CANADIAN pre-meds!!!

[mandy_848]

what score would you be happy with? it's hard to get a sense of what a decent score would be with mainly US people here since their admissions criteria is so different. i don't know what to think of my score (30P - first timer)....

thanks

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[CanMed]

what score would you be happy with? it's hard to get a sense of what a decent score would be with mainly US people here since their admissions criteria is so different. i don't know what to think of my score (30P - first timer)....

thanks

congratulations, mandy_848

my score was 33Q(12B, 11P, 10V, Q)

what do ur subscores look like?

 

[Lsm6]

I got a 33Q, which normally i wouldn't be too upset about, even though i was hopin for closer to a 36 like i was averaging in my practice tests, however, got a 14 PS, 11 BS, and a 8 in VR, which really blows. Overall my score makes all the cutoffs, but my VR definitely does not. Woulda been happy with the same PS and BS and a VR of like 10 or 11, cuz that was exactly what i was scoring in the practice tests. So i woulda been happy with the 33Q, if all the sections were more even i guess, but that damn verbal definitely screwed me over and now i guess i'll have to write again.
Frustrating this is that i guess i'll have to study all the stuff i knew and did well on all over again, just so i can improve the section you can almost not study for at all.....

But i'd say your 30P would be fine especially if your breakdown is more balanced than mine. Most places up here will see if you make the cutoff then almost not look at it again in your application anyways, so really a 36 or 37 isn't even that much better than a 30 as long as ya meet all the minimums....

anyways, good work, 30 and above ain't an easy task.

 

[mandy_848]

oh sorry - it's 10/10/10

i know the score's not bad but it's just not great. i kind of wanted my mcat to balance out my gpa which isn't that high. the idea of retaking is just making me nauseous.

my goal was 32 'cause it just seems like the ideal number for me - i have no idea why...

congrats on the 33!! that's awesome!!

 

[mandy_848]

I got a 33Q, which normally i wouldn't be too upset about, even though i was hopin for closer to a 36 like i was averaging in my practice tests, however, got a 14 PS, 11 BS, and a 8 in VR, which really blows. Overall my score makes all the cutoffs, but my VR definitely does not. Woulda been happy with the same PS and BS and a VR of like 10 or 11, cuz that was exactly what i was scoring in the practice tests. So i woulda been happy with the 33Q, if all the sections were more even i guess, but that damn verbal definitely screwed me over and now i guess i'll have to write again.
Frustrating this is that i guess i'll have to study all the stuff i knew and did well on all over again, just so i can improve the section you can almost not study for at all.....

But i'd say your 30P would be fine especially if your breakdown is more balanced than mine. Most places up here will see if you make the cutoff then almost not look at it again in your application anyways, so really a 36 or 37 isn't even that much better than a 30 as long as ya meet all the minimums....

anyways, good work, 30 and above ain't an easy task.

that sucks about your verbal score - i hate how they look at subscores as well as the overall. my friend got a 36 on th april mcat (AMAZING score) but an M on the WS (which pretty much made that mcat negligible).

at least you know the rest of your sections are fairly strong and what to expect for next time

 

[perfectmoment]

i'm pretty disappointed with my score. it was a 28Q. this is enough to get me an interview in manitoba, but i don't think that this low mcat, combined with my unimpressive ECs and GPA will really allow me to have a decent chance at getting in. i really have to kill the interview in order to get in. i'm thinking of retaking during april, and see if i get in to med school in may or june or whenever it is that manitobans find out. i'm really dreading the fact that i may have to retake again... it was painful the first time, and will be even more so with a nearly full course load for the winter semester.

 

[nismodrifter]

scored a 25R..first time, no course, all self prep. Seems like I did quite well on written compared to others. Score is good enough for Sask, Mcat is Pass/fail here

 

[Wertt]

My score was a 12 PS 12 VR 13 BS Writing S - 37S
I'm happy with it, but Ontario schools are insanely competitive. I'm applying to some american schools as well where I actually think I have a better shot at getting in...that and hopefully Manitoba (yay for residency bias!)

 

[jmnykrkts]

weird. 2 other canadian posters with the exact same score as me -- 33Q

my distribution was a bit whacky too: 13PS 10VR 10BS

I did grad studies in neurobiology so BS was always my strongest - was getting 12-13 on the last 5 or 6 practice tests. I had one 10 but it was on my diagnostic, before I really even started studying. I'm pleased with the 13 but definitely a bit bummed about this aspect....
my cGPA isn't stellar so I was really hoping a heroic MCAT would do the trick. I'm not quite sure how I should be feeling right now...

