Guest BrainDrain Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 the Beav, Right now, I'm at the point of choosing among my acceptances and this includes taking the various financial packages into consideration. Unfortunately, the schools that are offering me scholarships are not the schools I really want to go to. My parents have offered to pay but I will probably be taking out loans and applying for scholarships too. You'd be surprised at the amount of "free money" there is out there in terms of scholarships no one knows about. I do have some money saved up from not having to pay anything for my undergrad. I did apply to Queen's and Western but didn't make the VR/writing cut-off. They says I dont rite good:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Beaver Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 Thanks for the info Good luck to you the beav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BrainDrain Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 YongQ, Funny thing you should mention the essay. When I got rejected, I went to UofT admissions to ask why and they simply said that my essay was poor. I used the exact same essay on my US application and I got rave reviews from my interviewers at various schools. Go figure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shkelo Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 Something BrainDrain said makes me wonder ("with your marks, why are you applying here?" or something like that). I was under the impression that interviewers don't know an applicant's MCAT and GPA going into the interview because it is designed to be an impartial process with the goal of discovering other essential characterisitics/motivations for a career in medicine. BrainDrain, did you, by chance, mention your GPA stats during the interview? I think this is a big "no-no" if you did, because it may have the opposite effect of what you intended, making you appear arrogant, superficial, success in "numbers" and all that. There is usually a reason that stellar GPA applicants, like yourself, get shafted in the end by medical schools. Your essay may have contributed but my guess is that in previous years, a poor performance score on the interview was likely the culprit. Welcome to "Red Flag" city, population one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 Hey Braindrain.... you're really going to go to the UofT interview weekend to tell them to "shove it" ??!! :lol That is great news for the rest of us that have- or have had- UofT interviews this year. You just increased our chances of admission! Thanks! At the same time, I think that it is slightly unfair to take an interview spot away from someone that actually wants to attend UofT. Given that there are a set number of interviews at UofT, likely someone else is getting a PFO because of you. (Maybe you got a PFO last year because somebody else did this to you!!) I don't want to start a war, just pointing this out. Maybe I'll see you at the interview weekend. I'll be there on May 12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim Carrey Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 You didn't even get an interview with a GPA 4.0, MCAT 36 and excellent EC's + research? Give me a break! I had nothing close to that and got into U of T. Desperate applicants - please don't be intimidated by these horror stories. If you have over 3.8 with the cut-off MCAT you'll get your interviews, at the very least. Most people have more or less the same essay, reference letters and @#%$ EC's. The interview is the deciding factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BCgirl Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 Hi thewonderer: I don't know if you've seen this page, but the UBC stats are listed from 1996-2001 here: www.premed101.com/stats.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The beaver Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 I think the braindrain said he received a 30 on the MCAT with a low verbal score, perhaps thats what kept him from getting an interview....im not really sure of the MCAT or verbal cutoffs at uoft (if there are any) thebeav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 I remember a number of people posting on Delphi last year who were refused U of T interviews with GPAs above 3.9. I also know of one person offered an interview at U of T last year with a cGPA of 3.71. And everything I've heard (YongQ or Akane2000 should be able to verify this) that the MCAT is used ONLY as a flag for U of T, meaning if you're over the 8s/N cutoff your scores don't matter. My guess is the essay has a significant impact your chances for an interview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shkelo Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 Is there a word limit for this forum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sheklo Posted May 1, 2002 Report Share Posted May 1, 2002 Aw, UWOmed2005, now you just ruined my little quip. why'd you have to go and edit your impressively verbose post? The long version was just as good...honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BrainDrain Posted May 1, 2002 Report Share Posted May 1, 2002 UWOMED2005, You are right on by saying that the essay matters at UofT. When I got rejected w/o interview I went to ask admissions what was wrong with my application. If any of you have recieved the PFO letter it says specifically that due to the large number of applications it is not possible to give personal feedback regarding why a certain applicant was rejected. Surprisingly I did get to talk to someone and got some feedback. They gave me a lame ass answer that they compared my essay to my previous year's essay and told me that during the year in between applications, I did not have any significant accomplishments to add. At that moment I knew I didn't want to go to UofT. They had basically told me that not only do I have to compete against other applicants but I'm also competing with myself! Anyways, how is your essay supposed to change in one year!...Is your reason for wanting to be a doctor going to change? NO. This is a note to all you re-applicants to UofT: make sure you add significant accomplishments to your subsequent application in order to make adcom think that you have progressed within the past year!...They may be comparing your new application with your old one. (I always thought they don't keep old applications but apparently they do). Shkelo, In regards to your post, never did I once bring up my GPA on my interviews in the States...it was the interviewer (who had an open file) who always brought it up. One interviewer was even joking with me because I got an A- in a course. Why should the interview be a closed file anyways...your academics is just another topic of discussion for the interview. Sorry to make you all even more nervous as you wait for your acceptances but I'm just telling it like it is. Good luck to you all:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the beaver Posted May 1, 2002 Report Share Posted May 1, 2002 Thats interesting that they compare applications from year to year. I wonder how they know if you had applied the year before? Did you indicate that in your application. I have a feeling the clerk at the admissions desk was feeding you a tale cause could you imagine the logistics in keeping 2000 applications on file and then cross referencing them for people who apply more than once. That would be an administrative nightmare. Thats my take but I could be totally wrong. PS. If you do go to the states, go full out and pick a warm state like Cali or Florida 8) , Can you believe its May 1 and 3degrees brrrrrrrrrrrrr the beav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BrainDrain Posted May 1, 2002 Report Share Posted May 1, 2002 Weather should definitely be a factor when choosing a medical school...plus, in the South, the long nights of studying will not be so bleak in the dead of winter. It takes UofT so long to go through their admissions process...coincidence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 1, 2002 Report Share Posted May 1, 2002 Sorry - I guess I took your quip seriously. . . (sometimes hard to tell what a poster's tone is) and my post was really long!