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Post by futurevethopefully on Mar 9, 2021 9:10:48 GMT -5
Hi everyone I was looking to apply to OVC next year but Im not sure if my average will be high enough. The most I can seem to get to is a 90-91. If that was enough to get an interview and I aced the casper test and one on one interview (or the MMI) then do I still have chance of getting in? I know weighting is given more to grades, but I was hoping if I worked hard to do well on the interviews it would make up for my subpar grades. Any opinions or insight is welcome. Thanks.  |
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TT24
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Post by TT24 on Mar 9, 2021 10:32:22 GMT -5
Hi there! I am a Phase 1 student here to give some words of encouragement. Based on this past year's stats, I'm pretty sure I was the student who was admitted with the lowest average this cycle (and my average was not very different from the lowest average of interviewed applicants). My average was lower than a 90-91 (by more than a percent), and I made it! Looking at previous years' stats, you will notice the range of interview scores is very large, particularly compared to the grade average. This means anyone who gets an interview does have a shot at getting in if they really do well on their interviews. Obviously, this might be different with Casper (not sure if students do better or worse with Capser or MMI), but given it is 'somewhat' similar to the MMIs, I would expected the range of Casper scores to also be large.
Don't give up, it is definitely worth a try!
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Post by tilac on Mar 9, 2021 10:40:06 GMT -5
Historically, yes, if you get an interview that is your best chance to move up in the rankings. Last year the lowest accepted average was a 90.5 with the COVID interview format. We'll have to see what happens with COVID but without the MMI the cutoff did jump a bit more than average, so if it returns next year that could settle things down a bit. I would not give up yet. My best advice for improving your average would be to pick courses based entirely on what you think will give you the best marks. Like a lot of medical schools, because of the wide variety of applicants, OVC doesn't really care so much what your courses were just so long as your average is high (i.e. if you're choosing between an easy elective and one that you might think would be more impressive - take the easy one). Also, if you get semester(s) with a high average, you can take the next semesters at less than a full-time course load. That would allow you to keep using them as your last 2 full-time semesters, even if proceeding ones might have a lower average (keep in mind a less than full-time course load disallows courses taken as prereqs as well). Hope this helps!
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Post by futurevethopefully on Mar 9, 2021 13:52:28 GMT -5
Hi there! I am a Phase 1 student here to give some words of encouragement. Based on this past year's stats, I'm pretty sure I was the student who was admitted with the lowest average this cycle (and my average was not very different from the lowest average of interviewed applicants). My average was lower than a 90-91 (by more than a percent), and I made it! Looking at previous years' stats, you will notice the range of interview scores is very large, particularly compared to the grade average. This means anyone who gets an interview does have a shot at getting in if they really do well on their interviews. Obviously, this might be different with Casper (not sure if students do better or worse with Capser or MMI), but given it is 'somewhat' similar to the MMIs, I would expected the range of Casper scores to also be large. Don't give up, it is definitely worth a try! Thanks so much for the reassurance, it helps knowing that there was someone else in the same boat and ended up with a positive outcome! Best of luck to you in your veterinary career |
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Post by futurevethopefully on Mar 9, 2021 16:38:47 GMT -5
Historically, yes, if you get an interview that is your best chance to move up in the rankings. Last year the lowest accepted average was a 90.5 with the COVID interview format. We'll have to see what happens with COVID but without the MMI the cutoff did jump a bit more than average, so if it returns next year that could settle things down a bit. I would not give up yet. My best advice for improving your average would be to pick courses based entirely on what you think will give you the best marks. Like a lot of medical schools, because of the wide variety of applicants, OVC doesn't really care so much what your courses were just so long as your average is high (i.e. if you're choosing between an easy elective and one that you might think would be more impressive - take the easy one). Also, if you get semester(s) with a high average, you can take the next semesters at less than a full-time course load. That would allow you to keep using them as your last 2 full-time semesters, even if proceeding ones might have a lower average (keep in mind a less than full-time course load disallows courses taken as prereqs as well). Hope this helps! Thank you yes that was very informative I appreciate it! |
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Post by msahopeful on Mar 15, 2021 12:09:21 GMT -5
Hi there! I am a Phase 1 student here to give some words of encouragement. Based on this past year's stats, I'm pretty sure I was the student who was admitted with the lowest average this cycle (and my average was not very different from the lowest average of interviewed applicants). My average was lower than a 90-91 (by more than a percent), and I made it! Looking at previous years' stats, you will notice the range of interview scores is very large, particularly compared to the grade average. This means anyone who gets an interview does have a shot at getting in if they really do well on their interviews. Obviously, this might be different with Casper (not sure if students do better or worse with Capser or MMI), but given it is 'somewhat' similar to the MMIs, I would expected the range of Casper scores to also be large. Don't give up, it is definitely worth a try! You are in first year vet school and got in with below 90? I thought the lowest to get in last year was 90.45? According to the stats that is? |
