2010-2011 Temple Application Thread

Just got this one!

What is the nature of your special interest in Temple University School of Medicine? (Use the following space. There is no character limit.)

If you indicated St. Luke's Regional Campus or one of our clinical campuses (Geisinger Health System or West Penn Allegheny Health System) as your first choice, please describe the nature of your special interest.(Use the following space. There is no character limit.)

What are your plans for the current year- June 2010 until June 2011? (Use the following space. There is no character limit.)

I just got this one too

Got this one today too.

I am wondering if anyone has found any good information on the Temple website or elsewhere regarding their 4 clinical campuses? I don't know much about Temple but I am trying to figure out what the differences are between the sites and which one would be the best fit for me. I'm having a hard time finding much detailed information, though, so any help would be appreciated

EDIT: Oh, and I know you can click the link and it takes you directly to that site's website, but I'm looking for information that is more specific to what our experience as med students would be at each site. Except for Geisinger's website, most of the info I found is directed at patients.

This is what I found...

http://www.temple.edu/medicine/education/mdprograms/clinical_teaching_sites.htm

Personally, I'm a non-trad with a husband and kid, I need to stay in the area. I'm torn between wanting a site in the city, for more action, or Abington Memorial, which is near my home.

I submitted, but it takes 1 day for them to receive the payment, and since it is after 4pm on Thurs the site says my supplemental status won't change to received or complete until Monday. Just FYI that it will say supplemental not submitted even though you just pressed the submit button.

Clarification: Under the secondary tab it does say 'thank you we have received your supplemental application,' but under the materials tab it says 'no amcas letters received, no supplemental materials received'. The status tab just says verified, referring to my amcas app.

Hey guys,

I live in Pittsburgh and I haven't been hearing great things about West Penn lately (one of Temple's four clinical campuses). Apparently they are having a lot of trouble competing with UPMC (Pitt's hospital system). They are even closing the emergency department! Just keep that in mind if you are considering West Penn.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10182/1069602-53.stm

Also, I received the secondary a couple of days ago and tried to submit yesterday. While it let me submit, it didn't let me pay? I'm not sure why. I'm trying to work with the Admissions office on how to pay them (you think they would want my money!) but just wanted to warn you all in case it happens to you.

Geekchick921 said:

This is what I found...

http://www.temple.edu/medicine/education/mdprograms/clinical_teaching_sites.htm

Personally, I'm a non-trad with a husband and kid, I need to stay in the area. I'm torn between wanting a site in the city, for more action, or Abington Memorial, which is near my home.

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Yeah I saw that too, but it's not all that helpful except for locations lol. Right now I'm leaning towards St. Luke's because it has a level 1 trauma center and EM is one specialty I'm interested in so that would probably be a great location for that, but then again I know most people change their minds in med school so I don't know how good of a reason that is for choosing that site. Can I just say, "I'll be happy wherever if you just accept me?" lol

sedaniel said:

Yeah I saw that too, but it's not all that helpful except for locations lol. Right now I'm leaning towards St. Luke's because it has a level 1 trauma center and EM is one specialty I'm interested in so that would probably be a great location for that, but then again I know most people change their minds in med school so I don't know how good of a reason that is for choosing that site. Can I just say, "I'll be happy wherever if you just accept me?" lol

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If you scroll farther down that page, there are links within a paragraph to the pages for the clinical sites. Did you check those as well? Might have a little more info.

Thankfully, those aren't where I'd want to attend clerkships if I wound up matriculating here, so I guess I dodged that bullet!

From the wording of the second essay question, it sounds like they don't want you to answer it if you chose Temple as your first choice site. I left it blank (I explained briefly in the first essay why I chose Temple as the clinical site) but now it's not letting me submit. Is anybody else having the same problem? Should I just write the second essay?

v4444 said:

From the wording of the second essay question, it sounds like they don't want you to answer it if you chose Temple as your first choice site. I left it blank (I explained briefly in the first essay why I chose Temple as the clinical site) but now it's not letting me submit. Is anybody else having the same problem? Should I just write the second essay?

