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Does Ottawa Not Consider Activities Pursued During Graduate Studies?


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As per title - In the OMSAS supplement for Ottawa, it gives me two spots to fill out "formal education" attained. Could I use the second space for the PhD I'm currently finishing up? Hope I don't get penalize for doing so.

 

Does Ottawa not care about the activities we take up during MSc or PhD? If so, that'd be absurd!!

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Double check the instructions (or email the school), but I think you should put your phd under formal education. To answer your second question, they only look at activities done during undergrad (possibly I think to level the playing field for younger applicants who would not have had as much time to pursue the number of activities as somebody older with a masters/phd). 

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Double check the instructions (or email the school), but I think you should put your phd under formal education. To answer your second question, they only look at activities done during undergrad (possibly I think to level the playing field for younger applicants who would not have had as much time to pursue the number of activities as somebody older with a masters/phd). 

 

Someone correct me if i'm wrong but it appears that this year they (thankfully) removed the condition that the activities be completed in undergrad. I hope this is the case - why should they look down on more experienced candidates? "Leveling the playing field" in this way is, in my opinion, unfair as it disadvantages older applicants whom may not have discovered an interest to pursue medicine until after undergrad. For example, if someone discovers the importance of helping an undeserved community later in life and evolves as a person through activities at a post-undergraduate level, why should they be punished because it took longer for them to find a genuine interest.

 

Again this is just my opinion, I have no personal stake in this either way (not applying). I can understand that the admissions committee wants to see commitment during undergraduate studies because it might (keyword: might) translate into better balanced med students but by this logic they should also crackdown on differences in degrees (how can a biotech degree be considered equivalent to a psych degree + pre-reqs). 

 

AND at the end of the day these so called "less experienced candidates" can always choose to continue gathering experience.

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I was in the 2nd year of my M.Sc when I applied to Ottawa last year. I included activities and achievements from my Master's and I received an interview and was ultimately placed on the waitlist! So I think you're ok :)

Still, that doesn't mean they counted those things. It just means they don't automatically throw out applications for people who list them.....which would be a bit ridiculous.

 

Considering how clear they are about only scoring things during undergrad, I wouldn't put something post-undergrad in your top 3 unless you'd be leaving it blank otherwise, because they have said many times they won't score post-undergrad things

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Apparently they don't have the "top 3" thing any more based on the website. I remember reading that a year ago but I couldn't find it anywhere. Seems like they got rid of it for this upcoming cycle:

 

https://med.uottawa.ca/undergraduate/admissions/application-process/detailed-autobiographical-sketch

 

Where are we supposed to designate our "top 3" activities for each category in OMSAS? Under the school-specific supplement, I think they got rid of that. They also completely got rid of the wording about "undergraduate studies" or "postsecondary studies."

 

I guess I'll go ahead and include my postgraduate work then. Seems like they consider your entire autobiographical sketch now. Interesting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all,

 

Ottawa never responded to my email. Since their website no longer contains phrases about considering only activities from "university studies," (undergraduate years) and they got rid of "top 3 activities," I'm assuming that they will now consider your entire autobiographical sketch. I for one enthusiastically welcome this change. Good luck to everybody!

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