what school does admissions the “best” way?

[karatelaw1]

Just kinda curious, as the cycle starts to wrap up, about people’s thoughts on how/when schools give you decisions.

Personally, I think all schools should do what U of T does… no portal, 3 rounds that spans a couple days, final round they tell you A/WL/R, they let you know when those rounds are coming.

I think the next best thing would be closer to what Oz/Ottawa do with pretty much true rolling admissions… offers seem to me to just be made pretty regularly and often.

And lastly I would put schools like Queens, UBC, Western, and many more that do like more “informal” rounds, where they don’t let you know anything potentially for a really long time, release a bunch of offers at once, and then don’t start WL/R until much later, and even then it’s like rolling WL/R. (i know western started publishing when their rounds are but still). Especially schools like UBC that are primarily index-based schools and it’s not even like they’re waiting for 4th year grades.

also as a side note, i think that portals are unnecessary for the purposes of admission (as u of t has demonstrated). there is no point in having a portal that only tells you your admission result (i mean unless you’re calgary and just don’t send emails which was weird like what if someone gets admitted and just don’t check their portal lol). unless schools want to release information like the gpa calculation they use for admission or if your application has actually been reviewed or not, then i think they’re useless. (maybe i could have some more self control and just not have checked them all the time but still haha) 

ok anyways this has turned into a longer post then i thought.

TLDR: what are your thoughts on the timeline and how schools communicate their decisions?

[Notworthy]

I get where your coming from and that the admissions process is stressful for all applicants and maybe I’m alone here but is there a right or wrong approach?

The timeline is subjective, some schools start admitting early on and other schools like USask/Dal have longer admission timelines. Some students may prefer this since there winter grades will be incorporated some applicants may not. For ex UofC/Ryerson don’t take winter grades. 

I think in summary what I’m trying to say is - it is what it is and how we feel / the stress the admissions process causes us is out of our hands. That’s not to say they can’t be handled better - UofC should for sure send out email reminders. Some finals rounds feel like an eternity when a student has already leaned towards a different direction for e.x., Dal/USask (that I know of) are slower and some try to give applicants answers early on (UofT, UofA) to my limited knowledge. Personally I like the portal - when I found out I got accepted from TRU it was just from checking this forum and seeing other acceptances and then I saw mine when I logged in even though I also got a follow up call and email at a later date.

Each school has a different process and additionally a different amount of applicants to sort through UofC (1600) compared to for ex Oz (2,500) roughly. I think at the end of the day they try to do what works best for them and most effective - at least that’s what I’d like to believe.

 

[JohnnyWalktheLine]

The structure of rounds like used by U of T I think is the best method.

Putting method aside, and just giving my personal experience with the select prairie schools I applied, UofM was excellent with their efficiency and promptness. 

[Rashabon]

The schools don't have full control over their processes. U of T and UBC have advantages in that people will often choose those schools over others, but it doesn't work the same for, e.g., Windsor or TMU or Ottawa, necessarily. They have to wait until people decline their acceptances to attend another school to see how their class is shaping up. It has a trickle down effect for admissions generally.

[theroaringbadger]

I really liked Dals approach. You can apply early. And they start early and end relatively early. Admissions staff extremely  nice and helpful. 
 

UWO isn’t bad either. They announce when they do offers. 

[pastmidnight]

Seconding schools not having a lot of control over the process. I do think that each school could improve their admissions processes in various ways, but I don’t think it is unreasonable to also expect applicants to (1) be cognizant of the fact that schools don’t have the ability to make more offers until older offers are declined, and (2) to show a certain level of self-awareness. If your stats are below a school’s median, you will likely get a decision later than someone with stats above the median. If you write the January LSAT, you will likely get a decision later than someone who wrote the LSAT earlier. 

This being said I am curious to see what the median stats for students applying to each school look like, as I suspect that part of the reason UofT can conduct their admissions the way they do is because a not-insignificant group of top students, and a sizeable number of students hovering under one or both of their medians, are opting out of applying to them in the first place given how expensive their tuition is, and/or because they feel 'not good enough'. They are still getting a ton of applications, but it's likely clearer to their admissions team who is getting in and who is not from the get go. 

[Doot Universary]

I really like how structured UofT is when it comes to admissions. Applicants in advance know that there are three waves, when those waves will be, and when the latest they will hear back will be. Knowing all of this info in advance, and that you’ll hear back in some way fairly into the cycle relative to other schools in Ontario, is nice approach in my opinion.

As well, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how TMU handles admissions. They have adopted many of the practices UofT uses (3-4 distinct waves, early waitlist/rejection decisions, etc.), with the main difference being that TMU doesn’t tell applicants in advance when a wave of acceptances will be sent out.

The patternless acceptance “waves” sent out by Ottawa and Osgoode from March/April onwards (later into the cycle) is probably my least favourite admissions approach. Maybe this approach is resultant from having such large cohorts.

[Jean-Ralphio Saperstein]

I liked UofT's approach to admissions, but it did have me on edge those few days they allotted for each round.

Also, I know a lot of applicants don't like Osgoode's system, but at least it gives you something tangible to hang on to - but it could drive you crazy with checking the portal more often than a sane person should (this was me!).