 

[deacon]

hey guys,
i think in canada, as long as you make cutoffs then you should be ok? i think the mcat is looked upon more as a flag than anything else...

 

[littlebusteR]

Hey fellow Canucks!
I'm content with my score, (35O-12 PS, 11 VR, 12BS), except for the WS. I know I'm not a great writer, but I was sure I did better than that. Oh well, in Manitoba it's still a 9, so I guess it's not too bad. As long as I get in somewhere, I'll be happy!

All in all, I'm just glad the wait is finally over. Now I can get back to studying for my classes... after a weekend of celebration that is

 

[Wertt]

hey guys,
i think in canada, as long as you make cutoffs then you should be ok? i think the mcat is looked upon more as a flag than anything else...

That varies by school - for U of T definitely it's just a flag, lots of people there with low MCATs, but everyone has a serious gpa.
At Manitoba on the other hand, your MCAT is 50% of your application's weight (whatever that means).

 

[McGillGrad]

Considering that McGill requires a 30 to land an interview, your score is just right.

I believe the total average for the MCAT is around a 25.

 

[SensesFail]

33P and damn happy about it.

Somewhat lopsided breakdown: 12PS, 8VR, P, 13BS

Yeah, the 8 in verbal will definetly raise some eyebrows. I'm hoping to get in at Dal. Also applied to Western, Queen's (which I guess I'm out, since I didn't make 9s in all sections), McMaster, Toronto (would LOVE to go here), Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Memorial and Calgary.

Whatever. 91st percentile is damn good enough for me! I know if I don't get in it won't be because of my MCAT score.

P.S. Do you think that 8 is gonna kill me as an OOP applicant at those Ontario schools?

 

[McGillGrad]

P.S. Do you think that 8 is gonna kill me as an OOP applicant at those Ontario schools?

I have heard that verbal is the most important score for many schools but then again, it may just be an exaggeration.

 

[doctorJP]

Its good to see that some Canadians read this forum, eh. I think the application process between Canadian and US medical schools is quite different in some aspects. There is different terminology and I guess the American schools have programs that are catered towards premed students whereas Canadian univerisities have virtually nothing. I still don't know what secondaries are or half of the acronyms that are used on this site, and I'm assuming that post-bac means graduate studies, well I think it should just be called a Masters degree.

I was originally very concerned about my MCAT mark and if you are applying to Ontario schools (Queens, Western, or Toronto), you had better have a 30 and very good credentials. I, on the other hand, applied to Northern Ontario, McMaster, and Ottawa because they are the only 3 schools out of 16 in Canada that do not require the MCAT. I think the MCAT is an overated test and does not always accurately represent a persons ability to do well in medical school.
But I guess they need some starting point to weed out many of the hopeful premeds that don't have what it takes. I am probably a bit biased as well because I didn't do nearly as well as I wanted on the MCAT.

But someone was right when they said for most med schools in Canada it is merely a flag. The policy is that you need the cutoff MCAT mark to get an interview and once beyond that your MCAT mark is not considered (for at least half the schools). I know this is true at Dalhousie and Memorial, you need a 24 at Dal to apply and beyond that it is not considered if you get an interview. I feel that I am a very good applicant for medical school and everything on my application reflects this except for my MCAT mark, which is unfortunate. The only way I will be going to medical school is through the military, which is fine by me.

I won't go into too much detail but if anybody is interested in the program I can give them details. The short version is they have 5 seats at Ottawa, 3-6 seats at Queens, 2 seats at Dal, and varying seats at Manitoba reserved only for members of the CF. The applicants must meet all eligibility requirements by each university and after that you are competing against people in the military for the seats and not civilians. As an example, 8 people applied last year to the university of Ottawa through the MMTP (military medical training program) and 5 got accepted. Ottawa had 139 seats left for approx. 2900 applicants, so I'm sure you see my point. The military pays for everything, tuition, books, equipment, and pays you a salary of $40,000 /year while your going through, which includes your 2 year residency. After that, you owe six years obligatory service at which time your base salary is $120,000 with yearly increments ranging from $5000-8000.00. And that is for a 37.5 hr/week Monday to Friday job.

Of course the major drawback to this is the 6 years you owe them, but for people like me life in the military isn't really that bad and alot of people have preconcieved notions and are fearful of what they don't know. Anyways, if I do get in it will be either at Ottawa, Manitoba, or McMaster and I am a resident of Atlantic Canada. Again anybody wants more info I can provide them with everything they need.

