Grad Applicant - some question regarding U of T

[CoffeeZ]

Hello

 

Thanks everyone for your valuable comments. I hope we will be the colleagues at U T med.

[bearpuppy]

I think you've pretty much answered your own questions.

 

(1) Your GPA is fine.

 

(2) Work on getting a great MCAT score if you haven't done so already.

 

(3) Your volunteer activities are poor. None of them sound like they take much effort. Find something you would LIKE to do (i.e. you're going to get more out of it than just another EC) and put in some significant time towards it.

 

as an aside: be prepared to answer WHY medicine and not just continue with research as a post-doc.

[missmathematics]

The only thing poor about this person's volunteer activities is that he/she began them too late.

 

Otherwise, TAing, being a reviewer for a journal, etc. are great ECs!

[CoffeeZ]

The only thing poor about this person's volunteer activities is that he/she began them too late.

 

Otherwise, TAing, being a reviewer for a journal, etc. are great ECs!

 

Thank you bearpuppy and missmathematis, I have been TAing the course for four years. I got some volunteering experience back in undergrad, but not much. I am planning to do two different kind of volunteering works next year and both will be long term commitments, dont you think i still cannot make up that category? I dont know how much is enough as I need to push my two other first author papers out next year.

[bearpuppy]

Thank you bearpuppy and missmathematis, I have been TAing the course for four years. I got some volunteering experience back in undergrad, but not much. I am planning to do two different kind of volunteering works next year and both will be long term commitments, dont you think i still cannot make up that category? I dont know how much is enough as I need to push my two other first author papers out next year.

 

In the end you need to do what you can, what is reasonable for yourself and what you are genuinely interested in. I didn't mean to give you a hard time, I just think that volunteering needs to be a bit outside of your comfort zone and most of yours weren't. But yes, I definitely think you have time to make up for that.

 

btw.. when you apply you get to list everything since high school, so make sure to include your undergrad volunteering.

 

and lastly -- its great that you have shown commitment by TAing the same course for 4 years. Ask your PI (or whoever makes sense) to comment on your TAing in their ref letter (e.g. "X always got extremely positive TA reviews, scored 4.5/5 overall..." etc etc).

[007antonymous]

In the end you need to do what you can, what is reasonable for yourself and what you are genuinely interested in. I didn't mean to give you a hard time, I just think that volunteering needs to be a bit outside of your comfort zone and most of yours weren't. But yes, I definitely think you have time to make up for that.

 

btw.. when you apply you get to list everything since high school, so make sure to include your undergrad volunteering.

 

and lastly -- its great that you have shown commitment by TAing the same course for 4 years. Ask your PI (or whoever makes sense) to comment on your TAing in their ref letter (e.g. "X always got extremely positive TA reviews, scored 4.5/5 overall..." etc etc).

 

Not really sure why volunteering has to be out of your comfort zone. It's actually better to stick to a few things and show commitment rather than volunteer a few hours here and there just to go out of your comfort zone. Would probably look more like you're trying to pad your CV. My advice is to stick with what you enjoy doing so that you can tell them all about it during the interview and how each can be translated to the practice of medicine.

[bearpuppy]

Not really sure why volunteering has to be out of your comfort zone. It's actually better to stick to a few things and show commitment rather than volunteer a few hours here and there just to go out of your comfort zone. Would probably look more like you're trying to pad your CV. My advice is to stick with what you enjoy doing so that you can tell them all about it during the interview and how each can be translated to the practice of medicine.

 

i dont think volunteering out of your comfort zone equates to "volunteering a few hours"... I meant a significant amount of volunteering doing something that takes significant effort outside of your comfort zone. anyway, just my opinion.

[rmorelan]

i dont think volunteering out of your comfort zone equates to "volunteering a few hours"... I meant a significant amount of volunteering doing something that takes significant effort outside of your comfort zone. anyway, just my opinion.

 

Signs of logical progression are good of course (a by product of pushing). That is where things get pretty impressive by the end and you get that "wow" factor

[WaveSense]

Ec is more than just volunteering. Everything you do outside of school is considered EC. TAing is extraciricular. Don't volunteer just for applications. The original purpose and value of volunteering is to show that you are involved in the community and that you have a certain character. Volunteering the year or two prior to applying to medicine shows the opposite IMO.

Your application stats are fine and you should get an interview at Toronto. But drop that prestigious crap, toronto is a good school but every school in Canada puts out great and not so great physicians. Going into apps with this preoccupation about prestige will raise interesting questions that you dont want to distract from your application.

[californiadream]

Does anyone know if we can hand in our packages in person at any time (ie is there a dropbox that one can access outside of the 9am-5pm office hours)? Or do we need to hand it in during office hours?

 

Thanks

[page_matrix]

the admissions blog said you could drop it off at the Registrar's Office Rm2306. Don't drop it off at the mailing address provided in the instructions.

[page_matrix]

Is there a page limit for your cv?