Hopeless?

[punknsmasher]

Not to sound too depressing but I feel as though my chances on getting in this year are next to none. I have been waitlisted by both UofT and UWO (regular wait list). I am SWOMEN but i cant help but feel my stats are against me and I am probably at the very bottom of both wait lists.

 

I have a 3.83 wGPA (best two years 3.76<-- dont ask) and my MCAT score is only 30Q. At this point i feel as though I should not even expect to be taken off the waitlist. Is there anyone else here who feels the same way as me? Although I theoretically still have a chance, am I still practically hopeless? Why would they interview me if I had almost no chance of getting in to begin with?

 

Anyways thanks everyone, and I hope all of your medical aspirations come to be.

[Cerena]

Not to sound too depressing but I feel as though my chances on getting in this year are next to none. I have been waitlisted by both UofT and UWO (regular wait list). I am SWOMEN but i cant help but feel my stats are against me and I am probably at the very bottom of both wait lists.

 

I have a 3.83 wGPA (best two years 3.76<-- dont ask) and my MCAT score is only 30Q. At this point i feel as though I should not even expect to be taken off the waitlist. Is there anyone else here who feels the same way as me? Although I theoretically still have a chance, am I still practically hopeless? Why would they interview me if I had almost no chance of getting in to begin with?

 

Anyways thanks everyone, and I hope all of your medical aspirations come to be.

 

Hey,

 

I think everyone on the waitlist has those same sort of feelings. Try not to be too down on yourself about it. I know that's hard to do, but waitlists do move and you might still get in. There are quite a few members on this forum who have received multiple acceptances and will be rejecting offers at various locations.

 

I hope it all works out for you in the end. There is some hope.

 

Good luck!

[JediMaster]

Not to sound too depressing but I feel as though my chances on getting in this year are next to none. I have been waitlisted by both UofT and UWO (regular wait list). I am SWOMEN but i cant help but feel my stats are against me and I am probably at the very bottom of both wait lists.

 

I have a 3.83 wGPA (best two years 3.76<-- dont ask) and my MCAT score is only 30Q. At this point i feel as though I should not even expect to be taken off the waitlist. Is there anyone else here who feels the same way as me? Although I theoretically still have a chance, am I still practically hopeless? Why would they interview me if I had almost no chance of getting in to begin with?

 

Anyways thanks everyone, and I hope all of your medical aspirations come to be.

 

I think my story has been told to most people familiar with the uwo forum - I have almost identital stats to you BUT i am only eligible for a conditional acceptance. My MCAT is 30Q and my one year gpa is 3.76. I was on the regular waitlist last year and was ACCEPTED. Keep the faith friend, it can be done. I am in the same position again and just hoping for history to repeat itself, if I've got faith, you should too

[thehumanmacbook]

Yoda has spoken - listen well. Don't ever give up.

 

If you do a bit of search history, there's a guy at U of T med who's called "lucky"...he got in the very last moment off the waitlist.

[punknsmasher]

I think my story has been told to most people familiar with the uwo forum - I have almost identital stats to you BUT i am only eligible for a conditional acceptance. My MCAT is 30Q and my one year gpa is 3.76. I was on the regular waitlist last year and was ACCEPTED. Keep the faith friend, it can be done. I am in the same position again and just hoping for history to repeat itself, if I've got faith, you should too

 

Thank you so much. But if you were accepted last year why are you in the same position again? Or am i just missing something about what you said.

 

Anyways, thank you all for your kind words. I needed it more than you think

[JediMaster]

Lol so you're not familiar with my story. Let me give you a thrilling retelling - I was regular waitlisted unaware that I was only eligible for a conditional acceptance (I'm an idiot and med schools dont' communicate well with applicants, regardless I basically calculated my gpa wrong - I thought I had two years above cutoff when I really only had 1).

