Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! The big deadlines have passed for now and we are busily evaluating applications. Guess how submitted applications we received? A new record… over 1900! Thanks to everyone for taking the time and paying the fees to submit the application and necessary documents. It definitely takes time and money and we appreciate your effort.
Speaking of documents, unfortunately we are finding that some applications have missing or late documents, which means the application can’t move forward. It may seem harsh, especially if your transcript was delayed in the mail or the institution just forgot to process your request, but the vast majority of applicants do get everything in on time without issue, and to be fair and consistent we cannot make exceptions for those who don’t. This year applicants had about 14 weeks to submit documents. Especially since we aren’t including summer grades, we feel that there was definitely enough time for all transcripts to arrive by the deadline. It’s a good lesson for everyone: if you need to reapply next year, submit your documents early! International (including US in this case), AP, and IB transcripts and transcripts from institutions that do not offer courier service seem to take the longest to be processed and/or delivered in our experience. But even if your transcript does not fall into one of these categories, it’s better to be safe than sorry and just submit it as soon as possible.
Since we have started evaluating applications we are doing some verifier checks. If one of your verifiers gets contacted it doesn’t mean anything, good or bad. Sometimes we want confirmation, sometimes we need more information, and sometimes we just do random checks. We are still planning to send out interview invitations the week of December 3rd. As that time gets closer we will send out more information about the process.
Finally, if your application was submitted, your application fee was paid, all of your documents were received, and your MCAT scores were in by the deadline, you can relax for a while. We do not confirm file completeness, but we will contact you if there are any issues with your application that you wouldn’t be able to see from the Application Status page (prerequisite questions or concerns, for example).
Hi there,
In making the final decision for acceptance (after interviews), does UBC look at the grades from the current academic year (2012-2013) as one of the factors?
Thank you!
Grades from the current academic year aren’t a factor; we don’t receive final grades until June, after the offers have been sent out. We will look at the 2012-2013 grades of applicants accepted to the program to make sure the applicant’s overall GPA hasn’t dropped by more than 5% when the 2012-2013 grades are added in, and we will also confirm that 90 credits and/or any prerequisites in progress have been completed. Again, though, this happens after the offers.
Hi,
Do you know how many out of the 1900+ were BC applicants versus out of province applicants? Thank you!
This information will be included in our interim stats, which will come out later this fall.
Hi, I am just curious, will the AQ formula this year be the same as it was last year?
Sorry, information about the AQ conversion is confidential.
Regarding the previous question, would grades from summer courses taken after June.1, 2012 count? These grades were after the cut-off but will be received well before acceptance offers are made.
Thanks!
No, because we are not including summer 2012 grades in the GPA calculations this year. Summer 2012 grades are more like courses in progress and would be added to the final GPA calculation we do for people who are accepted into the program.
Hi there, I’m curious as to what will occur in the event that one’s overall GPA drops by more than 5% at the end of the cycle. Would this really be a concern if my GPA is quite high (e.g. mid 90’s)? Your help is appreciated!
If you did poorly enough in your last year for your overall GPA to drop more than 5%, it would be a concern, even if your OGPA is high. Remember, this doesn’t mean your last year’s GPA is more than 5% lower than your overall GPA (like your OGPA is 95% and your last year is 89%) – it means that your GPA with the last year added in is 5% lower than your GPA not including the last year. The actual number would depend on how many credits you have and are taking in your last year, but to have a 95% OGPA drop by more than 5% your last year’s average would probably have to be something in the 75% or lower range. When compared to 95%, 75% is a big drop for one year so we would be concerned.
I have heard recent speculation regarding the significance of verifiers being contacted. Does having a verifier contacted mean that an applicant is more or less likely to get an interview invite/acceptance offer? Or it is completely random? Thank you!
Like we said in the post, it doesn’t mean anything either way. Having one or more verifiers contacted doesn’t mean the applicant is more (or less) likely to get an interview invitation. Sometimes it’s random, while other times we need the verifier to clarify or confirm something.
Hi, I know admissions team is busy with the record number of applicants, but is there any way applicants can modify their choice of campus site? Are decisions made initially by the application deadline the absolute last word we have? Thanks in advance!
