Student Admissions Committee - School of Medicine

Version 1, AUGUST 2024

Introduction

The Student Admissions Committee of the York University School of Medicine is established to provide guidance for the development and application of policies for the admission of students to the undergraduate program of the School in accordance with the School’s stated objectives.

Vision of the School

York University’s School of Medicine will prepare the next generation of talented frontline primary care doctors — who represent the diversity of the communities in which they live and work — to not only thrive in a new interprofessional, team-based health care environment but to continue to adapt to evolving patient, community and health system needs.

Purpose

The School’s Student Admissions Committee is created to develop and recommend policies and processes of admissions to the School.

The Student Admissions Committee will consider the recommendations of the report entitled Admissions policies and procedures for the School and make additions, changes and adjustments as deemed essential.

The Student Admissions Committee will work in accordance with the following Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) standards and elements including:

Standard 1 (Mission, Planning, Organization, and Integrity)
- Element 1.1.1. Social Accountability.
  - A medical school is committed to address the priority health concerns of the populations it has responsibility to serve. The medical school’s social accountability is:
    - Articulated in its mission statement
    - Fulfilled in its educational program through admissions, curricular content, and types and locations of educational experiences
    - Evidenced by specific outcome measures

Standard 10: Medical Student Selection, Assignment, and Progress
- Element 10.1 Premedical Education/Required Coursework
  - Through its requirements for admission, a medical school encourages potential applicants to the medical education program to acquire a broad undergraduate education that includes the study of humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, and confines its specific premedical course requirements to those deemed essential preparation for successful completion of its medical curriculum.
- Element 10.2 Final Authority of Admission Committee
  - The final responsibility for accepting students to a medical education program rests with a formally constituted admission committee. The authority and composition of the committee and the rules for its operation, including voting privileges and the definition of a quorum, are specified in bylaws or other medical school policies. Faculty members constitute the majority of voting members at all meetings. The selection of individual medical students for admission is not influenced by any political or financial factors.
- Element 10.3 Policies Regarding Student Selection/Advancement and their Dissemination
  - The faculty of a medical school establish criteria for student selection and develop and implement effective policies and procedures regarding, and make decisions about, medical student application, selection, admission, assessment, advancement, graduation, and any disciplinary action. The medical school makes available to all interested parties its criteria, policies, and procedures regarding these matters.
- Element 10.4 Characteristics of Accepted Applicants
  - A medical school selects applicants for admission who possess the intelligence, integrity, an personal and emotional characteristics necessary for them to become competent physicians.
- Element 10.5 Technical Standards
  - A medical school develops and publishes technical standards for the admission of applicants and the retention and graduation of medical students.
- Element 10.6 Content of Informational Materials
  - A medical school’s calendar and other informational, advertising, and recruitment materials presents a balanced and accurate representation of the mission and objectives of the medical education program, state the academic and other (e.g. Immunization) requirements for the undergraduate medical degree and all associated joint degree programs, provide the most recent academic schedule for each curricular option, and describe all required learning experiences in the medical education program.
- Element 10.7 Transfer Students
  - A medical school ensures that any student accepted for transfer or admission with advanced standing demonstrates academic achievements, completion of relevant prior required learning experiences, and other relevant characteristics comparable to those of the medical students in the class that he or she would join. A medical school accepts a transfer medical student into the final year of a medical education program only in rare and extraordinary personal or educational circumstances.
- Element 10.11 Student Assignment
  - A medical school assumes ultimate responsibility for the selection and assignment of medical students teach location and/or parallel curriculum (i.e alternative curricular track) and uses a centralized process to fulfill this responsibility. The medical school considers the preferences of students and uses a fair process in determining the initial placement. A process exists whereby a medical student with an appropriate rationale can request an alternative assignment when circumstances allow for it.

Term

The Terms of Reference is effective from October 1, 2024 and will continue until October 1, 2025, after which they will be reviewed and revised, as appropriate.

Membership

Full Members:

Advisor, Admissions (Co-Chair)

Advisor, Curriculum and Accreditation (Co-Chair)

Three (3) representatives from clinical partner institutions

Two (2) representatives from the Faculty of Health

Two (2) primary care or primary care generalist specialist physicians from the community

Three (3) representatives from the community

Three (3) representatives from underrepresented community member groups, including an individual form the following communities: Indigenous, Black, and Individuals with Disabilities

An undergraduate medical student from Canadian Federation of Medical Students

A postgraduate student from Resident Doctors of Canada

Ex-officio members:

Faculty Lead, Curriculum and Accreditation

Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME) Operations Director

Assistant Vice Provost & University Registrar or delegate

Accreditation Committee Project Manager

Co-Chair, Bachelor of Interprofessional Health (BIPH) Working Group or delegate

Operations

The Student Admissions Committee will meet every two weeks or at the call of the Co-Chairs;

The meetings will be 90 minutes in duration;

Quorum will be 50% plus one of the committee members;

Members serve for one year or sooner if there is a need to revise the Terms of Reference;

Meeting minutes reflecting the activities of the committee will be recorded;

Committee members are expected to attend meetings, or if unable to do so, send advance notice of their absence;

When one Co-Chair is absent, the other Co-Chair will chair the meeting;

Key constituents, such as advisors internal or external to York University, will be invited to attend on as as-needed basis;

The Admissions Committee reports to the Dean of Record, Institutional Lead.

Committee Member Expectations

Attend at least 75% of the meetings;

Prepare for the meetings in advance;

Complete agreed tasks in a timely manner;

Solicit and contribute collegial input.

Roles and Responsibilities

To develop an admissions policy platform that is relevant to the mission and objectives of the School and that reflects the composition of the population and communities served by the School

To incorporate inputs and feedback from a wide range of interested and affected parties for the School

To ensure the admissions policies and procedures align with CACMS accreditation Standard 1 element 1.1.1 and Standard 10

To ensure the principles of decolonization, equity, diversion and inclusion are reflected in the School’s admissions policies