 

I waited for 10 days once the waitlist started to move (after the intial offers expired), got the blessed call and was told it was conditional on my 4th year marks only. I had taken a lot of difficult science courses in 4th year and my average had suffered - I didn't make the cut. My acceptance was revoked. Which is how I ended up doing a special 5th year, boosting my mark to a 3.91 and now I'm waitlisted again. It's been a long hard journey and I hope I get my happy ending but in the meantime, dont' sweat it my friend, there are worse things in life.

[thehumanmacbook]

Lol so you're not familiar with my story. Let me give you a thrilling retelling - I was regular waitlisted unaware that I was only eligible for a conditional acceptance (I'm an idiot and med schools dont' communicate well with applicants, regardless I basically calculated my gpa wrong - I thought I had two years above cutoff when I really only had 1).

 

I waited for 10 days once the waitlist started to move (after the intial offers expired), got the blessed call and was told it was conditional on my 4th year marks only. I had taken a lot of difficult science courses in 4th year and my average had suffered - I didn't make the cut. My acceptance was revoked. Which is how I ended up doing a special 5th year, boosting my mark to a 3.91 and now I'm waitlisted again. It's been a long hard journey and I hope I get my happy ending but in the meantime, dont' sweat it my friend, there are worse things in life.

 

I'm really sorry to hear that...But your epic fail may turn into win this year

[JediMaster]

I sure hope so mac! I wish Schulich would get a move on and post on the blog how long they're gonna wait until they start to move the wailist. I will likely stop obsessively checking the forum once that info goes out and it says to wait for 3 weeks...

[isix]

I sure hope so mac! I wish Schulich would get a move on and post on the blog how long they're gonna wait until they start to move the wailist. I will likely stop obsessively checking the forum once that info goes out and it says to wait for 3 weeks...

Then you're a better person than I am...I'll probably still be checking the forum to get a feel of the numbers of people interested in UWO and Queen's. Because I am just that sad.

 

On another note, it sucks to hear about your story. But at least this year, when you get the call, your acceptance will be that much more amazing!

[JediMaster]

lol you do all the calculations about uwo and queens and keep us posted, I'm sure we'd all greatly appreciate it. Thanks for the encouragement bud, i wish you luck as well!

[punknsmasher]

Lol so you're not familiar with my story. Let me give you a thrilling retelling - I was regular waitlisted unaware that I was only eligible for a conditional acceptance (I'm an idiot and med schools dont' communicate well with applicants, regardless I basically calculated my gpa wrong - I thought I had two years above cutoff when I really only had 1).

 

I waited for 10 days once the waitlist started to move (after the intial offers expired), got the blessed call and was told it was conditional on my 4th year marks only. I had taken a lot of difficult science courses in 4th year and my average had suffered - I didn't make the cut. My acceptance was revoked. Which is how I ended up doing a special 5th year, boosting my mark to a 3.91 and now I'm waitlisted again. It's been a long hard journey and I hope I get my happy ending but in the meantime, dont' sweat it my friend, there are worse things in life.

 

Wow. Congratulations on the 3.91 gpa! I'm sure you will get in for sure this time. Thank you for your support!

 

ps. could u explain how you got to do your "special 5th year". ie. so u didnt graduate after 4 years? or how did that work?

[rmorelan]

I sure hope so mac! I wish Schulich would get a move on and post on the blog how long they're gonna wait until they start to move the wailist. I will likely stop obsessively checking the forum once that info goes out and it says to wait for 3 weeks...

 

That will come out soon - I know the wait is very stressful but hang in there! As you know in this process nothing happens quickly as everyone is ultra careful about making mistakes or over promising things.

 

At least you know nothing is going to happen over the weekend I guess.

[JediMaster]

Wow. Congratulations on the 3.91 gpa! I'm sure you will get in for sure this time. Thank you for your support!

 

ps. could u explain how you got to do your "special 5th year". ie. so u didnt graduate after 4 years? or how did that work?

