The latest updates from the MD Admissions team.
May15
By wong79 on May 13, 2013 In order to avoid giving some of our candidates unnecessary anxiety we are posting this information on our blog as opposed to sending anyone an email plus, a few of you who are planning to apply in the next few years can get a sense of how the final stages of the process work- at least this year. So here is what we have planned for May 15: We will first change your status internally, review everything one more time and then click “send” which will change your status externally. “Send” means that your status in your account will update and you will receive an email to both your OAS communication history and your personal email address. This email will contain a copy of your notification letter. If you receive an offer you will need to log in to the actual OAS to view the acceptance package as there are several letters to read, forms to submit, a way to accept or decline the offer, etc. (This information will not be in your email). Please follow all of the instructions in the acceptance package and read the information thoroughly. There are a few time-sensitive things you will need to do in order to make sure your seat is confirmed (please read email of April 23 for review). Those of you who receive a “regrets” letter will be able to view your Applicant Profile Summary (APS form) where you can see your academic and non-academic scores, as well as some other information on your application. We are sorry, but we are not able to provide any further details on how your file was evaluated. Applicants on the wait-list do not have access to this information at this time. We have to update the system essentially applicant by applicant, so it is generally easiest if we send notifications in small ‘batches’. This means that if you are surrounded by a number of other people, all who applied and are going to be given the same information, it is possible that one person’s status will update and a few minutes later another person’s status will update and then several minutes later another…. etc. etc. etc. until finally it will get to you and you would receive the same letter as all of them. Therefore, while it might be agonizing to wait, don’t be discouraged by others around you. This is what we plan to do:
- Send regrets
- Send waitlist
- Send offers
Why UBC medical school
By wong79 on Apr 30, 2013
It’s that time again when our office is prepping for the upcoming admissions notifications and as most of you know, on May 15th final decisions including offer letters for our program will go out. Whilst it is always a day of mixed emotions, we will be excited to announce the UBC MD Class of 2017! Leading up to notification day last year, we had a series of posts about our offer process. This year, we thought we would tell you about some great aspects of the UBC MD Program, which you may not be aware of.
People (yourself included!) may think that once you are admitted to the UBC MD program your social life will be over. You will no longer have time for your significant others, friends and family. You will spend endless nights studying, and all your focus will be on those thick heavy medical textbooks.
We won’t lie – medical school is hard. However, you may be surprised to learn that our program is not just about lectures and clinical training. Our students are also encouraged to take part in health and wellness programs, charitable projects (e.g. Food Drive , Run for Rural Medicine, World Aids Day, etc.), physician shadowing, mentorships, class plays, parties, Arts in Medicine, and so much more! Many students continue with their own volunteer work or take up research opportunities, amongst other things.
Although they are not mandatory, we believe all of these experiences enrich both your medical education and your life. Many of our faculty members help create projects and opportunities for students to be active in the university, local and global communities. Finally, if you don’t find something that interests you, create your own opportunity! We’ve had many students pilot projects and initiatives both inside and outside the program. The Medical Undergraduate Society (MUS) can provide information on current projects, events and clubs.
All of our program areas have support and resources available at all times if you need help with personal, financial, and academic issues. Additionally, UBC Medicine has a dedicated financial aid officer who can help students make the best decisions for their individual and unique financial situation. For more information about financing medical school, look here:
Other awesome opportunities a UBC medical education will give you:
– Early clinical experience. Even in the first semester of med school students begin to learn clinical skills and enter family practice
– Rural training opportunities. The UBC medical program is committed to giving every student at least one great rural training experience during their medical education
– An entire province of possibilities. While students are divided into four main program areas, if an opportunity exists at a different site it may be possible to get permission to explore your interests away from your ‘home’ base for a set period of time – this is particularly true for summer student research opportunities.
No matter which of our four sites you may be offered, we are confident you will enjoy your medical training at UBC. Thank you to all of you for your interest and we’ll be in touch soon.
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New BC Residency Definition
By wong79 on Mar 21, 2013
As many of you have noticed, The Faculty of Medicine has changed the BC Residency Requirements for the MD Undergraduate Program. According to the new definition, applicants are considered BC residents if they hold a currently valid BC CareCard or BC Services Card by the application deadline.
We recognize that some of you are displeased with this new, condensed definition of BC residency and we want you to know that this change was not just for our program, but for all programs within the UBC Faculty of Medicine. In previous years, different programs determined their own definitions of BC residency and the Faculty deemed that it would be optimal to have a single definition that was simple, easy to administer and defensible. The Faculty consulted with all the stakeholders concerned and considered the needs of each program. The decision to have one common criterion of BC residency was made at the highest level, in consultation with UBC Senate and the Government of BC.