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Post by tilac on Mar 15, 2021 13:24:52 GMT -5
Hi there! I am a Phase 1 student here to give some words of encouragement. Based on this past year's stats, I'm pretty sure I was the student who was admitted with the lowest average this cycle (and my average was not very different from the lowest average of interviewed applicants). My average was lower than a 90-91 (by more than a percent), and I made it! Looking at previous years' stats, you will notice the range of interview scores is very large, particularly compared to the grade average. This means anyone who gets an interview does have a shot at getting in if they really do well on their interviews. Obviously, this might be different with Casper (not sure if students do better or worse with Capser or MMI), but given it is 'somewhat' similar to the MMIs, I would expected the range of Casper scores to also be large. Don't give up, it is definitely worth a try! You are in first year vet school and got in with below 90? I thought the lowest to get in last year was 90.45? According to the stats that is? Maybe they were referring to their overall average in undergrad rather than the last 2 full-time/pre-requisite combination? You can see what the apparent range was here. Some clarification from TT24 would be much appreciated! |
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TT24
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Post by TT24 on Mar 15, 2021 13:50:20 GMT -5
Based on what I personally calculated for my last 2 sems + pre-reqs, I was actually below the range listed in the stats. I came from another university so I don't know if they calculated my average differently than I did. Regardless, I think anyone with a 90 has a shot because I think your interviews can change your standings completely.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2021 20:22:28 GMT -5
That's so strange I would've thought the stats were accurate! Does your university only provide letter grades on the transcript? Because in that case Guelph takes the midway point (i.e., if an A+ is 94-100%, Guelph would count it as 97% for the purpose of average calculations).
I think the most useful thing to look at is the median academic average for interviewed applicants vs. the lowest average for admitted applicants, because that tells you how much the academic average mattered vs. the interview score.
Like for last year, the median for an interview and the lowest for admission were almost identical (90.56% vs. 90.48%), which means that it was essentially the top 50% of interviewed applicants who got admitted, and that the interview score didn't play a big role.
But for 2020, the difference was bigger (90.39% vs 88.05%) showing that the interview allowed students who were in the lower half of interviewed applicants to still be admitted.
Honestly I find the 2020 statistics hard to explain. Why for this year in particular did the interview have such a low impact? I would find it very surprising that the top 100 students academically also happened to all score the best on the interview.
I wonder if they increased the weight of the academic portion? It's the only explanation I can think of, especially since this year they didn't include interview scores or the calculated final scores in the statistics. But I'm not sure if they would be allowed to do that without disclosing it.
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TT24
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Post by TT24 on Mar 16, 2021 7:53:31 GMT -5
That's so strange I would've thought the stats were accurate! Does your university only provide letter grades on the transcript? Because in that case Guelph takes the midway point (i.e., if an A+ is 94-100%, Guelph would count it as 97% for the purpose of average calculations). Yes, I calculated it this way, but my school did not have A+ letters, the highest was an A (85-100%), so every A would be a 92.5%. I wonder if the school recognized the fact I would never be able to get higher than a 92.5%, and somehow adjusted my average because of this? But I have no way of knowing this and all of this is speculation. I wonder if other students in my phase are in the same boat. Regardless, this led me to assume I must have done pretty well on interviews, which might be of reassurance for people in the lower range of grades. |
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Post by turtle on Mar 16, 2021 7:58:57 GMT -5
Based on that, it does look like they just admitted the top 50%. But I really have such a hard time believing that they would admit on grades alone, like they don’t indicate soft skills or knowledge of the profession at all and those things are crucial to success in a vet career. Maybe most of the applicants performed adequately-well on the Casper and interview due to previous MMI prep and so it just really came down to grades. Having applied before, I would say that the MMI is much more challenging than the Casper in general
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Post by hoping on Mar 16, 2021 10:21:22 GMT -5
It could just be that those with higher grades also performed well on the casper test because it doesn't involve face to face speaking as the traditional MMI does, and if you're one to do better on written tests compared to in-person interviews speaking to someone then you may have an advantage with casper. Of course there is still the personal interview over Microsoft teams, but since those questions don't involve anything MMI-related I would think that it's hard to do poorly on that portion.
