Nosm Context Score Calculation

[cotedeazur]

Digged this out today

http://www.flinders.edu.au/fms/muster/Documents/107%204Context%20Tool%20Muster.pdf

 

So basically, majority of NOSM class has 24+ context score (0-32), which is 95% automated calculated by:

1) Year of attendance of schooling in Northern institutions (meaning only people grew up in the north / did school in the north will get this point)

2) Exposure to northern/rural/remote community (2-5 years)

3) Youth exposure (meaning only people grew up in the north will get this point)

 

5% is manual calibration.

 

Now I think I will get 0 context score....LOL, what a waste of money and effort (those essays and questions! why ask "how does your work and life experience help you succeed in the north" if you are not going to count them in the context score at all?)

 

Good luck to other applicants!!!

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To be honest I feel a little disgusted, If you are a OOP apply to U Sask, it says something like this in their website: if you don't have a stellar MCAT, think twice before you apply. I admire their honesty and openness.  If NOSM has the gut to tell the truth to everyone: if you don't grew up in the north and did years of schooling in the north, your have a very very slim chance. I wonder how many people will still apply.

 

I know I wouldn't, although I have done a lot for rural healthcare and living/working in the north. But why spending money and time just to be rejected, just so they can say, NOSM is one of the most competitive school in Canada, 1 in 33.3 will be accepted. 

[rural_roots]

Nice investigative work, cotedeazur!

 

I am amazed this was available online.  Where exactly did you grow up?  If it is rural/remote, even if OOP, you still have a shot I think!

 

For the sake of idle speculation, what do you think (and anyone else reading this) the following variables mean?:

 

- "Broader North"

- "Population Mobility"

- "Comprehensiveness of Population Definitions"

 

RR

[Med_Pack]

Thanks so much for digging this up cotedeazur. This is going to be helpful for not only those who have applied this year but future applicants too.

 

I think the reason for the school submission questions is that ABS/school submissions gets ranked together for that 1/3 of the score, and the geographic aspect gets to be part of the context score third. There definitely seems to be overlap with the heavy focus on rural/remote/northern in the school submission so they are in some ways likely measuring "commitment to the north" twice, from 2 diff angles, one from your efforts to make the region better, and 1 from where you lived. I think though that even within the context score, there is an overlap in analysis between points 1 and 3 that you mentioned. If one was here was a youth, then one went to school here as a kid (now, I noticed they don't specify secondary or post-secondary institution but since so many on this forum have said post-secondary graduation from the region does not help the context, I am apt to assume they refer to HS). So by giving points for both, it's like the person who wasn't here as an youth misses out on both those points. I may actually be the exception to this. For me, I did live here as a youth, and I attended school as a youth, but I had a situation happen in Gr. 12 where I had to leave. I grew up with an abusive father and things came to a head in a way that at that time my mother felt we needed to leave for my/my sister's and her safety. Long story short, I basically ended up finishing part of Gr. 12 in Toronto. So my HS graduation was from Toronto, despite going to elementary in NO and doing up to and part of Gr. 12 in NO. NOSM asks you about where you graduated in their school submissions and I really hope this won't result in me loosing out on point 1, despite having lived in NOSM for 7 yrs + as a youth and 4 yrs as an adult, returning after university graduation in SO. If I lose points in the context score because of something I had to do that was such a painful time in my life, that is going to really hurt me but I will try not to think about. I realize I'll get points for the attendance here, but they still DO ask about where you graduate so I guess they prob use it *sigh*...although this pdf you linked only mentions years of attendance so there is that little glimmer of hope I see.

 

RR also pointed out in another post earlier that how many of your refs are from NO may also impact the LOR rating when it comes down to the final 140. So potentially another hidden way of measuring rural/remote/NO. Although many who get in went to school in SO so a good chunk of those accepted are going to have letters from SO since most choose at least 1 prof reference. I'm curious whether others on here would share how many of their letters were from rural/remote anywhere in Canada and/or NO and outside of NO? 2/3 for me is outside NO in the region I went to university, 1 is from NO.

 

There are individuals like Real Beef who have gotten in without (as far as I understand, correct me if I'm wrong Real Beef!) youth exposure in NO, but lived here as an adult for enough years (I think it was 6 for him) to get a decent context score. Cotedeazur, how long have you lived in a remote/rural and/or NO region? You may be in a similar position but stellar scores in other areas + interview + LORs may still get you in!

 

Also interesting to note that the pdf mentions a score out of 32 for current evaluations, but hmmm...we've always heard it's out of 10. Now I am wondering whether the out of 10 part is a scaled score and the out of 32 part is the raw score. That's something to think about. Because if you're being compared to others that cycle, your context score will vary anyway and may actually give hope to those who don't get in one year because they might the next.

[Med_Pack]

Nice investigative work, cotedeazur!

 

I am amazed this was available online.  Where exactly did you grow up?  If it is rural/remote, even if OOP, you still have a shot I think!