 

Thanks punk, I definitely was not about to let my marks nosedive again after I lost the opportunity of a lifetime last year.

 

Yeah, you can't do a "special 5th year" as defined by Schulich unless you've already gradated. So after 4 years, in 2010 I graduated and then started my 5th year this past september. If you want to look into that as a back up or something, the rules for the types of courses you can take are different than the usual 3/5, full course load, etc. they require for undergrad years. Have a look at the admissions website for more details on that, they lay it out pretty clearly.

[EBDOC15]

I'm pretty sure anyone who interviews has a realistic chance of getting in. I know someone in the class of 2014 with essentially the same stats as you who was accepted right off the bat (SWOMEN). It seems like for her it all came down to the interview.

 

Im assuming that if you're right at the cutoffs, you need to have a good interview to get in. It doesn't have to be amazing, but good.

 

I interviewed this year with 3.9 and 37Q, I'm also SWOMEN and I was regular waitlisted. I didn't expect to get in after my interview and I was right. It didnt even go badly, I just knew that in an interview like western's, which is so standard, people probably kill it!

 

Moral of the story, it all comes down to the interview. Did you feel very good? Did you connect with the panel? If yes, you're probably in good shape. If you're unsure, I wouldn't be surprised you're at the lower end of the regular waitlist.

 

You do hear of people whose post-interview impressions do not end up being correct. I'm under the impression that for those people other factors determine their fate (for example the weighting used by the school).

[Inception.]

I'm pretty sure anyone who interviews has a realistic chance of getting in. I know someone in the class of 2014 with essentially the same stats as you who was accepted right off the bat (SWOMEN). It seems like for her it all came down to the interview.

 

Im assuming that if you're right at the cutoffs, you need to have a good interview to get in. It doesn't have to be amazing, but good.

 

I interviewed this year with 3.9 and 37Q, I'm also SWOMEN and I was regular waitlisted. I didn't expect to get in after my interview and I was right. It didnt even go badly, I just knew that in an interview like western's, which is so standard, people probably kill it!

 

Moral of the story, it all comes down to the interview. Did you feel very good? Did you connect with the panel? If yes, you're probably in good shape. If you're unsure, I wouldn't be surprised you're at the lower end of the regular waitlist.

 

You do hear of people whose post-interview impressions do not end up being correct. I'm under the impression that for those people other factors determine their fate (for example the weighting used by the school).

 

Those are great stats. To be honest, I'm pretty surprised you are wait-listed with that and being SWOMEN. I guess it really does come down to the interview. My stats are much lower than yours but it seems like I might be higher on the wait-list (high wait-list). I agree that people do kill the interview but I'm happy to see that you are accepted somewhere. I guess either way, you are going to be a doctor so congrats!!

[punknsmasher]

does anyone know if UWO over-accepts (meaning they offer more acceptances than they have spots)? Because I heard that UofT does that and it results in minimal waitlist movement.

[JediMaster]

does anyone know if UWO over-accepts (meaning they offer more acceptances than they have spots)? Because I heard that UofT does that and it results in minimal waitlist movement.

 

I think someone else asked this in another thread, last year it was fairly apparent that they do not over accept but I don't have any real proof to back this up, just hearsay from current students and judging by the fact that there was pretty good waitlist movement last year.

[preppy038]

I think someone else asked this in another thread, last year it was fairly apparent that they do not over accept but I don't have any real proof to back this up, just hearsay from current students and judging by the fact that there was pretty good waitlist movement last year.

 

Hoping for a similar trend this year too I'm surprised that I only counted 20~30 acceptances from the acceptances thread but ~30 waitlisters hahahaha )) idk if that means anything at all

[Jean101]

Yea I noticed the same trend of only a dozen or so acceptances and double that of waitlisters. However, I don't know how many people actually use this site because I never heard of this thing until this year! I wish I knew about this forum thing years ago. But, we'll see soon enough how it all works out for us.

