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Poor ECs Lots of Work Experience


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Hi everyone,

Long time lurker - first time poster :)

I have a question, I have held jobs, generally with nearly full-time hours since early high school. As a result, my record of ECs is fairly poor.

I am currently working as a data analyst for a regional cancer program. I graduated with not super-competitive grades (3.4/4 ish), have a masters degree complete with much research experience, and a fairly good MCAT VR score (12).

So my question is.....does anyone know if lots of work references can replace some of the gap filled by my missing ECs? I have heard McMaster can be sticklers for ECs......

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I have wondered this too but the personal conclusion I've come to is that it wont matter all that much. They want a 'well rounded' 'people oriented' kind of person who is a hard worker....I think they realize that some of us don't have the luxury of NOT working during our education (while others from wealthier families may because mommy and daddy pay for everything:P) I dont think they would penalize us for it. Also, from my understanding of it...they dont evenask for your ECs in the application...you just bring it up (and the things you learned) in Casper

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i didnt bring up any past experience during casper or mmi. my friend also did neither, we we both did fine.

 

ECs arent part of the criteria at mac, correct.

 

I also did not talk about my experiences at all. I saw other applicants do so, but in my mind, the MMI and CASPer questions were not suitable for me talking about my ECs.

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ECs are not taken into account in the McMaster admissions formula, so you have nothing to worry about. I maybe mentioned an EC once throughout the entire CASPER and interview process. You could definitely use your personal experiences from working full time to support your answers if need be.

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oh really! wow I didn't know that! Thats just so weird to me. So I could have absolutely NO volunteer or work experience.... and they wouldn't know...? that just...doesnt seem right! lol

 

So what exactly would you guys say in interviews? I thought they asked you situational stuff that you were supposed to justify your response to via having dealt with previous experiences or something?

 

thanks for the info you guys real eye opener! :)

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nah I just talked about what I thought in the situations. to be honest, I figured that if I started using my experiences, it might come across as pompous and show-offy. like of like a family guy non-sequitur "oh this is like that time when ..." "this reminds me of when..."

 

I just explained my opinions and reasoning. They want to see that you can quickly grasp a situation and deal with it in an insightful manner, showing sensitivity to subltleties or various facets of the scenario. that's just my take, anyways.

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You can use previous experiences to answer the questions if that's your style or you wish to do so. The bottom line is, no one really knows what "they" (adcoms) want you to say in your interview. So just be yourself, answer in a way that feels comfortable for you, and of course, practice answering some sample MMI questions before the interview. I wouldn't try to force mentioning your ECs or previous work experience in every answer if it doesn't flow - I personally found that experiences from ECs just really didn't fit naturally into many of my MMI answers.

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Thanks everyone for the information.

I know that McMaster doesn't officially "score" ECs and what not, but had wondered if anyone had a feel for how important they were.

I feel much better now.

Now on to the issue of my abysmal undergrad marks :s lol.

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