The post-interview wait

[Aetherus]

They are pretty cool, but they aren't really that focused on the campus I find... each one shares the story of one medical student while showing pics of the campus. They talk a bit about what they like about each campus. Not enough to change my ranking, but was fun to watch!

[Silverwolf1277]

They are pretty cool, but they aren't really that focused on the campus I find... each one shares the story of one medical student while showing pics of the campus. They talk a bit about what they like about each campus. Not enough to change my ranking, but was fun to watch!

 

Agreed. Well made and interesting but still not really informative beyond the basic things you probably already knew.

[keith_015]

Good luck to all of you waiting for results! I look forward to meeting and teaching you (as a resident) at the Waterloo campus!

 

I did my U/G at UWaterloo and lived there afterwards until I went to med school out of ON. My first choice program was Waterloo: that tells you how much I love the region. I thought I would weigh in and give you a perspective for being in KW.

 

First, remember, that the Waterloo campus and both major hospitals are actually in Kitchener. All three are very central to K/W as a whole, and are easily accessible by transit should you choose to live in Waterloo, and not have a car. I used to live at King/Columbia and bike to Grand River Hospital, so tells you how easy/close it can be to get there should you live in Waterloo.

 

Waterloo type housing is VERY U/G student oriented, but since I've lived there, a bunch of big condo towers have popped up, so conditions may have improved from grungy unkempt and crowded houses. Always expect noise/parties, and big rent money for maybe not what you'd expect if you live anywhere near the universities, especially WLU. It is fun though to live in that area as the nightlife is an easy walk away, as well as Uptown. There is a good variety of nightlife in Waterloo. If in Ontario, I sometimes drive the hour just for wings at a local favourite pub.

 

Kitchener always seemed very different to me from Waterloo. It is going through a renaissance, so I can't comment too much on it now. More people living in downtown Kitchener now though. I can't comment/confirm, but I'm sure other Pharm students and med students likely live near the campus. You might want to consider that.

 

During your time at Waterloo should you be there, an LRT is going to be built which might make for construction hassles. Bus service is otherwise not bad. They do have Express buses to places you'd want to go.

 

Its not that far from other places if you are driving - Toronto downtown is 1:15-1:30, Hamilton is 0:45, London is 1:00 or so. Greyhound runs regular direct buses from Kitchener to DT TO. Coach Canada runs to Hamilton. GO Transit has unfriendly train schedules, but do run a reasonable, but multi stop service from Waterloo to TO.

 

The major KW malls are reasonably decent for cities that size, but are on the polar ends of each city. Most big box stores are in the region.

 

Waterloo, ON Population: 94,475

Waterloo University enrolment: 31,577

Wilfred Laurier enrolment: 17,160

Two university total: 48,737

 

The Region of Waterloo as a whole is 500,000+, so not exactly tiny as made to seem above. The amount of year round residents (excludes transient students) in Waterloo is closer to 100,000 now, and Kitchener is well in the 200,000's. In the summer months, Waterloo doesn't die out. Yes, a lot of students do leave, but UW has a large number of coop students which have a regular scheduled term in summer.

 

KW has a number of good festivals to go to throughout the year, often free of charge.

 

Overall, the thing I like about KW the most is that the communities have a smaller town feel (although this is slowly changing with the growth). Has most things you'd need on a regular basis.

 

If you have Q's about KW, feel free to PM, and I'll try to help you out!

[bakercyclist]

Thanks for writing that keith_015, as I was just about to share something similar since I've seen a lot of odd comments about KW! I moved to Kitchener in my fourth year of U/G at WLU, and it is such a great city! All of my jobs in the last few years have been either uptown Waterloo or downtown Kitchener. I'll be doing my first round of applications this year, but Mac "Waterloo" campus is my #1 choice since it's a ten minute walk from my house (and 15 minutes to GR Hospital). I'd also be happy to answer any Qs about what downtown Kitchener is like compared to the student areas of Waterloo.

 

PS. I have rooms to rent in my house if anyone wants to live with toddlers & babies while in med school!

[5th time the charm]

I work within a family practice that are training sites for the McMaster Med school KW campus. There is the opportunity to do some work as well at Cambridge Hospital, possibly Guelph General. For a non-tertiary care area, there is a lot of high quality medicine being practiced around here. You are close to everything in the sense if you want to go hiking etc there are many conservation areas around that are very close by which I like a lot. You are close to all the major centers like Toronto, Hamilton, London but there is something about this area (KW-Cambridge) that appeals to many people and for good reasons.

