Waterloo Class of 2024

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Opt_UofM said:
Does anyone know approximately how many applicants are invited to the meet and greet? I was wondering if numbers have changed from previous years since they've moved away from the MMI type interviews to what seems like a much more relaxed style of discussion and facility tour.
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Was reading some previous year forums, and I'm getting the impression that it could be as little as 140 people or as much as 200 people
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CXJIN said:
What a pleasant coincidence! I've been licensed since 2014 and have been working as an optician since then (and a student optician prior to). I have my share of skepticism regarding the level of advantage it gives me. I think being an optician is good indication that we know the field well, and that we know exactly what we are in for. Thus, admissions may see it as insurance that we are more likely to see the program through. It also shows passion for the profession and the desire to better ourselves. However, will it place my application above someone with a better GPA, more extracurricular activities, extensive volunteering experience? It's hard to say. That's my thoughts for my application specifically. How about you?
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Ive also been licensed since 2014 and I totally agree with you. I’m not sure how much advantage it gives me as more of they know that we are prepared for the type of work we’re getting into. I would hope that if we were level in terms of grades and extracurriculars maybe we would have that edge over other people? Experience is certainly something that they value since you need it in order apply, as well as a reference. Let’s hope the more the better. Although on the application when it asked for hours of optometry experience the largest option was like “20+” hours....bruh I got thousands????
 
aisad said:
Ive also been licensed since 2014 and I totally agree with you. I’m not sure how much advantage it gives me as more of they know that we are prepared for the type of work we’re getting into. I would hope that if we were level in terms of grades and extracurriculars maybe we would have that edge over other people? Experience is certainly something that they value since you need it in order apply, as well as a reference. Let’s hope the more the better. Although on the application when it asked for hours of optometry experience the largest option was like “20+” hours....bruh I got thousands????
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lol I hear you on the hours. In terms of having the same grades and extracurriculars, I don't doubt being an optician would give you a big advantage. There has to be something persuasive about this level experience and knowledge. My biggest weakness right now is that I don't have 6 semesters of full course load because I was working while in undergrad. I'm not sure being an optician is going to be convincing enough for them to overlook that....:nailbiting:
 
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Hey everyone,

Has anyone's confidential assessment form been uploaded to Quest?
 
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Opt_UofM said:
Does anyone know approximately how many applicants are invited to the meet and greet? I was wondering if numbers have changed from previous years since they've moved away from the MMI type interviews to what seems like a much more relaxed style of discussion and facility tour.
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3rd year student here - they’re is typically 150-200 students invited for the interview day. (And keep in mind there are external interviews as well). While there is a discussion and tour where you’re not being assessed specifically, the interview is not casual/relaxed; it’s a professional interview (just not MMI style). So still be prepared to answer questions and discuss with your interviewer, it’s the interview that play a huge role in your admission to the program! Best of luck to all applicants :)
 
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awesome congratulations to you all ... I got invited, too and I am so excited and nervous.
how are you going to prepare for the interview? any tips?
 
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R.R4742 said:
awesome congratulations to you all ... I got invited, too and I am so excited and nervous.
how are you going to prepare for the interview? any tips?
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I haven't really been able to find much online, right now all I'm really just going off of standard interview questions along with some more optometry specific questions (like why optometry, why would you be a good optometrist) but other than that idk
 
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Haven't heard anything yet, but my reference hasn't submitted yet.
The stress is ooonnn... I accepted Nova's offer (in Florida) though, beautiful campus!

Actually, does anyone know how it works if your reference submits on the 30th? Waterloo's website says that all the decisions go out by Dec 1, I'm not sure how that timeline would work.
 
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anonnnnnnnnn123 said:
Haven't heard anything yet, but my reference hasn't submitted yet.
The stress is ooonnn... I accepted Nova's offer (in Florida) though, beautiful campus!

Actually, does anyone know how it works if your reference submits on the 30th? Waterloo's website says that all the decisions go out by Dec 1, I'm not sure how that timeline would work.
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I'm hoping for the best for you! From previous threads, people have said that references didn't necessarily play a role in interview decisions but I can't be sure
 
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I got an invite as well. Still a bit worried about the CASPER, as I might not have done the best (ie left two answers completely blank). Does getting an interview imply I did reasonably well, or is it not taken into account until after the interview?
 
euler1 said:
I got an invite as well. Still a bit worried about the CASPER, as I might not have done the best (ie left two answers completely blank). Does getting an interview imply I did reasonably well, or is it not taken into account until after the interview?
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Congrats! As a COMPLETE guess, its taken in consideration along with your interview. I'm inclined to think that simply because before CASPer, it was a part of the interview. Both are reflections of your interpersonal skills. But not to worry. I left many questions blank. Probably 50% of the questions. But I did try to give thorough explanations for the questions I did answer. It's hard to tell how we will be evaluated, for all we know our fate has already been determined. I've spoken to a few people that've been through the interview before, and they were unanimous on how relaxed the interview was. So take a deep breath and ride the wave.
 
