Many of you are aware that as of this afternoon if you were unsuccessful last year that your scores are now available for viewing within UCAN.
Every year there are numerous unsuccessful applicants who contact us eagerly wanting to see their scores and percentile rank. We believe that a substantial number of unsuccessful applicants use these scores as a road map on how they should change their application to be more successful. I would offer a word of caution about this:
1. Our goal in the admissions is to as accurately as possible get to know YOU. Unfortunately, too many applicants want to portray who they believe we want to see. There is always rumours on different threads of what we looking for and what we want to see in our applicants. We don not have a blueprint of the type of applicant we want and that is why there is so much diversity in each class.
What often happens is that applicants will change their application, omit things that are likely meaningful in order to add something in their top 10 to push their scores up in an area where they see weakness as perceived by a lower score. Candidates need to remember that you are judged yearly against the applicant pool of that year. Based on the mix of that applicant pool, you could enter the exact same application two years in a row and in some areas get vastly different scores. This is product of the strength in the applicant pool and the lottery which is the reviewers that are randomly assigned toy you.
2. Remember your top 10 is supposed to be YOUR top 10. the things that are important to you and bring out your passion or have shaped who you are. Some of the best entries annually would surprise the majority of applicants because there are not your stereotypical i volunteered at a hospital, I worked in a lab, I was the president of a club, I volunteered at a distress centre. etc… These are all noble and worthwhile but so are other life experiences.
3. In mid July, can you really change things in 10-12 weeks to strengthen your file based on what you interpret are your weaknesses in your scores? This is highly unlikely. If you have already have things outside your top 10 that may highlight an area where you received a low score than this is different. However, remember bringing something in means something needs to give and their are unknown consequences of taking a former top 10 off.