[Sarvish]

The occasional e-mails are torturing me in case I ever try to forget about it for med school for a little. Just over 3 weeks to go, I need to make plans after my last exam next Monday or I might actually go insane.

[jfdes]

The occasional e-mails are torturing me in case I ever try to forget about it for med school for a little. Just over 3 weeks to go, I need to make plans after my last exam next Monday or I might actually go insane.

 

Read Game of Thrones, that'll keep you busy

[amichel]

Read Game of Thrones, that'll keep you busy

 

I signed up for a ton of shifts at work, which I thought would be good. But I got really awful shifts (I'm a life guard/ swim instructor) that involve four hours in a row in the water. So now I kinda wish I had time to read game of thrones instead.

[Sarvish]

I signed up for a ton of shifts at work, which I thought would be good. But I got really awful shifts (I'm a life guard/ swim instructor) that involve four hours in a row in the water. So now I kinda wish I had time to read game of thrones instead.

 

Game of Thrones sounds like a plan I'm also thinking of finding a part-time job so I could take courses if I don't get in.

[Sarvish]

Kind of quiet around here so I figure I'd throw a question out.

 

Does anyone know how the interview score is calculated? Are all 10 stations counted and then it's just a percentage of the total or is there some z-score calculation involved again?

 

Not like it makes a difference but just for curiosity's sake.

[cindylouwho]

I heard both the lowest and highest station scores are dropped, but don't have an "official" source.

[Sarvish]

I heard both the lowest and highest station scores are dropped, but don't have an "official" source.

 

I've heard the same thing but just from word of mouth so it might be a rumour that's getting passed around. I'd feel a lot better about that just because I can think of 1 station that was significantly weaker than the rest.

 

I felt the same way about Casper though, had 1 or 2 questions where I felt I had very weak answers so maybe it is true.

[amichel]

I've heard the same thing but just from word of mouth so it might be a rumour that's getting passed around. I'd feel a lot better about that just because I can think of 1 station that was significantly weaker than the rest.

 

I felt the same way about Casper though, had 1 or 2 questions where I felt I had very weak answers so maybe it is true.

 

I've heard that about multiple schools, which leads me to believe it might just be a rumour.

 

Dropping your best and your worst kind of cancels out anyways, doesn't it?

[jmatt1122]

I've heard that about multiple schools, which leads me to believe it might just be a rumour.

 

Dropping your best and your worst kind of cancels out anyways, doesn't it?

 

Not if a) your worst was a disaster and your best wasn't stellar or your worst wasn't very bad and your best was godly.

 

I think it makes sense to eliminate highest/lowest. They do it in a lot of sports with subjective judging, don't they? (diving and weightlifting come to mind, if memory serves) Eliminates outliers and helps reach a more accurate picture of the applicant.

[amichel]

Not if a) your worst was a disaster and your best wasn't stellar or your worst wasn't very bad and your best was godly.

 

I think it makes sense to eliminate highest/lowest. They do it in a lot of sports with subjective judging, don't they? (diving and weightlifting come to mind, if memory serves) Eliminates outliers and helps reach a more accurate picture of the applicant.

 

Yah, I remember it in diving.

 

In scenario a though, that person isn't likely to get in anyways, and in scenario b, that hurts the applicant significantly.

 

So... I hope they don't, ahaha.

[broom]

Yah, I remember it in diving.

 

In scenario a though, that person isn't likely to get in anyways, and in scenario b, that hurts the applicant significantly.

 

So... I hope they don't, ahaha.

 

By removing your best and worst they are removing your outliers and seeing how you do on average — which is what they're after. If your best and worst were approximately the same as the other stations though, you lose nothing. I don't know if this is how it's scored, but there is sense in it.

[Sarvish]

Yah, I remember it in diving.

 

In scenario a though, that person isn't likely to get in anyways, and in scenario b, that hurts the applicant significantly.

 

So... I hope they don't, ahaha.

 

Few assumptions coming up Based on the interview manual, the average score for a station is likely between 5-6/10. People getting in are probably averaging 7 on these stations since nearly 40% of people get accepted right away.

 

In my opinion, I think people who fall into a) are likely to have had 7-8 on most sections and then 1 bad one where the prompt just threw them for a loop and they may have got a 2-3. As opposed to people who fall into are averaging 3-4 and then maybe got 10 from 1 lucky amazing Oscar-winning speech.

