U Of A Interview Scores And Stats '15

[kase]

I actually got dominated in my interview... Not sure how or why... Here and in Toronto

 

For all of you that are getting 35+, how do you guys prep for MMI? Is there a specific way you structure your answers?

 

I appreciate all the help I can get, this really crushed me and I know I won't be making it this year. PM me if you have any tips

 

Thanks

[kdd737]

I actually got dominated in my interview... Not sure how or why... Here and in Toronto

 

For all of you that are getting 35+, how do you guys prep for MMI? Is there a specific way you structure your answers?

 

I appreciate all the help I can get, this really crushed me and I know I won't be making it this year. PM me if you have any tips

 

Thanks

Hi Kase!

 

I also got dominated, so your not alone! Did u happen to get waitlisted at U of T? Apparently they usually go through their entire OOP waitlist, so there is still a chance. I'm dead last on their waitlist, so things are looking pretty grim for me too.

[kase]

Hi Kase!

 

I also got dominated, so your not alone! Did u happen to get waitlisted at U of T? Apparently they usually go through their entire OOP waitlist, so there is still a chance. I'm dead last on their waitlist, so things are looking pretty grim for me too.

 

Hey bud,

 

I got 24/49 here and I emailed U of T and they told me I need to work on my interview scores. So I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I seem to be doing it VERY wrong.

Nope, I did not get wait listed. It's pretty embarrassing too. I told my whole family that I killed the one in Toronto and I was setting my mind to move down there this summer.

Devastated.

 

I'll apply again next year, but I'm also applying to the states just so that I end up somewhere next year

[walterk]

That's probably not how the overall score is calculated. I was meaning to point this out for a while...

Last year Formidable had a 3.91 GPA, 66 DAT score, 34 interview score, but q155 with a 3.94 GPA,  64 DAT score and 31 interview score got accepted off the waitlist before Formidable (didn't get in last year unfortunately). So according to the overall score calculations shown above, Formidable had a higher overall index score than q155... so I think UofA probably uses standard deviation, there's no other explanation. 

 

You can find this info on the 2nd page of last year's acceptance thread: http://forums.premed101.com/index.php?/topic/77877-u-of-a-admissions-2018/page-2.

Someone called in last year and was told they count an A+ as a 5 and an A as a 4 when calculating the 50% score. Too many high GPA's near 4.0 applying.  Makes sense as many schools give you a 4.3 for an A+ which is much harder to get than an A.

[marwii]

I wrote this post, hope it'll help a bit! =)

 

http://forums.premed101.com/index.php?/topic/84162-interview-prep-tips/

 

Hey bud,

 

I got 24/49 here and I emailed U of T and they told me I need to work on my interview scores. So I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I seem to be doing it VERY wrong.

Nope, I did not get wait listed. It's pretty embarrassing too. I told my whole family that I killed the one in Toronto and I was setting my mind to move down there this summer.

Devastated.

 

I'll apply again next year, but I'm also applying to the states just so that I end up somewhere next year

[eme369]

That definitely makes more sense if they calculate GPA as A+ = 5, A = 4, etc. I wish they would be more transparent about exactly how everything is calculated...

 

And hey, just curious, did anyone else notice that one number in their score is blue? In my email, the "9" in the 39 is blue, even though the rest of the email is black. 

[eme369]

I actually got dominated in my interview... Not sure how or why... Here and in Toronto

 

For all of you that are getting 35+, how do you guys prep for MMI? Is there a specific way you structure your answers?

 

I appreciate all the help I can get, this really crushed me and I know I won't be making it this year. PM me if you have any tips

 

Thanks

I'm sorry that it didn't go well! I'm not sure that I have any real advice to give, but what I did for prep was essentially just endless practice. From the day I found out I got interviews, I spent at least 2h/day (and about 5h/day the last few before the interviews) doing practice questions. I went through ~150+ by the end. For almost every one, I recorded my answer using an app (if you have Apple, just type in "MMI" in the Apps Store) and then listened to myself. I got the practice Qs from numerous sources, incl. the internet and several books, but by far the most useful (for me at least) was one called "The Multiple Mini Interview Questions Book and Multiple Mini Interview Training DVD" which I bought from amazon.ca (~$70). It gives great strategies for how to answer different Q types, has specific dentistry Qs, as well as a bunch of more general ones, and the DVD shows examples of average and above average responses. 

