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[BernieMac]

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[VolumeOverload]

Twice.  Had no idea how to write the Top 10 so no interview the first time despite excellent stats.  The admissions podcast mentions that if you apply >4 times and year after year fail to get an interview, you should reconsider your options.  

 

Given your posts here and elsewhere on the forum, it seems that the medical school application process is a huge source of anxiety for you (more so than the average applicant).  I may be wrong, but at this point it seems that going on PM101 is doing more harm than good.  Presumably you are reading all these stories on here and getting caught up with other peoples stats/experiences.  What benefit does this serve?  How does it change your situation?

As of right now, you submitted your application and it is out of your hands.  Use the time between now and the date interviews come out to focus on yourself!  Get your stress/anxiety under control.  A number of years ago I was exactly like you.  I would read about all the fantastic applicants on here that routinely got rejected and compare myself to them, thinking "if they didn't get in, what chance do I have?"  Eventually, I got tired of the self-doubt and the insecurity.  I stopped coming to this forum and continued to live my life.  This was the year I interviewed and subsequently got in. 

PM101 can be both an excellent resource as well a basecamp for neuroticism.  If you can see yourself getting caught up in the latter, my advice is to avoid the website all together.  That said, if you're going to read anything on here, read the non-trad student success stories.  Not only are they inspiring, they serve as an excellent reminder that there are many different paths to medical school.

Good luck!

[End Poverty]

It depends on the individual and their capabilities / skills. A close friend of mine has been applying for 6 years, and has not received an interview yet, although I believe he has great extra-curriculars.   Another friend of mine got in from his first trial and first interview.  

[GH0ST]

For current U of C students that still browse this forum, do you mind sharing how many times you applied to U of C medical school and if it took more than one try how many of the attempts did you receive an interview? I'm getting discourage everyday as I hear more and more stories of people applying 3 or 4 times and NEVER even getting an interview(??) Is this out of the norm? I thought it took 2 cycles avg to get in, does that mean that those people who applied ex 4 times and never interview below average applicants?

 

Someone not getting an interview after multiple tries usually means either their GPA or MCAT was significantly holding them back, or that they didn't really improve upon their ECs enough over the years they applied....

 

Let's put this into perspective... say your first time you went in with 3.5 GPA, 515 MCAT, above avg ECs but no interview, if you applied again with minimal changes... you can't expect much to happen. 

 

You also never really know... they could have red flags, poor reference letters...... there's so many other areas that could go wrong for people that apply >=4 times. 

 

- G

[BernieMac]

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On 11/10/2016 at 4:49 PM, VolumeOverload said:

Twice.  Had no idea how to write the Top 10 so no interview the first time despite excellent stats.  The admissions podcast mentions that if you apply >4 times and year after year fail to get an interview, you should reconsider your options.  

 

Given your posts here and elsewhere on the forum, it seems that the medical school application process is a huge source of anxiety for you (more so than the average applicant).  I may be wrong, but at this point it seems that going on PM101 is doing more harm than good.  Presumably you are reading all these stories on here and getting caught up with other peoples stats/experiences.  What benefit does this serve?  How does it change your situation?

As of right now, you submitted your application and it is out of your hands.  Use the time between now and the date interviews come out to focus on yourself!  Get your stress/anxiety under control.  A number of years ago I was exactly like you.  I would read about all the fantastic applicants on here that routinely got rejected and compare myself to them, thinking "if they didn't get in, what chance do I have?"  Eventually, I got tired of the self-doubt and the insecurity.  I stopped coming to this forum and continued to live my life.  This was the year I interviewed and subsequently got in. 

PM101 can be both an excellent resource as well a basecamp for neuroticism.  If you can see yourself getting caught up in the latter, my advice is to avoid the website all together.  That said, if you're going to read anything on here, read the non-trad student success stories.  Not only are they inspiring, they serve as an excellent reminder that there are many different paths to medical school.

Good luck!

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[BernieMac]

On 11/10/2016 at 9:10 PM, End Poverty said:

It depends on the individual and their capabilities / skills. A close friend of mine has been applying for 6 years, and has not received an interview yet, although I believe he has great extra-curriculars.   Another friend of mine got in from his first trial and first interview.  

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[BernieMac]

On 11/11/2016 at 12:35 AM, Ghoststalker154 said:

Someone not getting an interview after multiple tries usually means either their GPA or MCAT was significantly holding them back, or that they didn't really improve upon their ECs enough over the years they applied....

 

Let's put this into perspective... say your first time you went in with 3.5 GPA, 515 MCAT, above avg ECs but no interview, if you applied again with minimal changes... you can't expect much to happen. 

 

You also never really know... they could have red flags, poor reference letters...... there's so many other areas that could go wrong for people that apply >=4 times. 

 

- G

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[MountainAmoeba]

I know you are nervous, but you have to ask yourself, is obsessing over details (such as you are) going to benefit you. Imaging you get an interview, and you have spent the last 4 months obsessing and becoming anxious. You might under perform due to anxiety! If you are really nervous, then do something to improve a subsequent re-application while you wait, for example preparing to re-write the MCAT. Or consider signing up for open studies to increase your GPA next year. 

