Admissions Blog

The latest updates from the MD Admissions team.

Opening Date for 2015/2016 Application

By Admissions on May 26, 2015 The online application for 2015/2016 (entry in late August 2016) will open on June 15, 2015. The application deadline is September 15, 2015. Applicants who submit all required items and fees by the early deadline of August 17, 2015 and who are invited for an interview will receive their interview invitation a day early and will be allowed to book their interview date and time a day before the general applicant pool. Permalink | No Comments

Offers – Round 2 Sent

By Admissions on May 25, 2015

We sent the second round of offers today; congratulations to everyone who received an offer! The deadline for this round is Monday, June 1 at 12:00 p.m. and we will send the next round sometime after this deadline.

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Waitlist Questions

By Admissions on May 11, 2015

Here are some common questions about the waitlist:

Waitlist questions: applicants who have received an offer

1. I received an offer, but it wasn’t to my first choice site. What are my options?

You can accept the offer and most likely stay on the waitlist for your first choice site (and second choice and third choice sites, if applicable). There are a couple of rare exceptions, which is why we say you will “most likely” stay on the waitlist – applicants who selected the NMP but did not complete the Rural Training section of the application will not be waitlisted for the NMP, for example. However, the majority of applicants will be on the waitlist for their preferred site(s). This happens automatically so you don’t need to contact us about it. Please note that if you accept the offer, you are agreeing to go to the site listed on your Response to Offer form. You will not be able to change sites unless you get another offer.
You can decline the offer to that site and most likely stay on the waitlist for your more preferred site(s). Same as above – the vast majority of applicants will be waitlisted for their preferred site(s), and this will happen automatically. The difference is that you are declining the offer and the site. This is taking a risk since you may not get an offer to a more preferred site, but sometimes you know a particular site just won’t work for you, and in this case it’s better to free up the spot for someone else.
You could decline UBC completely. This would remove you from the waitlist and you would not get any further offers from us.
You could not submit the Response to Offer form at all (although we would prefer you did!). Not submitting the form removes you from the waitlist for your preferred site(s) and prevents you from receiving any other offers from UBC.

2. Is my position on the waitlist of my preferred site(s) affected by accepting or declining an offer to a less-preferred site?

No, your position is the same whether you accept or decline the offer.

3. What if I have accepted an offer to my second (or third or fourth) choice and have decided I want to stay there? Do I have accept an offer to my first choice site if I get one?

No, you can stay at a less-preferred site if you want. We will take you off the waitlist for your preferred site(s). Please email us to let us know, but be aware that this decision is final and you will not be able to be put back on the waitlist for your first (or second, etc) choice site.

4. What if I have received an offer to my first choice site but I want to go to my second (or third or fourth) choice?

If you receive an offer to your first choice site you will have to stick with that site. You won’t be given any other offers. This assumes you have not already accepted an offer to the second (or third or forth) choice site – if you have please see #3 above.

Waitlist questions: applicants who are on the waitlist

1. Can you tell me where I am on the waitlist?

No, sorry. Our waitlist is more complicated than most due to the four sites, and we don’t reveal where applicants are on it, how long it is, how quickly it’s moving, etc.

2. When will you send the next round of offers?

It will be after the deadline for this round (Friday, May 22 at 12:00 PDT). We will try to send them on Monday, May 25 and will update the blog when the next round has gone out.

3. I am on the waitlist but received an offer from another Canadian medical school. Can I accept the offer at the other institution but still remain on the waitlist for UBC?

Yes, that’s fine. If you get an offer from UBC and want to accept it you will need to withdraw your acceptance from the other school.

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Offer Notifications Sent

By Admissions on May 08, 2015

We have sent our admissions decisions, so all applicants should know their status by now. Congratulations to applicants who received an offer! We commend you for your hard work and accomplishments and are excited to see you join the MED 2019 class. Offer notifications are always a mix of happy and sad, and we would also like to commend applicants who did not receive an offer on their hard work and accomplishments, because although we were not able to offer you a spot in the class this year, we recognize your excellent academic and non-academic achievements. For those of you who plan to reapply, the 2015/2016 application will open in mid-June.

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MCAT 2015 Resource and Date Reminder

By Admissions on May 06, 2015

Although the Admissions Office does not endorse any third-party MCAT study guides or prep courses, we would like to pass along a series of videos that has been developed by Khan Academy for the MCAT 2015 exam. All of the content in the videos has been reviewed by the AAMC and there are some practice questions on the site as well. The best part about these videos is that they are free! However, it’s important to note that the video series is not intended to be a study program for the MCAT. All of the videos can be found at this website: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat. There are tons of videos and they are organized according to foundational concept, so if you’re stuck on a topic consider checking one out!

As a reminder, MCAT exams must be taken by the end of August in order to be accepted in the upcoming application cycle. Based on MCAT exam dates this year, the latest exam date we will accept for the 2015/2016 application cycle is August 22, 2015. If you have not yet taken the MCAT and want to apply for this upcoming cycle, you must take the MCAT on August 22 at the latest. If you have already taken the MCAT and have valid scores, it’s your choice whether or not to retake the exam – just keep in mind that if you take the MCAT in August or earlier we will use the MCAT 2015 scores in your evaluation, even if they are worse (and even if they are ineligible). If you take the exam in September or later your scores will not be reviewed in this application cycle. This might be an option to consider if you are happy with your scores but are required to take MCAT 2015 for application to a different medical school (as long as they accept September test dates, of course).

Speaking of other medical schools, we know some schools have expanded their accepted dates to include September exams, but we do not plan to do this. We are not requiring all applicants to take MCAT 2015 and many of our applicants will have already taken the MCAT, so we do not think it is necessary to accept September test dates. In addition, AAMC has said they have increased the number of seats available per sitting to mitigate the impact of reducing test dates. Seats fill quickly so we hope everyone who wants or needs to take the MCAT can register for a sitting as soon as possible.