The Ontario Medical Schools

1. The Ontario Medical Schools Interview Invite and Acceptance Criteria Targeted Tactics to Improve Your Application 19/06/10

2. Each school has its own relatively unique methods of determining who is invited for interview, and who eventually will be accepted to the school • The rules change yearly and you must keep up with the changes • There are ways to increase your chances, and ways to dramatically cut them as well 19/06/10

3. 3 Year Program • Interview invite is based on: • Autobiographical Sketch • Cumulative GPA • Score on the MCAT Verbal Reasoning section • Final Acceptance is based on: • Cumulative GPA • Score on the Verbal Reasoning part of the most recent MCAT • Interview Score on the MMI 19/06/10

4. Under their new MCAT policy, people with lower GPA scores but solid MCAT VR sections, and well developed responses to the ABS questions will get interviews. • Since the school counts all courses in their GPA calculation it is extremely important to avoid low grades 19/06/10

5. Interview invite is based on: • Strict MCAT Cut offs that vary from year to year • GPA in two separate years must be above cut off • This year GPA > 3.70, MCAT VR11/PS9/BS10/WS P • SWOMEN Advantage • Final Acceptance is based on: • GPA from two separate years • Score on the MCAT • Interview score on closed panel interview 19/06/10

6. Has one of the BEST methods for recovering a low GPA as it only counts your best two years • Does not count summer courses in GPA • Has a SWOMEN program which is powerful edge if you are from the associated area • Has course overloading (but be very careful) • Second degree students exclude first degree • Has a conditional acceptance system 19/06/10

7. Has a unique weighted GPA system where later years count more than earlier ones, and only your last three years count • Has regional GPA cut offs based on geography, heritage, and language status 19/06/10

8. Interview invite is based on • wGPA • Initial Autobiographical sketch review • Since sketch review is included, meeting cut offs does not guarantee an interview • Final acceptance is based on • wGPA • Interview score on an open panel interview 19/06/10

9. If you are from the associated area, or can speak French this school will give you a special advantage • wGPA allows eventual forgiveness of earlier years. Your last year count 3x your first one • Boosts to relevant extracurricular work enhance the likelihood of an interview • Does not count summer courses in GPA 19/06/10

10. Interview invite is based on • Fixed and rigid MCAT cut offs • Fixed GPA cut offs • Estimated GPA of 3.7, MCAT of 10,10,10 R • Invite GPA Cut offs are either • Last two years (does not include summer courses) • All courses ever taken including summer courses • Final acceptance is based on • Solely the interview score on a generally standardized panel interview and possibly on site essay (likely won’t be the on site essay in 2010) 19/06/10

11. The last two years GPA route is an excellent way to recover from earlier poorer performance • The 100% interview score evens the playing field for all applicants • Strong emphasize on writing skills • Has a grad route that allows for even lower GPA students to get interviews 19/06/10

12. Interview Invite is based on • Holistic appraisal of entire application package, including • GPA • MCAT (recommend min 9/9/9/P) • Letters of Reference • Extra curricular activities • Course Difficulty • Research Productivity including graduate degrees 19/06/10

13. Final Acceptance is based on • 60% Academics • 40% Interview plus all other remaining components • Interview itself is only 20% of final score • Due to the holistic approach the final class is skewed somewhat between higher GPA undergrad students, and lower GPA graduate students. Be careful analyzing statistics from the school as a result. 19/06/10

14. Very flexible and forgiving admission system due to full file review • Strong advantage to graduate students • Does not officially count summer courses in GPA, but they will see what courses you took • Extremely useful course drop policy 19/06/10

15. If you take 5.0 course between Sept 1 and Apr 30 for every single year you are in university then you can drop the lowest 1.0 courses per year • 3rd Year students drop 6 typical courses • 4th Year students drop 8 typical courses • For this reason Toronto makes dropping a course undesirable, but this must be balanced against the GPA policies of all other schools 19/06/10

16. Our newest and smallest medical school with a rural medicine focus • Interview invites are based on: • Essay question responses • GPA • Geographic residency • Final Acceptance is based on • Interview scores combined with pre-interview score 19/06/10

17. Very flexible with respect to course load • Substantial graduate student bonus to effective GPA • Strong rural bias to northern Ontario 19/06/10

18. You must take an active interest in learning and keeping up with the admissions policies at your targeted schools • You have to plan in advance your approach • Don’t count on any one particular school’s policies to help you – remember luck plays a role and polices change. • Of all things GPA is usually the primary barrier for most applicants and is the hardest to improve 19/06/10

19. The Canadian Premed Forum (you are not alone): • http://www.premed101.com/forums/index.php • OMSAS PDF • http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/pdf/b_omsas_e.pdf 19/06/10