3.7 Minimum Cut Off Rule for Western

[impossible]

Hey guys,

 

So here is my question: if an applicant meets the 3.7 min GPA cut off, does he become "equal" with other applicants with 3.7+ GPAs

 

(i.e. if you have 3.9 GPA for best two years, after meeting the cut offs, do you have an advantage over someone who has just a 3.7?)

 

OR is the deciding factor to get an interview at western the MCAT??

[rmorelan]

Hey guys,

 

So here is my question: if an applicant meets the 3.7 min GPA cut off, does he become "equal" with other applicants with 3.7+ GPAs

 

(i.e. if you have 3.9 GPA for best two years, after meeting the cut offs, do you have an advantage over someone who has just a 3.7?)

 

OR is the deciding factor to get an interview at western the MCAT??

 

Let me see if I understand your question First off they are simply cut offs so if you make them you get an interview - in that sense it doesn't matter what your GPA is post whatever the cut off is (which may not be 3.7 this coming year - these are not fixed targets after all).

 

In terms of acceptance at the end officially we don't know. That is just not posted anywhere -

 

Unofficially it seems very likely that people with higher GPAs have an advantage. This can be inferred from the rejected/accepted statistics from the past and some basic statistical analysis. It is even kind of fun to try and infer the rules (if you assume that GPA/MCAT has no correlation to interview performance and that interview performance is normally distributed then you can start to do analysis etc). We also know way, way back that the school published a summary of the rules that said while the interview was worth a lot GPA and MCAT where both used. However that was so long ago now that it is basically useless (you know how things change in this game - relying on something coming up 10 years ago is just not logical).

 

We do however also know that people with lower GPAs have been accepted in the past. The only advice that seems to fall out of all of this is simply do your best in all things, and if you think you have a chance, even if it is small, apply. Also remember schools do not interview people that do not have a realistic chance - they simply do not want to waste resources

[future_doc]

Executive Summary: At the interview, be the best who you are.

[captcapt]

there are people with 4.0s who do not get in as a result of a bad interview and those with 3.7 who get in based on great interviews. In any case the interview is worth a substantial amount in the acceptance calculation. But as previously stated we do not know westerns admission formula. As rmorelan said if you get an interview you have a very real chance of being accepted.

[nosuperman]

And I'll echo that it is very likely GPA helps you, though interview seems to play the biggest part.

[muhgel]

First off they are simply cut offs so if you make them you get an interview - in that sense it doesn't matter what your GPA is post whatever the cut off is (which may not be 3.7 this coming year - these are not fixed targets after all).

 

Is this true? If you meet the cut-off, you get an interview?

[markov79]

Is this true? If you meet the cut-off, you get an interview?

 

pretty much. that's why the cut offs usually change every year. they're tailoring the cuts to the applicant pool so they get a target interview invite group of ~450. of course, if you have a criminal record or something that needs further looking into, then you might not. that's why their site says something like "note: meeting the cut offs does not guarantee an interview"... but ya.

[muhgel]

any idea when the GPA/MCAT cut-offs for 2012/13 cycle will be posted?

 

thanks!

[thehumanmacbook]

any idea when the GPA/MCAT cut-offs for 2012/13 cycle will be posted?

 

thanks!

 

Sometime when interviews are released (late Jan).

[rmorelan]

Sometime when interviews are released (late Jan).

 

or a bit before - usually there is lag between the cut offs posted and the actual interview invites. Actually I think in one part that is the point - they need to process the applications fully with those cut offs in mind but if they know them they think they can relieve some stress by announcing them as soon as they can. After all once they are out you can compute whether you would get an interview yourself

[muhgel]

this is my first year taking a stab at Western Ontario, can anyone share the historic cut-offs please?

 

thans!!

[markov79]

iirc, it's been something like 9/11/10/(P or O) and 3.7 or 3.75 gpa. vr was 10 a few years back, but as you can imagine, a vr cut off of 11 is going to eliminate a ton of people, so that's probably why it has stayed at 11 the past couple years. i could be wrong about the ps and bs scores.

 

nb: i'm going by "ps/vr/bs/ws"

[muhgel]

mind if i ask one more question? that's considered 5 full/equivalent courseload? what's the equivalent of that in the OMSAS length? 10? what happen if it's 9?

[markov79]

mind if i ask one more question? that's considered 5 full/equivalent courseload? what's the equivalent of that in the OMSAS length? 10? what happen if it's 9?

 

that's 5 questions . uhmmm ya i believe it's 10? like just 5 courses in each semester that are weighted as 0.5, or n # of full year courses, and m # of half year courses in each semester currently happening, where n+m=5.

 

so an example would be chem, physics, bio, math, english. you can't have chem, physics, bio, math + a lab that's only going to be worth 0.25 credits (like some of the ones at waterloo), because that would put your workload for the semester at 2.25 instead of 2.5 credits, UNLESS (i think) you make up for the credits in the other semester for that year. i have a feeling my explanation is more confusing that it needs to be. if you don't have what western calls a full course load in a year, that year won't be counted as one of your best 2 years, i think.

 

anyone feel free to correct and mistakes.