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I just ended up choosing Temple as my first choice too and I wrote one sentence stating that in the second essay box because I was having that problem too.

same, I left it blank for the same reason and the submission failed, so I just wrote "N/A" in the box and it went through.

does anyone have any useful link or information about temple that will help answer "why temple"?

is the first question pretty much asking why you want to go to temple med school? "nature" is an open word

are there any currents students that can comment on the school and the differences between the clinical sites?

ownage said:

does anyone have any useful link or information about temple that will help answer "why temple"?

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+1. I'm having trouble really finding any info on their website. Everything is very vague.

I haven't gotten verified yet, but I'm doing the research now so I'm ready for the flood of secondaries

bpost137 said:

+1. I'm having trouble really finding any info on their website. Everything is very vague.

I haven't gotten verified yet, but I'm doing the research now so I'm ready for the flood of secondaries

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"It's Always Sunny" monday night happy hour on Comedy Central right now! Do some homework about the local area

mdeast said:

"It's Always Sunny" monday night happy hour on Comedy Central right now! Do some homework about the local area

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lol yes! that show is the only reason i applied to temple haha

Does anyone know if Temple students run any community clinics? I cannot find any information on the website.

Just got this secondary! My first!

Geekchick921 said:

Just got this secondary! My first!

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Anyone receiving secondaries (from any school) before their primary was verified?

I submitted my primary 7/1, so it's going to take quite a few weeks (4-6) it seems for the verification process

I got verified on Friday, I believe. Nothing was sent out yesterday in observance of the 4th.

DancinSarah said:

Does anyone know if Temple students run any community clinics? I cannot find any information on the website.

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Yup. Temple CARES. Student run free clinic along broad street in North Philly.

Status switched to "Under Review." Eeek!

jmr86 said:

Status switched to "Under Review." Eeek!

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Same here!

jmr86 said:

Status switched to "Under Review." Eeek!

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When did you guys have your letters of recommendation in? I've already submitted my secondary but my committee letter representative said it will take 3-4 WEEKS for them to send my letter to Temple, wondering if I'm screwed and will just have to wait or if they possibly review it prior to having the CL in.

afbrat said:

When did you guys have your letters of recommendation in? I've already submitted my secondary but my committee letter representative said it will take 3-4 WEEKS for them to send my letter to Temple, wondering if I'm screwed and will just have to wait or if they possibly review it prior to having the CL in.

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I was lucky enough to have all my LOR's in before I submitted my primary so I assigned them to schools right before I submitted.

afbrat said:

When did you guys have your letters of recommendation in? I've already submitted my secondary but my committee letter representative said it will take 3-4 WEEKS for them to send my letter to Temple, wondering if I'm screwed and will just have to wait or if they possibly review it prior to having the CL in.

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Mine were in 07/01. In the email invite to complete a supplemental it says: "Applications will be considered for interview once we receive a completed supplemental application, the application fee, and required letters of recommendation."

So I'm guessing they wait to review them until they have your letters. Sorry you have to wait so long!

thanks for the info, ugh that sucks, I had all my LOR to the committee two months ago, they just say they require time to write the letter after my verified AMCAs is recieved (ver 6/22/10 here). I just hope it's not Sep by the time they send it in.

afbrat said:

thanks for the info, ugh that sucks, I had all my LOR to the committee two months ago, they just say they require time to write the letter after my verified AMCAs is recieved (ver 6/22/10 here). I just hope it's not Sep by the time they send it in.

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Yeah LORs are a major bummer, I am in the same boat. Have 4/5 in, waiting for the last, and then the committee letter has to be finished (and my committee has a reputation for being slow).

I'm under review as well. Completed yesterday--fingers crossed!

does anyone know if which clinical campus to which we apply has any influence on admissions?

I submitted my AMCAS 7/5 and am under review. Does Temple wait until the AMCAS primary is verified until they send out secondaries?

Ok good, I'm glad others are as freaked out as me to see the status change to "Under Review". Praying for the best, but I was kind of hoping to deal with this sort of stress later on in the cycle...like say August. But I still don't think people are looking over our apps just yet...right?

how specific did you guys get when you mentioned what clinical site you wanted to be at? even if you had the main philly campus as your number one?

baileybrown said:

how specific did you guys get when you mentioned what clinical site you wanted to be at? even if you had the main philly campus as your number one?

