wugsnotdrugs

Just accepted my offer to ubc after the 4th try and will be taking myself off of western's waistlist! When they say dont give up, please do not give up, it will pay off!!
I do believe ubc is looking at applications more holistically as my GPA for prereqs wasnt that impressive haha

Just accepted my offer to ubc after the 4th try and will be taking myself off of western's waistlist! When they say dont give up, please do not give up, it will pay off!!
I do believe ubc is looking at applications more holistically as my GPA for prereqs wasnt that impressive haha

Just accepted my offer to ubc after the 4th try and will be taking myself off of western's waistlist! When they say dont give up, please do not give up, it will pay off!!
I do believe ubc is looking at applications more holistically as my GPA for prereqs wasnt that impressive haha

Just accepted my offer to ubc after the 4th try and will be taking myself off of western's waistlist! When they say dont give up, please do not give up, it will pay off!!
I do believe ubc is looking at applications more holistically as my GPA for prereqs wasnt that impressive haha

Just accepted my offer to ubc after the 4th try and will be taking myself off of western's waistlist! When they say dont give up, please do not give up, it will pay off!!
I do believe ubc is looking at applications more holistically as my GPA for prereqs wasnt that impressive haha

Just accepted my offer to ubc after the 4th try and will be taking myself off of western's waistlist! When they say dont give up, please do not give up, it will pay off!!
I do believe ubc is looking at applications more holistically as my GPA for prereqs wasnt that impressive haha

Just accepted my offer to ubc after the 4th try and will be taking myself off of western's waistlist! When they say dont give up, please do not give up, it will pay off!!
I do believe ubc is looking at applications more holistically as my GPA for prereqs wasnt that impressive haha

Hello everyone! 
I've been reading the threads for a few years now but I just saw this post and wanted to create an account and share my experience! I applied to both McMaster and Western last year with a 3.75 GPA, 150+ hours of volunteer with SLPs, and lots of volunteer experience with CDAs, OTs and with the Brain Injury Association. I had a B in my anatomy prerequisite, but the rest were all A/A+s. I didn't get an interview with McMaster and I got waitlisted at Western (3rd quadrant).
I emailed Janet to ask how to improve my application and she said to think about upgrading my anatomy/physiology prerequisite and to "look at my application as a whole" - so my references and my letter of intent. She said I didn't need any more volunteer hours. 
My grades of my last term of 4th year bumped up my GPA but then I also took a phonetics course and another anatomy prerequisite during my year off and did well in both of them - 4.0. I also volunteered with 2 Psychology labs online at University of Waterloo (where I did my undergrad) and that allowed me to have a better reference letter as well. I worked as an Educational Assistant for my year in between as well. Lastly, I sent my letter of intent to about 10 people and asked for feedback to make it better. My GPA this year ended up being an 3.85 and I got accepted to Western and Toronto and waitlisted at McMaster. I'm not sure what made the biggest difference in getting in or if it was a little bit of everything, but just thought I'd share what I did in case that helps. You got this!!! Don't give up hope!
I accepted my offer at Western - so that will open up a spot for someone who is waitlisted at Toronto!

I completely know how you feel. This is my third year applying and still no luck. 
After talking to a few people, i am planning on focusing on making my letter of intent and references help me stand out. A lot of the time people focus on GPA and experience stats but forget how much of a difference a solid, unique letter can make! And a few people who applied at schools like western and u of a where GPA is not their number one priority were able to be accepted with GPAs lower than 3.8
It sounds like youve had a great amount of experience already, and in a pandemic too, but i urge you not to give up! I dont have much hope that ill get in this time around either but I will keep trying no matter how long it takes

3rd quadrant at western here ? Gonna start thinking about next year and upgrading assuming that was my weakest point
 
 
 
 

Thank you!! I am keeping my fingers crossed ahaaa 
I was confused as to what part of my application I could work on this time around because last year I showed an increase in subGPA and more related volunteer hours. This year I really tried to work on my letter of intent and was hoping the direct knowledge from the CDA program would help. I think maybe I was underestimating how important the references are, I think I could have worked on having stronger references who had first hand experience of how I worked and my goals/ambitions. I know it's hard with the academic references because I finished my undergrad almost 3 years ago and don't even live in the same city anymore so it is hard to keep up those relationships with your profs. I did get one of my college instructors for the CDA program (who is also an SLP) to write one of my academic letters which I knew was a gamble because some schools prefer university profs over college for references, but I felt she would give me a stronger letter as she knows me better. 

3rd quadrant at western here ? Gonna start thinking about next year and upgrading assuming that was my weakest point