How "no name" is my school?

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ManitobaBisons

ManitobaBisons

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I received my B.sc Honours (First class honours) from University of Manitoba in Canada. This university is well known in Canada (one of the largest) and is a research intensive institution with a large medical school. From what I gather however, it is not well known in the states.

Seeing all the posts/thread on here stating how the prestige/name of the school DOES matter in admissions, how low do you rate my school, if at all? Am I screwed - despite a good GPA (3.7) and strong MCAT (39)? I am an American citizen by the way (instate for Florida).
 
Never heard of it
 
Hey, I used to live in Canada bro.

You're fine. With that GPA and that sexy MCAT score... you're golden.

No one really cares about your undergrad institution all that much. Some places like UMichigan care, but otherwise. Apply to places you would likely go if you were accepted.

Canadian schools have a reputation for being notoriously more difficult than American schools. A British system of education still persists in Canada, where you learn an insane amount of material.

Some of my friends were telling me how their biochem class was a 40/60 split, midterm/final exam. Sooo a 3.7 and a 39? No one will care about UManitoba or St. Francis XavierU.

Good luck!
 
gettheleadout said:
So that's why you say "write the MCAT" :laugh:

OP, you'll be fine. Applying from Canadian schools is a different ball game than from US ones.
Click to expand...

Shall I rephrase?

Sit for the MCAT? Take the MCAT?

Subtle nuances like that bother me too. hahaha. However, yeah Canadian schools are just scary. People on SDN would cry if they found out that a few schools have verbal cut offs... of 11! if you don't meet the cutoff... no interview. hahaha
 
CodeBlu said:
Shall I rephrase?

Sit for the MCAT? Take the MCAT?

Subtle nuances like that bother me too. hahaha. However, yeah Canadian schools are just scary. People on SDN would cry if they found out that a few schools have verbal cut offs... of 11! if you don't meet the cutoff... no interview. hahaha
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Oh, get "eyowt" of here! Are you serious?
 
UManitoba? No idea. I love the weakerthans, though.
 
lindablee said:
I live in Canada and I figured Manitoba would have a university (as do all provinces...) but tbh i've never heard of "University of Manitoba" until just now... lol.

That said, as others have pointed out it doesn't matter what school you come from. But coming from a Canadian university/being international you'd probably have to be more competative than your average US applicant.
Click to expand...

You are truly an idiot that was born in a cave yesterday if you are from Toronto and never heard of U of Manitoba, which is your neighbor province.
 
ManitobaBisons said:
I received my B.sc Honours (First class honours) from University of Manitoba in Canada. This university is well known in Canada (one of the largest) and is a research intensive institution with a large medical school. From what I gather however, it is not well known in the states.

Seeing all the posts/thread on here stating how the prestige/name of the school DOES matter in admissions, how low do you rate my school, if at all? Am I screwed - despite a good GPA (3.7) and strong MCAT (39)? I am an American citizen by the way (instate for Florida).
Click to expand...

Eh?
 
I truly feel sorry for my fellow canucks being told they are uncompetitive/have no hope for their provincial med school with a 3.6 GPA and a 32 MCAT.
 
This was posted forever ago by someone else, but No name school=

Cardinal Direction, <Insert State Name Here>, (the word state is optional) University
 
jm192 said:
This was posted forever ago by someone else, but No name school=

Cardinal Direction, <Insert State Name Here>, (the word state is optional) University
Click to expand...

It's not so much being no-name....it's the ranking of the school (US News is the default).

Break it down into about 5 school increments....so top 5, top 10, top 15, etc. etc.

If your school isn't top 10 then it isn't elite.

If your school isn't top 25 then it isn't prestigious

If your school isn't top 50 then it isn't name worthy

If your school isn't top 100 then it's piled in with the rest as not helping your app in any way and (if it's ranked too low or has too many negative connotations ie Liberty University then it might even hurt your app)
 
ManitobaBisons said:
I truly feel sorry for my fellow canucks being told they are uncompetitive/have no hope for their provincial med school with a 3.6 GPA and a 32 MCAT.
Click to expand...

Hey thats me! Well I'm just slightly higher

Why dont you go to UofM for med. You are a shoo-in there
 
Why is it whenever, there is a thread like this, I want to give some sort of sarcastic answer?
 
Wolfman89 said:
Why is it whenever, there is a thread like this, I want to give some sort of sarcastic answer?
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If it's a Canadian then you don't need to give a sarcastic answer.

Seriously... unless you have a 3.8 and a 33 at least, you're not considered competitive in Canada.

Some schools won't interview anyone that has below a 3.8. That's pretty intense.
 
CodeBlu said:
If it's a Canadian then you don't need to give a sarcastic answer.

Seriously... unless you have a 3.8 and a 33 at least, you're not considered competitive in Canada.

Some schools won't interview anyone that has below a 3.8. That's pretty intense.
Click to expand...

It is not the OP's stats I would comment about, it was about his question about how important was the name recognition of his school.
 
Wolfman89 said:
It is not the OP's stats I would comment about, it was about his question about how important was the name recognition of his school.
Click to expand...

You must understand... that there has been some misconceptions that have floated up to our friends up north. I have had friends from Canada ask me the DUMBEST things. haha.

However, I agree with you about the original comment.
I will admit, before SDN came along, I didn't know that school name really didn't matter all that much.

We were all noobs at one point. Let's cut the Canadian some slack. Hahah
 
CodeBlu said:
You must understand... that there has been some misconceptions that have floated up to our friends up north. I have had friends from Canada ask me the DUMBEST things. haha.

However, I agree with you about the original comment.
I will admit, before SDN came along, I didn't know that school name really didn't matter all that much.

