letter received

[Guest KiT]

Hey folks,

 

this is just a tidbit for the info-starved...I live in London Ontario and received my invitation for an interview today.

 

all the best,

[Guest elu99]

Got a rejection today in Waterloo.

 

Can anyone tell me how the Autobio ranking works? Is this entirely your written submission, or does this include the letters of reference? I'm just wondering how my percentile score might translate as far as my other school applications. I got a 55% on the autobiographical category. Do you think that's too low to be competitve at other schools, or do you think that's just an artifact of having to compete with such strong applicants? I'm just worried because I expected to score at least a tiny bit higher, and I'm worried that a) this will have implications for what the other schools think of my app and (more importantly) this may be indicative of some bad news in one of my reference letters.

 

any insight?

[Guest hmsdread]

Hi elu99,

 

While I don't know how the autobio rankings work, I know that it won't have any effect on your other school applications. They don't share info. And I don't even know if they look at your reference letters at this stage. As for the ranking system itself, it seems a littly goofy to me. I know people who have scored in the 80-90% range with what I would consider very poor answers. Its hard to be objective about your own answers, but I like to think I write fairly well, and I drew on a lot of personal experiences for my answers. Nonetheless, I was rejected because I was ranked in the 29th percentile. In addition, its been known that some people submit the same responses in consecutive years, only to have their ranking go from the bottom to the top. It seems to me that more standardization is necessary to prevent things like this from happening. Regardless, I wouldn't worry about your other applications. They are independent entities, and unless you have a poor reference letter, nothing will carry over to other schools.

 

All the best,

hmsdread

[Guest Steven McDonald]

Elu99 do not I repeat do not get discouraged, you still are in the running for other schools. As far the autbio score I believe its based on your answer to those questions that Mac has you submit. The reference letters are a small part of the application and are not scored as far as I know. Last year I applied to all the schools, got offers from Western, Queens, UofT and Ottawa. Mac didn't even grant me an interview, in fact I ranked in the 51st percentile on the essay component. Of course I'm not a 30 something year old lesbian with breasts. But if I was stephanie instead of steven.....who knows. My point is Mac is not a very good indicator of your strength as an applicant, I'm sure you will have some good news soon. PS Mac recruiting practices does make the lifesci library a great place to pick up "alternative" cougar ladies.

 

Later

Steven

[Guest applicant]

Interesting to know that you watch the "Sunday Night Sex Show" Steven - how else would you know about the "Cougar" phenomenon? I find your comments about Mac's typically accepted student highly insulting (eg. the 30+ lesbian - and by the way ALL lesbians have breasts - you might want to remember this if you are going to be a doctor).

 

Anyway, best to keep the insults out of this forum - if you can't say something nice about someone/something then don't say anything at all.

 

Congratulations to those that have received your invites and thanks for the heads up ...postmen beware!!!

[Guest Steven McDonald]

Spoken like a true lesbian.....no really I'm just kidding

 

Sorry I was just joking around in reference to the 75% female 25% male ratio, you have to admit that is slightly skewed for it to be a naturally occuring probability. Look, bottom line is I like Mac, its a good school with good faculty and "intersexing" students. I wish I could have gone there, I mean 3:1 ratio of girls, its like the playboy mansion of med schools!

 

As for cougars, its a phenomenon that has been explored outside of Sue's Sunday night sex show.I actually read an article about the liberation of women has lead to these older ladies going for the goods that they have always desired. Its actually quite prevelant in Toronto. Alot of the guys here at UofT MEds head out to the bars on Friday night and if night runs dry we all head to the "cougar dens" like Crocodile rock. Once we say we are 20 something med students, its anatomy the rest of the night!!!!!

 

Good luck to all the applicants, keep your eye on the prize and not on your interveiwer's legs!

[Guest Jane]

Congratulations KiT!

[Guest JSS02]

Got my letter here in the GTA. Not the "good" letter, unfortunately. However, I've got interviews at a few other schools, so I'm not upset about it. Best of luck to all who are still "in the game" at Mac and hopefully we can still be colleagues next year, albeit at different schools.

[Guest cali]

Got the "bad" letter too today. One question...does any one know how they ranked us? Did they add the percentile of both (or was the autobio multiplied by 3 first, since there are 3 evaluators?).