 

[Wertt]

Hey JP - I think I have deciphered that post-bac is like taking supplementary courses, specifically designed to give you the prereqs for medicine, but its still at an undergraduate level.
I think most people's concerns about the military program is that you could be sent overseas, I would imagine, such as Afghanistan.

 

[doctorJP]

Yes that is still a common misconception about being an MD (military doctor). You are required to do a tour of duty of 6 months during your obligatory service, I forgot to mention that. These are in non-hostile countries though. As for Afghanistan, we are the Canadians, not the Americans. As of right now we have less than 1000 personnel stationed in Afganistan and I do not believe we have any physicians stationed there. The military has a number of medics who are trained in advanced first aid and basic surgical skills, we do not have the money to send doctors to these places where their services would not be used to their full extent. Typically if anybody required treatment by a physician we would use the american facilities onboard their floating hospitals (large navy ships that basically a hospital on water).

As for the tour of duty, I look at it as an opportunity to practice medicine in an environment that is different from anything in North America. Sort of like doctors without boarders, except you are not in a warzone. And as for the probability of getting killed, most of the canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan were killed by Americans, not the Taliban or OBL. Less than 10 Canadian soldiers have died in a combat zone since the Korean War in the 50s.

 

[silverjelly]

I'm from Manitoba: 34N first time

11V, 11P, 12B

Estatic about those, but the N brings down my average, since UofM looks at the composite score, which averages out to 10.5 (average admitted applicants 10.3), and without WS to 11.3! I thought I wrote better than that! Oh well . . .

What do you guys think?

 

[doctorJP]

I have been looking at the University of Manitoba as well. You have an excellent MCAT mark and the operative MCAT score you have is quite good compared to the average. Normally I would say that a good MCAT mark will never get you into medical school unless you have a good application to go along with it, but its worth 50% of your mark, and if you are a resident of Manitoba and considering they get only 700-800 applicants a year, I would say if you don't bomb your interview then your a shoe in. I have been in contact with the admissions officer and they seem quite good at UoM, they seem more flexible with application deadlines, you have until Nov. 1 to get all documentation in, and that is sort of nice being as most places say if one piece of documentation is dead, your application is void (and thats after your fees have been paid).

Who knows, we both might be starting in Sept. 2006.

 

[SensesFail]

In regards to UofM, do you guys out West think I'll have a shot at an interview as an OOP? I'm iffy, I don't think I will because of an 8 in Verbal.

I've got a 33P, with an operative score of 10.75. This is lower than the average operative score of accepted OOP applicants. I think it's like 11.3 or something like that, I remember seeing it on the UofM website.

I've got decent stats and extracurrics, but was hoping that my operative score would be above 11 since it's worth that whopping 50% for Manitoba.

Ah well, we'll see what happens.

 

[SensesFail]

In regards to UofM, do you guys think I'll have a shot at an interview as an OOP? I'm iffy, I don't think I will because of an 8 in Verbal.

I've got a 33P, with an operative score of 10.75. This is lower than the average operative score of accepted OOP applicants. I think it's like 11.3 or something like that, I remember seeing it on the UofM website.

I've got decent stats and extracurrics, but was hoping that my operative score would be above 11 since it's worth that whopping 50% for Manitoba.

Ah well, we'll see what happens.

 

[doctorJP]

I think your chances are good, so many people merely state an MCAT and a GPA and think that is all they need to get in. You need to have other credentials like EC activities and volunteer work, although at UoM they do place 60% of your mark on academics and only 40% on your personal statement. I personally think a 50% MCAT weighting is ridiculous, applying to that school reminds me of applying for an NSERC, because the weighting they use is pretty much exactly the same.

It seems many schools in Canada give precidence to province where the medical school is, and Manitoba is no exception. Lets see, 213 applicants from Manitoba in 2004, 73 seats offered == 34%. Then for the OOP students, 473 applicants, 27 offered == 6% chance. As you can see, much less chance of getting in. The same is true for the martimes schools, Dal and Memorial. Unless you are from the Atlantic Provinces, you have about as much chance of getting in as you do getting Oprah off a baked ham.

As a note on averages, the average person knows nothing about statistics and think averages that schools post are accurate and compare their marks against them. Unless you showed me everything else that goes along with doing a proper statistics report, I won't believe it. As the simplest case, what is the standard deviation, is it:

Operative MCAT: 11.03 +/- 1-2 pts.