 

Finally, the only other advice I have from my own experience, and from helping several of my friends practice for UofA's med school MMIs, is that, no matter how horrible the question, always go in with a big smile and a confident attitude (even if you have to fake it ). I think body language really does count for a lot. 

 

I hope something from this is helpful!

[kase]

Thank you all! I appreciate how helpful you all are to a complete stranger (me) on this forum

 

Good luck with the final decisions! 

[Varsity]

Someone called in last year and was told they count an A+ as a 5 and an A as a 4 when calculating the 50% score. Too many high GPA's near 4.0 applying.  Makes sense as many schools give you a 4.3 for an A+ which is much harder to get than an A.

 

Wouldn't people have a higher GPA than a 4.00 then? When I calculate my GPA that way assuming an A+ = 5., my overall GPA is higher than a 4.00...but when I called the admin office earlier this year for my GPA, she told me it was a 3.93 on their files which is what it should be when i calculate it normally. So that's strange..

[walterk]

They are telling you what your GPA is based upon submitted marks. They likely use another method to calculate GPA for admissions as nearly everyone has a GPA well above 3.9 in my class. They make exceptions for certain individuals.

 

Another poster in the past did not get into UofA Dentistry with a 4.0 GPA. He called a number of times and was eventually told he had too few A+ 's. Makes sense based on my observations.

[Lebron James]

They are telling you what your GPA is based upon submitted marks. They likely use another method to calculate GPA for admissions as nearly everyone has a GPA well above 3.9 in my class. They make exceptions for certain individuals.

 

Another poster in the past did not get into UofA Dentistry with a 4.0 GPA. He called a number of times and was eventually told he had too few A+ 's. Makes sense based on my observations.

If that's true, I think it's pretty lame for admissions to do that. I get that many 4.0s are applying, but it bothers me that it's behind the scenes. At the very least, they should make prospective applicants aware of this.

 

Follow up question: is it possible that the A+ thing is just a tiebreaker? Calculating a whole different GPA like that seems a bit much.

[marwii]

If that's true, I think it's pretty lame for admissions to do that. I get that many 4.0s are applying, but it bothers me that it's behind the scenes. At the very least, they should make prospective applicants aware of this.

 

Follow up question: is it possible that the A+ thing is just a tiebreaker? Calculating a whole different GPA like that seems a bit much.

It's possible as a tie-breaker, since I know that for scholarship applications they use the number of A+ vs. number of A as a tie breaker, but it still doesn't seem right since most people will have 3.9+... plus, getting A+ is a lot harder for obvious reasons, so I think it will get taken into account one way or another to distinguish between potential applicants. 

 

On the one hand I agree that it would be nice to know about this and have a good estimate of where we stand, but at the same time, it will really make people focus purely on the grades aspect, whereas I think medicial personnel should be well-rounded individuals... so it is sort of a shame that dental school don't really count extracurriculars at all

[Cube3]

Hmm... really conflicted right now. I emailed the admissions office yesterday and got this reply: "No, A / A+ and 4.0 is the same as one cannot go any higher." I honestly don't think that they distinguish; otherwise how would you compare someone with only A's (= 4.0 GPA) versus someone with a few A-'s but a bunch of A+'s (so less than 4.0 GPA)? If they only distinguish between the A and A+ for 4.0 applicants (as tie breakers) that seems unfair too, because the other non 4.0 applicants deserve recognition of their A+'s too then. This would make the whole process of calculating GPA for everyone way more complicated and undermines the fact we aren't a 4.3 scale school.

 

Also, I took the Rock the Dat course and they included individual statistics for 2012 and earlier. For the 2012 class only 2 people had 4.0's that were admitted so I don't think it's so common to be a concern...although it is a few years outdated and statistics are getting higher. I'd like to precaution everyone to take posts on this site with a tiny grain of salt even though it is such a great resource    

[Varsity]

I called the office earlier yesterday, I can confirm this is true ^. She said the max. GPA is 4.0 so I don't know where the whole A+ = 5.0 idea came from but it seams to be incorrect. The only reasonable explanation is that UofA uses standard deviation like every other school. I mean it would be pretty foolish of them not too.. 

[Lebron James]

Anyone know where to look for DAT study materials in Edmonton? Been a while since I actually wrote the DAT, and some friends were asking (I've sold all my prep stuff). I only used Crack DAT PAT and the Kaplan blue book, so I'm not sure what else would be out there that's worth using. 

 

Edit: I realize this is off topic, so whoever wants to reply can do so by PM'ing me. Don't want to derail the thread.