Feedback appreciated!

[dilemma15]

After this admissions cycle, I would really appreciate some feedback.

I applied as a third year applicant to Ottawa and U of T, and got rejected from both pre-interview.

cGPA: 3.98

MCAT: 12/8/12 S

 

Extracurriculars:

2 summers of research with two separate PIs, no publications yet, but in progress

1 year of hospital volunteering (and continuing)

executive member of club

summer job: have worked as office assistant for 3 years (before research)

Academic honors: perfect GPA in one year, top 10% of class scholarships, top student in my highschool, etc.

I also listed high-school activities on the ABS.

 

Any suggestions on what might have not been enough? (especially for Ottawa, since they don't look at MCAT)

 

Thanks!!

[Savac]

The first thing I would do is take a good look at how you worded your ABS and/or essays. This could have had a large impact, since your ECs look fine on paper. Perhaps you could add some non-clinical volunteering, sports, music, more clubs, etc. to broaden your range of ECs to appear as a more rounded applicant.

 

You can also try taking the MCAT again to increase the amount of schools that you're competitive at, but it depends on what you were scoring in practice.

[dilemma15]

Thank you very much for the advice!

 

In practice, I was scoring anything from 7 to 10.

[Savac]

In that case, it might not be worth it to take the test again. A 9 won't really open any extra doors for you, but a 10 certainly would. It really depends on whether you feel that you could score >=10

[bearpuppy]

Thank you very much for the advice!

 

In practice, I was scoring anything from 7 to 10.

 

Also note that UToronto has minimums of 9/9/9 N.... while you did score higher in other categories, they likely will give much less leniency for a 3rd year... so since one of them was below 9, that is likely your key reason for rejection.

[Savac]

Also note that UToronto has minimums of 9/9/9 N.... while you did score higher in other categories, they likely will give much less leniency for a 3rd year... so since one of them was below 9, that is likely your key reason for rejection.

 

It could have a contributing factor, but that would not be the sole reason. Deborah has stated on their blog that they will routinely forgive an 8 in one section (as long as it is not the Biological Sciences section). The rejection would have been based on another aspect of the application, most likely. I'll admit that it might be possible that the rest of the application was not strong enough to compensate for the 8, since the 8 flagged the application.

[future_doc]

For U/T, the wording of your ABS and autobio submissions. For U/O, wording and insufficient ECs.

[dilemma15]

Thank you so much for all the responses!

 

Any general tips on ABS wording...or better yet, a specific example?

[Tuffy1]

I'm interested in that as well. We have similar stats and I got rejected from Ottawa U as well. Does anyone have any examples on how to word things? Given the space limitations how is it really possible to change this much?

[dilemma15]

^Thanks. I did mention it, but it clearly did not help.

[Savac]

Your marks are quiet high and your ECs sound great. Perhaps you should get someone to look at your sketch and your own interview behavior? Clearly there is a child living inside the mind of a man.

 

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

[dilemma15]

Your marks are quiet high and your ECs sound great. Perhaps you should get someone to look at your sketch and your own interview behavior? Clearly there is a child living inside the mind of a man.

 

Are there people who can look at someone's ABS? Who?

(I didn't get any interviews, so I'm guessing my interview skills are not a problem )