Chances at queens

Hey my mcats essay was an S, yet my verbel was a 9. Any chances they will ever lower their verbel requirement or should i just kiss queens goodbye or rewrite the MCAT. Thing is I rocked the bio/physics section of the MCAT.
thanks

[rewrite]

Hi,

I don't think anyone will have firm answer to this as the requirements do vary from year to year. However, based on my experience and stats (UGPA 3.86, grad GPA 4.0, MCAT - 9, 12, 14, S) getting an interview at Queens with a verbal score below 10 means an automatic rejection. I would suggest you re-write.

Good luck.

[JD]

I think the "10" requirement has been around for quite a while. But I don't think any other Canadian school needs a 10 in verbal. So it depends on how important it is for you to apply to Queen's...

[JPS79]

not true! I don't know where everybody gets their information from?!?!? Cut-offs are NOT that strict! I received an interview at Queens and I have a 9 in verbal... 11, 10 and Q. You don't absolutely have to re-write by any means. I've been reading all of this information and it makes me laugh because none of it is written in stone and I only know this from personal experience! Just wait and see... good luck

[AJ]

Hey JPS79,

When did you receive your interview notification? Was it in the mail? By phone? Email? When are the interviews?

[10]

Hi JPS79,

Congradulations on the interview. I am very surprised as EVERYONE I know, I have even contacted the Queen's ADCOM office, has found that below a 10 on verbal means a rejection. Do you havea perfect 4.0 with a Nobel prize behind your name? Knock em dead!

[JD]

JPS79,
Congrats, but I think you're an anomaly... in general, anyone with under 10 in verbal that really wants to go to Queen's SHOULD rewrite. This was even stated by the admissions people themselves. For the most part, if you don't have that 10, regardless of how high your GPA is or what activities you've done (anyway, they don't count your essay, sketch, and letters until after the interview) you would normally be rejected...

[JPS79]

I can't explain it. What can I say?
As for AJ...thanks for the quiz. Ask yourself, why would anyone lie about this? (especially on some renegade website!!) honestly... You don't know me and I don't know you! I have an interview and I also have a 9 in verbal. My GPA is not a 4.0 but it's not that far off. Once again, I don't know. I just thought that I would share my situation with the individual that was considering a re-write.
p.s. AJ, that was really pathetic.

[AA]

Does anyone know how many interviews are given out by Queen's this year? I'm just trying to figure out my chances. Thanks a lot!

[Doug]

I think you might have mis-interpreted AJ's questions. Perhaps he just wanted to know how you were notified so he/she could expect the same.

[JPS79]

I don't think I misinterpreted anything.

[Oz10]

Hi guys,

This is a valid discussion but please don't let this thread getting nasty. Personal comments against other posters will not be tolerated.

[Propaganda]

The 10 for verbal is strictly enforced. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt.

goodluck to all.

[AJ]

My appologies to JPS. The message was lame. I was just curious how he/she was notified. I did not expect a personal life story from him or her. I dont know anyone else that has applied to Queen's and this is my first time applying there, as a result I was just seeking some info as to their notification process and when the interviews are usually held. I also heard that some of their mailings have been lost in the mail. Is this a rumor? I dont know. I just wanted some clarification. Good luck to all.

PS Thanks Doug for your positive interpretation of the message.

[JD]

AJ: They sent out their letters in the first week of February. We were supposed to confirm interviews with Queen's by Feb. 15th (that was a over a week ago). I don't know if they sent out rejections too. If you did make the cutoffs, then you'd better call them right away.

[Liana]

Maybe Queen's cutoff ~is 10 in verbal, but they perhaps didn't quite get a list of 400 students who met both the GPA and then the MCAT cutoff, and thus invited a couple people below the cutoff in order to get a large enough pool of interviewees?

[Amadeus]

The less people they interview, the better for them. They interview ALL those that meet the cut-offs. There is no quota they have to fill, except for the 100 or so seats available. But believe me, they will never have a problem selecting from a pool of applicants that meet the criteria to fill 'em.

Not trying to be harsh, just pragmatic.

And yeah..they already sent out all the interview letters (one batch).

[RAK2005]

There are approx. 450 interviewees for the two weekends this year, so there are actually MORE students who made the cut-offs this year (you guys are smarter than we were :) ). However, there are also 10 more spots this year so this is a definate plus.

See ya this weekend and enjoy the city while you're down !

[WorriedMD2BE]

I asked and they said that they interviewed 465 people this year.

That's 21.5% chance of getting in, purely statistical though.

[Liana]

Ahh, but don't forget the waiting list.

[JSS02]

There were 463 interviews this year. I was told that there would be 100 acceptances initially and 150 people put on the waitlist. Last year they needed 148 acceptances to fill 90 spots, so I suppose this year they'll need about 170 or so (i.e. will need to give offers to 70 on the waitlist).

[Liana]

Were those 60 people taken from the original waiting list, or the modified waiting list (ie, the waiting list after those who had been accepted to other schools had been removed, etc)?