That would be significant in this case. Anyways, I wouldn't worry too much and just make sure when you get an interview that you send them a sweet Personel statement. That is another thing I love about the admissions, no 1000 word essay unless you get an interview.

 

[Henrysan]

I have a friend who got 28Q, and she is trying out of province.

 

[doctorJP]

Well you had better decide soon because I have looked at most schools in Canada and if you are thinking about applications, the deadline for all schools in Ontario was Oct. 3, as well as UoM, memorial and Dal go until Oct. 31st, but are virtually impossible to get into with a 28, the cutoff for OOP students at Dal is 30.

So basically if your thinking Sept. 2006 you are out of luck, but if your thinking Sept. 2007 then do what I did when applying: "The more darts you throw at the board, the more likely you are to get a bullseye".

 

[SensesFail]

Well you had better decide soon because I have looked at most schools in Canada and if you are thinking about applications, the deadline for all schools in Ontario was Oct. 3, as well as UoM, memorial and Dal go until Oct. 31st, but are virtually impossible to get into with a 28, the cutoff for OOP students at Dal is 30.

So basically if your thinking Sept. 2006 you are out of luck, but if your thinking Sept. 2007 then do what I did when applying: "The more darts you throw at the board, the more likely you are to get a bullseye".

Thanks for the advice doctorJP.

Guess I'll probably just wait it out and hope for the best at UofM. Hoping that a 33P and a ~3.8 will get my foot in the door at a few out-of-province schools. I'm already guaranteed an interview at Dalhousie, my in-province school, since they interview ALL maritime applicants who meet the mimimum cutoffs.

Also, I finished up Memorial's app that was due yesterday at 5pm. I believe I clicked submit at 4:48

Now all I've got left are Saskatchewan and Calgary's apps to fill out. I've been hearing Sask is somewhat easier to get into relative to other Canadian schools? But I guess "easy" is a relative term. And they've only got 6 OOP seats.

Decided not to apply to McGill. A friend of mine applied last year with a 39R, 3.95 GPA, and an overall stellar application and only got waitlisted. Feel as if it'd be a waste of time/money for me to apply. That guy got into everywhere other school he applied to, including Dal, Western, McMaster, Queen's and Toronto. He's at UofT this year.

What other schools besides UofM are you applying to?

 

[perfectmoment]

is that 3.8 gpa according to manitoba's agpa calculation? manitoba's gpa calculation is so ridiculously lenient, that i find it hard to believe that your gpa is gonna be a 3.8/4.5 . anyway, i think you'll have a decent shot at at least landing an interview. i dont think they'll even care about your 8, cause the total score matters more to them anyway. best of luck with that. manitoba's the only school i'll be applying to. i know for a fact that it'd be a waste of money applying anywhere else, cause my stats are so crappy.

 

[Wertt]

The only real crappy thing about manitoba is their lousy biochem prerequisite -which if you are from UofT is hard to fill unless you are a biochemistry specialist graduate! I graduated from H.S. in Man. so I am an in province applicant, and I have a high 30 mcat and high gpa, so I hope for an interview, but I'm crossing my fingers that they'll accept my lousy Biochem!

 

[SensesFail]

is that 3.8 gpa according to manitoba's agpa calculation? manitoba's gpa calculation is so ridiculously lenient, that i find it hard to believe that your gpa is gonna be a 3.8/4.5 . anyway, i think you'll have a decent shot at at least landing an interview. i dont think they'll even care about your 8, cause the total score matters more to them anyway. best of luck with that. manitoba's the only school i'll be applying to. i know for a fact that it'd be a waste of money applying anywhere else, cause my stats are so crappy.

Nope, my 3.8 is on a 4.0 scale. So hopefully it'll be >>4 on Manitoba's 4.5 aGPA scale after they drop some of my lowest grades (goodbye 1st-year psychology and organic chem!). I wish they had more than a lousy 10% weightage on GPA!

How'd you do overall perfectmoment?

