MarathonRunner Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 My school did the same thing. Some of the chemistry/math/computer science courses even required a 95% for an A and a 98% for an A+, so to me this grading conversion seems much more fair. I know one student from our school (who is a genius) had all A+s taking those chemistry courses- so having her 98% average translated into a 90 really under-represented her abilities. (Out of curiosity, which schools in Canada use the percentage grading system? I only know of UBC and Saskatchewan) Guelph uses percentage grades - not a medical school, but it does have the OVC (Ontario Veterinary College). Actually, my transcripts from Guelph (I took a couple of post-degree courses through their distance education program) have both the percentage grade and a letter grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airboard Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 I'm confused why this greatly impacts UBC students, aren't UBC students still considered in their own pool and have a much better chance of getting in, in comparison to OOP? I mean if you look at the stats from 2008-2010 at least, there was 140, 129 and 129 students accepted from UBC respectively. It seems to me that there is a quota of UBC students that of they will accept, of course, and they will want to maximize that quota then add the OOP. I think it just levels the playing field for the OOP pool because they'll be scaled to a proper standard. Just my thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 I'm confused why this greatly impacts UBC students, aren't UBC students still considered in their own pool and have a much better chance of getting in, in comparison to OOP?No, UBC students don't have their own pool. IP residents are in their own pool. BC has more than one university. Because of the discrepancy in marking schemes between UBC and other BC universities, IP UBC students had an advantage over IP non-UBC students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airboard Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 No, UBC students don't have their own pool. IP residents are in their own pool. BC has more than one university. Because of the discrepancy in marking schemes between UBC and other BC universities, IP UBC students had an advantage over IP non-UBC students. I'm so confused why people think this shouldn't be the case. UBC students should have a competitive advantage over other IP non-UBC students shouldn't they? UBC Med being the home school for UBC students should accept most of their own students because they have an understanding of their own system, grading and curriculum, it doesn't make sense that they don't do that... I'm a UBC student that's why I'm sort of taken aback from what I thought was something that wouldn't really affect me. :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwh333 Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 that would be discriminating against students from other BC schools. The reason why this conversion scale was created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keepontrying Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 I'm so confused why people think this shouldn't be the case. UBC students should have a competitive advantage over other IP non-UBC students shouldn't they? UBC Med being the home school for UBC students should accept most of their own students because they have an understanding of their own system, grading and curriculum, it doesn't make sense that they don't do that... I'm a UBC student that's why I'm sort of taken aback from what I thought was something that wouldn't really affect me. :S So what you're saying is it's fair to be unfair to students from other universities? I don't see how UBC students would understand the med program system, grading, and curriculum better than non-UBC students. I'm a UBC student too and of course deep inside I would want to have an edge in the admission process, but what UBC did is fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-Doc Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 I'm so confused why people think this shouldn't be the case. UBC students should have a competitive advantage over other IP non-UBC students shouldn't they? UBC Med being the home school for UBC students should accept most of their own students because they have an understanding of their own system, grading and curriculum, it doesn't make sense that they don't do that... I'm a UBC student that's why I'm sort of taken aback from what I thought was something that wouldn't really affect me. :S This statement has absolutely no merit. BC only has 1 medical school in the province, thus it should be equally fair for applicants from all over BC. Just because you selected UBC for your undergrad program doesn't make you any more deserving than someone else who has selected another undergrad university for various reasons. Like I said in a previous post, I'm really happy that UBC stepped up to the plate and made it fair to all students from across BC. Judging by the new app system, it also looks like they are going to be more open with scoring on multiple aspects of the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airboard Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 So what you're saying is it's fair to be unfair to students from other universities? I don't see how UBC students would understand the med program system, grading, and curriculum better than non-UBC students. I'm a UBC student too and of course deep inside I would want to have an edge in the admission process, but what UBC did is fair. It's not about the UBC students understanding the system its about the UBC Med admissions having a better grasp on their own schools' averages and numbers. In the end nothing is fair in the process, if it was actually fair everyone would have an equal chance regardless of where they're applying from, OOP, IP, International... They knew they weren't fair in the past (x) years, and suddenly they have a change of heart? That is just strange for me. I'm merely confused why this is all of a sudden happening when it could have happened earlier Anyways, I know a lot of people are going to be happy by what has happened, and if I was in their boots I would be jumping for joy . I just wanted to express my thoughts and confusion which resulted from reading this thread, because I thought the changes wouldn't greatly affect us UBC students. Edit: ignore the comment about fairness forgot ubc is publicly funded so makes sense that it would accept more IP students Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 Yes, it would've been much fairer for the province if they had these conversions years ago, but as selfish as it sounds, as a UBC student I'm glad they didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbfc Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 This is strictly my opinion. I think some (read: not every) UBC students are a little hurt that they really have no advantage anymore. I personally know some people who went to UBC over SFU because they thought it would give them a huge advantage in applying to med school (they were partially right). I also currently know some people who are transferring to UBC, thinking they will gain an advantage. I really don't see any advantage now. Note: I am extremely curious to see how the numbers will change in regards to what percentage of the class consists of UBC students. I think they will always have the highest rate regardless, (because they have more applicants), but I wonder how much the gap will close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keepontrying Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 Judging by the new app system, it also looks like they are going to be more open with scoring on multiple aspects of the system. Very true K-Doc. I suspect work experience and research might worth more than before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claire_tea Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 This is strictly my opinion. I think some (read: not every) UBC students are a little hurt that they really have no advantage anymore. I personally know some people who went to UBC over SFU because they thought it would give them a huge advantage in applying to med school (they were partially right). I also currently know some people who are transferring to UBC, thinking they will gain an advantage. I really don't see any advantage now. Note: I am extremely curious to see how the numbers will change in regards to what percentage of the class consists of UBC students. I think they will always have the highest rate regardless, (because they have more applicants), but I wonder how much the gap will close. As a UVic student, I debated long and hard about transferring to UBC after I understood how UBC Med. GPA admissions worked, and the fact that it placed UBC students at a major advantage. In the end I decided to stay at UVic based on finances, transfer credit issues, and leaving friends/family. I genuinely believe, however, that even if I had transferred to UBC I would support these changes. UBC Med is the only medical school in BC, it is publicly funded, and until now UBC students were strongly favoured based on the GPA issue. The playing field should be even for every student in BC, and I think these changes help. Really, I think the best solution would be for every school in BC to include percentages on their transcripts, but UBC is doing the best it can. I am also very interested to see how this change, in conjunction with dropping the lowest year, will change the class composition over the next few admission cycles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeX- Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 Just happy I got in this year. While now the process is more fair, I did feel I had a very slight advantage over UViC/SFU applicants purely based on the small %s loss due to the GPA -> % conversions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfuguy Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 I did feel I had a very slight advantage over UViC/SFU applicants purely based on the small %s loss due to the GPA -> % conversions. I must say that the previous conversion provided a significant disadvantage to gpa schools. My gpa is up by 4% with this new conversion scheme, which I think is quite huge if you look at aq scores last year post-interview regrets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 I must say that the previous conversion provided a significant disadvantage to gpa schools. My gpa is up by 4% with this new conversion scheme, which I think is quite huge if you look at aq scores last year post-interview regrets. I hope it will give us a boost as well since my cGPA when up 5% with the new grading system! Although, since every non-UBC student will likely receive some boost from the new grading system the relative boost will probably not be as much as we are hoping for I missed last years interview cutoff by a very narrow margin. I am hoping that this new grading criteria will give me a couple of points on my AQ score and enough to compensate for the increase in the cutoff for interviews this year? I also beefed up my NAQ so that should help... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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