Official 2011/2012 Applicant Thread

[thatonekid]

Same goes for me...I'm here to help, threads and private messages alike, if anyone needs it. Especially since it appears that there aren't that many upper year Queen's students on the thread...but hopefully my fellow 2015 students and I will change that

 

Good luck applicants!

*high fives*

 

There is a lack of Queen's students. Geez Queen's meds...get it together.

[SpicyNoodles]

Hey guys, I have 2 questions regarding the detailed sketch. If I have an activity that last for 4 summers, do I put the total time as 4 years or 16 months?

 

Also, I'm engaged in an activity at a senior home from 2004-2006, but I was inactive until the summers of 2008 and 2009 (2 other different positions). Should I enter as 2 different sketches for the recent ones and mentioned the 2004-2006 in the detail section or should I just make it into one?

 

Thanks alot for the help

 

1) You could mention that you were involved in that activity from say June 2006 to June 2010 and then in the "Summer or Academic Year" section, mention that it was a summer activity between the months of June to August, for example. For myself, there was an activity that I did for two summers, but I broke them up into two parts because I felt that this activity consisted of many responsibilities so they could each count as separate entries with different descriptions.

 

You could mention the date as spanning the four years but specify that it was during the summer totally 16 month commitment...

 

2) I would probably enter them as separate entries if the responsibilities are different. OMSAS doesn't give you that many characters to work with so if you had three different positions at the same organization, I would list them seperately.

[simpy]

*high fives*

 

There is a lack of Queen's students. Geez Queen's meds...get it together.

 

I'm here! I can help with non-trad or second degree questions (best to PM me, or post and PM)!

[Asta]

U of C's application is now open!

 

I'm hoping I can get in contact with someone tomorrow on why their high school graduation dates only go up to 1995.

 

That was bothering me to. I just left it and was going to call admissions next week.

[Hockey_whiz]

U of C's application is now open!

 

I'm hoping I can get in contact with someone tomorrow on why their high school graduation dates only go up to 1995.

 

does it work for everyone? I clicked "new applicant" filled out the info.. and never got an email to activate my account.

[FacelessMage]

It worked fine for me, hockey_whiz.

[Cerena]

U of C's application is now open!

 

Thanks for informing us of this

I'm currently debating whether or not to apply at this school.

 

Also, thanks for offering to help everyone simpy,thatonekid, spicynoodles, isix, future_doc, etc!!

 

That's so great!

[nikki dale]

In the autobiographical sketch, how many academic awards did you put in? I feel like I am being redundant and would rather use the space for more unique experiences/awards.

 

ex. Do I really need to say I got the honour roll, if I already wrote that I got the Governor General Silver medal (I didn't, this is just an example.) or if they already have my GPA anyway?

[isix]

I personally didn't put down the honor roll (or at least, I don't think I did...funny how much you forget in a year). I had other awards that pretty much indicated I would have been on the honor roll...and of course, there's your transcript. If you have other awards that are more unique, you should definitely put those down and not bother with the honor roll mention (assuming some other award, say the Queen Elizabeth Aiming for the Top Scholarship, also requires you to have a certain average). If your other awards are non-academic, then mentioning the honor roll bit won't be redundant...in any case, I have a feeling most applicants are on the honor roll, so having other awards probably will make you stand out more.

 

Hope this helps! Good luck with your application.

[nikki dale]

I personally didn't put down the honor roll (or at least, I don't think I did...funny how much you forget in a year). I had other awards that pretty much indicated I would have been on the honor roll...and of course, there's your transcript. If you have other awards that are more unique, you should definitely put those down and not bother with the honor roll mention (assuming some other award, say the Queen Elizabeth Aiming for the Top Scholarship, also requires you to have a certain average). If your other awards are non-academic, then mentioning the honor roll bit won't be redundant...in any case, I have a feeling most applicants are on the honor roll, so having other awards probably will make you stand out more.

 

Hope this helps! Good luck with your application.

 

Thanks! I think I'll just put it if I run out of things to write.

[FacelessMage]

That was bothering me to. I just left it and was going to call admissions next week.

 

They fixed it now.

[MedHunter]

Thanks alot for your help!!

 

1) You could mention that you were involved in that activity from say June 2006 to June 2010 and then in the "Summer or Academic Year" section, mention that it was a summer activity between the months of June to August, for example. For myself, there was an activity that I did for two summers, but I broke them up into two parts because I felt that this activity consisted of many responsibilities so they could each count as separate entries with different descriptions.