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CXJIN said:
Congrats! As a COMPLETE guess, its taken in consideration along with your interview. I'm inclined to think that simply because before CASPer, it was a part of the interview. Both are reflections of your interpersonal skills. But not to worry. I left many questions blank. Probably 50% of the questions. But I did try to give thorough explanations for the questions I did answer. It's hard to tell how we will be evaluated, for all we know our fate has already been determined. I've spoken to a few people that've been through the interview before, and they were unanimous on how relaxed the interview was. So take a deep breath and ride the wave.
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I think you’re right about that. In the interview prep thing Waterloo sent out with the interview stuff it explained how the implementation of Casper has led to the interview style changing from MMI to this meet and greet format.
 
aisad said:
I think you’re right about that. In the interview prep thing Waterloo sent out with the interview stuff it explained how the implementation of Casper has led to the interview style changing from MMI to this meet and greet format.
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Ah i was thinking about you. Good to see you got a Meet and Greet! Congrats!
 
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Hey does anyone know about sending in our fall 2019 transcripts? I requested the official to be sent through my school but where on quest do we see if they got the transcript? I uploaded my unoffical fall transcript too
 
CapoDelta said:
Hey does anyone know about sending in our fall 2019 transcripts? I requested the official to be sent through my school but where on quest do we see if they got the transcript? I uploaded my unoffical fall transcript too
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That's a good question, I wondered the same thing. My guess is that once they receive something, there would be a new date for "date last received" in your documents.
 
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Hey guys! When you input your grades in AIF on quest, did you put it as numeric grades or alpha grades? If it was numeric how did you choose which number it was within the range the alpha grade falls in. For example, my transcript has alpha grades and if it says it is a A- it would be between the range of 80-84. How would I choose which number in that range to input?
 
FutureOptStudent said:
Hey guys! When you input your grades in AIF on quest, did you put it as numeric grades or alpha grades? If it was numeric how did you choose which number it was within the range the alpha grade falls in. For example, my transcript has alpha grades and if it says it is a A- it would be between the range of 80-84. How would I choose which number in that range to input?
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There is a scale right below question 12. It says A- goes in as 83
 
all we had to do was send our transcript and update our grades on our AIF right?
 
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Has anyone seen that their transcript has been received and uploaded to Quest? I sent mine ages ago and quest still doesn’t say that they uploaded my transcript and I’m not sure if it’s just delayed or they haven’t received anything.
 
sumyay said:
Has anyone seen that their transcript has been received and uploaded to Quest? I sent mine ages ago and quest still doesn’t say that they uploaded my transcript and I’m not sure if it’s just delayed or they haven’t received anything.
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I was wondering the same thing
 
sumyay said:
Has anyone seen that their transcript has been received and uploaded to Quest? I sent mine ages ago and quest still doesn’t say that they uploaded my transcript and I’m not sure if it’s just delayed or they haven’t received anything.
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mine shows that it was received and it took them approximately a week to update quest vs when it was delivered
but maybe they just happened to receive more mail when they received yours and they haven't had the chance to process it yet
 
giraffes53 said:
mine shows that it was received and it took them approximately a week to update quest vs when it was delivered
but maybe they just happened to receive more mail when they received yours and they haven't had the chance to process it yet
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Yea I guess so. I just called and asked and turns out they received it January 7th but they just haven’t uploaded it onto quest for some reason, but I guess as long as they have it it’s ok. Kind of stressful though.
 
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SashaYU said:
Hi guys! Thanks for creating the thread; I've read soo many of these in the past and they're all really helpful! Also, based on the Class of 2023 forum, this is a great way to keep track of the wait-list stuff.

GPA: 83%
OAT: TS 350, AA 340
Undergrad: 5th year in Biology Honours
Extra-circulars: Lab Member of a vision research lab, Honours Thesis on stereopsis with the same lab, a few academic and non-academic awards, volunteering with an on-campus environmental organization, tennis instructor (work at RCYC on the Toronto Islands), TPA Tennis training and Concussion training, Mt. Sinai Hospital Volunteer and ORBIS volunteer, Vice-President and Founding Member of The Pre-Optometry Club at my uni
Shadowing: +50hrs (also learned how to do all the slit lamp illumination techniques which was super cool! Took me forever to actually do diffuse illumination with the hand-held lens thing, but seeing the optic nerve made it worth it LOL)

CXJIN, I literally had the same issues! My 2nd year brought my GPA down so much. It was only in the end of my 3rd year where I discovered my vision research lab and I fell in love with vision science and optometry!
Your OAT scores are right on the average, and you've got great experience stuff and you fill out all the fields for the AIF! My friend from the pre-optom club got in for the class of 2023 and her stats were below average for GPA and OAT, so I hope that if you're passion for the field comes through, you'll have a shot :)
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Hi! I'm just looking through this forum for the first time and I see that your honours is doing research on stereopsis- I have to ask if you attended the CVRSS last summer? I think I might have met you there! If you're the person I'm thinking of then I'd love to touch base and get connected so reach out if you'd like. :) -Adrianna
 
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Hi everyone, I think we must be getting close to finding out our admission status (pending delays due to the virus)! How is everyone feeling? Now that we are all social distancing I am finding it really hard to not check my email multiple times a day..
 
