For Bc Applicants- Where Are Your Best Out Of Province Chances?

[casajayo]

I didn't apply out of province this cycle (wanted to see what my UBC scores were first) but definitely will next year. What are everyone's top choices for applying out of province, based on actual chances of getting in? UC looks interesting if you can get past the GPA cutoff, and if you can get an interview at McMaster (10% of spots for OOP) it seems you're judged equally with all other applicants. Anywhere else that sound promising?

[Pterygoid]

Queens, is worth a shot; maybe even Western.

I've had friends from UBC get into both.

 

Queens is kind of a black-box tbh; most students applying will have a great GPA (mostly due to their lax agpa calculation method).

Lax agpa -- most recent two years are calculated if you've taken full-time course load (their definition: 3 courses/semester)

 

 

Best of luck!

[MrWesting]

UofT does not differentiate between IP and OOP applicants, so that's clearly a plus when you're applying from BC. They've got a ridiculously high average acceptance GPA though, which isn't always kind to UBC students converting their percentage grades. UofT also a quite sizable qualitative assessment component to their application, so it's anyone's guess.

 

I'm holding out some hope for McMasters and Western, mainly because of they have a high emphasis on the MCAT, particularly CARS.

 

I only applied to UBC last year and everybody told me I was stupid for limiting my chances. If you really don't want to move out of the province though, I think it's fair to give yourself a year to hold out for your top pick.

[casajayo]

Queens, is worth a shot; maybe even Western.

I've had friends from UBC get into both.

 

Queens is kind of a black-box tbh; most students applying will have a great GPA (mostly due to their lax agpa calculation method).

Lax agpa -- most recent two years are calculated if you've taken full-time course load (their definition: 3 courses/semester)

 

 

Best of luck!

Thanks! I didn't know that about Queens- should be helpful for me as my first and second year self didn't realize studying was a thing

[casajayo]

UofT does not differentiate between IP and OOP applicants, so that's clearly a plus when you're applying from BC. They've got a ridiculously high average acceptance GPA though, which isn't always kind to UBC students converting their percentage grades. UofT also a quite sizable qualitative assessment component to their application, so it's anyone's guess.

 

I'm holding out some hope for McMasters and Western, mainly because of they have a high emphasis on the MCAT, particularly CARS.

 

I only applied to UBC last year and everybody told me I was stupid for limiting my chances. If you really don't want to move out of the province though, I think it's fair to give yourself a year to hold out for your top pick.

Hm, good to think about. I was really holding out for UBC because quite frankly I want to live and work here for the rest of my life, but I feel like I can't crack their AQ system- poor grades from 8 years ago are still dragging me down

[hopeful4UBC]

Honestly if you apply to most Ontario schools your chances aren't much worse than if you were from Ontario originally. Ontario doesn't have much of a discrimination against applicants from other provinces, unlike the rest of Canada.

 

Queen's and UofT --> don't discriminate from what province you're from at all; your chances are identical to someone from Ontario.

 

Western --> slight advantage for people who are from Southwestern Ontario (a very specific part of Ontario that most Ontarians are NOT from). Otherwise, your chances are the same as someone from Ontario.

 

McMaster --> they say they do prefer in province students, but I have yet to understand at what point in the process this preference occurs. I don't understand how it would happen because I know it's very formulaic (based solely off of your CARS, Casper, and cGPA)....so how does the "in province" advantage occur if everyone is ranked the same? 

 

Ottawa --> There is a slight disadvantage, but the last I checked, it's something like the IP cutoff is a wGPA of 3.85, while the OOP cutoff is a wGPA of 3.87 (this is outdated and probably inaccurate, but gives you an idea)

 

NOSM --> This school looks for very specific candidates who are interested in remote/rural medicine and have experience living/working in those areas. For most Ontarians (from urban areas), this school usually isn't really within their reach anyway.

[medicalhopeful12345]

 

Western --> slight advantage for people who are from Southwestern Ontario (a very specific part of Ontario that most Ontarians are NOT from). Otherwise, your chances are the same as someone from Ontario.

 

McMaster --> they say they do prefer in province students, but I have yet to understand at what point in the process this preference occurs. I don't understand how it would happen because I know it's very formulaic (based solely off of your CARS, Casper, and cGPA)....so how does the "in province" advantage occur if everyone is ranked the same? 

 

 

 

Ontario is almost definitely your best bet. Very very minimal in province preference (which sucks if you're from Ontario, I've heard of people moving to get IP residency elsewhere to stand a better chance). Western has a lower GPA and MCAT cut off for those very specific southwestern ontario applicants, but everyone more or less competes for the same seats once you're over the cut-off if I understand the system correctly. 

 

McMaster the IP advantage occurs because they only offer 10% of their interview spots to OOP candidates, but once you get an interview, you have an equal shot at being accepted.

 

edit: as mentioned above, queen's is notoriously black box. no one really seems to have any sense of their cutoff scores or what they look for, including some of my friends who now attend there.

[hoomans]

others have made good points on schools, but I just want to make a comment on being picky about schools to apply to, mainly for the benefit of future applicants combing through these forums.

 

This is really something you come to appreciate when you browse forums for states premeds, where everyone has something like 25 schools minimum divided into failsafes, targets, and reach schools. It illustrates the fact that no matter how good your grades or ECs are, you can't be certain you'll get into that dream school of yours regardless of your personal desires of location, prestige, or whatever else. Applying to only UBC is incredibly shortsighted considering all the competition you have and how Canadian med schools are notoriously hard to get into. You must cast a wide net, even if you can't possibly stomach the idea of leaving BC to study elsewhere. Even if only from a financial perspective, losing a year like this is something like $200k in your future salary, not exactly worth it.

 

In any case, hope im not coming off as offensive haha, just wanted to note that regardless of how smart etc. you are, this process is not guaranteed.