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2011 Interview Discussion


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so is there any merit to disputing the conflict in the selection method they published at application time and the method they used? Or does that just make one a nit-picky s**t disturber?
Not really. They likely have some type of official clause along the lines of "We reserve the right to change the process without notice to the applicants."
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Clearly a very likely lost cause, but it obviously affected how applicants approached the application including, or not including info on the sketch. Financially, I know I can stomach the application fee, but I feel sorry for the person who could have used that money for something important.

 

...just letting off steam...what this place is for, right?

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I'm guessing, based on a rough look, that the mcat cutoffs are:

10, 10, 10, Q

 

There don't seem to be MCAT cutoffs this year. Do more research, and you'll see extremely low MCAT grades getting interviews. I've seen an an 8 and several 9s in VR, 9's in both PS and BS, and Q WS all get interviews.

grumble grumble.

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There don't seem to be MCAT cutoffs this year. Do more research, and you'll see extremely low MCAT grades getting interviews. I've seen an an 8 and several 9s in VR, 9's in both PS and BS, and Q WS all get interviews.

grumble grumble.

 

Nobody got an interview w/ 9 VR??

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So frustrating that they changed everything around this year. This was one of the schools with the most transparent process: make the cutoffs, then 100% interview. So simple. Now it's as clear as mud, just like U of T or maybe worse, because no one knows anything about Queens' "preferences" (like volunteering or research or GPA or whatever). At least everyone knows U of T is big on research.

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I'm sure that's a mistake. Must have a better MCAT with 10VR or above.

 

Maybe that poster is an anomaly, but there are 9's in both phys and bio. Regardless, it seems that mcat makes up some unknown fraction of an admission formula. And a small fraction at that (people getting accepted with 31's or 32's, people getting rejected with >35). Post observations suggest that interview decisions were not largely based upon mcat or gpa.

 

But on that note, people with seemingly great EC's got rejected, as did people with medium-high everything. I can't find a hard conclusion regarding anything the adcom bases an invite upon.

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Maybe that poster is an anomaly, but there are 9's in both phys and bio. Regardless, it seems that mcat makes up some unknown fraction of an admission formula. And a small fraction at that (people getting accepted with 31's or 32's, people getting rejected with >35). Post observations suggest that interview decisions were not largely based upon mcat or gpa.

 

But on that note, people with seemingly great EC's got rejected, as did people with medium-high everything. I can't find a hard conclusion regarding anything the adcom bases an invite upon.

 

In Queen's system, it's doubtful to have anomalies. If so, you wouldn't see every single person with a 9VR getting refused. In other systems, like UofT or Mac, you might see a 3.2 GPA, or an 8VR, but not with Queen's.

 

Queen's has hard GPA/MCAT cuts (like UWO). I'm certain that if the MCAT VR cut was 8VR, you would see at least one person with 9VR getting an interview.

 

The cut is most likely 9BS, 10VR, 9PS, Q. Hopefully the 8VR poster can get back to us with their best MCAT VR result.

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In Queen's system, it's doubtful to have anomalies. If so, you wouldn't see every single person with a 9VR getting refused. In other systems, like UofT or Mac, you might see a 3.2 GPA, or an 8VR, but not with Queen's.

 

Queen's has hard GPA/MCAT cuts (like UWO). I'm certain that if the MCAT VR cut was 8VR, you would see at least one person with 9VR getting an interview.

 

The cut is most likely 9BS, 10VR, 9PS, Q. Hopefully the 8VR poster can get back to us with their best MCAT VR result.

 

Queen's seems to be shaking things up. Lots of high gpa/mcat posters demonstrate that whatever the old rules were, they're now thrown out the window.

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Queen's seems to be shaking things up. Lots of high gpa/mcat posters demonstrate that whatever the old rules were, they're now thrown out the window.

 

No, they're not. They still operate on cut-offs. They just have one more screen (the ABS). See the post-interview weightings thread.

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My ABS is my strongest element. I'm very lost and confused.

 

It can be so subjective. I just received an ABS score that's in the bottom 10% at University of Calgary, but I made it to an interview at Queen's.

 

Basically, it appears as if Calgary penalized me for facing adversity several years ago whereas Queen's likes that I overcame it and have done a lot since.

 

It really depends on who is reading your application. Take solace in the fact that if your ECs are strong, if you apply to enough schools you'll land invites.

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Guest Juicy.Fruit
Take solace in the fact that if your ECs are strong, if you apply to enough schools you'll land invites.

 

I really hope that is true... other than Western, everything has been bad news for me so far. I applied to most schools across BC to ON.. (atleast I survived today's UofT rejectons).

 

According to Calgary, I have an above average EC among the OOP that made the full-file review, but not enough to get me an interview. I have the numbers.. so i have my fingers crossed for ottawa, toronto and alberta. I just don't want to end up banking everything on Western interview alone.

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After examining the invite/rejection stats, I began to think about the MCAT/gpa "cutoffs." It seems in the past, you make those cutoffs you get an interview, which is not the case anymore. I was wondering if making the cutoffs merely gets you to the next stage in evaluating the application (ABS sketch). Such that everyone who makes the cutoffs is on an even playing field when their ABS/LOR's are evaluated.

 

The other possibility is that you earn points from your MCAT/gpa depending on where you land on the academic continuum after the cutoff point (ie. 3.7ish >>> 4.0 and 30Q>>>45T). Next, whatever academic points you garner is added to your points earned from your ABS sketch (similar to UBC's application for those who are familiar). In this scenerio, someone who barely made the cutoff, though has impressive EC's may still be at a disadvantage to someone who has high MCAT/gpa and average to slightly above average EC's. This may account for some of the irregularities re: stats we have seen, in the invite/rejection thread. Though tempering this is the fact that everyone seems to think their EC's are above average.

 

However, without any insight to how they evaluate the LOR's / ABS sketch this is all just interesting chat room speculation for those of us who are upset at not being invited for an interview.

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I'm guessing, based on a rough look, that the mcat cutoffs are:

10, 10, 10, Q

It's more like 9/10(VR)/9 Q with a 30+ overall

 

After examining the invite/rejection stats, I began to think about the MCAT/gpa "cutoffs." It seems in the past, you make those cutoffs you get an interview, which is not the case anymore. I was wondering if making the cutoffs merely gets you to the next stage in evaluating the application (ABS sketch). Such that everyone who makes the cutoffs is on an even playing field when their ABS/LOR's are evaluated.

 

The other possibility is that you earn points from your MCAT/gpa depending on where you land on the academic continuum after the cutoff point (ie. 3.7ish >>> 4.0 and 30Q>>>45T). Next, whatever academic points you garner is added to your points earned from your ABS sketch (similar to UBC's application for those who are familiar). In this scenerio, someone who barely made the cutoff, though has impressive EC's may still be at a disadvantage to someone who has high MCAT/gpa and average to slightly above average EC's. This may account for some of the irregularities re: stats we have seen, in the invite/rejection thread. Though tempering this is the fact that everyone seems to think their EC's are above average.

 

However, without any insight to how they evaluate the LOR's / ABS sketch this is all just interesting chat room speculation for those of us who are upset at not being invited for an interview.

Regarding the bolded, I think that's the way it's working now. Kind of like Ottawa, where if you meet the GPA cutoff they then base the interview decisions on your ABS.
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