 

[perfectmoment]

The only real crappy thing about manitoba is their lousy biochem prerequisite -which if you are from UofT is hard to fill unless you are a biochemistry specialist graduate! I graduated from H.S. in Man. so I am an in province applicant, and I have a high 30 mcat and high gpa, so I hope for an interview, but I'm crossing my fingers that they'll accept my lousy Biochem!

shouldn't they have already sent you mail listing any outstanding items left to send in? i know i got mine a few days ago, and it was asking about my mcat scores, and to tell me to release them once i get them. i saw other boxes for english and biochem requirements too...

sensesfail,
assuming i average an A this year, which should be doable considering i've got a fairly light courseload compared to last year, my agpa will be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3.9ish. my mcat was a 28Q. I was kinda expecting that number grade from my practice score range, but was expecting a higher WS, cause i thought my essays were money. apparently they weren't. my inability to do anything numbers related screwed me up for PS. i got an 8 in that lousy section, and i know now that if and when i do retake, i will be working on familiarizing myself with the different calculations and stuff. verbal was good, i felt like i was peaking around that week, and i was able to get an 11. BS was kinda bs. i know it's well within my ability to score 12s in that section, but i think i totally got brain-fu<ked or something on that test, cause i was not able to apply basic knowledge to some of that more complicated looking stuff. i ended up with a 9 in that section, unfortunately.

i know of a few people who have gotten in with 27s and 28s, so i'm not all that hopeless... it's just that i'm gonna really have to do well on the personal essay, have awesome reference letters, and destroy the interview to have a chance. right now, i'm thinking i'm gonna retake in april. if for some reason i do get into med school in may, i'll have regretted doing the mcat, but i think i'd rather have taken it anyway, just in case i don't get in. i'd really rather not put myself through another summer of mcat studying.

 

[Wertt]

Hmm.. I got that form with the checkmarks - nothing specific about english or biochem, but I'll happily take your word for it!

 

[perfectmoment]

Hmm.. I got that form with the checkmarks - nothing specific about english or biochem, but I'll happily take your word for it!

yeah nevermind. i think i'm on crack. i just looked it over, and there really wasn't anything about english or biochem requirements. the best thing i could suggest would be to contact beth jennings. she's super helpful and you can at least know right away if your biochem courses will fulfill the requirement.


sorry?

 

[doctorJP]

I think you will have a good shot at UoM Senses with your GPA and MCAT score.
I also applied to Dal, Northern Ontario, Ottawa, McMaster and UoM. I wouldn't touch Mcgill with a hundred foot poll, that place is virtually impossible to get into unless your a Quebec resident. I am from NS as well and ultimately I would have liked to go to Dalhousie but that is not going to happen. My VR prohibits me from applying there, otherwise I would probably be going there. If you go to school in the maritimes and you are from NS or Nfld, your chances of getting in are ridiculously high.

The great thing about Dal is that once you meet the minimum cutoffs and get an interview, your MCAT and GPA are no longer considered. So everybody sitting in the waiting room with you are all on equal ground. Its the interview that gets you in. I was really disappointed with my MCAT mark in that aspect because I wanted to stay in the maritimes. Just take a look at the stats for the class of 2009 at Dalhousie:

http://admissions.medicine.dal.ca/class.htm

555 maritime applicants, only 243 interviewed (did the other 300 people not realize you have to meet the minimum prereqs and you are GUARANTEED an interview?) and of those 243 interviewed, 56 seats are for NS residents, which is just about a 25% chance. You can see Senses that your stats are well about the averages and I think you can attend Dal if you have a good interview.

Back to UoM, yes there biochem requirements are strenuous, I've read the course descriptions for second year biochem at their university and what they teach and I have learned most of it in various courses along the way, but they already told me that they won't consider them equivalents so guess who is taking some biochem courses next semester at Dal. The GPA score at UoM is something out of twilight zone if you ask me. 90+ is a 4.5, 80-89 == A == 4.0. This is the real killer here for a lot of people because that nice 88 you worked for is only a 4.0/4.5, which is sort of bad in my opinion. Then again, that 81 you have is also a 4.0/4.5. I just don't understand why there is such a large gap for marks to fall into these broad GPA ranges. One thing I do like is the fact that they take all your courses and they drop your lowest 30 semester hours (10 courses) based on a 4 year undergrad.

Finally a way to get rid of those few courses you didn't do good in that you just wish you could erase. Memorial is a nice place and they have fairly good medical facilities. St. John's is not a place for everyone though, I think you definitely have to be from Atlantic canada to truly appreciate living there. Be prepared for a costly interview (approx. $700) for plane ticket, accomodations, cab from airport etc.

Anyways, enough rambling and maybe we should move this thread over to the Canadian side if enough people are interested.