[rmorelan]

that's 5 questions . uhmmm ya i believe it's 10? like just 5 courses in each semester that are weighted as 0.5, or n # of full year courses, and m # of half year courses in each semester currently happening, where n+m=5.

 

so an example would be chem, physics, bio, math, english. you can't have chem, physics, bio, math + a lab that's only going to be worth 0.25 credits (like some of the ones at waterloo), because that would put your workload for the semester at 2.25 instead of 2.5 credits, UNLESS (i think) you make up for the credits in the other semester for that year. i have a feeling my explanation is more confusing that it needs to be. if you don't have what western calls a full course load in a year, that year won't be counted as one of your best 2 years, i think.

 

anyone feel free to correct and mistakes.

 

no corrections required - any combination of courses between Sept 1 and Apr 30th that sums to 5.0 credits would work and is required for that year to count.

 

Also (not asked but never hurts to mention) you need to have at least 3.0 of those courses at the right course level.

[muhgel]

what is 5.0 converted into "OMSAS length"? Clearly I did my degree outside of Ontario and have problem interpreting WO's req't. Maybe I'll shoot them an email. Thanks everyone

[markov79]

what is 5.0 converted into "OMSAS length"? Clearly I did my degree outside of Ontario and have problem interpreting WO's req't. Maybe I'll shoot them an email. Thanks everyone

 

hey, sorry, i guess you did ask that earlier and i didn't really answer. 5.0 credits by uwo's standards means having 10.0 omsas equivalents in a year (see below for explanation).

 

a full-year course is considered 2.0 on omsas, and a normal half-credit is 1.0. just be careful, because there are examples where something is one semester in length but only counted as 0.5 by omsas (example: http://www.ucalendar.uwaterloo.ca/0708/COURSE/course-BIOL.html scroll down until you see "BIOL 130L LAB 0.25 Course ID: 011567 Cell Biology Laboratory"). and, there are examples of courses that go full-year, but are only counted as 1.0 by omsas (example: http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/2012/pg949.html#36087 the "Physiology 3130Y"). so those are two anomalies to give you an idea of what you should be looking out for. typically, though, a course that runs for one semester will be 1.0 by omsas standards, and a course that runs full-year will be 2.0 by omsas. so you need to take 5 2.0 courses or 10 1.0 courses, or a mix, that add up to 10.0 omsas credit equivalents.

[Ocelot]

Is it true that Western will take the best 5.0 credits (or 10 best 0.5 courses) for the year?

 

Say I took 5 courses in fall sem (0.5 each) and then 6 courses in the winter sem. Would they only look at the best of those?

[markov79]

Is it true that Western will take the best 5.0 credits (or 10 best 0.5 courses) for the year?

 

Say I took 5 courses in fall sem (0.5 each) and then 6 courses in the winter sem. Would they only look at the best of those?

 

yeppers.

 

6. How is the Grade Point Average (GPA) calculated?

 

Only those undergraduate years in which at least 5 full or equivalent courses (30 credit hours) are taken between September and April will be used in the calculation of the GPA. When students take more than 5 full courses during any September to April academic year the five best courses will be used in the calculation of GPA admission cutoffs.

 

http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/admissions/medicine/interviewfaq#FAQ_2

[rmorelan]

what is 5.0 converted into "OMSAS length"? Clearly I did my degree outside of Ontario and have problem interpreting WO's req't. Maybe I'll shoot them an email. Thanks everyone

 

never a bad idea

[Ocelot]

yeppers.

 

6. How is the Grade Point Average (GPA) calculated?

 

Only those undergraduate years in which at least 5 full or equivalent courses (30 credit hours) are taken between September and April will be used in the calculation of the GPA. When students take more than 5 full courses during any September to April academic year the five best courses will be used in the calculation of GPA admission cutoffs.

 

http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/admissions/medicine/interviewfaq#FAQ_2

 

Awesome. Thanks!

[tl91]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but I have a similar question. Is Student X with only 1 complete year of say, a 3.8 GPA, considered equal to Student Y with 2 complete years with a 3.8 GPA (or even 3.7 avg) in those 2 years? I ask because I know Western will accept conditionally if your current year meets the cut-offs too, but realistically there's no telling which student will have the higher 2-year GPA.

[toastman]

I do believe there is a bit of a disadvantage, but thats just based on what I've seen on this forum. It seems like most of the conditional acceptances have gone to SWOMENers. It could be that they just sub in your second year as 3.7, we really dont know. But if you didn't have a chance of gaining acceptance, they wouldn't have this rule in place at all. So don't worry.

[rmorelan]

I do believe there is a bit of a disadvantage, but thats just based on what I've seen on this forum. It seems like most of the conditional acceptances have gone to SWOMENers. It could be that they just sub in your second year as 3.7, we really dont know. But if you didn't have a chance of gaining acceptance, they wouldn't have this rule in place at all. So don't worry.

 

exactly - schools don't have rules that never actually have an effect. There would be no point in managing the workload associated with such a policy

[jerkstore]

I can't believe Western has a NOSM-like policy about bringing in students to support an area in SOUTHERN Ontario. I mean this is where like all the people in Canada are? Way up North I can understand but what the hell does Western think their graduates are going to be guaranteed residencies in SWO or have a bevy of job opportunities there? Chances are no matter who they let in, they're going to end up somewhere else.