HBP Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 Just posted on blog. Changes: http://mdadmissions.ucalgaryblogs.ca/files/2011/07/Changes-to-Application-Process-2011.pdf Blog post: We are working on opening our system for a new admissions cycle. Due to the changes that we will be instituting to our processes (and therefore to UCAN as well) we will not be able to open applications on July 15th as originally planned. Our current plan is to release our new applicant manual and open UCAN to applications on Aug 1st, 2011. Deadline for submission of applications will remain midnight, MST on Oct 15th. We will be instituting a number of changes, some more significant than others, for this coming cycle. The applicant manual will act as the definitive document for the policies and procedures for applying, but we wanted to provide applicants with some advance warning about the changes we are making and some time to think about their applications in light of the new criteria. Attached to this post is a document which I have produced which outlines the changes for this coming year and discusses to some degree the why associated with them. I have no doubt that some people will be advantaged by these changes, and some will be disadvantaged. On the whole, though, we are comfortable that these are good changes which more directly reflect what we are trying to do in Admissions and the types of applicants that we want to attract. I suspect this document will engender some discussion and debate on this site and the PM 101 forum, and certainly over a few coffee tables as well. I will try to answer questions that come up and clarify to the best of my ability. I probably won’t be able to respond to every post people make, but will try to respond to the most important and recurrent themes. Also, please note that this document is offered as a sneak peek only. The Applicant Manual 2011-12 remains the source of truth. Please read it carefully when it comes out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HBP Posted July 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 Brief outline of changes: - Attributes > Activities (better to read Dr. Walker's explanation than my failed attempt) - Only looking at VR (like McMaster) - cGPA instead of best 2-year, with a "worst year" dropped policy similar to UofA - Reference letter assessment overhaul - No more MMI essays - Inclusion of grad GPA in cGPA - New OOP formula for full-file revew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 Just posted on blog. Changes: http://mdadmissions.ucalgaryblogs.ca/files/2011/07/Changes-to-Application-Process-2011.pdf Blog post: Wow that is a pretty significant change! Still the changes seems pretty logical overall and clear. Resume padding will be a bit more tricky if I am reading this correctly. Looks like more and more VR is the main MCAT category being used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asta Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 Holy moly. I am not sure how I feel about this. I am relieved that VR is my strongest area of the MCAT though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebencer Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 That is a huge overhaul. I love the removal of the written MMI, and clearly making a focus on attributes rather than activities, that should really have a negative effect on many application padding EC's. The ability to drop the worst year GPA is interesting, it really is a negative for great students as they lose their edge in the academics area. More people will be happy with that decision than not though as it allows a lot of people to be much more competitive. I am interested to see if they incorporate a cut-off for VR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 That is a huge overhaul. I love the removal of the written MMI, and clearly making a focus on attributes rather than activities, that should really have a negative effect on many application padding EC's. The ability to drop the worst year GPA is interesting, it really is a negative for great students as they lose their edge in the academics area. More people will be happy with that decision than not though as it allows a lot of people to be much more competitive. I am interested to see if they incorporate a cut-off for VR. Wasn't it best two years before (or was I reading that wrong?) - thought this would actually help the overall better students GPA wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebencer Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 He said in the document: "In the past, we have determined eligibility to apply based on an applicant's best two years of GPA, but then scored them based on overall GPA" Now I understand the situation to be that eligibility is based on overall GPA and score = GPA - worst year + subjective component Hopefully consistently good students are awarded in the subjective component Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 I've read conflicting things between BS being the best predictor and VR being the best predictor, but regardless of the article the R-scores are incredibly weak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey_whiz Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 i'm happy.. i think... heh i got what i wished for in "dropping the worst year" but this means a lot of ppl's gpa will skyrocket too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey_whiz Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 Ughh I don't know how I feel about those reference letter categories.......... I guess our refs will have to write a whole new letter for calgary compared to other schools i know.. when i looked at the 3 categories for references, i was already thinking of who to get for each section.. tough choices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey_whiz Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 does this mean im good with a 15N on my mcat? 0 BS 0 PS 15 VR lol! edit: nvm, "we will still require all MCAT scores ...considered in the subjective assessment of academic merit" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cubelogger Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 In regards to the "dropping of the worst year rule": What exactly constitutes as a full-time year? Are they referring to a full course-load (ie: 30 credits), or anything above 24 credits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 i know.. when i looked at the 3 categories for references, i was already thinking of who to get for each section.. tough choices Yeah - knowing 4 years ahead of time you need those would be useful but for those closer to applying some people will be thrown into a bit of a scramble. It is really forcing diverse applicants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey_whiz Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 In regards to the "dropping of the worst year rule":What exactly constitutes as a full-time year? Are they referring to a full course-load (ie: 30 credits), or anything above 24 credits? for calgary its been 24 credits, i don't know if they're changing it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey_whiz Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 what i found surprising: "if a music major gets 13 on the BS section, that is probably