 

[SensesFail]

I think you will have a good shot at UoM Senses with your GPA and MCAT score.
I also applied to Dal, Northern Ontario, Ottawa, McMaster and UoM. I wouldn't touch Mcgill with a hundred foot poll, that place is virtually impossible to get into unless your a Quebec resident. I am from NS as well and ultimately I would have liked to go to Dalhousie but that is not going to happen. My VR prohibits me from applying there, otherwise I would probably be going there. If you go to school in the maritimes and you are from NS or Nfld, your chances of getting in are ridiculously high.

The great thing about Dal is that once you meet the minimum cutoffs and get an interview, your MCAT and GPA are no longer considered. So everybody sitting in the waiting room with you are all on equal ground. Its the interview that gets you in. I was really disappointed with my MCAT mark in that aspect because I wanted to stay in the maritimes. Just take a look at the stats for the class of 2009 at Dalhousie:

http://admissions.medicine.dal.ca/class.htm

555 maritime applicants, only 243 interviewed (did the other 300 people not realize you have to meet the minimum prereqs and you are GUARANTEED an interview?) and of those 243 interviewed, 56 seats are for NS residents, which is just about a 25% chance. You can see Senses that your stats are well about the averages and I think you can attend Dal if you have a good interview.

Back to UoM, yes there biochem requirements are strenuous, I've read the course descriptions for second year biochem at their university and what they teach and I have learned most of it in various courses along the way, but they already told me that they won't consider them equivalents so guess who is taking some biochem courses next semester at Dal. The GPA score at UoM is something out of twilight zone if you ask me. 90+ is a 4.5, 80-89 == A == 4.0. This is the real killer here for a lot of people because that nice 88 you worked for is only a 4.0/4.5, which is sort of bad in my opinion. Then again, that 81 you have is also a 4.0/4.5. I just don't understand why there is such a large gap for marks to fall into these broad GPA ranges. One thing I do like is the fact that they take all your courses and they drop your lowest 30 semester hours (10 courses) based on a 4 year undergrad.

Finally a way to get rid of those few courses you didn't do good in that you just wish you could erase. Memorial is a nice place and they have fairly good medical facilities. St. John's is not a place for everyone though, I think you definitely have to be from Atlantic canada to truly appreciate living there. Be prepared for a costly interview (approx. $700) for plane ticket, accomodations, cab from airport etc.

Anyways, enough rambling and maybe we should move this thread over to the Canadian side if enough people are interested.

Do you also goto Dal? Which program?

I'm in my 4th year of a B.Sc (Hon.) Neuroscience degree.

Yeah I definetly like those admissions stats for Dal. Seems like good chances relative to Ontario other schools. I couldn't apply to Ottawa cause my cumulative GPA didn't meet their wGPA system cutoff (3.87) for OOP applicants. Decided I wouldn't fit in well at Northern Ontario so didn't bother there either.

 

[doctorJP]

I have a few friends that are in various years at medical school and they say Dal is a great place to go. I often wish I had written it back in my glory days of biology, but right now I just finishing my Masters degree (Dec. I hope) in a joint program between biomedical engineering and mathematics. It is funny because there are more and more people entering medicine with either graduate or Phd degrees, at least the few universities I have looked at. Its sort of ironic because one of the reasons I wanted to do this is because I wanted to improve my GPA dramatically from my undergrad and all the schools I applied to wouldn't consider my graduate work until my degree has been conferred, which won't happen until the May convocation.

Who knows, I might be in this position next year but at least I can rely partially on my marks from my graduate program. I do agree that the 3.87 GPA cutoff from Ottawa is absolutely ridiculous for OOP students. Most schools in Ontario are not welcoming to OOP students. For example, at McMaster they offer 90% of interviews to Ontario residents and 10% to OOP students. If you are one of the lucky 10%, then at least geographic location is no longer a consideration, and all interviewees have the same chance of getting in.

I wasn't sure about applying to Northern Ontario, its a new school and it does sound interesting, finally the government realized that if you want people to stay in rural communities, how about creating a medical school that only accepts students from a rural/aboriginal background. I could imagine going to the Thunder Bay campus but the Sudbury one would be pushing it, I've basically heard Sudbury is a barren, desolate wasteland (no offence to people that live there).

 

[silverjelly]

Thanks for the advice doctorJP.

I've been hearing Sask is somewhat easier to get into relative to other Canadian schools? But I guess "easy" is a relative term. And they've only got 6 OOP seats.