 

You could mention the date as spanning the four years but specify that it was during the summer totally 16 month commitment...

 

2) I would probably enter them as separate entries if the responsibilities are different. OMSAS doesn't give you that many characters to work with so if you had three different positions at the same organization, I would list them seperately.

[SpicyNoodles]

Thanks alot for your help!!

 

You are very welcome

[christinawang1990216]

Questions about verifiers, if two of my activities continued from high school to university,but they took place at different places( I attended high school in Vancouver and university in Ontario) would having verifiers directly involved in the high school portion of the activity but can vouch for the university portion? It is really hard to find verfiers since I started the activity,so there is no supervision,and those two were co-president and co- organizer that I think would serve as better verifiers than just a participant.

[future_doc]

It's no big deal. Just use a credible verifier and this will work.

[future_doc]

I'm currently debating whether or not to apply at this school.

 

The wider the net of schools to which you apply, the greater are your chances.

 

There are many examples of med students who received an acceptance from the school where they thought their chances were the slimest. So, my advice is to go for it! True, you have the expense of the application fee and you will need to devote more time to your applications, but nothing ventured, is nothing gained. Be adventurous!!

[thatonekid]

Questions about verifiers, if two of my activities continued from high school to university,but they took place at different places( I attended high school in Vancouver and university in Ontario) would having verifiers directly involved in the high school portion of the activity but can vouch for the university portion? It is really hard to find verfiers since I started the activity,so there is no supervision,and those two were co-president and co- organizer that I think would serve as better verifiers than just a participant.

You basically just need someone who can say "Yes, this applicant did this activity for X number of hours (as written on your application)." So if someone involved in the high school portion also knows that you're doing the activity in university, then it's totally fine to use them.

[SpicyNoodles]

The wider the net of schools to which you apply, the greater are your chances.

 

There are many examples of med students who received an acceptance from the school where they thought their chances were the slimest. So, my advice is to go for it! True, you have the expense of the application fee and you will need to devote more time to your applications, but nothing ventured, is nothing gained. Be adventurous!!

 

I totally agree with this. I wasn't too sure about applying to uOttawa because I was out-of-province and didn't know if I would make their gpa cut-off, and I didn't know if I'd met all their requirements since the schools in the west have slightly different criteria. But I called the admissions office to ensure I satisfied their full course load requirement and then just applied, not expecting too much. And, voila!

 

Don't hesitate to apply to any school when you satisfy their requirements. With UofT, I think it states somewhere that you should have a minimum of 9 in each section of the MCAT in order to be eligible for consideration, but it wasn't a strict cut-off, so I applied with an 8 in the VR section and I managed to land an interview (didn't get any further than that though ). But what I'm trying to point out is that you should apply if you meet their requirements. Don't apply if they state strict cut-offs for MCAT and GPA and explicitly say something along the lines of "there are no exceptions", while having scores lower than what they're asking for...that'd be a lost cause.

[Cerena]

I totally agree with this. I wasn't too sure about applying to uOttawa because I was out-of-province and didn't know if I would make their gpa cut-off, and I didn't know if I'd met all their requirements since the schools in the west have slightly different criteria. But I called the admissions office to ensure I satisfied their full course load requirement and then just applied, not expecting too much. And, voila!

 

Don't hesitate to apply to any school when you satisfy their requirements. With UofT, I think it states somewhere that you should have a minimum of 9 in each section of the MCAT in order to be eligible for consideration, but it wasn't a strict cut-off, so I applied with an 8 in the VR section and I managed to land an interview (didn't get any further than that though ). But what I'm trying to point out is that you should apply if you meet their requirements. Don't apply if they state strict cut-offs for MCAT and GPA and explicitly say something along the lines of "there are no exceptions", while having scores lower than what they're asking for...that'd be a lost cause.

 

Thanks for this

Speaking of which, I am a bit confused with uOttawa? What is their GPA and MCAT cutoff of you don't mind.

[OIC]

Ottawa doesn't use the MCAT at all (part of why they get so many applicants - 3500+).

 

For the english stream you usually need a 3.6-3.7 for ottawa-area applicants, 3.85 for ontario-wide and a 3.87 out-of-province GPA.