We were all noobs at one point. Let's cut the Canadian some slack. Hahah
Click to expand...

Oh of course. I just like an excuse to post memes and what not.
 
flatearth22 said:
It's not so much being no-name....it's the ranking of the school (US News is the default).

Break it down into about 5 school increments....so top 5, top 10, top 15, etc. etc.

If your school isn't top 10 then it isn't elite.

If your school isn't top 25 then it isn't prestigious

If your school isn't top 50 then it isn't name worthy

If your school isn't top 100 then it's piled in with the rest as not helping your app in any way and (if it's ranked too low or has too many negative connotations ie Liberty University then it might even hurt your app)
Click to expand...

I'd agree with this in the broad sense. If your school is a small school in West Virginia and you're applying to Harvard, sure.

But, a medical school in WV or even nearby states are going to have dealt with applicants/matriculants from that small school before.
 
jm192 said:
I'd agree with this in the broad sense. If your school is a small school in West Virginia and you're applying to Harvard, sure.

But, a medical school in WV or even nearby states are going to have dealt with applicants/matriculants from that small school before.
Click to expand...
Honestly I find those divisions pretty arbitrary, but I completely agree with you about the regional familiarities.

Some massive double-digit percentage of my state medical school's class comes from my undergrad (true), am I screwed everybody? 🙄

Edit: Oh, and CodeBlu, either of those alternatives is acceptable :laugh: "write" just isn't used in that context in the U.S.
 
Last edited:
I've heard of the University of Manitoba but only because of Israel Idonije. Heard of him?
 
I think we Canadians should be allowed to be a bit more neurotic about these things. Since, for example, McGill Medicine had a 3.9 cGPA CUT-OFF this year (for out-of-province, but still). They won't even interview you otherwise. It's really getting ridiculous.

I'm pretty sure UofM is fine... Within Canada they're basically all the same anyways, so I don't think there should be a huge issue elsewhere either. Just my 2 cents
 
nctw said:
Never heard of it
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haha halarious

As a side note, I grew up in Canada for 22 years and yeah, assumed there was a University of Manitoba but to be honest along with everyone else in the country... Anyone who doesn't live in Manitoba doesn't know anything about Manitoba, including its university; its the truth.

McGill, York, UofT, Western, Waterloo, Ottawa, Queens, UofBC... pretty much the only ones known outside their respective areas.
 
Why is there a "U" in honors. Kidding, it could be worst. You could be from one of those pseudo-universities that end with "tech"
 
I've heard of your school.
 
rossbossss said:
Why is there a "U" in honors. Kidding, it could be worst. You could be from one of those pseudo-universities that end with "tech"
Click to expand...

Like Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Cal-tech...etc etc?
 
IMO in the US a 'no name school' can't hurt you (with the exception of some foreign schools – but Canadian schools would be pretty safe). However, having a 'brand name' school can add a few brownie point to your app.
Luckily for you, you won't have to deal with applying as a foreigner like Canadians do.



MedAdComMD said:
Like Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Cal-tech...etc etc?
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing!
 
MAP2 said:
I think we Canadians should be allowed to be a bit more neurotic about these things. Since, for example, McGill Medicine had a 3.9 cGPA CUT-OFF this year (for out-of-province, but still). They won't even interview you otherwise. It's really getting ridiculous.

I'm pretty sure UofM is fine... Within Canada they're basically all the same anyways, so I don't think there should be a huge issue elsewhere either. Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...
I got rejected by McGill with a 3.91 and I'm in-province. Bastards.

Juicec said:
McGill, York, UofT, Western, Waterloo, Ottawa, Queens, UofBC... pretty much the only ones known outside their respective areas.
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It's UBC, not UofBC lol.

Anyway, OP has a pretty good shot at the University of Manitoba. They care a lot about the MCAT there. If you're from a province with a small population, it's generally easier to get an acceptance (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nfld). Those provinces have an acceptance rate of about 40%.

If you're from British Columbia or Ontario, well you're pretty SOL. Especially if you're from Ontario. Have fun applying to U of T with less than a 9 on any section on the MCAT and less than a 3.88 GPA.

But Manitoba sucks. I interviewed at Manitoba and it was -40 C with the windchill. I'd rather go pay 5x the tuition in the States.

Sometimes I hate Canada.
 
NickNaylor said:
I like your breakdown of the possibilities. 👍
Click to expand...

Haha thanks.

If I recall you went to Baylor for UG so I assume you dislike the other Texas Big 12 schools on general principles.

And Cal Tech is obvious.
 
flatearth22 said:
It's not so much being no-name....it's the ranking of the school (US News is the default).

Break it down into about 5 school increments....so top 5, top 10, top 15, etc. etc.

If your school isn't top 10 then it isn't elite.

If your school isn't top 25 then it isn't prestigious

If your school isn't top 50 then it isn't name worthy

If your school isn't top 100 then it's piled in with the rest as not helping your app in any way and (if it's ranked too low or has too many negative connotations ie Liberty University then it might even hurt your app)
Click to expand...

MMM... I wonder how your tune would change if you went to a different undergrad...
 
At least the Jets are back in town now. There is actually some entertainment for those long chilly nights :laugh:.

Seriously, from my interview experiences at US schools, the only Canadian universities that are known by adcoms (not well, just that they exist), are the ones with international prestige (U of T, McGill, UBC and maybe Simon Fraisor because they are in the NCAA). But aside from that, I dont think you get any brownie points from coming from those 3, as opposed to lesser known schools like Arcadia U or Ryerson.

Mithril said:
But Manitoba sucks. I interviewed at Manitoba and it was -40 C with the windchill. I'd rather go pay 5x the tuition in the States.

Sometimes I hate Canada.
Click to expand...
 
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