No frickin' way. I checked their stats for OOP last year - 280 applicants, 28 interviewed, and only 6 spots! Seems pretty impossible to me. I didn't bother applying (100 bucks to apply, too!)

 

[SensesFail]

No frickin' way. I checked their stats for OOP last year - 280 applicants, 28 interviewed, and only 6 spots! Seems pretty impossible to me. I didn't bother applying (100 bucks to apply, too!)

Hmmm... yeah that's a major piss-off. Maybe the reason so many apply is because they only use MCAT as a flag and the cutoff is 24 even for OOP applicants. Not sure whether to apply now or not. And really, who wants to end up in Saskatoon anyway?

 

[vince99]

Hey. Does anyone know if they reject your app with a any score lower than a 7 at UofManitoba.
Or can they overide that.
I got a 28P, but a 6 in Verbal. English is not my first language.
Any advice anyone?

 

[SensesFail]

Hey. Does anyone know if they reject your app with a any score lower than a 7 at UofManitoba.
Or can they overide that.
I got a 28P, but a 6 in Verbal. English is not my first language.
Any advice anyone?

Hmm... unfortunately, I think they state that you can only have one 7 in any section as the minimum. So I'm guessing they wouldn't even consider your app with the 6 in VR. Unless, you're in the "Special Consideration" category like Aboriginal, Military, and a few others I'm not sure of.

A lot of people in this thread are familiar with Manitoba's system so I'm sure they'd know.

 

[Wertt]

Hey. Does anyone know if they reject your app with a any score lower than a 7 at UofManitoba.
Or can they overide that.
I got a 28P, but a 6 in Verbal. English is not my first language.
Any advice anyone?

http://umanitoba.ca/student/admissions/guide/pdf/medicine/Medicine.pdf

4.2.3 Minimum Score
The Admissions Committee has minimum standards for score results. Eligible applicants must have scored a minimum of 7 in each of the VR, PS and BS sub-tests, with an M on the WS, in a single session. The WS will be converted on a scale where T=14, M=7. In addition, applicants must have an operative score of 8 or higher as computed below to be eligible for admission.

You can always phone them and see if exceptions have ever been made.

 

[silverjelly]

Hey. Does anyone know if they reject your app with a any score lower than a 7 at UofManitoba.
Or can they overide that.
I got a 28P, but a 6 in Verbal. English is not my first language.
Any advice anyone?

I've never heard of exceptions being made. My friend got 28Q with a 6 in Verbal as well, but she can't apply. You need at least a 8 in all subsections and only one 7 is allowed. With a 6, you can't apply.

Of course, if you're ESL, they may make exceptions (although I can't really see why). It never hurts to ask, though.

 

[sweetstuff25]

 

[Wertt]

i've officially hit severe depression. i just got a 6vr 9ps 10bs Q (i'm from manitoba and i need a minimum 7 in vr). my verbal score just destroyed me!!!! i don't know how to improve this by april??? tell me fellow canadians, how shall i improve my verbal by april?? should i read novels, should i start doing kaplan verbals, should i sign up for wall street journal?? what what?? i've done every single EK 101 verbal passages and my highest score was a 7. I just don't know why i can't do this section. i can read, write, speak english perfectly but why is verbal such a daunting process for me?? I can't believe this, i need help pleaaaaaaaseeee!! i beg anyone to teach me to pass this section
sad sweetstuff

Some people say VR is something you 'either have or you don't'. I don't agree with this, unless it's a matter of english proficiency.
If you are comfortable with the language and have made it through school reading college texts and maybe some research papers, you have the 'capacity' to do well with verbal reasoning.

You have to assess for yourself what you are doing that is limiting your success - my hunch is that probably you are not close to finishing the section within the time limit.

You need to learn to read quickly for major points, start by practicing reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph in a passage - decide how much you understand with that short a read, then gradually increase the amount of detail you put into your reading - remember you can always go back to the text to answer a question, there's no need to put a note beside every line during a read through.

Get to a point where you can explain the main point to someone, and the author's tone, but just make mental notes of where there are paragraphs full of stats and numbers, or examples. Don't try and memorize every fact in the passage.

Hope that helps at least a bit, I'm sure others will have great advice.

 

[sweetstuff25]

Some people say VR is something you 'either have or you don't'. I don't agree with this, unless it's a matter of english proficiency.
If you are comfortable with the language and have made it through school reading college texts and maybe some research papers, you have the 'capacity' to do well with verbal reasoning.

