By Monica Takahashi

Applying to medical school is a strenuous and stressful process. In Ontario, you can choose to apply to six different schools, each of them with their own challenges. Arguably one of the biggest obstacles that applicants have to overcome when applying to medical school is the overwhelming cost.

Before even looking at the fees associated with the actual application, you have to consider the fees from the largest hurdle that med-hopeful students face: the Medical College Admission Test. Writing this test alone will put you out $315 USD. That fee is not including the review books, practice problems, practice tests, and preparation courses that you might need to be successful. So already, before you even register to the Ontario Medical School Application Services, you will have had to pay, on average, at least a few thousand dollars. Four out of the six medical schools in Ontario require at least one component of the MCAT, so if you choose to save substantial money by not writing this test, you will be at a significant disadvantage.

Now let’s look at the fees associated with OMSAS. The best way to increase your chances of getting an interview is to apply to as many schools as possible; it’s simple statistics. And yet, not everyone is able to afford this. Each school will cost anywhere from $100 to $125 to apply, plus a standard $220 OMSAS application service fee. This is excluding the fee that some universities charge their students for transcript requests.

Here at McMaster University, we’re lucky we don’t have to worry about this transcript fee, however small. So in a “best case scenario” where you apply to all six medical schools, you will have to pay at least $920, not including the possible transcript-request fee. Do you see the issue there? How can the best case scenario be the one where students are forced to pay just under $1000?

The high price of medical school applications fosters an environment where wealthy parents are able to give their children every resource possible, so they are successful entering medical school, become rich, and can then send their children to medical school. And so the cycle of wealth continues.

If you are paying so much for a service meant to merely submit your application, it’s reasonable to assume that this service will make the submission process as stress-free as possible, right? This was not the case for the 2018-2019 application cycle.

The application for this cycle was due on Oct. 1, 2018 at 4:30 p.m. Around 3:00 p.m. on the day of the deadline, OMSAS malfunctioned. It was so bad, in fact, that OMSAS had to extend the application deadline to 11:59.

https://twitter.com/RREnoorani/status/1046862579157602304

[spacer height="20px"]Imagine finishing your application, going to press submit, and the software just refusing to cooperate. Frankly, this is extremely disappointing for such an expensive service. Students are already at a disadvantage having to pay such hefty fees, and having the stress of being unable to submit their application on-time is a little insulting.

https://twitter.com/lindy_zh/status/1046908638550532096

[spacer height="20px"]In the end, the application was extended until Oct. 3, 2018. You know what the worst part is? When I went back to OMSAS News to verify the times, all of the posts associated with OMSAS system issues had been deleted.

Thankfully, I saved a screenshot of the OMSAS news post made the day of the application deadline. I find it incredibly insulting that, after such a catastrophic event, OMSAS chose to cover its tail and hide any sign of issues. “Out of sight, out of mind”, right? Wrong. Hundreds of students who were made to suffer through this error will remember.

[spacer height="20px"]I understand that sometimes things go wrong and systems malfunction. The problem arises when rather than owning up to your mistakes, you try to hide as if the problem had never occurred.

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By: Kaiwen Song

MCAT? Thank God that’s done! Autobiographical sketch? Just needs another look. Supplementary essays? Completed and edited! Now I just pray that my reference letters arrive on time.

This September, many of my peers and I applied to medical school through the Ontario Medical Schools Application System. In addition to the full application, OMSAS requires that three physical copies of completed reference letters be received by Oct. 1 — not sent by, not postmarked on, but received. Although many medical schools understand the variability of mail delivery times and use Oct. 1 as a flexible deadline, certain schools don’t. The University of Toronto medical school this year is notable for declaring on its FAQ page that if a reference letter arrives at OMSAS even just one day after the deadline, the corresponding application will not proceed to file review.

As you can imagine, the weeks leading up to the deadline were a very stressful time. In addition to taking the MCAT, completing our autobiographical sketch, and writing our supplementary essays, we also had to take all the necessary steps to ensure that our reference letters arrive on time. Unfortunately, as students, we can only do so much. We begin by asking our potential referees early to provide them with plenty of time to write it, as well as for the letters to arrive at OMSAS safely before Oct. 1 through the postal system.

As the deadline approaches, we start to send carefully worded reminders to our referees — forceful enough to express the reference letter’s importance, but restrained enough to not offend. Although we understand that our referees lead busy professional and personal lives and require time to complete the letter, we can’t help but feel uneasy since our entire applications are on the line. At the time, it felt supremely unnerving and frustrating – all of our hard work can be undone by something outside of our control.

Upon further reflection, I am surprised to say that I actually believe that the University of Toronto medical school’s strict deadline is fair. If the deadline was flexible, up to what point should reference letters to accepted? One week after the deadline? One month? There must be a clear deadline to ensure that all applications are processed in a timely manner, and Oct. 1 seems perfectly reasonable.

That being said, I would like to advocate for the change from physical reference letters being mailed in to electronic references sent through email. The biggest source of stress regarding references was the unpredictability of the postal system. Reference writers could send the letter weeks before the due date, but there’s still the chance that it could arrive later than the deadline, especially if the letter is coming from another province or country. If a letter is lost in the mail, students have no way of determining whether that occurred, and there may not be enough time after this discovery to ask for another letter. All of these issues can be addressed by switching to an electronic system, such as the one used by the United States’ undergraduate college application system. Students are asked to input their referees’ email addresses into the system, and their referees will receive a secure link in which to comment on the student’s suitability for their applied program. As soon as the reference letter is submitted, the student will receive notification of its completion.

An electronic system for receiving reference letters will streamline the process, reduce the anxiety of students at a very tumultuous time in their lives, and ensure that all applications can begin to be processed in a timely manner. As anyone can tell you, applying to medical school is hard enough already. Let’s not make it harder than it has to be.

Photo Credit: Ontario Universities' Application Centre

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