[isix]

Seriously, all premeds should be on pm101, if only to make polls more accurate

 

Hopefully the blog gets updated tomorrow so we know how the waitlist process will work this year and where we stand (especially because rmorelan said that the process will be different this year)...

[strombo]

Hey guys,

 

I know that this is a little off topic, but I am feeling hopeless as well. So i was hoping someone could give me some insight/advice because I am in a rather odd situation.

 

My GPA for my first two years was 1.5. The summer before my first year my life kind of fell apart. Parents went through a messy divorce and my younger siblings were caught in the middle of it. Then my godfather and another close family friend died 4 months apart. I worked full time to pay for school and went home (out of province) as often as I could. This, along with my overall psychological health, was not conducive to me succeeding in school.

 

I ended up taking a year off and working because I didnt know if i wanted to do school anymore and waste the money, especially because i thought my dream of being a doctor was dead. During that year, things at home got much better and i got my head on straight.

 

I decided to go back to school and ended up with a 3.91 this past year and im wondering if med school would still be a possibility at schools that look at your best two years. Assuming i do as well next year, would i be ruled out as a candidate because my first two years were so low? I dont know if ive dug myself into too deep of a hole or not.

 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

[star3124]

Hey guys,

 

I know that this is a little off topic, but I am feeling hopeless as well. So i was hoping someone could give me some insight/advice because I am in a rather odd situation.

 

My GPA for my first two years was 1.5. The summer before my first year my life kind of fell apart. Parents went through a messy divorce and my younger siblings were caught in the middle of it. Then my godfather and another close family friend died 4 months apart. I worked full time to pay for school and went home (out of province) as often as I could. This, along with my overall psychological health, was not conducive to me succeeding in school.

 

I ended up taking a year off and working because I didnt know if i wanted to do school anymore and waste the money, especially because i thought my dream of being a doctor was dead. During that year, things at home got much better and i got my head on straight.

 

I decided to go back to school and ended up with a 3.91 this past year and im wondering if med school would still be a possibility at schools that look at your best two years. Assuming i do as well next year, would i be ruled out as a candidate because my first two years were so low? I dont know if ive dug myself into too deep of a hole or not.

 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

 

Hey Strombo,

 

Sorry to hear you had some tough times. You definitely still have a very good chance of getting into most of the med schools in Canada. If I'm counting right, a large number of med schools only use your 2 best years and/or your last 2 years to calculate GPA. With a 3.91, a good MCAT, interview and Ec's you are well on your way.

 

Plus, I think experiences like yours help develop maturity and it will likely aid you in your interview process.

 

Good Luck!

[shikimate]

Did you take 5 full credits last year? If you did, then 3.91 is good for UWO, and assuming you meet the MCAT cutoffs.

 

Here are some other schools which consider 2 years:

 

Alberta, Queens, UWO, Dal, Sask, Calgary? (I think)

 

So assuming your MCAT and EC are good, you are far from hopeless. In fact, you may be hopeful.

 

By the way, where is your residence? Do you qualify for in province for any of these schools?

[strombo]

First of all thank you for the quick replies! Thats great news, i actually feel much better. I did take 5 courses this past year but because I switched major to neuro i only had 2.5 credits in 300+ level courses so i may have screwed myself for UWO. But thats great to know that other schools do best/last two years, that could be my saving grace!

 

Am i out at UWO?

 

And i live in ontario.

[shikimate]

First of all thank you for the quick replies! Thats great news, i actually feel much better. I did take 5 courses this past year but because I switched major to neuro i only had 2.5 credits in 300+ level courses so i may have screwed myself for UWO. But thats great to know that other schools do best/last two years, that could be my saving grace!

 

Am i out at UWO?

 

And i live in ontario.

 

This is a long shot, but perhaps you can move to another province to gain in province status. I believe the requirements of Dal, Alberta, Calgary for IP are significantly less competitive. Also Queens doesn't care about residency so it won't affect things there. Just my thoughts.