Guest gucio93 Posted February 28, 2002 Report Share Posted February 28, 2002 Thanks Justine for re-posting your story. I'm sorry the experience was so frustrating for you. As Carolyne said, the best solution is to voice your concerns in written form and direct these to the office of admissions. If others feel this way and do the same, your voices will be stronger and your concerns may have a greater chance of being addressed. Applicant too, I appreciate your level-headed and logical approach to the situation. I must say I tend to agree with you regarding the clarity of Mac's requirements. My view is very likely coloured by the fact that when I was applying I must have read those requirements about a 100 times paying attention to every single one (even those that did not "seem" to apply to me). But that's part of my neurotic nature, I guess! Nevertheless, I will not deny that when I received my "disqualification letter" (for an entirely different reason) I still felt angry and frustrated with the entire process. It was only upon reflection that I was able to admit to myself that it is unfair for me to blame the system when there are 4,000 applications these people have to go through. They are only human and if you try to understand their side of the story, it must get VERY tiring to have a good portion of these 4,000 anxious people calling you everyday, sometimes with senseless, or baseless complaints. I am not saying this to belittle any of the concerns many of you have voiced on this forum - they are certainly very valid and obviously you have every right to feel the way you do, I'm just trying to bring a bit of perspective to the discussion. In the end I was able to resolve the misunderstanding and everything worked out, so I have faith that concerns that have merit and are brought to the admission committee with documentation and in a timely fashion should be given their due attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Justine Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 Hi there I actually went down there today and decided to resovle the problem in person. I let them know I wasn't leaving until they heard me out. And they did hear me out and have revoked my disqualification. They totally understand my situation which I explained to them. I know what the website says regarding their policy(i'm not stupid I can read and so can the others) my point was the I could not work around that policly because of my situation and they totally agreed, infact they had a look at my file and said that they are really interested in what they saw. We chatted for a while they kinda asked me about some stuff I had done, and as I was leaving said (dont leave town well be calling you for an invite!!!!!!!!) YES!!!!! I dont know if it was my initiative or what but they are also going to review the others in the same situation. As for "don't apply if you cant read the policy" I dont think that poster has the capacity to comprehend the discussion so we will let that comment slide. So to those who are in the same situation looks like the problem is solved! Thanks again Carolyn and Gucio, I really appreciate it Justine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eye hope its my turn Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 wow, good show justine, way to go. funny how your file didn't undergo the 3 people review(1 med student, 1 faculty member, 1 community volunteer) process AND you got an verbal invite! what a subjective process mac has, unbelievable. i guess us hopefuls (or just myself) will NEVER be able to demystify the weeding out process of 4000 applications. i think that i'll just STOP thinking about it and let my planetary line up and astrological influences take over my destiny at mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Justine Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 I've been thinking about it, maybe they were just trying to get rid of me. They were being overly nice, almost eerie nice. I really dont know what to say hopefully they will keep their promise but Mac will always be Mac! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cradlecrotch Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 What's more likely is that they said/meant "IN CASE we invite you for an interview". I wasn't there so I could be wrong about that, but I just wouldn't want you to get your hopes up thinking it's a sure thing and then be disappointed - that might be too much of an emotional roller coaster ride for anyone to bear, especially after you went through so much trouble. The other thing is, Mac doesn't call to invite students for interviews, they send letters. However, I admire your perseverance. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gucio93 Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 Great to hear Justine! Good luck and hope everything works out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest applicant too Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 Justine - I have looked throughout this thread and I can't find who you are quoting with the "don't apply if you can't read the policy". Gucio93 did say that there are plenty of other medical schools to apply to if you don't like MAC's policy and I agreed with him, but I wish I knew who said if you can't read the policy then don't bother applying - maybe it was in a comment that has been deleted - who knows? I have a feeling that you were misquoting my comment and if you were then it is pretty funny that you find me lacking the capacity to comprehend the discussion. It really would be more professional to keep the insults out of the forum. Please don't think that all comments are addressed to you personally. I'm thinking that your remark about not being stupid and being able to read the policy was a response to my quoting the OMSAS booklet - if you look a little closer, that message was for Liana who had said she didn't think that they had clarified what a "year" meant - I was just pointing out that they clearly had explained a "year". I think we are all just really on edge right now. I have only been trying to stick up for MAC because I believe that it is truly the program that will best suit me and I am soooooo tired of hearing MAC get bashed - not so much on this forum but quite a lot on the "other" forum. I was also very careful in choosing my courses based on MAC's rqts and had to do some juggling of courses so that I didn't exceed the max of 5 first year courses. Once again, I wish everyone the best of luck and may everyone that is part of this forum receive the "good" letters soon and have wonderful interviews. Maybe we will all be classmates in September and we will be able to look back at this and laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 I think everyone is on edge, and that's natural. You're all hitting the final step of the very long process of med school admissions. I, and the other moderators understand the frustration of working so hard, yet feeling out of control and being uncertain of whether you will achieve your goal of getting accepted to med school. However, for the sake of these forums, I really have to ask for two objectives from everyone. 1). <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Be nice.<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> No personal insults please, as they aren't welcome here. 2). If you have a beef with a medical school, or a particular part of the admissions process <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> give examples.