champ Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 I guess I am directing this question towards current dal med students.. Has there ever been any exceptional circumstances where an OOP has been interviewed with an 8 in one section of the mcat and the rest well above the cut off? The rest of my application is pretty strong I belive anyway. U of t didnt agree though. Do they tend to stand pretty firm on these cut offs? I was just wondering if contacting the dean of admissions might help? I am a non trad applicant. I have spent a fair bit of time in halifax but nothing substantial to gain in province status most likely. Im just looking for some insight.. any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gb35 Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 100% firm I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavrik13 Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 It sounds like it is pretty firm - you could contact them (probably would be best to wait a week or two, since decision letters are coming out soon and they will be swamped) to confirm though. You will be competing with over 300 candidates for one of nine spots though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proton Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Unfortunately they are firm cutoffs. See the following from their FAQ. "I received a total score of 24 on my MCAT exam and am a Maritime applicant. However, I received a score of 6 on the verbal reasoning. Will my application still be considered since I have met the total score of 24? [for Maritime students the requirement is all 8s - one may be as low as 7 but the sum must still be at least 24] Unfortunately our stated minimum requirements are firm. We would consider you application to be ineligible and would recommend you to rewrite the MCAT." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
champ Posted March 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 I only bring it up cause i heard that some people got in although rare with one below the standard.. I was wondering if anyone else heard that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gb35 Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 I only bring it up cause i heard that some people got in although rare with one below the standard.. I was wondering if anyone else heard that. I don't think that has happened at Dal. You may have been misinformed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
war485 Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 I only bring it up cause i heard that some people got in although rare with one below the standard.. I was wondering if anyone else heard that. By "one below the standard", maybe you meant someone got a 9 on one of the sections? That's possible if that person can "make up for it" with a 11 in another section. Anything below a 9 for OOP won't do and they're pretty strict on those cutoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That's_Life Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Does Dalhousie Medicine take your latest MCAT score, or the score that you specify (providing that score is from the last 5 years)? Most schools take your latest score, but Dalhousie does not seem to specify this anywhere... I scored in the low thirties and am considering rewriting to aim for a higher score. I wonder if this means completely risking my previous score... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HBP Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 They take your best MCAT, so no worries on the rewrite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That's_Life Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Thanks HBP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaeFleur Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 ... I scored in the low thirties and am considering rewriting to aim for a higher score. I would wait to book an MCAT date until after you speak to Dr. Sutton about your application! If you have a low thirties score and are IP that is usually enough. Maybe the dean will tell you that something else was lacking in your application and you should focus on that instead this summer. I just don't want you rewrite it unless you need to That, and I know that there are no dates in Halifax to write to get your score into Dal on time anymore this summer. Us IP gotta stick together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That's_Life Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 I would wait to book an MCAT date until after you speak to Dr. Sutton about your application! If you have a low thirties score and are IP that is usually enough. Maybe the dean will tell you that something else was lacking in your application and you should focus on that instead this summer. I just don't want you rewrite it unless you need to That, and I know that there are no dates in Halifax to write to get your score into Dal on time anymore this summer. Us IP gotta stick together! Thanks MaeFleur You have an excellent point. I'm more than curious to see what Dr. Sutton has to say about my application/interview. There is always room to glean wisdom and improve. This will be useful for life in general, too. (edit) I was considering rewriting for the purposes of applying comfortably elsewhere in Canada. Halifax has no MCAT dates available near the July 29 deadline (thanks for the heads up!), but I would fly to another province if need be in order to rewrite by the deadline. That said, this probably won't be necessary because most schools require MCAT scores later. There appear to be seats available in Halifax shortly afterward, on August 5th/6th. I love Dalhousie (top choice!) and Nova Scotia, but I really feel like I should broaden my options at this point and leave no stone unturned! I've seen a number of promising NS IP candidates accepted to UofT, Queens, UBC, McGill (etc.) but not Dal over the years, so it's worth a shot. The competition is so great that achieving a seat in any Canadian medical school would be humbling. (edit) In any case, all the best in the next cycle! I'll be right there with you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That's_Life Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 P.S. How does the phone interview work? I requested one by email, and received a reply stating the available time for confirmation, and nothing else. I confirmed the time. Which number do I call? Or do I await a call at the specified time? In that case, I would need to alert them to a ph. number change.. I'm sure they're flooded with emails at this time, so I'd prefer to figure things out here first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w8kg6 Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 P.S. How does the phone interview work? I requested one by email' date=' and received a reply stating the available time for confirmation, and nothing else. I confirmed the time. Which number do I call? Or do I await a call at the specified time? In that case, I would need to alert them to a ph. number change.. I'm sure they're flooded with emails at this time, so I'd prefer to figure things out here first [/quote'] You call them at the scheduled time, and they put you through to Dr. Sutton (or whoever is doing them) a few minutes later . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That's_Life Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 You call them at the scheduled time, and they put you through to Dr. Sutton (or whoever is doing them) a few minutes later . Thanks very much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc2B Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 You definitely won't be considered if you don't meet cut-offs i.e. an 8 in a section for OOP it won't ever get to the committee your application will be denied in the office. Sorry to say. As for the low thirties I wouldn't really worry about it, the way they score it it's probably not going to matter and it's a reasonable score. It won't change your actual application score by very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That's_Life Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 As for the low thirties I wouldn't really worry about it, the way they score it it's probably not going to matter and it's a reasonable score. It won't change your actually application score by very much. You're right that it doesn't matter much (i.e. mcat is only worth 10/100), but an extra point here or there cannot hurt. Chiefly, however, I wish to rewrite in order to have a more attractive application to other schools as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 You're right that it doesn't matter much (i.e. mcat is only worth 10/100)' date=' but an extra point here or there cannot hurt. Chiefly, however, I wish to rewrite in order to have a more attractive application to other schools as well.[/quote'] Don't OOPs need higher MCATs scores (>30, balanced) than IP? Does anyone know what the average GPA of OOP entry are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HBP Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 I don't think they've ever released stratified results. But I don't think GPA will be that massive, since they mention that once you've met the cutoff, your supplementary basically decides your fate because that GPA is already competitive enough. http://admissions.medicine.dal.ca/download/admissions-presentation2010.ppt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryacha Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 I don't think they've ever released stratified results. But I don't think GPA will be that massive, since they mention that once you've met the cutoff, your supplementary basically decides your fate because that GPA is already competitive enough. http://admissions.medicine.dal.ca/download/admissions-presentation2010.ppt I had thought that too but for me I just scraped by the 3.75 oop cut off which compared to posted rejection scores (now that I know them) is ~11.5/15 and I think 3.5pts could make a pretty big difference, or at least more than I had previously thought. I know relative to other schools it isn't a big difference at all though so I see what you are saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc2B Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 You do need a 30 for OOP but again the scores and GPA don't end up mattering that much, it really is the supplemental and the MMI that gives you the majority of the points. That said, it would help to have the higher GPA scores and MCAT scores, but if it comes down to spending time on studying/re-writing the MCAT when you already meet cut-offs and doing important extra-curriculars, I would choose extra-curriculars. But I will say that if you have both low GPA and low MCAT scores I would try to raise one or the other. Usually easier and cheaper to raise the MCAT score than the GPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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