meaningful, and if a science major gets a 5, that is probably also meaningful" so... advantage non-trads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted July 4, 2011 Report Share Posted July 4, 2011 what i found surprising:"if a music major gets 13 on the BS section, that is probably meaningful, and if a science major gets a 5, that is probably also meaningful" so... advantage non-trads? Well you could flip it - a science major with a VR of 13 is probably meaningful, and an arts major gets a 5 ....... That was worded delightfully vaguely in the document. Not sure what the effect of being `significant` either way is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LupeFiasco Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 "Although we said that MCAT only counted for 15%, the reality was that it was playing a much bigger role than we wanted it to in determining who got into out program." I cannot believe they made that mistake... That's embarrassing. Reiter spoke about this in his article a little while ago (2004) http://www.springerlink.com/content/w7q454nj577642l0/. A medical school should simply not be making these kinds of mistakes... For those are who are interested in the stats portion, I did a whole analysis post a couple months ago: http://premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50333&page=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey_whiz Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 "Although we said that MCAT only counted for 15%, the reality was that it was playing a much bigger role than we wanted it to in determining who got into out program." I cannot believe they made that mistake... That's embarrassing. Reiter spoke about this in his article a little while ago (2004) http://www.springerlink.com/content/w7q454nj577642l0/. A medical school should simply not be making these kinds of mistakes... For those are who are interested in the stats portion, I did a whole analysis post a couple months ago: http://premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50333&page=6 that article by reiter looks to be a good read, any chance i can get my hands on the full article? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Pixie* Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 I wonder how many people are thanking God they don't believe in right now that they got in this past cycle.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarathonRunner Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 I wonder how many people are thanking God they don't believe in right now that they got in this past cycle.... I'm willing to bet I know at least two who are very happy they got in off the WL, given these changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erk Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 I wonder how many people are thanking God they don't believe in right now that they got in this past cycle.... On the flip side I'm thinking "Wow, if I hadn't got in this year my confidence for next year would be through the roof right now." I have to say, I strongly approve of all these changes. UCalgary looks to be trying to turn itself into the kind of school I think all med schools should be, accepting people based on merit and ability to be good doctors rather than having "played the game" from high school onwards. As a longtime (okay, since last July or so) proponent of the VR section of the MCAT, I have to say I think it's a very wise change to make the VR more important. Capability of doing VR indicates a logical, flexible, organised mind; the other sections do indicate this a bit, but could also just indicate the ability to crunch a lot of raw data. One thing I've learned from tutoring VR is that the same skills apply to writing a good essay, answering an MMI question, or reading a scientific article. VR signifies a lot of important traits and cannot be faked. I'll freely admit bias, but I am a little sad to see all written components removed. I could see turning the importance way down, since 10% of the final score was pretty huge, but being able to write clearly and coherently is a signifier of a lot of things, not the least of which is simple language proficiency. Still, as a writer, I'm definitely strongly biased in favour of more writing tests, and the other changes may cover this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Pixie* Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 On the flip side I'm thinking "Wow, if I hadn't got in this year my confidence for next year would be through the roof right now." I have to say, I strongly approve of all these changes. UCalgary looks to be trying to turn itself into the kind of school I think all med schools should be, accepting people based on merit and ability to be good doctors rather than having "played the game" from high school onwards. As a longtime (okay, since last July or so) proponent of the VR section of the MCAT, I have to say I think it's a very wise change to make the VR more important. Capability of doing VR indicates a logical, flexible, organised mind; the other sections do indicate this a bit, but could also just indicate the ability to crunch a lot of raw data. One thing I've learned from tutoring VR is that the same skills apply to writing a good essay, answering an MMI question, or reading a scientific article. VR signifies a lot of important traits and cannot be faked. I'll freely admit bias, but I am a little sad to see all written components removed. I could see turning the importance way down, since 10% of the final score was pretty huge, but being able to write clearly and coherently is a signifier of a lot of things, not the least of which is simple language proficiency. Still, as a writer, I'm definitely strongly biased in favour of more writing tests, and the other changes may cover this stuff. I thought to myself: omg, now there are really making it clear that having a 4.0 and a good MCAT is good, but not good enough....because now 60% of your application relies on ECs and the relationships you have built to show who you are as a person. I also LOVE the idea of the timeline, because it would really highlight people that kept themselves busy with ECs during a full-course load. One of the negatives though is that I cant just simply upload my old application this year with a few changes/additions. It will have to be a whole new thing and a lot of work. AGAIN. LML:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalkeener Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 wow. good thing I'm studying for VR night and day. my VR score is terrible. i read many studies however that show that the WS is the greatest predictor of how effective a clinician an MD graduate will become! isn't that relevant? (yes, my WS is high). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountantGirl Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 Yahoo!!! Just when I was starting to feel totally overwhelmed with studying for the MCAT because I took only chem in university!! I'm not feeling nearly as doubtful about this whole thing now!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 Ohhhhhhh this sucks. Calg pulled a Mac-Western. My digital tears are flowing right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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