No worries – the site preferences you listed on the application were informal and were not binding. Applicants invited to interview will formally and officially indicate their site preferences by filling out a Site Preference form.
what is the reason to release the interview invitations early in December instead of November, that is about 1 month later than last year?
The application deadline was later this year, so the notifications are later too.
I must say its nice to see this discussion. It adds some transparency to the process. Good job UBC admissions.
I did not save a copy of my scores from last year. Am I able to access them? Thanks
If you log into OAS and see a “Show Previous Year” button on the Home page, you can click that button to access the Application Status page from the previous year. Your scores may not be there in all cases – if they are not there, they are not accessible, sorry.
My understanding is that if you’re offered an interview, you can’t see your scores – correct? If we are offered an interview but are subsequently denied admission, will we have access to our scores at that time? If we’re offered a place, do we ever see our scores?
Thank you!
That’s right, if you are offered an interview you won’t see your scores. If you get an interview but don’t end up receiving an offer you will be able to see your scores when offer notifications are sent. If you do receive an offer you will never see your scores.
About submitting references, the guidelines indicate that the academic referee must be associated with our post-secondary education program. Does this mean that if I am a Science student, I can’t have a professor from a commerce course as a reference, since he is not from my program? In other words, do the guidelines mean that science students should have references from professors in science courses, and arts students should have references from arts professors, etc…?
Thanks!
We mean the academic referee should be from college or university rather than high school. You don’t have to stick to only professors in your particular program – it’s fine to ask a professor who taught you in an elective course or another course outside of your major or degree.
I’ve already received an offer for an interview. I’m currently experiencing some health issues, and I’m considering withdrawing my application. Is there a procedure in place for me to do that?
Please email us through the online application system to let us know you wish to withdraw your application. We will take care of it from there.
I am an undergraduate student, and I would like to know if first year physics is a requirement to be admitted into UBC medical school.
Thanks 🙂
No, physics isn’t a requirement. Please see our Admission Requirements page for more information on prerequisite courses.
Hi there, a couple questions from a prospective applicant:
1. I am just curious if references post interview play a significant deciding factor in the admissions process?
2. Are all interview questions weighted equally?
I will understand if these questions can not be answered, so I am just testing my luck asking these =), thank you for your time!
It never hurts to ask!
1. References are considered as a part of the holistic file review we do post-interview. We can’t be more specific than that, sorry.
2. Yes, all questions are weighted equally to produce a score which, as above, is taken into consideration during our holistic file review.
A few questions about post-interview.
#1 does the writing station at the interview get weighted as just another MMI station?
#2 Does having a great MCAT score really help an applicant to admissions? Or would working on other parts of the application (NAQ/AQ) be better?
If these cannot be answered I completely understand. Thanks!
Post interview we look at all aspects of your application, your academic averages, your references, how you did in the interviews, perhaps how your essay compares with the Writing Sample score on the MCAT – all the various factors are taken into consideration. As for questions #2, each application can be a little bit different – one person may have a very high overall average, but perhaps not quite a strong an MCAT as someone else whose average may not be quite so stellar, so could not say that one outweighs the other.
So you’re implying that the combination of High OGPA/AGPA + low MCAT and High MCAT + low AGPA/OGPA cannot be reasonably compared. However, for an applicant with high GPA a low MCAT is a flag, but for an applicant with an already marginal GPA is a good MCAT score a favourable indicator in terms of academic competence?
As we mentioned before we look at all aspects of your application so could not say which combination outweighs the other. Ultimately, the selection committee makes the final decisions. Remember, only your AQ and NAQ scores are considered for pre-interview.
Hi there. I noticed that successful applicants are required to submit a transcript AFTER the May 15 notification date. What will happen if I’m accepted, but my overall GPA has dropped by 5%? Would my offer be immediately revoked? Or would I be provided an opportunity to explain the notable drop to the administration?
If your overall average has dropped by 5% or more below the academic average calculated upon receipt of your application, the Selection Committee reserves the right to review the decision and withdraw the offer.