The latest updates from the MD Admissions team.
Pre-Interview Evaluation Information & FAQs 2020/2021
By Admissions on Dec 17, 2020 For those of you who received letters of regret this year, or those of you wondering what information you may receive if you do not receive an invitation to interview, we hope the following information helps to clarify some of the information we release to applicants about how their application was evaluated in the pre-interview assessment. Please note that on occasion we do make changes to how we share information and what information is shared, but we hope it provides some useful insight into the types of information provided this year (2020-2021). OGPA = Overall GPA in UBC percentage AGPA = Adjusted GPA in UBC percentage NAQ Score Range = In order to make sure applicants receive a fair score for this section, all file reviewers are carefully trained, there are various checks throughout the process to ensure consistency in marking, and results are standardized to make up for any scoring variations between reviewers. Due to these safeguards we do not accept requests for re-evaluation of the non-academic section. My Result = The combination of your academic and non-academic evaluations, in comparison to the BC resident and out of province cutoffs. It may look like your result is very close to the cutoff. We have double-checked these files for accuracy, so unfortunately, your result may be close, but not quite at the level to be invited to interview this year. FAQs Feedback I was not invited for an interview; can I talk/meet with someone to discuss my application? I would like some more feedback. Due to limited resources, we regret that we are not able to offer any feedback advising to applicants who were not granted an interview; nor can we provide any further information about the evaluation of your file. More information about how we assess academics and non-academics can be found on our Evaluation Criteria page. The Interim Statistics on our Statistics page contain the average GPAs of the applicant pool and the group invited to interview. I can tell why I didn’t get an interview, but how can I improve that area of my application? Unfortunately, we cannot give you individual feedback about improving specific sections of your application – each person’s situation and application is unique and we do not have the resources to offer this type of advising to applicants. In general terms, improving one’s GPA seems fairly straightforward, in that the only way to improve a GPA is by taking more classes and achieving higher grades in those classes. It’s the related if/how/when/why/is it worth it type of questions that are much more complicated. You know your situation, capacities, future plans, and personal resources the best, and you are the best person to make this kind of decision. We cannot tell you what impact improving your GPA would have on your ultimate chances of acceptance. For the non-academic portion, we look for several things: longstanding, meaningful commitments; leadership; work experience, service ethic and altruism; ability to work with others, especially people outside of your peer group; and diverse interests and experiences. We also recognize exceptional achievements in some areas. When looking at your non-academic range it is important to remember that the applicant pool isn’t made up of the same people you might normally compare yourself against, like your classmates or coworkers – it is made up of highly accomplished individuals just like you. Unfortunately, we cannot offer specific ways to improve your non-academic score. You may find it helpful to reflect on areas of the non-academic section you felt confident completing, along with the areas of your application you felt were more difficult to fill out. Additionally, we strongly encourage you to re-read the non-academic information posted on the Evaluation Criteria page and use this self-reflection to guide potential future action. GPA I think that there has been a mistake in the academic evaluation of my file. The academic evaluation was based on the credits and grades entered by applicants. If you believe that there has been a specific error in the calculation of your GPA, please send an email via the application system detailing what you believe the mistake to be. Please note that some applicants entered wrong information – eg. did not include all courses, excluded failed courses or used letter grades instead of percentages. In these instances the Admissions Office had to correct these mistakes by verifying courses and grades on official transcripts. Therefore, there may be a discrepancy between averages calculated by an applicant and the grades as they appear on the Application Status page of his/her application. Additionally, please remember that any courses taken in the Winter Term 2 of the 2019-2020 academic year (or equivalent semester) were not counted as part of your GPA assessment. This policy is listed in the Academic Criteria section of the Evaluation Criteria page on our website. We also wrote a blog entry about it this past summer. If you are wondering how it was implemented in your specific case, please review this website for more information. I thought I should have been eligible for the AGPA to determine my academic score, but it does not seem to have been used. The AGPA was calculated based on the courses and grades entered by applicants. The application system automatically determined whether the applicant was eligible for the AGPA, as outlined on the Evaluation Criteria page. Please note that the AGPA is based on completed courses with grades only, and does not include summer 2020 courses. The Admissions Office verified that grades had been entered accurately by comparison with the official transcripts. My overall GPA (or adjusted GPA if applicable) is slightly below the 75%/85% cut-off but I still feel my non-academic experiences are very strong and should have been reviewed. Although we look for excellent non-academic qualities, these must also be accompanied by very good academic qualities to demonstrate an applicant’s ability to successfully handle the rigorous MD Undergraduate curriculum. It was determined that GPAs below 75% for BC residents and below 85% for out of province applicants cannot be offset by a strong NAQ score. Hence, the non-academic portion of these files were not reviewed. I attended a university that did not use percentages for its grading scheme. How did UBC calculate averages from universities with different grading schemes? Information on grade conversions, including our grade conversion tables, can be found on the Evaluation Criteria page of our website. Non-Academics I am not happy with the non-academic range I received. Can I request another review? We understand that you may be dissatisfied with the range you received, but we would like to assure you that the non-academic portion of your application was reviewed and evaluated fairly and consistently. We will not re-evaluate the non-academic section of your file. At the beginning of each cycle, with guidelines provided by the Admissions Policy Committee, we establish a profile of an average applicant as a benchmark and points are allotted accordingly. Reviewers are trained and files are cross-checked. Although there cannot help but be a degree of subjectivity involved, we feel the standardized process keeps this to a minimum. General I was not invited for an interview and would like to appeal the decision. We realize the importance of your application and appreciate that the results may be disappointing. Please be aware that we do our best to ensure that our evaluation practices are fair and consistent. Files are often double and sometimes triple checked to ensure accuracy. While we are unable to discuss your application over the phone, you may message Admissions through the application system if you have any specific concerns regarding your file evaluation. Please note that we will not re-evaluate the non-academic section of your file. We will not make appointments with the Dean, Assistant Dean, or Admissions staff to discuss your application. I’m not sure if I am seeing the right thing under the scores line on my Application Status page. This is what you should see, depending on your application status: Ineligible: no results Regrets, Partial File Review: OGPA, AGPA (if applicable) Regrets, No Interview: OGPA, AGPA (if applicable), NAQ Score Range, and My Result indicator Invited to Interview: no results Permalink | No Comments
2020-21 Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) Update
By Admissions on Nov 18, 2020
We are excited to announce that the upcoming 2020-21 UBC MD Admissions interviews will be held completely virtually in 2021. This change has been made to ensure the continued safety of all participants, including applicants, interviewers, and administrative staff, as we continue to experience the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews will follow the same Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format as the in-person event and will be conducted through our Online Application System using Zoom integration. The dates for the upcoming virtual MMI are:
- Saturday, January 30, 2021
- Sunday, January 31, 2021
- Saturday, February 6, 2021
- Sunday, February 7, 2021
- Saturday, February 13, 2021
In keeping with the traditional MMI format, each applicant invited to interview will rotate through 10 different interview stations. The interview at each station will be followed by a transition period, which will allow time for the system to advance the applicant to the next station and allow the applicant to read the next question/scenario, and prepare to enter the next virtual interview room.
