Guest Carolyn Posted February 26, 2002 Report Share Posted February 26, 2002 The following question is from another forum: Hi Carolyn I've read some of posts and you seem to be an authority on Mac so I thought I would just ask you a few questions or anyone else familiar with Mac's admission policies Ive had a lot of friends who got offers from all of the Ontario schools and didn't even get interview invites from Mac. Are their admission policies that stringent or do you have to be older making medicine a second career ,because I know of one guy who is in mac year 2 who had horrible marks, (even failed 1st year bio, chem, calculus but graduated with a 3.1 with bird courses to pad)) but worked for 5 years in pharma sales then applied and got an interview. During the group interview stuff, he said he had no idea what was going on so he sat back and let the group do all the work. They loved it and later told him that he was very observant and non agressive almost "feminine" great qualities for a doctor. Truth was he couldnt comprehend what was going on so he sat there nodding his head and smiled. What is going on? I just was wondering if you could shed some light into their black box admissions policy. I also noticed that they love to take tons of females ie 75 to 25 does this mean that as a female I will be favoured, obviously statistically I have far superior odds. I really would like to go to Mac but as everyone has told me, admissions there is a game there so as long as you learn the tricks and say what they want to hear, present yourself in a new age hippie bohemian fashion you will get in, even if your marks reflect that you are as dumb as a donkey (this stuff is from people currently in the program) I wish there was more to go with because I love hamilton and am currently in the Bhsc program at Mac but I dont know if I will be able to figure out what they want. Oh well I think the standard stuff GPA MCAT volunteer, employment is on order to get accepted to the more '"standard" schools but if possible I would love to continue at Mac. Any advice would be appreciated Julie Hi Julie -- First of all I am definitely not an authority on Mac - I can only answer some of your questions based on my experiences. I was surprised by your comments - why would you want to come to a school that lets in people who fail most of first year, don't say anything in their interview and only likes bohemian hippie types??? It would be a pretty lame place to go to medical school and I can assure you that is not the case. As I know everyone in my class and have a pretty good memory of what people did before hand, I definitely can't come up with a name who would fit a guy who worked at a pharm company for 5 years. Plus, the people who come in with the really low marks (ie.. the 3.1-3.3s) usually have had some pretty exceptional experiences. In order to even get an interview at that point you have to be in the absolute top percentile(s) on your essay score... If the GPA avg has been around 3.5 - 3.6 for the past couple of years, you need to recognize that it would likely be much higher if you started putting mac student's GPAs in the formulas used by other schools (ie. two best years) etc. So I can assure you that the majority of students here have high marks. The others are the olympian/mother of 5/mother teresa's right-hand person types and some of those people have both high marks and exceptional experiences. Interview process: your friend only got feedback on his group tutorial simulation from other applicants - not from anyone in the programme - if you get in, you are not privy to any feedback other than an acceptance letter. If you do not get in, then you get a percentile.... Therefore, any wierd feedback he got came from wierd applicant... We have a lot of very conservative people and I can't think of anyone with dreads in my class... People are definitely active in the community but I wouldn't say a heck of a lot more active than what I see with people at Western and Queen's (Likely we are less active!). I'm With regards to the dumb as doorbells comment -> Whoever said that to you was being highly inappropriate and may have just been letting off steam. I have found my peers to be extremely bright and have received the feedback from residents who graduated from other medical students that they can't get over how quickly and competently we pick up our medical knowledge. There are always a few bad apples - but that happens at every school... There are many men and young students in medical school at Mac- there is no overt bias at Mac against men and for women. It does not help you to be a woman or older. My only advice is to get involved in a variety of extracurricular activities, develop your team skills, leadership skills and make sure you get top marks. It is next to impossible to get into mac (and any medical school) without strong marks and strong experiences Carolyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Julie Posted February 26, 2002 Report Share Posted February 26, 2002 Thanks Carolyn I guess your right, people do have a tendancy to blow off stream and that may result in information that may not be accurate or even useful. Further to your reply, I was wondering what types of unique things and experiences does Mac look for. More specifically as a student reviewer what activities or characterisitcs did you award high scores for during the interview granting selection. Thanks alot Carolyn, BTW I dont know if this is you but I read an article about a Carolyn in the Med program that was posted on the second floor at Mac, if that was about you, I really found it interesting and enjoyed reading about your stellar background. Im afraid I have not done such exciting things such as studying business practices in Japan etc and therefore feel that I wont be able to prove myself unique and exciting enough to add the Med school class Any advice would really be appreciated Thanks again Julie Btw if you want to see touristy things in the Hamilton (mentioned in the article) area go to Websters falls its awsome! (had my first kiss there when I was in grade 9......but thats another story!) Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carolyn Posted February 26, 2002 Report Share Posted February 26, 2002 Find something that you love doing and do it well - make an impact whether small or large in that area and be ready to explain why it will help you become a good physician. The nice thing about Mac is that they aren't looking for anything specific -- any type of experience will fit in. If you feel good about what you are doing and can present it well, then you have just as good an opportunity as anyone. Take care. Carolyn P.S. Yes that was me - and I've heard about Webster's falls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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