You have to assess for yourself what you are doing that is limiting your success - my hunch is that probably you are not close to finishing the section within the time limit.

You need to learn to read quickly for major points, start by practicing reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph in a passage - decide how much you understand with that short a read, then gradually increase the amount of detail you put into your reading - remember you can always go back to the text to answer a question, there's no need to put a note beside every line during a read through.

Get to a point where you can explain the main point to someone, and the author's tone, but just make mental notes of where there are paragraphs full of stats and numbers, or examples. Don't try and memorize every fact in the passage.

Hope that helps at least a bit, I'm sure others will have great advice.

thx wertt, i've been able to finish 8 of the 9 passages in the real thing but accuracy is probably what hits me the most. every passage's theme feels wishy washy to me, so it's hard to decipher the major theme from the many ideas presented.

 

[vince99]

I've never heard of exceptions being made. My friend got 28Q with a 6 in Verbal as well, but she can't apply. You need at least a 8 in all subsections and only one 7 is allowed. With a 6, you can't apply.

Of course, if you're ESL, they may make exceptions (although I can't really see why). It never hurts to ask, though.

Yeah I got 6 VR, 11PS/BS. P Writing.
What about challenging the 6 in VR?
It could just be one question to make the difference to a 7
Then I'd have a 29P which is half decent and I could apply, instead of them I guess rejecting my application.

 

[vince99]

I've never heard of exceptions being made. My friend got 28Q with a 6 in Verbal as well, but she can't apply. You need at least a 8 in all subsections and only one 7 is allowed. With a 6, you can't apply.

Of course, if you're ESL, they may make exceptions (although I can't really see why). It never hurts to ask, though.

Yeah I got 6 VR, 11PS/BS. P Writing.
What about challenging the 6 in VR?
It could just be one question to make the difference to a 7
Then I'd have a 29P which is half decent and I could apply, instead of them I guess rejecting my application.

ESL?

 

[Wertt]

thx wertt, i've been able to finish 8 of the 9 passages in the real thing but accuracy is probably what hits me the most. every passage's theme feels wishy washy to me, so it's hard to decipher the major theme from the many ideas presented.

Do you find that you are rushing through the passages? If so, I guess that might be responsible for feeling wishy washy. I find if I rush too much, then it's a wasted exercise, you really can't read in a surface way, you have to picture the person sitting there writing the passage, and figure out why they are, and what they're trying to say.

I try to really see the structure in a passage - the first paragraph can tell you a lot, and always recognize where an example is, and what it is relating to! Do not bother reading examples in detail for stats etc. unless a question asks for it.

Finally, often your gut instinct will be the right answer. And, you should NEVER have to infer something not stated, even if the question says you do - it's usually something explicitly stated in the text.

 

[silverjelly]

ESL?

English as a Second Language

 

[mandy_848]

it seems like it's next to impossible to apply as an out of province student anywhere in canada. i'm in ontario and there only seems to be a few seats at the schools in other provinces and ontario med school's are hard enough to get in as it is.

so do you guys really think the mcat is just a flag? i'm still deciding whether or not to accept my 30P or to do a re-write. i pretty much meet the cutoffs for ontario schools (except Queen's) but it's not that great of a score. i'm applying next year so i definitely don't have to make a decision for a while but can't seem to get the mcat out of my mind right now.

i also thought i did really really badly on that test - i honestly didn't expect anything that was on it and still did decently well so i'm wondering if i could actually improve. but then there's the fear of doing worse...

i've always found verbal to be the worst too - i don't know what to suggest about it except for practicing as much as possible and seriously looking over what your mistakes are. analysis of what you do wrong can help so much instead of just quickly skimming to see what you did wrong each time. i used the tpr method (i haven't tried EK) and assessed my practice verbals for awhile where i would write down what type of mistake i made (misreading the question, choosing an answer that wasn't specific enough, etc) and looked for common errors. i think my mistake overall was that i tended to pick an answer that was too specific so once i knew to look out for that - i was able to answer questions better. i'm also pretty sure you'd have to retake with a 6 unless if the school's only looking for a minimum score overall - and i can't think of one that does at the moment.

 

[perfectmoment]

sweetstuff,

that sucks to hear man. i'm also not too happy with my score. i think the fact that i've been reading the economist, fortune, the WSJ, and macleans for a few years now has helped me with the reading comprehension. i bet if you started actively reading those mags, along with reading some of the books that nutmeg suggested in the 30+ mcat thread, that you'll find your verbal will improve.