<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> If you don't agree with one of Mac's policies, state why. If you think one school is preferable to another, give reasons why you believe this. As each applicant and reader here on the forums comes from a unique background, it's often difficult to understand where you're coming from if you don't provide examples explaining your logic. If you don't understand someone else's viewpoint, that's when discussions tend to go sour. So everyone, please let's <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> be nice<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> and <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> give examples.<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> Thanks all. Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Liana Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 applicant too, Thanks for clarifying the precise statement in Mac's application materials. I wasn't sure what the exact wording was, but your quote definitely shows that Mac has clarified this remark beyond the wording I could recall off the top of my head (I guess I should've checked OMSAS ). Regardless of everyone's varying opinions on the smaller facets of the Mac Admissions process, I think it's safe to conclude that most posters can acknowledge the fact that Mac's requirements may be a bit unfortunate for some applicants, but that Mac honestly needs some way to sieve through the massive pile of applicants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JSS02 Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 Apparently Mac didn't have this policy before this year, because a couple of people I know asked before starting second year whether taking a 100 level course then would be OK (and were told it was absolutely fine, as long as it was used to fulfill some sort of requirement). The exact wording on the website has most likely not changed, from what I remember, so these people (not myself, but I was just lucky that I didn't take a 100 level course) ended up applying and were rejected. After contacting the school they said the policy had been changed recently, etc. etc. Anyway, the "two years above level one", where a year is the "full block of work completed from Sept. to April" is absolutely not a new statement in their policy, but it seems that the interpretation of it has. Although I was not rejected by Mac for this reason (and hope not to be next week!), I could have been easily one of those people had I taken a first year course last year, so I can understand why they'd be upset. That's not a knock on the medical program, which is great, but I don't think the way MD Admissions handled this situation was very impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest biogirl Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 I started University in the summer did 3 courses, then from sept to april I did 5 (total 8 courses), did another 2 in the summer total to 10, now I'm in my 2nd year of sept to april doing 5 coures (total 15 courses). I have 5 first year courses took 3 in the summer and 2 in first year (sept to april ) along with 3 2nd year courses. then in the summer I took 2 2nd year courses and now from sept to april I am taking 5 third year courses. I applied to Mac, but I dont know if I qualify. I will have 10 courses above 1st year level when I'm done this year however because I went through the summers and started early I dont know if this will disqualify me, does anyone know the anwser? Thank you so much To recap Summer 3 1st year courses Sept-April 2 First year courses and 3 2nd year courses April-August 2 second year courses Sept-April 5 third year courses (currently completing Total 15 courses , (5 first year courses Any idea am I toasted oats? Thanks again Biogirl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shkelo Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 The 513 train is heading south at 5 m/s with a 30km/h headwind... Ouch, too many numbers to deal with. Invitation letters are already printed. They could be sent as early as today and ready for the mailbox by next week. Letters of rejection will likely follow soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest From Ottawa Posted March 1, 2002 Report Share Posted March 1, 2002 From what I have read in your e-mail it does not seem like you have 10 full courses above level one. Yes you have 10 courses but some of them were half a course because they are only 4 months long. For a course to be full it needs to be from September to April. I don't know if your summer courses May to August qualify as full or half each. It seems to me that you have 3.5 first year courses and 9 second year courses (and abovoe), but better ask Mc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest biogirl Posted March 2, 2002 Report Share Posted March 2, 2002 No all my courses are full year courses even though I completed some in the summer they were full year courses that if taken in the fall would run from sept to april therefore I am very confused Total is 15 full courses Any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cradlecrotch Posted March 2, 2002 Report Share Posted March 2, 2002 You're not toast, you're fine... Clearly you've taken 2 full years of courses beyond the first year level. If you haven't received a disqualification at this point, then you're good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cali Posted March 2, 2002 Report Share Posted March 2, 2002 I've been reading ALOT about people being disqualified. So basically does Mac want a 2nd and 3rd year full course load. Here is my question...can applicants take a few 1st year courses in 2nd or 3rd year as 'extra' courses (i.e. 6 or 7 courses per term in total?). At my school there are a bunch of interesting courses I'd like to take for my own interest (i.e. language courses)...but I'm scared that if I do, I would be toast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JSS02 Posted March 2, 2002 Report Share Posted March 2, 2002 7 courses in one term is NOT a good idea (I'm not saying it's impossible, but you're making it unnecessarily hard on yourself)... if you're interested enough in whatever, then take it in the summer or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cali Posted March 2, 2002 Report Share Posted March 2, 2002 So if I take a 1 or 2 courses during the summer for interest sake...would that be alright if they are 100 level courses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JSS02 Posted March 2, 2002 Report Share Posted March 2, 2002 I believe McMaster's course level requirement is for September to April. So doing those courses in the summer shouldn't be a problem. But as always, it doesn't hurt to check with the admissions office first.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Liana Posted March 3, 2002 Report Share Posted March 3, 2002 Yeah, I would definitely encourage you to check with the Admissions Committee, because it's only their interpretation that counts, but to me I would think that, as long as you completed the full 2 years above the first year level (ie, 10 full courses at 200 level or above) then you would be free to take any summer courses or 6th courses at a first year level. But definitely check with Mac first, just to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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