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I thought you were only to put something if you indicated a campus other than the main.

DancinSarah said:

I thought you were only to put something if you indicated a campus other than the main.

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no, i dont think so.. the application page says "When responding to the essay question about your interest in Temple, please indicate your special interest in your first ranked clinical campus."

baileybrown said:

no, i dont think so.. the application page says "When responding to the essay question about your interest in Temple, please indicate your special interest in your first ranked clinical campus."

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That question on the application says:

If you indicated St. Luke's Regional Campus or one of our clinical campuses (Geisinger Health System or West Penn Allegheny Health System) as your first choice, please describe the nature of your special interest.

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If you pick the main campus, it sounds like you don't have to fill that question out... I didn't.

sedaniel said:

That question on the application says:



If you pick the main campus, it sounds like you don't have to fill that question out... I didn't.

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yeah, i didn't fill out that question either. i meant in the main essay the "what is the nature of your interest in TUSM" question. the page where you had to rank the four clinical sites made it sound like they wanted you to mention why you picked whichever one you ranked at number one, regardless of which site you chose. it's not very clear, though, so i suppose whether you commented on the site in the big essay or not wont hurt you...

My application status is 'Under Review"
ahhhh!

I would love Temple (well maybe medical school in Philly). I hope they like my WHY temple essay though -- urban and expanding (is all I know about the school, haha)

I like the diversity of philly... and then all their research they do there. I'm sure it's what everyone else said though : (

We'll see how it goes.

This school doesn't mess around either. If you indicate yes for IA on AMCAS, they want a detailed report from my school's dean about what it was.

NHBPFA5 said:

I like the diversity of philly... and then all their research they do there. I'm sure it's what everyone else said though : (

This school doesn't mess around either. If you indicate yes for IA on AMCAS, they want a detailed report from my school's dean about what it was.

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Yeah, I wrote diversity... and chance to do research too. haha.

That's scary about the details report from the school's dean. Being on SDN makes me happy that I was a good little student who never drove (speeding tickets) and somehow never got caught with alcohol even though I started brewing before I was 21. hahaha

how much did you guys write for the essay? It's really hard to say much except for "urban area, diversity, research, etc." I have like 2 paragraphs and am done haha.

igrinz89 said:

how much did you guys write for the essay? It's really hard to say much except for "urban area, diversity, research, etc." I have like 2 paragraphs and am done haha.

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I had over 400 words -- but I also like include information about me or ECs that I have participated in that will help explain why diversity, expanding, ect is important to me.

i found temple's website very unhelpful in answering the question... but there was one booklet pdf on the home page that came in use.

if you guys need some help with your secondaries or have questions I'll try to help (MS2 @ temple)

Is anyone else having trouble with the website? The site is really slow and all of my answers appear duplicated. There isn't even a "submit" icon anywhere on the last page.

I hate these "Why do you want to go to this med school?" essays. Well obviously I'd rather go to UPenn, but I have some match and safety schools. I like Boston's secondary: we realize students apply to a lot of schools, thus it does not help us to receive an essay specific for Boston U

tennismasta said:

I hate these "Why do you want to go to this med school?" essays. Well obviously I'd rather go to UPenn, but I have some match and safety schools. I like Boston's secondary: we realize students apply to a lot of schools, thus it does not help us to receive an essay specific for Boston U

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Seriously.

I haven't applied to many schools, but I like that at least the most renowned didn't have any essay like that. I wonder, if they did, if you'd get points for just being honest and saying something like, "Because you're one of the best medical schools in the country, duh!"

Quick question for you guys... so, my impression from the secondary was that if you pick "Temple University Hospital and its affiliates" as your first choice, you are guaranteed to get it. Is this true? Personally I am not interested in any of the satellite campuses, I'm trying to stay in big cities to make it easier for my gf and I to stay together in med/grad school.

I didn't infer that from the app, but assume that the vast majority of people are assigned there.