Grad Applicants' Mcat

[Candie]

I realize we don't have official answers to this, but I'd just like a sense of whether this school is completely out of the question.. 

 

For an MSc grad with a strong ABS and wGPA of 3.8, but lower MCAT (they'll consider either 8PS-11VR-10BS or 9PS-10VR-10BS, WS-S for both) is there any chance of having the application looked at, or will it just get filtered out? 

 

Would it make a difference applying with a wGPA of ~3.99 next year? And does anyone have ideas about this derived from non-PM101 data? 

 

Thanks! 

[mala]

Hi Candie,

 

Here's what it says on the website (http://meds.queensu.ca/education/undergraduate/prospective_students/graduate_students):

 

Graduate applicants that have met the MCAT requirements but not the undergraduate GPA, will be reviewed separately, by a subcommittee of the Admissions Committee, from the general pool of applicants.

1. Applicants must have completed their graduate degree by the August 1 prior to the commencement of medical school;
2. Marks for undergraduate years must be considered satisfactory or demonstrate a rising trend;
3. The subcommittee will assess the suitability of the candidates performance and if the graduate degree was completed at an accredited university;
4. If the subcommittee determines that the applicant is suitable, they will be invited for an interview

 

Based on that, I think if you pass the MCAT cutoff, you should have a good shot at an interview.  Of course, a wGPA of 3.99 is better than a wGPA of 3.8, but I think this year you would have a shot. 

 

The only thing is figuring out what the MCAT cutoff is.  pm101 seems to suggest that you need at least a 32, and/or a 10 in each section.  Based on that, you won't make the MCAT cutoff.  That is just speculation though, so I wouldn't put too much store in it.

 

TL;DR, If you make the MCAT cutoff for Queen's this year, you have a good shot at an interview!

[MathToMed]

I've seen a few people on pm101 get an interview with 9s, so there seems to be some degree of leniency (especially in PS). I have no idea which score they would use however, that's a tricky situation since the amalgamated scores are identical.

 

Fingers crossed! It's definitely worth the application money.

 

Re: Reapplying with a 3.99 - It sounds as though Queens uses MCAT/GPA strictly as a cutoff from their website, but since they're such a black box I would have no idea for sure. What I'm fairly confident of, is that if you got rejected this year on the basis of your MCAT score, you wouldn't be able to "make up for that" with a GPA boost or ABS alterations. You'd have to tear off that MCAT like a gangrenous limb and attach a new and improved model!

[Aetherus]

Here are some stats compiled by trojjanhorse for the past 2 years for Queen's. This is based purely on premed101 and therefore there is clearly a sampling bias but it should give you a general feeling of what you would need on your mcat.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArlB46Pi6-RmdDVibG51YTE0YmJIWGJqS1ZQVUh2c1E#gid=0

 

MathToMed is right that a 9 is acceptable, but only in physical sciences (according to these stats). Furthermore, your total MCAT score is a 29 which is most likely too low for an interview.

[narcoticpepper]

Thanks for that google doc Aetherus. Do you think there is a sampling bias on Premed101? Do you think only certain types of applicants post here?

[MathToMed]

Thanks for that google doc Aetherus. Do you think there is a sampling bias on Premed101? Do you think only certain types of applicants post here?

Pretty much, by definition, it's sampling bias. I would speculate that "keeners" aremore likely to seekan online community for something like admissions than those scraping the bottom end of the distribution, so I would guess we are a right skewed sample(all speculation however).

[Aetherus]

I agree with Math to Med, we have a sampling bias favouring the ultra keen

[Candie]

Noticed that a grad applicant (MSc complete, as is mine) got an interview with a 30 overall.. Which leads me to wonder whether the "32 cutoff" we keep referring to really applies to this pool of applicants. Perhaps Queen's has a system similar to UofT, where there is a minimum sort of cutoff for each section (looks like 9, 10, 10) and nothing below those in any section would earn an interview. Or maybe they really do look at grad applicants more holistically, which would render all of this speculation somewhat irrelevant. 

 

This could all be wishful thinking, of course, haha. Will definitely update this thread with how this borderline situation gets handled in the next week or two!