 

Remember though, uOttawa uses a weighting system and only looks at your most recent three years.

[(Year 3 GPA x 3)+(Year 2 GPA x 2)+(Year 1 GPA x 1)] / 6 = uOttawa wGPA

 

Note: to third year applicants since you only have 2 full years of marks by application time your grades are calculated as:

[(Year 2 GPA x 2)+(Year 1 GPA x 1)] / 3 = uOttawa wGPA

[Cerena]

Ottawa doesn't use the MCAT at all (part of why they get so many applicants - 3500+).

 

For the english stream you usually need a 3.6-3.7 for ottawa-area applicants, 3.85 for ontario-wide and a 3.87 out-of-province GPA.

 

Remember though, uOttawa uses a weighting system and only looks at your most recent three years.

[(Year 3 GPA x 3)+(Year 2 GPA x 2)+(Year 1 GPA x 1)] / 6 = uOttawa wGPA

 

Note: to third year applicants since you only have 2 full years of marks by application time your grades are calculated as:

[(Year 2 GPA x 2)+(Year 1 GPA x 1)] / 3 = uOttawa wGPA

 

 

Thanks so much for this, OIC!

I believe I'm out for this school though. If I was an Ott resident I'd be ok but because im OOP it's too low. Ah well.

[SpicyNoodles]

Thanks for this

Speaking of which, I am a bit confused with uOttawa? What is their GPA and MCAT cutoff of you don't mind.

 

Cerena,

uOttawa doesn't look at the MCAT score and their GPA cut-offs depend on where you live. I guess the further you reside from Ottawa, the higher your GPA needs to be. Out-of-province > In province but not in Ottawa > in Ottawa. Also, there are seats that are reserve for groups such as those from the Aboriginal Program, Military Candidates etc. There is a GPA cut-off for each of these groups and it seems to fluctuate a little bit each year and, correct me if I'm wrong, is determined based on the group that applied in that particular cycle.

[Cerena]

Cerena,

uOttawa doesn't look at the MCAT score and their GPA cut-offs depend on where you live. I guess the further you reside from Ottawa, the higher your GPA needs to be. Out-of-province > In province but not in Ottawa > in Ottawa. Also, there are seats that are reserve for groups such as those from the Aboriginal Program, Military Candidates etc. There is a GPA cut-off for each of these groups and it seems to fluctuate a little bit each year and, correct me if I'm wrong, is determined based on the group that applied in that particular cycle.

 

Hmm would be nice if there was a rural stream.

[OIC]

Thanks so much for this, OIC!

I believe I'm out for this school though. If I was an Ott resident I'd be ok but because im OOP it's too low. Ah well.

 

Not a problem! Yea uOttawa is a tough school to crack on the GPA front if you aren't from the city. By not having the MCAT as a requirement they lose a screening tool and the GPA ends up becoming more stringent. This is true also for McGill which has INSANE out-of-province GPA minimums (3.9 last year - the first year they ditched the MCAT entirely).

 

In Ontario most other schools have moderate GPA requirements by comparison. Queens and Western hover around 3.7-3.75, UofT has an average GPA of 3.88 among those who receive offers (this is the weighted GPA after dropping 6-8+ of the lowest courses for full-time students) and Mac is a complete wildcard as of last year now that CASPer (the online, pre-interview MMI) is involved (I've seen GPAs ranging from 3.4-4.0 get interviews).

 

NOSM has context scores that make up a big chunk of their evaluation and benefit those from rural areas so you may want to look into that, I'm not sure what the policy is for OOP though.

 

For those in ontario and interested in NOSM but are unsure how rural they are, the OMA has a listing of townships and their "rurality" that I imagine is close to NOSMs evaluations (if not identical). The higher the score the more rural you are:

Listing - http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/providers/program/uap/docs/up_rio_scores.pdf

 

Enter your own postal code- https://www.oma.org/PublicApp/nlp/NLPWF003.aspx

[Cerena]

OIC, UT is pretty forgiving to grad students though, correct? Dropping the min GPA to 3 instead of 3.6?

 

[i'm not a grad student but I have more than enough interest in research to do a masters (I've already been published in an international neuro journal) as my backup. It would be a welcomed change of pace and something I'd be happy doing. I could see myself getting a lot of experience from it. I am open to moving anywhere in Canada that has a solid neuroscience program. Tout des ecoles, y compris au Quebec ]