out of province chances?

[Guest Lola Lee Lolo]

Hi all,

This question has probably been addressed awhile back (i seem to recall having read a thread about it), but I am going to throw it out to the mods and anyone else who wants to give a say--how do Ontarians/other OOP applicants fare acceptance-wise? I am curious as to the breakdown of the last couple first year classes: 90% MB residents, 10% otherwise or ?? I think I read in the general information booklet for UM that they really do not consider OOP applicants. I basically want to know if my time putting together an application for entry 2004 would be well spent? Do you think having been born/lived on and off in the 'peg would help me any?? (yes, im grasping at straws!).

thanks for the insights guys! looking forward to hearing about your 1st yr med experiences!

[Guest PARTY cal]

Hi,

I can tell you that this years cutoffs for OOP (2003) were:

WGPA =3.9 and MCAT= 10.5 . If you did not meet those cutoffs you did not get an interview. Unfortunately I did not make the cutoffs. Hope this helps.

[Guest ManitobaMed]

I ask some questions at the interview orientation tomorrow and try to provide some specific details, but, in general, about 8 spots here go to OOP applicants each year. (My class this year might not have that many, though...)

 

As far as scores, the ones above sound about right. If your scores are competitive, by all means apply. I'll see if I can find out how many they generally interview per OOP spot.

[Guest thmper]

Hi,

 

If you read the info pdf form from manitoba med website, you'll find a table of stats for last year's applicants on the last page. I think approximately 25 oop applicants get an interview, they offered 10 spots and I think only 6 or 7 people enrolled ( These number maybe a bit off). The selection process is based mainly on wgpa and MCAT I think.

 

Hope that helps!

[Guest Lactic Folly]

Is there a grade conversion chart available on the internet? I've been using the UofA/UofC one, but I suspect other institutions may convert differently (I would be OOP for Manitoba).

[Guest Lola Lee Lolo]

Thanks for directing me to the application. Seeing it now reminds me that I had read it before (must have been eons ago, as i had forgotten i had done so!!)

i, too, am interested in the grade conversions...i don't quite understand what they meant in the med school application regarding the number of courses/credits which would not be included in the overall wgpa calculation. Are these chosen from your 4 years 'randomly' or must they only include courses taken in a particular year (ie, if 2nd yr is the worst, they only calculate your gpa for years 1,3,4).

[Guest ManitobaMed]

AGPA:

They drop your lowest marks, regardless of year, provided they aren't in biochem or English/French, both of which must be included. How many credits are dropped is dependent on the number of courses you've taken.

 

Because I attended an Ontario school for undergrad, I'm not sure of the grade conversion. I'll ask around on Monday. I'm pretty sure that 80-89 (A) is 4.0 and 90-100 (A+) is 4.5.

 

General OOP stuff:

The only thing I got out of the interview orientation this week is that the U of M is interviewing about 40-50 OOP candidates this year. (This was the ballpark figure given at the session.) Also, while it's true that the U of M weighs the MCAT heavily in the final decision, the MCAT scores of all interviewed OOP students are sufficiently high (and close enough together) that the interview, autobiographical sketch, and references -- 40% of the final score -- are very important in determining who gets in.

[Guest kellyl20]

So how many courses are needed after deletion of the ones with low marks?

[Guest brandonite]

I don't know what I can add that ManitobaMed didn't say... If you have over 120 credit hours (a full four year degree) they take your best 90 credit hours, including biochem and english to make up your AGPA. And over 90% is a 4.5 at U of M. I have no idea why.

 

But don't get too worked up about your AGPA, as it's only 10% of your final score...

[Guest kellyl20]

got it, best 3 full years' worth of credits plus makes up the GPA portion that is worth 10%.

What does a 3.9 GPA in Manitoba translates into, percentage wise?

[Guest ManitobaMed]

Unfortunately, due to the nature of GPA systems, it's difficult to say what a 3.9 would translate into. It might be a 4:1 split between A/A- marks and B+ marks. Or, it might be a bunch of A+ range grades with a couple of D range thrown in. You really have to convert each grade over individually to figure your AGPA out. (In other words, a percent average cannot be converted directly to an AGPA.)

 

The only conversions I'm certain of are the ones mentioned above (i.e. 80-89=4.0, 90-100=4.5). So, if all the marks to be included in your AGPA are above 80, you have the 3.9 for sure. I'll try to ask around about the other conversions.

 

Edit: I found this on the U of M website this morning -- I'll try to figure out the percentage equivalents.

A+=4.5 A=4.0 B+=3.5 B=3.0 C+=2.5 C=2.0 D=1.0 F=0.0

[Guest brandonite]

Are you talking about what score you would get out of the 10%? I don't really know. I can't quite remember how they do this, but I think they give the lowest GPA of all their applicants a 0% out of 10%, and the highest a 10% out of the 10%. Then the rest of them fall on a sliding scale between them. It's really hard to say where you might lie. Maybe ManitobaMed can correct me on this - it's been a year now since I learned all of this!

[Guest Lola Lee Lolo]

mcgill doesn't have the A+ in their grading system, and pretty much only denotes marks by grade letter. any idea how our A would stack up against schools with A+'s?

 

hmmm...looking at this AGPA thing, I just might start pulling together a nice application for UM 2004!

[Guest ManitobaMed]

We have a couple of McGill grads in our class, so I'll see if they know. An A would definitely be at least a 4.0. Any idea what the percentage range is for your letter grades???

 

Anyway, if you're stacking up pretty well in stats, definitely apply. We have a great med school here!

[Guest Lola Lee Lolo]

a mcgill A is anything from an 85-100. so broad, huh? it almost doesn't make it worth pushing for a 90 when a 'mere' 85 will give you the same gpa! anyways, can't say i fit into that exclusive 'A' club!

i haven't written the mcat yet, but plan to at the end of april. hopefully my scores will be sufficiently high to compensate for a weaker agpa. just to clarify, then: do you need to meet those OOP cut offs (whatever they are from year to year) before your application proceeds to the next step, or does your initial rank depend on the total agpa+mcat score? i am really hoping to rock that mcat!! :rollin ...yea...that might be a pipe dream!

 

thanks for the replies and helpful info! i'd love to go back to winnipeg to study.

[Guest ManitobaMed]

A Queen's "A" ranges from 80-100. Fortunately, though, we had percentage grades to go with the pointless letters.

 

To be perfectly honest, the admissions system here is a little confusing to me. It appears, based on my perusal of the applicant bulletin (available at www.umanitoba.ca/student/...lletin.pdf ), that it's a combined MCAT/AGPA score that's used, so a really high MCAT could compensate for a lower AGPA. However, I'm not sure how low that AGPA can be before the MCAT ceases to compensate; it appears that the lowest GPA range for interviewed/accepted OOP students last year was between 3.7 and 3.89. Contacting the school could probably help you to clear both this and the GPA conversion up.

 

Good luck with the MCAT!!!

 

Edit to add: Having lived/been born in Winnipeg will probably only help you get an interview if it qualifies you as an in-province resident (i.e. if you attended high school in Manitoba). However, were you to obtain an interview, having lived here could probably be a bonus because you would be more familiar with the city/province and could honestly say whether you'd enjoy living here again.