 

The math doesn't quite work out since I picked those numbers at random but I think people who fall into pool a) deserve a higher score and the dropping saves them from being eliminated because of 8 bad minutes. People in pool are averaging average to below average and I don't know if 1 very good station makes up for the rest of it.

 

(I think I confused myself while writing that though... ) And I'm biased because I can think of 1-2 stations where I was really proud of my answers but the 1 station I felt bad about was probably a lot worse. I also have no idea what to think of the 2-person station.

[amichel]

By removing your best and worst they are removing your outliers and seeing how you do on average — which is what they're after. If your best and worst were approximately the same as the other stations though, you lose nothing. I don't know if this is how it's scored, but there is sense in it.

 

Yah, I get that, I was just thinking that it probably wouldn't help or hurt most people.

 

Few assumptions coming up Based on the interview manual, the average score for a station is likely between 5-6/10. People getting in are probably averaging 7 on these stations since nearly 40% of people get accepted right away.

 

In my opinion, I think people who fall into a) are likely to have had 7-8 on most sections and then 1 bad one where the prompt just threw them for a loop and they may have got a 2-3. As opposed to people who fall into are averaging 3-4 and then maybe got 10 from 1 lucky amazing Oscar-winning speech.

 

The math doesn't quite work out since I picked those numbers at random but I think people who fall into pool a) deserve a higher score and the dropping saves them from being eliminated because of 8 bad minutes. People in pool are averaging average to below average and I don't know if 1 very good station makes up for the rest of it.

 

(I think I confused myself while writing that though... ) And I'm biased because I can think of 1-2 stations where I was really proud of my answers but the 1 station I felt bad about was probably a lot worse. I also have no idea what to think of the 2-person station.

 

Yah, that makes more sense. I'm sure you did fine! The two person station, yah, hahah. I thought I did fine, until I was the "listener" and then I realized that I didn't do a lot of the things my partner was doing, and then I felt bad.

[Sarvish]

At this point, speculation's just to kill time. Some people would rather just not think about it and wait until May 13 but I honestly enjoy talking to other people and it really puts me at ease even though it doesn't change anything.

 

I'm glad to have this forum and I look forward to the next 12 days of stress with all of you.

 

ETA: I'm really regretting not finding some type of temporary job/volunteering/trip to pass the time.

[amichel]

At this point, speculation's just to kill time. Some people would rather just not think about it and wait until May 13 but I honestly enjoy talking to other people and it really puts me at ease even though it doesn't change anything.

 

I'm glad to have this forum and I look forward to the next 12 days of stress with all of you.

 

ETA: I'm really regretting not finding some type of temporary job/volunteering/trip to pass the time.

 

I agree. I like obsessing.

 

For me, the job really doesn't help. I just spend all day at work thinking about it. :/

[Sarvish]

I agree. I like obsessing.

 

For me, the job really doesn't help. I just spend all day at work thinking about it. :/

 

I was volunteering at the hospital this morning and was talking to the radiology resident which definitely didn't help keep my mind off it. My comfort in that was that at least I know I really, really want this.

 

The night of May 12 is going to be interesting, $50 says I'm not getting any sleep.

[amichel]

I was volunteering at the hospital this morning and was talking to the radiology resident which definitely didn't help keep my mind off it. My comfort in that was that at least I know I really, really want this.

 

The night of May 12 is going to be interesting, $50 says I'm not getting any sleep.

 

I think I'll just netflix binge (although I've been doing that since school ended, shah) until really late (like 3 AM PST), then sleep till around 10 here, by which point it will be around 1 in Ontario, and offers should be out.

 

Or maybe I'll get up at 7 ish before my family leaves so I can have company for celebration/self-pity, since Mac usually releases early in the day, right?

[Sarvish]

I think I'll just netflix binge (although I've been doing that since school ended, shah) until really late (like 3 AM PST), then sleep till around 10 here, by which point it will be around 1 in Ontario, and offers should be out.

 

Or maybe I'll get up at 7 ish before my family leaves so I can have company for celebration/self-pity, since Mac usually releases early in the day, right?

 

Yup, I believe it's before 9 am (7:30 - 8:30 usually?). I binged my way through all 9 seasons of Scrubs pretty quickly. Might start on Game of Thrones.

[trojjanhorse]

I haven't watched the new season of GoT, so I might binge on those. I remember last year, I only got 3 hours of sleep.

[KellyClarkson]

What time do offers come out? Don't know if I should bother checking my email before work or not.