Admissions Blog

Document Statuses – September 9

By Admissions on Sep 09, 2016 This post was sent via email to current applicants. If you are planning to apply this year and did not receive this email because you have not yet started your application, please start your application as soon as you can. The deadline is less than a week away! Document Status Updates a. Transcripts received in the mail – We are normally able to update transcript statuses within 24 hours of the transcript arriving at our physical location. At least one entry for each institution must be started on the Transcripts page of the application in order for us to update the status of your transcript. Please note that there is an approximate two-day delay between our mailing address and our physical location, but transcripts are on time if they arrive at the mailing address by the deadline. If your transcript says “Not Received” – We finish updating transcripts in the afternoon. If your transcript status still says “Not Received” at around 5:00 p.m., it means your transcript did not arrive that day. More generally, it means that we have not received your transcript yet. It may be in transit, or it may have been lost before arriving at our office. Either way, it is not in our office, so we cannot provide any further information beyond what you can see on your Application Status page. For this reason we will not be able to answer inquiries regarding the status of transcripts that were sent by regular mail. You must make the decision to send another transcript (preferably via courier) or wait and see if your transcript arrives. As a reminder, all transcripts must arrive at our mailing address by Thursday, September 15 at noon Pacific time or your application may become ineligible. If you sent your transcript by courier and have proof that your transcript has been delivered to our mailing address, please email us with the tracking information. Please note that having proof that you submitted a transcript request on a certain date or having proof that the transcript was sent from your institution on a certain date does not mean the transcript has arrived yet. Some transcripts arrived before the applicant began his or her application. We go through these transcripts and update them on a daily basis. b. Transcripts carried forward from your 2015/2016 file– These are updated daily, but as long as you have marked the box on the Additional Information page asking us to transfer your transcripts to your new file, you can consider your carried-forward transcripts received by the deadline even if the status for these transcripts says “Not Received.” You must submit a new copy of any transcript that has changed since you last submitted it.    c. UBC Transcripts– These are updated daily, but as long as you have marked the box on the Other Information page to authorize us to access your UBC transcript electronically, you can consider your UBC transcript received by the deadline even if your UBC transcript status says “Not Received.” d. BC Residency– As long as you have uploaded your currently valid BC Care Card or BC Services Card by the September 15 deadline, you can consider your proof of BC residency to be received on time, even if your BC residency status says “Not Received.” As a reminder, proof of BC residency will not be carried forward to your new file. e. MCAT – Please complete the MCAT page of your application and release your scores to UBC using the MCAT Score Reporting System by October 1 (please release your scores now if they are available). It is not enough to complete the MCAT page of your application – you must also send your scores to UBC using the MCAT Score Reporting System. UBC is not part of the AMCAS system. We are currently updating MCAT scores once per day. Permalink | 8 Comments

Canada Post Labour Dispute

By Admissions on Aug 30, 2016

The Canada Post labour dispute continues to evolve and we are monitoring the situation. For now, however, the transcript deadline stands. All transcripts must arrive at our mailing address by Thursday, September 15 at noon Pacific Time. As a reminder, we do not accept faxed or emailed transcripts.

What if there is a strike? We will definitely address that if it happens, but right now we are not speculating on what we may or may not do if disruptive job action occurs.

Strike or no, if you have not yet submitted your transcript requests to your institutions, please do so immediately. It may take longer than you think for your institution to process your request and the travel time to UBC may be greater than you anticipate. If you are concerned about the potential for a postal strike, you might consider sending your transcripts by courier if you have that option.

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Admissions Office Closed August 26

By Admissions on Aug 24, 2016

The Admissions Office will be closed on Friday, August 26 due to an all-day training event.

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MED 2020 Class Finalized

By Admissions on Aug 23, 2016

The MED 2020 class officially started their medical education program yesterday. This is a happy and exciting time for them, and we wish them good luck as they start this new phase of their lives. Since the class is now finalized, no more positions will be available this year. We have notified all remaining applicants on the waitlist and would like to offer special congratulations to them for making it so far in the application process.

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Verifiers

By Admissions on Aug 17, 2016

Some verifiers are easy to choose: your current supervisor, your former coach, your guitar teacher. Others are more problematic. Because the Admissions Office has a responsibility to verify the accuracy of applications in order to ensure fairness for all applicants, we require a verifier for all non-academic, employment, and rural training experiences. However, we recognize that it can be hard to find a verifier for some entries. We hope these questions can help if you are struggling with a difficult verifier situation.

1. I worked somewhere/did something a long time ago and have lost touch with my supervisor.

   This is a common problem. Sometimes the organization will keep records, so you might be able to put down the current HR person. Remember, the verifier only needs to be able to confirm the details you list on the application – they don’t have to know you personally or comment on your performance. Alternatively, you might be able to reach out through social media to get in touch with your former supervisor. The ‘last resort’ is to use a coworker. You may do this at your discretion, but please note that in some cases we may contact you to ask for a different verifier. We do not accept things like certificates, newspaper articles, or other non-human forms of verification.

2. I have a hobby I usually do on my own. You say not to put yourself down as a verifier, so who should I put?

   For solo hobbies, you may choose a friend or family member who knows about your hobby.

3. I own my own business and work by myself. Since I cannot put myself down as a verifier, who should I pick?

   A business is more formal than a hobby, so we prefer that you not use a friend or family member. You might consider using someone like an accountant or lawyer who can confirm the basic details of your business. Clients are a bit trickier because they may not know the total number of hours you work or the start and end dates of your business.

4. I work for a family business. You say not to use friends or family members as verifiers, so who should I choose?

   Ideally, you could pick a non-family member who supervised you, but we understand that many family businesses are small and are staffed only by family members. In this case, if there is no one else, you may use the family member who supervised you.

5. The only people who can verify my activity are also applying to the MD program.

   Sorry, applicants should not verify activities for other applicants. Please try to find someone else.

6. What happens if the Admissions Office thinks I put down an inappropriate verifier? Will the activity be automatically disregarded?

   We will not automatically disregard an activity unless you put yourself down as a verifier or enter something like “no verifier”. As long as you have made an honest attempt to list a suitable verifier, we will contact you if we need to verify the activity and we have concerns about the verifier. We are not looking for ways to disregard activities or withhold points – we really want to reward your accomplishments and experiences. We just need to make sure the entries listed are accurate.

Ultimately, verifier choice is your decision. The Admissions Office cannot give you permission to list a particular verifier on your application or help you if you are trying to decide between two or more potential verifiers. Please use your best judgement to work within the guidelines provided.

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