Guest JD Posted March 6, 2002 Report Share Posted March 6, 2002 Everyone should try applying to several schools to maximize their chances. Some (I'm not one of them, though) think that the Mac PBL system suits them best, and that's great. However, your main goal is to become a physician, not just one that graduated from whatever school is your first choice. So you want to maximize your chances of getting in SOMEWHERE. If you have the background to write the MCAT, do it! Face it, if you apply to only Mac every year, you could take a very long time to get in (if you ever do). 128 spots for 3000 applicants is NOT very good odds for you at all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest macreject Posted March 7, 2002 Report Share Posted March 7, 2002 Add me to the "gross discrepancy" club. This is my 3rd time applying. First 2 times, 98th %ile on the essay, interview both times. This year, 59th %ile. It just seems to me that an essay which is deemed so obviously superior twice in a row shouldn't be regarded as merely average the third time. Mac's system has definite flaws. The question is what to do about it with 3000 applicants and a program where unquantfiable personality traits are extremely important for success in the program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rony26 Posted March 7, 2002 Report Share Posted March 7, 2002 Unfortunately, the applicants each year are not the same. There may have been better submissions this year, considering the various avenues applicants can get their help from. Ahh, we talk about this for days. Let's all move on. Also rejected, Rony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cradlecrotch Posted March 7, 2002 Report Share Posted March 7, 2002 Yeah, I don't really buy that argument. The caliber of the applicant pool didn't increase so drastically that a 98% essay last year is now only worth 59%. Maybe if that guy/girl's score dropped to say 90% we could possibly attribute it to a more competitive pool. Clearly there are other forces at work, namely the element of chance. You are at the mercy of three individuals. If just one of those people has a different idea of what makes a good submission, you could be sunk. While the process is not fair to the applicant, I must say this: Mac must do whatever it takes to ensure that the 400 people chosen for interviews are suitable candidates for the program specifically. The program thrives on students. Look at it from Mac's perspective: the goal is to fill the class with high-quality people that are uniquely suited to the program - and all signs point to the fact that they do a good job of it in the end. As an admissions committee THAT'S ALL THEY CARE ABOUT. They could care less if the program is unfair to applicants...fairness takes a backseat role to finding people with a very special set of skills and personality traits - traits that would not be absolutely essential at another school, and of this they do a good job. Certainly Mac's methods don't always select the best applicants. Absolutely they are unfair, and I believe Mac should strive to improve this. However, to me it seems exceedingly difficult to balance these tasks for a program that demands certain intangible and non-quantifiable personal qualities. The bottom line is that as long as Mac continues to be successful in choosing the appropriate students for its program (as it has been in the past), there is little motivation for them to make the process more fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest macmed Posted March 21, 2002 Report Share Posted March 21, 2002 hello, well I've posted this before and I'll post it again. I know it's upsetting that your same essay gets a high rank one year and a low rank the next. But that's not a flaw in the Mac system. Hello, how do you know your U of T essays aren't getting marked the same way? YOU DON"T, b/c they don't tell you what your score is. Guess what, essays (and interviews) are subjective, and by definition no two raters will see a given essay the same way. I don't know who marks the other schools' essays, but at Mac each essay is marked by 3 different types of people, each marking totally independently, in an attempt to make it more fair. As a first year Mac med student who is currently quite involved in the application process, I have to stick up for them because given they have so many more applicants than other schools, with much more variable backgrounds, I think Mac is doing everything in its power to be fair. This is part of the rationale for having 3 parts to the interview with 3 independent raters for each part. Name one other school that puts so much manpower into their admissions process!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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