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Post by Anon on Mar 16, 2021 11:52:28 GMT -5
Based on that, it does look like they just admitted the top 50%. But I really have such a hard time believing that they would admit on grades alone, like they don’t indicate soft skills or knowledge of the profession at all and those things are crucial to success in a vet career. Maybe most of the applicants performed adequately-well on the Casper and interview due to previous MMI prep and so it just really came down to grades. Having applied before, I would say that the MMI is much more challenging than the Casper in general My average is higher than the lowest admitted average and I was rejected so it wasn't based solely on grades. |
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Current DVM student
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Post by Current DVM student on Mar 16, 2021 12:09:23 GMT -5
Don't worry guys, OVC is very honest and transparent about the final calculations they use for admissions, and I am certain they stuck to them last year.
What people sometimes overlook is that while you can absolutely go from the bottom half (GPA) to the top (with a good interview), this also relies on those with higher GPAs doing worse than you. Having a great average is absolutely the hardest part of admissions and provides a bit of a safety net for your interview. Someone with a 96% can do well, average, or maybe even slightly below average on the interview and still end up with the same (or better) score as someone who applied with below-average marks.
For someone to be admitted with a lower GPA, you are really relying on a) nailing the interview/CASPER and b) someone in the top 100 NOT nailing theirs. If everyone did reasonably well last year (and I have no idea how the CASPER system changed the distribution of interview scores), those with the highest GPAs will prevail. Fortunately, a few of those at the top and bottom swap places post-interview every year!
Anyway, I remember how stressful the applications process was for me and I can't imagine how much more difficult it must be with this crazy COVID year. Hang in there everybody. I'm rooting for you.
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Post by Turtle24 on Mar 16, 2021 12:11:54 GMT -5
My average was also below the 90.5 and I'm from Guelph and got in, so they definitely messed up the stats a little
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Current DVM student
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Post by Current DVM student on Mar 16, 2021 12:16:46 GMT -5
Also, can I just say that the fact that people with 90s are stressed about admissions blows my mind. You guys are ALL brilliant and clearly worked very hard. I know sometimes it feels like the only goal is OVC admission, but take a second to pat yourselves on the back and recognize your accomplishments. Unfortunately, admissions are uber competitive, but just because other brilliant people are competing with you does not diminish your own accomplishments.
There are endless opportunities for you to make a difference out there. Hopefully it will be at OVC, but you are capable, smart, hard-working people who will have meaningful a impact no matter where you go. Don't forget that!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2021 15:28:14 GMT -5
Based on that, it does look like they just admitted the top 50%. But I really have such a hard time believing that they would admit on grades alone, like they don’t indicate soft skills or knowledge of the profession at all and those things are crucial to success in a vet career. Maybe most of the applicants performed adequately-well on the Casper and interview due to previous MMI prep and so it just really came down to grades. Having applied before, I would say that the MMI is much more challenging than the Casper in general Yeah I don't think they admitted on grades alone, but maybe they decreased the weighting of the interview since it wasn't a full MMI format. But that's a good point, if CASPER scores tended to be similar, we would see the same thing where it was mostly just the academic average that differentiated applicants since they all scored about the same on the CASPER. But we can't really know! I think as the average continues to increase into the 90s, OVC will really need to reevaluate how they rank students based on academic averages... If students with 91-92% averages don't even qualify for an interview anymore in a few years, it seems like they'd be excluding a lot of very qualified people... Especially since different courses, programs and schools all grade very differently. I would say students with 90+ averages are all academically excellent and OVC needs to find a better way to differentiate them. |
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Post by lowenger on Mar 17, 2021 10:46:09 GMT -5
Don't worry guys, OVC is very honest and transparent about the final calculations they use for admissions, and I am certain they stuck to them last year. Thank you for that. If we change the way we select our students we would certainly let people know. If it appears that the registrar's office made an error in the stats for 2020 please let me know by email so I can have it looked into. |
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