Recoil Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 So what I was gathering from how the Med 1's were answering the questions at the MMI, there is no site specific waitlist that comes alongside your offer. Lets say there are 100 spots for the hamilton campus (completely made up number because I don't want to check the actual numbers right now). Mr. A's scores were such that Mcmaster ranked them in the 101st position and all applicants ahead of the had ranked Hamilton as their preferred campus. This person also had Hamilton as his preferred campus, but obviously since there are no spots left, he gets an offer of admission for his second ranked site. Mr. A accepts his offer because that's the only acceptance he got. A week later it turns out that 20 of the top 100 students declined their offer and so 20 spots at Hamilton have opened up. Based on the info I was hearing, Mr. A will not get bumped up to his preferred site even though there are now spots open. These offers will now go to waitlist students who are currently without a Mac offer. Mr. A is stuck with his second preference even though there are now spots open for his first preference and all Hamilton offers are going to people ranked lower than him. Is this how it works?? If so, that seems kind of shitty for lack of a better word. And I can realistically see it affecting a significant number of people each year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightoffyourdemons Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 That's what I understood as well. I think this happens with every school that has multiple campuses though, like Toronto and Western. It does suck :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 I'd imagine it happens quite a bit due to people with multiple acceptances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralk Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 That's what I understood as well. I think this happens with every school that has multiple campuses though, like Toronto and Western. It does suck :/ Western uses an "unspecified campus" acceptance, which effectively means London but no guarantees. It's the only real way around that dilemma, but can be confusing and frustrating in its own way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightoffyourdemons Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Wouldn't unspecified just be you being placed randomly into whichever one hasn't filled up yet? I think Mac and Toronto both have the "no preference" options as well. Western uses an "unspecified campus" acceptance, which effectively means London but no guarantees. It's the only real way around that dilemma, but can be confusing and frustrating in its own way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleming Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Agreed, it's problematic. UBC has a far better system in which you remain on the waitlist for your first choice after accepting an offer from a lower choice. That just makes more sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osteogeek Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Yes, that's how it works. An offer of admission is binding to a specific campus, and I don't know of anyone who's been able to switch. It's not ideal if you don't get your first choice campus, but it's how Mac has chosen to do things (and I also haven't heard of anyone who didn't ultimately love whichever campus they ended up at, all 3 are pretty great). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralk Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Wouldn't unspecified just be you being placed randomly into whichever one hasn't filled up yet? I think Mac and Toronto both have the "no preference" options as well. An "unspecified campus" acceptance is different than a "no preference" campus selection. Unspecified campus means you're accepted to Western, but aren't told yet whether you're in London or Windsor. Since London is the more popular choice and there's typically enough people admitted straight to the London campus who decline the offer, it effectively means you got London, but they can't guarantee it until people start to decline their offers - everyone who picked Windsor or no preference usually get Windsor right off the bat. It's a work-around to what happens at Mac, where people off the waitlist may get their preferred choice ahead of those who were accepted in the initial round. As I recall though, Mac's process for putting people at their preferred site is done via lottery, so even the top-ranked individual may not get their first choice. Western's, by contrast, I believe is done based on post-interview score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euphenism1 Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 As I recall though, Mac's process for putting people at their preferred site is done via lottery, so even the top-ranked individual may not get their first choice. Western's, by contrast, I believe is done based on post-interview score. Not from what I understand - your ranking does affect your campus preference at Mac. I know at other schools like UofT, post-interview ranking is independent of campus preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stegalls Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Not from what I understand - your ranking does affect your campus preference at Mac. I know at other schools like UofT, post-interview ranking is independent of campus preference. I think it is random. From what I heard at interview it seemed as if it was random. However, what OP posted was that if Mac hands out 203 offers initially some people who lets say put Hamilton got another campus, if afterwards people who got Hamilton end up choosing another school, those Hamilton spots will go to people on the waitlist. Now what if people on the waitlist aka 204th 205th spots chose Waterloo and Hamilton spots open up, are they going to be forced into Hamilton spots? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakercyclist Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Yes, that's how it works. An offer of admission is binding to a specific campus, and I don't know of anyone who's been able to switch. It's not ideal if you don't get your first choice campus, but it's how Mac has chosen to do things (and I also haven't heard of anyone who didn't ultimately love whichever campus they ended up at, all 3 are pretty great). While I'm sure I would love any campus, I own a house a ten minute walk from the Waterloo campus and relocating isn't an option right now so I'd have to commute. While Hamilton might be possible, Niagara might be a deal-breaker. Fingers crossed I am just in the top 1/5th that get their first choice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thestar10 Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Mac runs a weighted lottery based on ranking for campus selection. A rough example of how it works :the first 20% are guaranteed first choice. the next 20% have their names put in once, the next 20% are put in twice the next 20% have it in three times and the final 20% have it put in 4 times. names are then drawn and those people get their 2nd choice campus. The rest get hamilton. I'm also sure that if you rank a regional first you will get it if you get an offer. It sort of does suck that people "below" you on the list can get the campus you want but if people could swap campuses or potentially upgrade campuses, it would be a huge headache for the admin and people would probably hold out trying to get hamilton spots. Most people rank hamilton first. As a regional, I don't dislike my campus but there are certainly pros and cons. I would have liked to train in hamilton and If I had to go back again would still rank hamilton first but regionals aren't the worst thing that can happen to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.