French Stream Interview

[enrike72]

Hi,

 

I live in Gatineau and I have a 3.82 gpa (calculated with their formula). I will apply in the french stream.

 

So I know that people with 3.7-3.8 get accepted sometime.

 

So I have 2 questions:

 

1) But can you tell me if I need an Incredibly good interview to get in with my 3.82 ? I have good extracurriculars.

 

2) I've been accepted in dentistry, and I don't know if I go or not. If I don't, I'm gonna do an extra year to upgrade my gpa and get this 3.11 out of it. What do you suggest me to do? Does it really worth it to upgrade my gpa from 3.82 to (let's say) 3.96 for the 2017 admission cycle? And when do they look at gpa? Before interview okay, and once you get the interview they still look at it to decide if you're accepted?

 

 

Here are my years (from most recent to less recent):

 

1st: 3.96

2nd: 3.96

3rd: 3.11

 

Thanks a lot!

[Arttomed]

Hi

 

To answer your first question I think anyone who get in needs a very good interview score, so I would say even with 4.0 GPA you still need to have a very good interview to get in. The difference in GPA is mainly a factor in receiving an interview invite (and also in case you get waitlisted it will have its effect) 

 

To answer your second question, If you already got into dental school I think it is a bad idea to decline your offer for a potential med acceptance (you may not get into dental school again). If still you want to try med I would say go to dental school and apply during your first year. I know one person who did that and got into med (the only problem is one year of tuition fee)

 

If you applied to dental school it means you like that field too otherwise you wouldn't apply before trying med for a couple times.

[bananasinpyjamas]

1) If you GPA meets the cut-off (it should as you live in Gatineau), the admissions will review your ABS. The ABS will then mostly determine whether you get an interview or not. However, you should be aware that many applicants also have great ECs, so obtaining an interview is not necessarily a sure thing and can be subjective. For the french stream, uOttawa interviews ~100 people for the 48 spots available. From what I understand, the interviewees with the highest interview scores get their offers first (interview scores go from 4.0/3.5/3.0/2.5/etc., and if for instance two applicants have the same interview score, the one with the higher GPA will get the offer before the other). So yes, the interview really matters, even more so than your GPA once you get an interview. 

 

2) If you're interested in dentistry, than do it! However, it may be harder to keep a high GPA, which might affect your chances for med school. Also, I'm not sure but if you've been accepted at UdeM, you will have to spend 3,000$ on equipment for the prep year. That's a lot of money so you have to be ready to commit to that field (you'll be getting some fancy tools). Like MD20 said, if you applied to dentistry and did your DAT, then I assume you're interested in the field. Nothing is a sure thing in life, especially when it comes to medicine and dentistry.

 

I've been in your shoes, but if you want to take the risk for a chance to study medicine, then you can:

 

-Do an extra year and apply to the French stream in October with your current 3.82 and hope for the best. If it doesn't work out, then just reapply to UdeM dentistry (the process has been similar for the past two years (entrevue écrite), and will probably be the same next year so if you were accepted this year, chances are you will again next year) - again I'm assuming you got accepted there.

 

At the end of the day, do what YOU want. If dentistry interests you though, then do it, but if you know you'll regret it, then maybe it's not the right program for you at this time.

 

Hope that helps! 

[enrike72]

Thanks for your answer. The advantage with dentistry is that it will never affect my 3.82 goa for Ottawa, because it's not a bachelor (even the preparatory year). But it can affect for Montreal.

 

So my main question is: does it really change something to have 3.96 gpa rather than 3.82 for Ottawa?

 

Thanks again

[bananasinpyjamas]

Oh oops, also:

-Assuming that you don't mind spending money on the equipment, you can also start dentistry at UdeM, apply to uOttawa during your prep year in October and see whether or not you get an interview and an offer. At least then you'll still have a sure thing.

 

In my opinion, I don't think it's worth it to increase your GPA to 3.96. There are so many other factors that come into play and I don't think your GPA will make a big difference at that stage (I got an offer with a WGPA of 3.88 for OOP applicants, which is the exact cut-off). But many other people were not that lucky, so it's hard to say.

 

Also, if you decide to increase your GPA to get the 3.11 out of the equation, that would mean you would apply with the "3.96" GPA in October 2016, and you'd enter in Fall 2017? Are you sure you're ready to wait 2 years for a potential offer?

 

Lastly, what about the Quebec med schools? 

[enrike72]

Thanks again.

 

Regarding Quebec med schools, this year, I was in't invited at Montreal. There is nobpoint of trying to get my cote R up for Laval and Sherbrooke since they take ALL university credits.

 

Otherwise, are you really sure that the goa only matter before the interview? At the admission office they told me that:

- to get the interview: if you meet the cutoff --> they review your CV --> they do a grade including both the gpa and the CV

- after the interview --> they do a grade including both your interview score and your gpa. When I asked them how much worth each of them they answered that they don't give that information. But I red somewhere that it might be 80% gpa and 20%; is it possible?

 

Thanks!!

[bananasinpyjamas]

Obtained from damha:

 

At the information session on interview day they said the composite score will be: interview score out of 4 + wGPA out of 4. So that leaves a composite score maximum of 8. The interview score changes by 0.5 (which they also told us on interview day). So for example:

 

Candidate 1: Interview score = 4 wGPA = 3.88, composite score = 7.88

Candidate 2: Interview score = 4 wGPA = 3.97, composite score = 7.97

Candidate 3: Interview score = 3.5 wGPA = 4.0, composite score = 7.5

Candidate 4: Interview score = 3.5 wGPA = 3.95, composite score = 7.45

 

It always comes down to the interview score for who will be offered first since a difference of 0.5 from the interview score is larger than any wGPA change! So in each particular interview score i.e. 4, all tie breakers are made by the wGPA (candidate 1 vs. 2). Whereas, comparing people with different interview scores i.e. 4 and 3.5, the wGPA is really not all that important since it will never be able to make up for the difference in interview score, making the interview score used as a tie breaker (Candidate 1&2 vs 3&4)

 

So GPA does still matter pre and post-interview, but your interview performance will mostly determine if you get an offer.

[enrike72]

Ok nice! Thanks a lot for this information! Where did you get it?