This new definition should cover the majority of our applicants, although no definition of BC residency is perfect. Whichever one we have used in the past meant that a few applicants felt disadvantaged and, unfortunately, we do know that this will be the case again. However, this is the definition we will use going forward and we will not be able to make any exceptions. We are sorry that perhaps a few applicants who met our previous definitions will not be considered BC residents under the new criterion, but we do still allow that up to 10% of our seats are available for out-of-province applicants.
Permalink | 4 CommentsInterview Preparation
By Admissions on Dec 14, 2012
Interview preparation is a hot topic in the Admissions Office right now and we would like to offer a bit of insight about the UBC process as well as a word of caution.
As in the information sent to applicants invited for an interview, we caution applicants about paying money to a person or organization to prepare for this event. It is understandable that you want to make sure you have done all that you can to be prepared for the day, but we do not want you to be taken advantage of. Unfortunately, it has been brought to our attention that there are individuals who may be misrepresenting their credentials and offering training and an “inside track” to the UBC admissions process. No such special insight exists as the process is continually updated and modified and no committee members offer special training, as they are under rules of strict confidentiality. The same is true for our current and previous interviewers. Please be very careful and do your research before entering into any arrangements that seem “too good to be true”. They almost always are.
By all means research and practice with friends, but be wary of claims that someone has a secret for success. In speaking with current medical students we have heard about various preparation techniques. It really depends on your own personal strengths and weaknesses and what makes you feel ready and confident for the ‘big day’. Remember, the MMI isn’t a formula, as much as you may want it to be. Don’t expect it to be the same from one school to another or one year to the next. As we have said before, the best way to prepare for the MMI is to be yourself and show us who you are, that’s what we are looking for.
We are very excited to meet many of you in February and we wish all of you a relaxing and enjoyable holiday season. As a reminder, the Admissions Office will be closed from noon on December 24 to January 1.
Permalink | 6 CommentsExplanation of Scores and FAQs
By Admissions on Dec 03, 2012
Please read our Evaluation Criteria page for more in-depth information on our evaluation criteria, but here is a quick summary:
OGPA = Overall GPA in UBC percentage
AGPA = Adjusted GPA in UBC percentage
AQ Score = OGPA (if not eligible for AGPA) or AGPA, converted to a number out of 50 (50 is the maximum score). That’s it- the AQ score is just your OGPA or AGPA, automatically converted to a number out of 50 by our computer system. The conversion mechanism is confidential. Just a warning: your AQ score might be really low, like 5 or out of 50, even if you have a good GPA. As long as your OGPA or AGPA is right, your AQ score is also right.
NAQ Score = the score given for the non-academic portions of the application. All file reviewers are carefully trained, there are various checks throughout the process to make sure reviews are being done consistently, and the NAQ score is standardized to make up for any scoring variations between reviewers.
TFR Score = AQ Score + NAQ Score. Your TFR score might be really close to the cutoff. We have double-checked these files for accuracy, so unfortunately you might just be one of the unlucky ones whose score is really close but not quite high enough to get an interview this year.
One note about the scores: It can be really disappointing not to get an interview. However, please try to see the AQ, NAQ & TFR scores as numbers, not personal judgments. If you get a low AQ or NAQ score we are not saying your GPA is bad or your non-academic experiences are worthless, or that you would be a bad doctor, or anything like that. The scores are an assessment of how your application compares against our evaluation criteria, and that is all we intend them to be. Please read the FAQs below for help.
FAQs
I received a Regrets, No Interview letter with my academic and non-academic scores. Can I get more information on the definition of these scores?
We cannot provide any further details or specifics regarding the results of your file evaluation, but our Evaluation Criteria page explains the scoring in more detail. You may also find it helpful to review the Interim Statistics on our Statistics page to assist you in determining the competiveness of your file.
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.
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, please send an email via the on-line application 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 & the grades as they appear on the Application Status page of his/her application.
The calculation of the AQ Score is automatically performed by the online application system, so as long as your OGPA or AGPA (if applicable) is correct, your AQ Score is also correct.
I thought I should have been eligible for the Adjusted Academic Average 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 online system automatically determined (a) the lowest academic year which could be eliminated and (b) if this year could be dropped (i.e. if there were still 90 remaining credits). 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%/80% 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 a lower AQ score (below 75% for BC and below 80% for OOP) cannot be offset by a strong NAQ score; hence 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.
I am not happy with the non-academic score I received. Can I request another review?
We appreciate that you may be dissatisfied with the scoring of the non-academic portion of your file, but 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.
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 email Admissions through your on-line application 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, Associate Dean, Director or an Advisor/Coordinator 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 scores
Regrets, Partial File Review: OGPA, AGPA (if applicable)
Regrets, No Interview: OGPA, AGPA (if applicable), AQ, NAQ and TFR
Invited to Interview: no scores
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