 100, 35 were invited for interviews (based on their research productivity). He finally mentioned that it's astounding how not only the number, but also the quality of applications they're seeing has increased. Yay us, if that's any consolation?!! :)

 

Best of luck to you guys with Ottawa interviews in the near future--if you're successful when May rolls around then you're very fortunate folks as Ottawa seems like a great school.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

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Thanks Peter and UOMeds05/6.

 

I wish all the best to those with interviews this year. . .may you have the "typical" Ottawa experience which is laid-back and friendly.

 

To those who didn't get an interview (such as Kirsteen and myself): don't worry. Sometimes it does have to do with your application, as Peter said, and sometimes circumstances really do conspire to produce the negative result. I am generally not an external attribution style (for any of you psych people) but I think in this case there was nothing I could have done. I got an interview last year, didn't this year. Sometimes that happens.

 

I am just hoping that by applying to more schools this year, my odds of being "seen" by at least one of them has increased. My best advice to unsuccessful applicants is to play the odds: apply to as many schools as you would like to attend. Last year I applied to 3 and got 2 interviews. This year, I applied to 6 and will hopefully get more interviews (2 and counting :) ). There are some rare people that beat the odds, or that apply to one school over many years (thereby also increasing their odds) but that's why the science of prediction is not perfect.

 

In sum, sometimes a review of the application, etc. is in order and sometimes it's just bad luck :\ . I have spent enough time psychologically dissecting my application, interviews, etc. to know the distinction. I hope for some other unsuccessfuls, you will too.

 

To play the odds, you've got to either be damn lucky or damn perseverant. Or, ideally, both.;)

 

BJ

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Guest UOMeds05

Hi Kirsteen,

 

I'm really sorry that things didn't transpire for you this year. You sound like a really solid applicant. Definitely Ottawa's loss. As i have said before, be persistant, hang in there, and all will work out eventually.

 

I believe that the person that may have left you the message is Dr. Hebert. (i am not sure of his first name) but i believe that he is the assistant Dean of Admissions.

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Guest Kirsteen

Cheers for the support UOMeds05,

 

Thanks for the name, too; if it was him then he was quite the guy to converse with. I enjoyed his banter.

 

Thanks also for the "hang in there" tip: persistence generally isn't one of my weakest suits!! :D I definitely will do some hanging in and if all doesn't work out this year then hopefully it will, next.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

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Guest MayFlower1

Hi Kirsteen,

 

I'm so sorry you didn't get an interview with UofO this year...I am so surprised!

 

I am also pleasantly surprised you had such a pleasant interaction with Dr. Richard L. Hebert (Assistant Dean of Admissions). Perhaps I caught him on a bad day last year...or perhaps my letter to him actually had an impact :eek Whatever the reason...it's really great to hear that he was pleasant and helpful to you.

 

Good luck with your other applications. I hope you are successful somewhere this year and that you continue to interact in this forum.

 

Peter

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Guest redgirl29

Hi Kirsteen,

 

Just to clarify something you said regarding grad apps, did Dr. Herbert say that 35 interviews had been granted to grad students this year? The reason I ask is that 'proof of productivity' was due back today at the latest and the letter indicated that the grad sub-committee would be meeting next week to decide on offers for grad interviews. Perhaps the 35 you mentioned received interviews based on their undergrad with the special WPGA including grad courses, rather than from their productivity?

 

Sorry you didn't receive an interview from U of O this year, but I have no doubt that it will happen for you :)

 

thanks!

 

red

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Guest UOMeds06

Hey Kirsteen,

Hang in there. Your attitude about the whole thing is very positive and genuine. It was nice hearing about your pleasant yet unfortunate experience with the admissions. I'm glad that you intend to persist! It will pay off!

UOMeds06

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Hi everyone,

I have read in the admissions website that they strongly discourage people who have had three interviews to reapply. Yet I know at least of one person (who is now enrolled in med school) who had 4 or 5 interviews and finally got in. How strictly is this rule enforced?

 

Did any of the moderators have more than three interviews?

just wondering

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I just spoke with Nicole and she said that my being sent a rejection based on not meeting academic requirements was completely their mistake. I still need to have my sketch reviewed, but I least I have now gotten to that point.

So to all of you who got letters saying that you did not meet the adademic requirements, but you think you did meet them, CHECK WITH THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE because they may have made a mistake.

marty

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Sorry about the miserable writing in my last post (eg 'adademic'). I wrote it seconds after Nicole called and was still shaking. I can't believe how excited I am even though I'm not actually any closer than I thought I was in January. They'll tell me in about a week if I have an interview.

marty

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Guest MayFlower1

martyb,

 

GREAT FOR YOU...if you didn't follow up you never would have had a chance. Congratulations! I have a good feeling you're going to get that interview.

 

Peter

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Congratulations!!:)

Your success is like a fresh breeze of air to me! Again, you would have never had a chance if You didn't follow up on it. I just want to ask you if Nicole called you or you called her, because I haven't heard anything from her and I did leave message on her voice mail early Wednesday. I don't want to bother her too frequently but time is clearly not at my favor. :(

Congrats again! Hope you get an interview!!!

 

Gord

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Hi Gord

I called this afternoon around 2:00. I think Denis aswered. He said that Nicole was out, and I just asked if she could call me back when she got a chance. She called me about an hour later. You might want to try right at 9:00 tomorrow, or maybe earlier, because she told me she was going to discuss my case and a few others with the assistant dean tomorrow in a meeting they had planned.

Good luck Gord! and thanks everyone for all the support.

marty

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I should add that I emailed Nicole on Monday and had not heard back from her. The first thing she did was apologise for not getting back to me right away, but said that it's been a crazy week. I would definitely call tomorrow morning, but don't take the fact that she hasn't contacted you yet as a bad sign.

 

Once again, good luck, and again to everyone else, one quick phone call can't hurt if you think there was a problem with your assessment.

marty

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Guest Kirsteen

Hi!

 

Well done to everyone who's receiving some good news from Ottawa and thanks to those for the condolences e-mails; it's wonderful to have some support. :)

 

redgirl29, to answer your question, Dr. Hebert (I'm presuming that's who he was) interestingly mentioned that they don't really wish to fill the entire class with graduate students therefore, only 35 in total, from the original pool of 500, will be interviewed.

 

Cheers and good luck,

Kirsteen

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Guest Kirsteen

Hi there,

 

To clarify, this is my understanding of what I was told the other morning concerning graduate applicant numbers this year at U. Ottawa: a total of ~500 graduate applicants were received; of that total, ~150 met the B+ undergraduate WGPA cut-off as well as the graduate A average cut-off. It was to those 150 graduate applicants that the letter requesting evidence of graduate productivity was sent. From that 150, 35 will be invited for interview; therefore 35 out of 500 graduate applicants will be invited for interview.

 

Dr. Hebert also mentioned that, with respect to graduate productivity, abstracts that were submitted to conferences are reviewed, and if the same abstract was submitted to two or more different conferences, then it would not be counted twice.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

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