 

For the sake of idle speculation, what do you think (and anyone else reading this) the following variables mean?:

 

- "Broader North"

- "Population Mobility"

- "Comprehensiveness of Population Definitions"

 

RR

I don't know if I can offer much insight to the things that you outline but I'm also curious about them, in particular population mobility. At first glance, I thought that was referring to movement out of the region into more urban/less remote areas. So look at emmigration patterns. But then what about immigration? I started to think that the phrase also might imply a consideration of immigration. Did some digging around on statscan and couldn't really come up with anything. I am curious to know if others have input or insights into the terms or the pdf that guy posted. I know that from previous posters it seemed that 5 yrs was almost required (of course it's subjective but it seemed to be on the lower end for residency) but maybe those with 2 yrs living in the preferred regions have a shot now? I also wonder whether the same timelines apply to rural but not nothern Ontario. I think it would be good if NOSM cleared up the difference between applying as rural not NO vs NO urban or rural. Obviously less beneficial than NO rural, but from the admissions session it almost seemed that rural/not NO was more beneficial than urban NO but maybe I got the wrong impression. I know their stats speak a different story; however, the number of rural applicants not from NO is probably really low. It would be nice if we could see the breakdown in how many applied from the different categories.

[BIM18]

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To be honest I feel a little disgusted, If you are a OOP apply to U Sask, it says something like this in their website: if you don't have a stellar MCAT, think twice before you apply. I admire their honesty and openness.  If NOSM has the gut to tell the truth to everyone: if you don't grew up in the north and did years of schooling in the north, your have a very very slim chance. I wonder how many people will still apply.

 

I know I wouldn't, although I have done a lot for rural healthcare and living/working in the north. But why spending money and time just to be rejected, just so they can say, NOSM is one of the most competitive school in Canada, 1 in 33.3 will be accepted. 

 

First of all, digging up that information is quite impressive, the context score has long been a mystery!

 

I understand that medical school applications can be stressful, frustrating and costly (keep at it, it is so worth it!). I would argue NOSM procedures are fairly honest and open.

 

The class profiles are released every year detailing where the class is from:

Profile of Entering Class of 2015

• A total of 2,130 applications were received.
• 318 applicants were interviewed.
• There are 64 places in the class.
• The average GPA of the members of the class was 3.83 (on a 4.0 scale).
• The average age of the members of the class is 25 years.
• There are 36 females (56%) and 28 males (44%) in the class.
• There are 5 self-identified Aboriginal students (8%) in the class.
• There are 13 self-identified Francophone students (20%) in the class.
•  57 students in the class (89%) are from Northern Ontario.
•  7 students of the class (11%) are from rural and remote areas in Canada and rest of Canada.
• In the class there are 9 students who have a Master’s degree.
• In the class there is 1 student who have a PhD degree.

Additionally the admission processes state advantages are given to students from Northern Ontario and other rural, or remote areas of Canada.

 

While you are certainly correct that it is not out right stated that non-northern urban applicants have a slim chance of admission, by giving the class profiles and admission processes it is somewhat transparent. There is certainly room for improvement as you pointed out but many medical school have areas which their transparency leaves much to be desired.  

 

All essays are read independently and regardless of your context score, while it does not add to the context score by describing your personal northern experiences it would boost another aspect of your application.

 

I wish you, and the other applicants luck in applications!

[guacamole]

.

[northernnurse]

To be honest I feel a little disgusted, If you are a OOP apply to U Sask, it says something like this in their website: if you don't have a stellar MCAT, think twice before you apply. I admire their honesty and openness.  If NOSM has the gut to tell the truth to everyone: if you don't grew up in the north and did years of schooling in the north, your have a very very slim chance. I wonder how many people will still apply.

 

I know I wouldn't, although I have done a lot for rural healthcare and living/working in the north. But why spending money and time just to be rejected, just so they can say, NOSM is one of the most competitive school in Canada, 1 in 33.3 will be accepted. 

 

I also have to disagree with you regarding a lack of honesty and openness.  NOSM prides itself in being the only medical school in Canada established on a social accountability mandate, which is defined by the WHO as ‘‘the obligation to direct their education, research and service activities towards addressing the priority health concerns of the community, region and the nation that they have a mandate to serve.’’

 

NOSM strives annually to have an incoming class that is a reflection of the current make up of Northern Ontario, which is why you can see from the Flinders poster that they continually have a similar proportion of Northern Ontario residents, francophone, aboriginal and residents from other rural and remote areas of Canada from year to year. 

 

I don't see how this can be any more honest and open. I am absolutely empathetic that admission to medical school in Canada is a daunting task. NOSM was not established simply to create physicians, but to train physicians who will help serve its priority health concerns and region. Obviously, I'm biased as a current NOSM student who was a Northern Ontario resident for the first 18 years of my life.  I hope you recognize that NOSM's successes over the past 10 years, especially in regards to physician recruitment to the North have been largely based on their adherence to this mandate.

 

In regards to questions about where your referee letters come from, mine were all from physicians, 2 based in Southern Ontario and 1 from Northern Ontario. 

 

Good luck this cycle and please don't be too discouraged by NOSM's mandate. There's always a handful of students who weren't born and raised in Northern Ontario, so maybe this is your year!