[JSS02]

I never asked, but I assume that the 148 offers include those to people who were waitlisted but who still declined the offer from Queen's after it was sent out...

[WorriedMD2BE]

Let's do some statistics:

They actually had 80 students last year.
So if they sent out 148 acceptances, then
148/80 = 1.85 acceptance for every spot.

Assuming the ratio is the same (may or may not be true, so please don't comment on this), then because there will be 100 spots, then they will accept 185 persons.

There were 462 interviews, so the chance of getting in after receiving an interview is 185/462 = 40% (quite high!). That means you need to rank in the upper 40% to get in.

But all this doesn't mean anything. Some of us had poor interviews, and some of us had good ones. We'll also assume that 10 people deferred from last year, but that 10 people will also defer from this year = negligible on acceptance numbers.

So, since there were 150 waitlisted, we'll assume they'll raise this number slightly due to increase in interviewees and spots. Last year they had ~400 interviewees, this year 462. The ratio is 462/400 = ~173. So we'll say they'll increase the waitlist numbers to 175.

They'll accept 100 people and pull 85 people off the waitlist. So the chances of getting in (considering you AT LEAST get on the waitlist) is 85/175 = 48.5%

This means that if you get on the waitlist, you have about a ONE in TWO chance of getting into Queen's. This isn't so bad (like flipping a coin).

[Oz10]

Just a correction...there are 90 people in our class (Meds 2005)

[WorriedMD2BE]

You are correct.

That just dropped our chances... statistically speaking

[Liana]

Using the same stats, any interviewed applicant has a 35.5% chance of getting accepted, and a 37.9% chance of getting on the waitlist, meaning you have a 73.4% chance of receiving something other than a rejection. If you are waitlisted, however, you will only have a 36.6% chance of being accepted from that waitlist, assuming Worried's estimated waiting list length holds true.

However, those stats are never totally accurate for any one individual. If you're a highly articulate, well-rounded (ie, in terms of your activities) and strongly opinioned individual, your chances will be higher. If you had a hard time finding the right words, could only answer what might be assumed to be a standard answer, felt the need to apologize for your lack of activities, or are a downright unsociable person, then your chances would be lowered. I think it's fair to assume that there were at least a few people interviewed who were more well suited for Queen's than we were, and just as many who were less suited. Assuming we're all somewhere around the middle, I think that luck really does come into play at this point; luck that your evaluators, regardless of whether you "clicked" or not (because a lot of evaluators may not click with others, but still tend to hold a lot of applicants in high regard) are generous in their evaluation of you, luck that any mistakes you made during your interview were not important to the interviewers, and that your shining moments were greatly appreciated.

Although statistics unfairly portray the true admissions process, I think they may be more accurate than we may actually assume, since so many of the applicants are almost equally qualified, that it really does come to a question of lucky of the draw.

Good luck all.

[JD]

Actually the chances of receiving something other than a rejection (in early June, in their initial set of decisions) are 250/465=54% rather than 73%... the "accepted" proportion of 35.5% and "waitlisted" percentage of 37.9% actually have a lot of overlap with each other (since many people are initially waitlisted but accepted later on). But your point still stands..

[Liana]

oh yeah :)
Silly me.

[The Fox Rox]

Hey guys, the 10 cut off for verbal is quite strictly enforced but its not absolute. This is no guessing info but was given by the faculty member doing a presentation during the info session when I was there for the interview.

One of my friend with 3.97 and good BS, PS and WR got rejected because he had a 9 on verbal. But the faculty member did say they look for abberations on the application. But all that does not matter anymore. I do believe all the interviews for this year have already been given out.

[Sumi23]

I am assuming that a fair number of students who get into queen's also get into other schools. I don't have any hope for the initial acceptance round... the best i can hope for is a spot on the waitlist. I was wondering how many of the people who get initial acceptances from Queen's turn it down for another school (ie. how many spots are usually made available for people in the waitlist)? Thanks, in advance, for any insight on this.

[Jase133]

Last year they had 80 spots (I think) and about 125 acceptances? Is this correct?

[m]

In the McMaster forum, someone remarked that at a Queen's interview, a current student had figured that the applicant would have approximately a ~48% chance of getting accepted into Queen's after the interview stage. This seems to be totally incongruent with the calculations we've tried to do here, which estimate a ~33% chance. Not that it makes a huge difference, obviously, because if you get in you get in, but it does make a huge difference for those of us who love to obsess.

Anyone know why someone would estimate 48%? The only difference I can imagine that would separate this from the answer we obtained is if perhaps the ~60 people taken off the waiting list were taken from a waiting list compiled after removing people on the waiting list who didn't want to be there. ie, if those people who got acceptances elsewhere, or for some reason decided against med school at the last moment and informed Queen's of this info before June 15, were taken off the list, and then the 60 people taken to fill the remaining seats came only from those still remaining on the waiting list. This probably isn't likely, but I don't understand where someone would come up with 48%.

[Ian Wong]

Floating to the top...

Ian