I hope they don't delay too long cause it's been 3 months but I guess the uni might be slow to update the info. I check often too because I've been getting notifications from my classes about what changes are happening in the courses.
 
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aisad said:
Hi everyone, I think we must be getting close to finding out our admission status (pending delays due to the virus)! How is everyone feeling? Now that we are all social distancing I am finding it really hard to not check my email multiple times a day..
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Definitely nervous! I hope it doesn’t get delayed too much. I’ve been checking quest every day in case it gets updated on there first
 
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sumyay said:
Definitely nervous! I hope it doesn’t get delayed too much. I’ve been checking quest every day in case it gets updated on there first
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Good point. From looking at past forums, I think they'll notify around March 26/28.

EDIT: From the pattern I saw, it was always on the last Tuesday of March.
 
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Scooba said:
Good point. From looking at past forums, I think they'll notify around March 26/28.

EDIT: From the pattern I saw, it was always on the last Tuesday of March.
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even though the last Tuesday of March is the 31st is anyone else freaking out that it could be tomorrow?
 
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CXJIN said:
There is a scale right below question 12. It says A- goes in as 83
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Hi! Im not applying to Waterloo this year but I was wondering if for the application process and submitting grades, do you need to convert your grades into Waterloo's grading scheme? For example, at the university I attend an A- is 85-90 whereas in Waterloo an A- is 80-84%. Does this mean if I got an 85% in a course would that translate into an A when applying to Waterloo? Sorry if this is confusing lol
 
thatonegirl2000 said:
Hi! Im not applying to Waterloo this year but I was wondering if for the application process and submitting grades, do you need to convert your grades into Waterloo's grading scheme? For example, at the university I attend an A- is 85-90 whereas in Waterloo an A- is 80-84%. Does this mean if I got an 85% in a course would that translate into an A when applying to Waterloo? Sorry if this is confusing lol
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Hi! I'm going to quote what is on our admission information form

"Please use NUMERICAL GRADES when completing this chart. If your institution uses letter grades, refer to the transcript legend and convert each letter grade to its corresponding numerical grade. You will find the legend on the back of the transcript or on the institutions website.

Many institutions use a numerical range for each of their letter grades. When completing this chart, please use the MEDIAN GRADE if a range is provided. For example, if A = 84-90, input 87 as that numerical grade.

If your university does not provide a numeric grade conversion, please use the following scale:

A+ (95); A (89); A- (83); B+ (78); B (75); B- (72); C+ (68); C (65); C- (62); D+ (58); D (55); D- (52); F+ (46); F (38); F- (32)"

Hope this helps
 
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CXJIN said:
Hi! I'm going to quote what is on our admission information form

"Please use NUMERICAL GRADES when completing this chart. If your institution uses letter grades, refer to the transcript legend and convert each letter grade to its corresponding numerical grade. You will find the legend on the back of the transcript or on the institutions website.

Many institutions use a numerical range for each of their letter grades. When completing this chart, please use the MEDIAN GRADE if a range is provided. For example, if A = 84-90, input 87 as that numerical grade.

If your university does not provide a numeric grade conversion, please use the following scale:

A+ (95); A (89); A- (83); B+ (78); B (75); B- (72); C+ (68); C (65); C- (62); D+ (58); D (55); D- (52); F+ (46); F (38); F- (32)"

Hope this helps
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Okay so in my case my university uses letter grades for transcripts so lets say I have an A- in a course, would I nee to convert that A- into the numerical value of my university (which is an 85-90) or the numerical value of Waterloo ( which is 80-84) ? Thanks again!
 
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thatonegirl2000 said:
Okay so in my case my university uses letter grades for transcripts so lets say I have an A- in a course, would I nee to convert that A- into the numerical value of my university (which is an 85-90) or the numerical value of Waterloo ( which is 80-84) ? Thanks again!
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Your own school!
 
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helloo! Does anyone know whether Pass/Fail courses (on courses that are not prereqs) count towards the "full 5.0 course load" requirement?
 
lamemoose said:
helloo! Does anyone know whether Pass/Fail courses (on courses that are not prereqs) count towards the "full 5.0 course load" requirement?
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Hi! I don't see why not as long as it's worth credits (for example, my school offers a swimming course that is worth 0 credit. I'm unsure if that counts). My concern is that grades go into the application in percentage, so i don't know how you'd enter the grade for a pass/fail course. For that reason, I'd email admissions to find out.

Good luck
 
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Acceptances are up on quest!!!
 
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