 

To answer your question, average GPA for applicants is about 3.73 (std deviation is 0.21) and I think average Cars is about 126.4 (Std deviation 2.36)

 

Cars is worth 10 percent, GPA twice as much. You can do the math yourself, but if you are one standard deviation below in GPA, and don't make it up with CARS (you would have to be two STD deviations above the mean) , or if you are two standard deviations below with CARS, and don't make it up with GPA (1 STD deviation above the mean) , then you are applying with an already below average application on the OBJECTIVE measures. So you really better make up for it otherwise (totally possibly with U of C considering 60 percent of the app is "non cognitive attributes). If you are applying below average in both areas then you really have your work cut out for you, and of course, it depends on how much below average.

 

The U of C application summarizes this. You might choose to log on, and click on app status. A better description resides there. The admissions blog contains the most recent breakdown of accepted and over all applicants. 

[GH0ST]

for U of C what GPA/CARS would you say you should be above for it to "not significantly hold you back"? thanks

 

I know you are nervous, but you have to ask yourself, is obsessing over details (such as you are) going to benefit you. Imaging you get an interview, and you have spent the last 4 months obsessing and becoming anxious. You might under perform due to anxiety! If you are really nervous, then do something to improve a subsequent re-application while you wait, for example preparing to re-write the MCAT. Or consider signing up for open studies to increase your GPA next year. 

 

To answer your question, average GPA for applicants is about 3.73 (std deviation is 0.21) and I think average Cars is about 126.4 (Std deviation 2.36)

 

Cars is worth 10 percent, GPA twice as much. You can do the math yourself, but if you are one standard deviation below in GPA, and don't make it up with CARS (you would have to be two STD deviations above the mean) , or if you are two standard deviations below with CARS, and don't make it up with GPA (1 STD deviation above the mean) , then you are applying with an already below average application on the OBJECTIVE measures. So you really better make up for it otherwise (totally possibly with U of C considering 60 percent of the app is "non cognitive attributes). If you are applying below average in both areas then you really have your work cut out for you, and of course, it depends on how much below average.

 

The U of C application summarizes this. You might choose to log on, and click on app status. A better description resides there. The admissions blog contains the most recent breakdown of accepted and over all applicants. 

 

This is why I hesitate to answer your question YesIcan55, setting aside the fact that I'm not at the UofC medical school. MountainAmoeba answers it well.

 

- G

[bearpuppy]

For current U of C students that still browse this forum, do you mind sharing how many times you applied to U of C medical school and if it took more than one try how many of the attempts did you receive an interview? I'm getting discourage everyday as I hear more and more stories of people applying 3 or 4 times and NEVER even getting an interview(??) Is this out of the norm? I thought it took 2 cycles avg to get in, does that mean that those people who applied ex 4 times and never interview below average applicants?

 

 

I applied 3 cycles with 3 IIs and was accepted on the 3rd try. The average is in fact 2.7 times, not 2. If you've never received an interview, there's likely a GPA / MCAT issue, and possibly ECs.

[BernieMac]

On 11/12/2016 at 8:17 AM, bearpuppy said:

I applied 3 cycles with 3 IIs and was accepted on the 3rd try. The average is in fact 2.7 times, not 2. If you've never received an interview, there's likely a GPA / MCAT issue, and possibly ECs.

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[bearpuppy]

what was your GPA/CARS(VR) in your 3 tries? 

 

 

my GPA is low (~3.6 ish; but have a PhD)... My VR the first two times was 10, and in the most recent I had a 130 in CARS (overall 522)

[orangeman]

Given you had received an interview, would you say the biggest issue is the interview then or are the other sections (GPA/CARS/EC) also an issue?

[ballsortahard]

Twice.  Had no idea how to write the Top 10 so no interview the first time despite excellent stats.  The admissions podcast mentions that if you apply >4 times and year after year fail to get an interview, you should reconsider your options.  

 

Given your posts here and elsewhere on the forum, it seems that the medical school application process is a huge source of anxiety for you (more so than the average applicant).  I may be wrong, but at this point it seems that going on PM101 is doing more harm than good.  Presumably you are reading all these stories on here and getting caught up with other peoples stats/experiences.  What benefit does this serve?  How does it change your situation?

 

As of right now, you submitted your application and it is out of your hands.  Use the time between now and the date interviews come out to focus on yourself!  Get your stress/anxiety under control.  A number of years ago I was exactly like you.  I would read about all the fantastic applicants on here that routinely got rejected and compare myself to them, thinking "if they didn't get in, what chance do I have?"  Eventually, I got tired of the self-doubt and the insecurity.  I stopped coming to this forum and continued to live my life.  This was the year I interviewed and subsequently got in. 

 

PM101 can be both an excellent resource as well a basecamp for neuroticism.  If you can see yourself getting caught up in the latter, my advice is to avoid the website all together.  That said, if you're going to read anything on here, read the non-trad student success stories.  Not only are they inspiring, they serve as an excellent reminder that there are many different paths to medical school.

 

Good luck!

 

 

Would you mind me asking what you consider excellent stats for UofC?

[VolumeOverload]

Would you mind me asking what you consider excellent stats for UofC?

Generally speaking, I think excellent stats for U of C would be excellent stats for any medical school in Canada.  Not sure that my stats should matter to you though.

 

Edit:  I know this reads a little cryptic, but numbers are readily available on the U of C website/admission's blog.  I think isolated cases like mine or bearpuppy's (for example) are not as representative.

[ballsortahard]

Fair enough, I see the averages. Was just wondering how excellent might be defined.