We know that many of you are waiting anxiously to hear whether you will receive an interview this application cycle. Due to some of the deadline extensions (like the MCAT, international transcript, and AP transcript deadline of December 1, 2020), we will not be notifying any 2020-2021 applicants of formal decisions until at least the middle of December. As with previous years, applicants who are invited to interview will be able to book their own interview date and time in the Online Application System, depending on availability, so we strongly encourage you to have access to the internet the week of December 14th and on.
More comprehensive information about the virtual interview process, registration, and events will be provided to applicants who are invited for an interview.
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Virtual Information Sessions
By Admissions on Aug 18, 2020
All Information sessions for this year have concluded.
Permalink | No CommentsChange to AP transcript deadline
By Admissions on Aug 11, 2020
It has come to our attention that due to extensive processing delays at the College Board many students needing AP transcripts will have a difficult time providing them by the October 1 deadline. To attempt to accommodate, we have extended the deadline for receipt of AP transcripts to December 1, 2020. Please request your AP documents now. If you are unable to meet the AP deadline, you will be given the opportunity to complete any outstanding English requirements by April 30, 2021.
Permalink | No CommentsFull Year Courses from 2019-2020
By Admissions on Aug 07, 2020
As many of you know, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we changed how we consider courses from Winter Term 2 of the 2019-2020 school year (or equivalent term). As discussed on our website and in our previous blog post, courses taken in this semester will be counted towards the minimum credit requirement for the program, but will not be incorporated in any grade point average calculations. Please see Evaluation Criteria: Academic Evaluation on our website for more information about what this means.
However, many students have taken full year coursework from 2019-2020, and only have a grade listed in Winter Term 2. While we would prefer students have their institutions list a grade for the course in Term 1 on their transcript, it has come to our attention that many programs and institutions do not have a means to do so. In order to not penalize these students by removing all grades from their full year courses in the calculation of their GPA, we will, if listed, consider their final course mark in the calculation of their GPA for the appropriate number of Term 1 (or equivalent term) credits.
What does this mean?
- If you took a 6-credit full year course, and received an 85% for the full course, we will include 3 credits at an 85% average in the calculation of your Overall GPA and Adjusted GPA. The other three credits will be considered to meet the minimum eligibility requirement, but will not be incorporated in the GPA calculations.
- If you took one full year course of 24 credits and received an 85% average for the course, we will include 12 credits at an 85% average in the calculation of your Overall GPA and Adjusted GPA. The other 12 credits will be considered to meet the minimum eligibility requirement, but will not be incorporated in the GPA calculations.
Why are we doing this?
The intention of excluding Winter Term 2 grades from our GPA calculations is to not further penalize students who had a very disrupted semester. However, for students who took a significant number of full year courses, if their registrar’s office cannot list a grade for their course for the first term, they will have a significant number of credits and grades removed from their Overall GPA calculation. Which, in turn, affects how many credits and grades can be eliminated from their Adjusted GPA calculation. This inadvertently penalizes these students more than students who did not take full year courses. Taking their final course grade and applying it to the credits they would have received for the first term puts these students on equal footing, in terms of credits with grades, with students who took only semester-long courses in 2019-2020.
Need clarification? Imagine these scenarios:
Applicant A took 30 credits in the 2019-2020 school year. They took 15 credits with grades in their first semester and 15 credits with grades in their second semester. All courses were one-semester courses. Therefore, their transcript lists grades for the 15 credits from 1st semester and the 15 credits from 2nd semester. Because they have 120 credits with grades when they apply, when we remove the 15 credits from Winter Term 2 in the calculation of their Overall GPA, they are eligible to have 15 credits from their worst year removed (120- 15 (Winter Term 2)- 15 (lowest graded credits from worst year) = 90 credits remaining).
Applicant B took 30 credits in the 2019-2020 school year. They took 15 credits in their first semester and 15 credits in their second semester. However, all of these courses were full year courses. Therefore, their transcript only lists grades for all 30 credits in the second semester. Because they have 120 credits with grades when they apply, when we remove all 30 credits from Winter Term 2 in the calculation of their Overall GPA, they are no longer eligible to have any credits removed from their worst year. (120-30 (Winter Term 2) = 90 credits remaining).
- This shift to including 15 of the credits from their full year course in the calculation of their Overall GPA will now make this person eligible to have 15 credits removed from the calculation of their Adjusted GPA.