FAQ: Northern Ontario Status and Context Score

[pollynewman]

On 11/7/2016 at 0:53 PM, rural_roots said:

 

How many years total have you spent in Northern Ontario according to your omsas application under supplementary info for NOSM?  I imagine that is one of the most important factors when calculating context score.

I've spent four years in NWO

[mitmtl]

so does living in a big city like montreal, toronto, ottawa, vancouver, etc... automatically gives a zero to your context score?

[20206111]

Hi! 

I live in Quebec and I lived up until 11 y/o in a rural city (less than 5000 people). I don't see where I write my "rural history". In the OMSAS it's only adolescent years. I guess my context score will be super low... Should I even apply? Anyone from Montreal (or bigger city) applied? Thanks!

[HappyAndHopeful]

On 2017-08-05 at 5:10 AM, mitmtl said:

so does living in a big city like montreal, toronto, ottawa, vancouver, etc... automatically gives a zero to your context score?

I don't think we know for sure whether it would give you a 0 as we don't know how context is scored, but as per the yearly class statistics, most (if not all) accepted applicants are either from northern Ontario, or another rural community. 

[HappyAndHopeful]

3 hours ago, 20206111 said:

Hi! 

I live in Quebec and I lived up until 11 y/o in a rural city (less than 5000 people). I don't see where I write my "rural history". In the OMSAS it's only adolescent years. I guess my context score will be super low... Should I even apply? Anyone from Montreal (or bigger city) applied? Thanks!

I believe there's a section under the NOSM-specific portion of the application (where the NOSM essays are) that asks you to list all the locations you've lived in.

[greensurR]

.

[Healthgirl123]

Hi Everyone

I know the context score is kept secret, but does anyone know if I live where the RIO score is 77, is this good? I live very rurally, but not enough North to be considered northern I don't think

Thanks! 

[Tango Charlie]

A RIO of 77 is pretty rural. If it gives you any idea, I recall a person who has lived in Sudbury their entire lives being described during a recent NOSM open house as likely having a context score somewhere in the middle of the range. So it isn't just northern-ness that's valued, of course.

I'd also direct you to NOSM's class profiles page: https://www.nosm.ca/education/md-program/admissions/class-profiles/

As you can see, while the overwhelming majority are from Northern Ontario, around 10% are from rural locales elsewhere. You sound like you might fit that description. Best of luck.

 

[Healthgirl123]

On 5/5/2020 at 6:54 AM, Tango Charlie said:

A RIO of 77 is pretty rural. If it gives you any idea, I recall a person who has lived in Sudbury their entire lives being described during a recent NOSM open house as likely having a context score somewhere in the middle of the range. So it isn't just northern-ness that's valued, of course.

I'd also direct you to NOSM's class profiles page: https://www.nosm.ca/education/md-program/admissions/class-profiles/

As you can see, while the overwhelming majority are from Northern Ontario, around 10% are from rural locales elsewhere. You sound like you might fit that description. Best of luck.

 

Thank you!!

[Curveball]

Hello everyone. I was wondering how long I'd need to be living in a northern area for my context score to be valued favorably? Right now I'm quite certain that however my context score is tabulated, mine will be 0: I grew up in Toronto, studied in Toronto, and lived in Sudbury for a few years but ended up moving back to Toronto when that was done. I finished my nursing degree last year at Ryerson (cGPA 3.89) and I've been working as an RN on a general medicine unit, but in the next few months I'll be moving up to the NWT, for a 1 year contract in an ER. I think nursing up there is a really fantastic opportunity for a lot of reasons: they're frequently short-staffed, I'll be working with many Indigenous communities, and as an RN up there I'll be able to practice with a wider scope than I would in southern Ontario (in large part due to the staffing issues). My question is whether or not a sustained amount of experience working in the far north (such as 4-5 years) would be enough to balance out my otherwise completely urban origins, especially if it wasn't in Northern Ontario? Any assistance is appreciated, take care and stay safe. 

[YoungDumb&Broke]

13 hours ago, Curveball said:

Hello everyone. I was wondering how long I'd need to be living in a northern area for my context score to be valued favorably? Right now I'm quite certain that however my context score is tabulated, mine will be 0: I grew up in Toronto, studied in Toronto, and lived in Sudbury for a few years but ended up moving back to Toronto when that was done. I finished my nursing degree last year at Ryerson (cGPA 3.89) and I've been working as an RN on a general medicine unit, but in the next few months I'll be moving up to the NWT, for a 1 year contract in an ER. I think nursing up there is a really fantastic opportunity for a lot of reasons: they're frequently short-staffed, I'll be working with many Indigenous communities, and as an RN up there I'll be able to practice with a wider scope than I would in southern Ontario (in large part due to the staffing issues). My question is whether or not a sustained amount of experience working in the far north (such as 4-5 years) would be enough to balance out my otherwise completely urban origins, especially if it wasn't in Northern Ontario? Any assistance is appreciated, take care and stay safe. 

I think population size is also an important consideration. To answer your question though, it might have to be a while (hard to give a number with certainty) and depends on what you do to demonstrate commitment. I’ve lived in a large northern community OOP for 5+ years, in a healthcare setting, but was not accepted to interviews.