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 Sigh... Thewonderer, sometimes you really come across as being unreasonably persistent. We hashed out this entire issue in a 60+ message thread in the UBC forum, and yet you still decide to derail a developing thread by inserting your "observations" about UBC medical school, which had nothing to do with the talk at hand. Why are you so fixated on this conspiracy theory of yours? The fact that someone rejected from UBC can get into another school is no surprise. That's why people apply to multiple schools, to enhance their chances of getting accepted. It's no secret that with 700 applicants for 128 spots, that many qualified people will be turned away. This occurs at EVERY medical school. As for your two points below, they're simply wrong, but thanks again for the misinformation. <!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote>Quote:<hr> UBC med certainly does well on the match but so did other med schools in Canada. Furthermore, I am not sure how many years Dr. Bates has been on the admission committee. But let's see a few years down the road if Dr. Bate's personally picked med students still do THAT well in the match. I personally was told from my friend in Ian's year that PBL was not received that well, especially some felt that it was an attempt to cut down cost by asking students to learn the material by themselves. Couple that with the recent woes in UBC hospital, I don't think that UBC med is doing too hot right now.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> This class that matched was done under Dr. Bate's time at UBC. I happen to think she's doing an excellent job. Our classes are extremely diverse, work well together, have a strong academic background while in school, and at the end of it all, this graduating class matched into many competitive specialties, at a rate I am confident is higher than many other Canadian med schools. PBL also COSTS MORE to teach than traditional teaching. Much more. Clearly, your "friend" in my class is misinformed, or else you are. In teaching a single 2 month block, we need to teach 20 PBL groups of 8 students (160 students total, which includes 40 dental students). That means 20 teachers, professors, clinicians, or grad students need to make a two hour committment each other morning for 8 consecutive weeks. It's a hell of a lot CHEAPER to hire some teacher to come in once to give their one hour lecture, than it is to convince someone to come in regularly over a two month time for a total of 24 morning teaching sessions (3 mornings a week for 8 weeks). Thanks for your input, but it isn't correct. Not at all. And if you're going to bring up UBC med admissions beefs, please have the courtesy to start it in its own thread in the UBC forum. Thanks, Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PeterHill0501 Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 Ian, Thanks for providing this background. It's really unfortunate that the adcoms can't use this site to get a better picture of what people are like day-to-day...I think we'd find the admissions process would be much more efficient at weeding out these kinds of people. I find it somewhat disheartening to think that someone who lacks maturity that my 6 and 10 year-olds have is thinking about becoming a doctor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest utapp Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 are you sure you want the adcoms to see the "jokes" that have been floating around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MDCY Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 They'd probably find them not too tasteful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PeterHill0501 Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 hey...they're human too...I'm sure they'd enjoy them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 Actually, I've heard some of the schools in the US do something similar. . . they get their med students to volunteer to help out during the weekends as interview escorts, tour guides (much as we do here) and then get feedback from those students to see how the applicants really are "outside the interview room" (which I don't think ANY Canadian schools do - at least I know for a fact Western does NOT do that. . .) The problem with such tactics is that it induces paranoia. . . and can adversely affect the interview the opposite way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jase133 Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 Is this thread STILL going on? Heh I see that some people asked me questions re: some meds students telling me that I'm "f***ing stupid." No, it was not a "first time" experience. In fact, I got to know them over a couple of months and have known them for over a year now. They're still arrogant - note: I'm not generalizing, okay? Just those I know. And no, it wasn't a misunderstanding. They were just rude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Beaver Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 Jase What was the scenario under which you were called these names? This is a serious flaw in character and I know of two students who were removed of a particular med school for the very same offence against an applicant. Essentially behaviour like that should not and is certainly not tolerated if brought to the attention of the med school. After all what are these guys going to to if they have a patient they dont like, tell them to @#%$ off? Its shocking that people would behave that way after knowing you for a COUPLE of months. Fear not though as a TA at UofT I was sworn at a few times, and spat on once. This was by the undergrads mind you. I think you should really pesue this because behaviour like that is disgusting for anyone let alone med students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest YongQ Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 Hi everybody, just some random comments and responses: BrainDrain, there you go, someone (either of your interviewers) probably hated your essay for whatever reason. And it may not even have had anything to do with the quality of your writing... Shkelo, you're right - the interviewers only have your essay and extracurriculars. UWOMED2005, U of T uses MCAT cutoffs. That means a 9, 10, 11, Q is the same as 13-15, 15, 15, T. I have to check up on that comparing applications from year-to-year issue, because I'm almost positive that's wrong... whoever the admissions person you spoke to was, may have just made it up. I know, that wouldn't be very nice of them... I'll have to ask a 2nd year about this before I make any firm statement though. Jim Carrey, you'd be surprised at the bad essays some people write. It's definitely a vital criterion in admissions, and something you should think of writing over several weeks and not several days. Ian, at UBC you pay your PBL tutors? That's interesting, because at U of T, all part-time clinical tutors volunteer their time... so the cost of PBL is not as high (however it's a real b**** to organize). I think we have just as many PBLs as you too, at least for this segment of our curriculum (neuro, an 8-week course) where it's 3 x 2 hours a week with the same tutor. YONGQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest safaf Posted May 2, 2002 Report Share Posted May 2, 2002 What are the roles of the interviewers after the interview process......do they just give the adcom a score (1 - 20). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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