 

I have a very low GPA (just made the cutoff), but my autobio scored quite high (I guess I'm happy about that). But with this low GPA will I ever have a chance? I'm an out of province applicant too.

[Guest Montrealer]

No news from Montreal. Any Montrealers receive a letter?

[Guest eye hope its my turn]

hey cali-

 

i'm also an OOP applicant with gpa just making the cutoff. i'm dreading the postman. how high did u score on u're autobio? A friend of mine last year (who also has low gpa) scored 25.70 percentile for GPA and 88.72 for autobio submission. And no interview... Maybe you have to be in the 95+ percentile to get an invite...

 

[Guest watever]

nah...I think this whole essay ranking is a load of crap. How do they turn a

score out of 21 (7 x 3) for 3000 people into a percentile rank so exact to two decimal points????? please there is something else...mac why don't u tell us?????

 

All just a ploy to keep the people they want to, the chosen preselected few.

[Guest cali]

Hi eye hope its my turn,

 

I scored in the ~75th percentile...not as high as your friend.

Do you know his/her GPA to have scored 25.70?

 

I was sort of waiting for a rejection letter b/c of my low GPA...I guess I was dreaming a miracle!

 

I don't know what to do now...any suggestions? Do you know how Mac handles OOP applicants?

 

I am graduating soon with a great profession, but med is what I truly want.

 

=(

[Guest another macapp]

Just wondering for those that wish to share (anonymously of course) what GPA's were in what percentile?

 

Curious because my letter will likely take a few more days to get to my small town!

 

Thanks.

[Guest Jbird]

Just phoned my husband at home and "the letter" has arrived. EEeeek. I couldn't stand for him to open it while I was at work so he's bringing it with him when he picks me up. Hopefully he's opened a good bottle of vino at home so I can either celebrate (probably not) or drown my sorrows (much more likely). Oh well there's always next year. Cheers and much luck to all.

[Guest elu99]

I was approx 60th percentile with a 3.57

 

So the average was only moderately below last year's entering class average (3.58 or so), meaning that, as declared by Mac, academics only contribute minimally to your ability to be admitted (ie, once you meet the minimum cutoff).

[Guest badatmath]

just wondering, with percentiles isn't it interpreted as 60th percentile means that 60% of the people were above you, therefore the 25% means only 25% of the people are above you?

 

Sorry this is really a dumb question, and im pretty embarrased, but thanks

[Guest elu99]

No, 25th percentile would mean you are at or above the score of 25% of applicants (it's a summation).

 

I don't recall what others have listed as the theoretical stats for McMaster interview success, but I believe you need to be somewhere above the 70th percentile in the autobiographical submission to be invited for an interview.

[Guest JSS02]

badatmath, no, it's the other way around. 60th percentile means that your GPA was higher than 60% of the applicants. 25th percentile means that your GPA was higher than 25% of the applicants.

 

Although I like that they give your percentiles in the sketch and GPA, I think that it can be misinterpreted a bit too easily. People that ranked in lower percentiles (particularly in the autobiographic submission) may still be quite competitive at other schools...

[Guest arcticaguy]

For those with interview letters, how thick/thin were the envelopes?

Is it just me, or is it hard to focus on much of anything else at this point in time? I have dozens of scenarios running in my head....horrible feeling.

[Guest elu99]

My rejection letter was a standard folded-page envelope. One sheet, and if you peer through the envelope, you can see a discussion of "application" and whatnot.

[Guest cait23]

Kit,

Do you know what your percentiles are?

 

 

or to anyone else:

Do those who get interviews get to know their percentiles?

 

Thanks!

 

cait

[Guest nuther applicant]

Oh my gosh, I didn't think the letters would be out until next week. Now that I know they are "out there" how will I ever sleep tonight? I also have an appointment tomorrow so will have to be out of the house before the postman arrives - however will I be able to concentrate on driving home? I just want to stay home and hound the postman!!!! Ahhhhh.......

 

Good luck to the rest of you who are waiting!

[Guest cheech10]

I think if you get an interview they don't tell you your %ile

[Guest gucio93]

Elu99!

In answer to your question, the reference letters are not assessed until after the overall application is assessed following the interview phase. The autobio itself is assessed by three people (a faculty member, a medical student, and a community person) and the final score is the average of the scores these three assessors gave. The autobio is scored out of 7. I hope that helps and if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask.