2008 Non-Trad Applicants' Progress Thread

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Quix said:
Primanti Bros. sandwich:

primantis1.jpg


But there are far greasier places we can go. The Original Hot Dog shop, for instance, has heart-busting greasy pizza, and serves fries with Cheese Whiz by the trough.

the_original_hotdog_shop.jpg


This is a small order of fries:

theO-food.jpg


Original-Fries.jpg
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AKA Heart Attack on a plate! But looks sooooooo yummy.
 
All the pittsburgh food postings are making me very sad that my wife has vetoed my selection of Pitt in my Amcas! FYI, Philadephia is also considered medically underserved even though there are 5 medical schools (4 allo and 1 osteo)! I couldn't, in good conscience, say that I lived in a medically underserved area.

My AMCAS is ready to submit, just need to press the button. I am hesitant however, because I will finish a course the first week of August that may boost my bpcm .04 points, which is currently somewhere around 3.42. At the moment it is listed as a current/future course. My regular gpa (around 3.38) won't really change. I called 8 med schools and 5 of them said it won't matter. 3 of them told me to submit now. My advisor tells me to wait. I am antsy. Does anyone out there have any feelings? Should I join the "just submitted to AMCAS and AACOMAS crew?" or should I wait it out?
 
The extra .04 really shouldn't (IMHO) make a difference. Waiting until August will put you at a disadvantage relative to those who will be submitting up to that point (which is essentially a month and a half of people working on secondaries and getting a leg up on the interview schedule). Why did your wife veto Pittsburgh?
 
I vote "submit now". I believe I saw LizzyM say that when you're talking hundredths of a point, it's pretty inconsequential. My instinct is that submitting early will benefit you more in the long run than that .04.
 
Make sure that you have a good PS, too. We're writing a collective PS in the Pre-Allo forum line by line that you can use as a model.
 
Pittsburgh was vetoed due to a high likelihood of pigeons. My wife hates them with a passion! Honestly, she really doesn't want to go move to another large city. She will stay in Philly if we have to, but she would rather move to the suburbs somewhere. High on our list are schools like Robert Wood Johnson in NJ. Basically, anywhere in the middle of nowhere that isn't likely to have many pigeons!

I'm meeting with my advisor on Friday. She used to be the director of admissions at Jefferson and knows my whole file, so I want to hear what she thinks exactly before I hit that submit button. Just from the email, she was saying that there is a significant difference between having completed 5 courses at a postbac versus 6. I'm not so sure, especially considering that the summer course is not a big deal, it is called "Clinical Research in the ED". I will keep you all updated.


Quix said:
The extra .04 really shouldn't (IMHO) make a difference. Waiting until August will put you at a disadvantage relative to those who will be submitting up to that point (which is essentially a month and a half of people working on secondaries and getting a leg up on the interview schedule). Why did your wife veto Pittsburgh?
Click to expand...
 
Quix said:
Make sure that you have a good PS, too. We're writing a collective PS in the Pre-Allo forum line by line that you can use as a model.
Click to expand...

Well, with some adjustments it should work out just fine, but is actually pretty spot on. Except for the tin lips part. My mom had copper ones.
 
Quix said:
That sounds like Primanti Bros. Fries and coleslaw inside the sandwiches - there are at least three at which I've eaten (Downtown, the Strip District (warehouse area), and Oakland). They are minty num-nums.
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I've eaten at Primanti's in the Strip, Oakland, and PNC park (the worst). I knew there was one in Florida, but I didn't realize how MANY restaurants they had...
http://www.rackdeal.com/primantibrothers/locations/
 
pingouin said:
Interesting.

Of course, I announced to megboo and TypeA at the OPM conference that I was choosing my schools based on proximity to an IKEA, so who am I to judge? :meanie:
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Wow. I take it you are applying to the Philly schools then. We have two IKEAs out here!
 
Actually, I'm only applying to one Philly school. I'm limiting my East Coast schools mostly because the cost of living is so high compared to where I am now that I don't know I'm ready to go back to that. (Of course, having an IKEA nearby would save me some money 😉 )

Luckily, there are also 2 in Chicago, and they're building a new one in my hometown, slated to open Summer 2008. 😀
 
pingouin said:
Actually, I'm only applying to one Philly school. I'm limiting my East Coast schools mostly because the cost of living is so high compared to where I am now that I don't know I'm ready to go back to that. (Of course, having an IKEA nearby would save me some money 😉 )

Luckily, there are also 2 in Chicago, and they're building a new one in my hometown, slated to open Summer 2008. 😀
Click to expand...

Do you mean the Lou? (Please oh please.......)
 
mshheaddoc said:
How was that? I wanted to take that but ended up moving before I could ...
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I'm studying for the mid-term right now. I volunteered in the ED at Penn earlier in the year, so I feel at home there. The class is good, it really focuses on how well you do your job (i.e. how thorough you are, are you reliable, professional...you are NOT graded on how many patients you enroll, that would be unethical). I think it really favors us non-trads who have work experience as opposed to the undergrads.

You were at Penn before? I didn't know that? When were you there?
 
pingouin said:
Of course, having an IKEA nearby would save me some money 😉
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I wonder how much we could reduce our student loan burden by taking advantage of the 99 cent breakfasts and swedish meatball lunches?
 
Application dilemma update...

LizzyM chimed in and said I should apply now, as everyone who predicted. Gonna meet with my advisor tomorrow before I hit the submit button in an effort not to piss her off too much by applying AAA (Against Advisor Advice).
 
Whew. Spent the past two hours inputting my classes for AACOMAS, and corresponding with them re: my transcripts. They weren't discarded after all, and they just posted them to my account. The only things I'm waiting for are the official MCAT results and the QPA calculation. w00t. 🙂
 
Lshapley said:
I'm studying for the mid-term right now. I volunteered in the ED at Penn earlier in the year, so I feel at home there. The class is good, it really focuses on how well you do your job (i.e. how thorough you are, are you reliable, professional...you are NOT graded on how many patients you enroll, that would be unethical). I think it really favors us non-trads who have work experience as opposed to the undergrads.

You were at Penn before? I didn't know that? When were you there?
Click to expand...
That sounds cool. I am from the S. Jersey area and I was going to take classes at UPenn/Rutgers-Camden.
 
Woo woo, I'm under review for AMCAS!
 
Ok, for those of you who did graduate work while post bacc ...

I took my last class for my MBA while starting post-bacc, do I classify that class as graduate? I was going to but I'm not sure. 😕
 
mshheaddoc said:
Ok, for those of you who did graduate work while post bacc ...

I took my last class for my MBA while starting post-bacc, do I classify that class as graduate? I was going to but I'm not sure. 😕
Click to expand...

It depends - did you do your work at the same university? If yes, then I don't know what to tell you. If no, then it would be classified as post-bacc.

I completed my doctorate at one university while completing my post-bacc at another. I entered the former as graduate work, the latter as post-bacc.



Bear in mind - AMCAS will review your classes and make changes, too, so if they don't like how you've classified something, they'll correct it. 🙂
 
Well I had to take my last class at another university but its a graduate level business class. It doesn't make sense to classify it as post-bacc since its towards my graduate degree but I wasn't sure since I am at the same university (different campus) I was taking pre-reqs. Of course I have to make things difficult 🙂

I guess i'll just label it as graduate to show its towards my degree because that will make more sense. Especially since my graduation date is over a year later. Don't ask. 🙄
 
mush - if you were in a grad program and/or the courses are on your transcript as grad courses you report them as grad. I took some continuing ed courses as grad courses while doing my post-bacc and had to list them as grad.
 
it was a little confusing at first. My only concern now is that I entered my courses exactly as they appeared on the transcript instead of writing the actual name of the course.
 
Has anyone done anything yet about getting a photo to go in with your secondaries? I'm going to get mah hur did on Monday so I was figuring maybe I'd try to snap something after that..

and NO- the appointment is not specifically for this purpose. it's been scheduled for 6 weeks. blonde highlights, here I come!
 
I need to get passport photos; I know Drexel asks for a photo, so I will probably just get an extra set of the PP shots.

Oh, and check your Inbox, ping.
 
pingouin said:
Well, what with all those unscreened secondaries nowadays.......
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Which essentially amount to a license to print money. On-line secondaries, PDF files that the applicant prints and mails, etc., etc., just for the chance to hear them say "Thanks, but no" within a few minutes of the check clearing. Oh, how I love unscreened secondaries.

And I sent you some reading material, ping. I'm subtle like that. 😉
 
Finally heard back from the dean: "...while we cannot promise that you will in fact be invited for an interview, we encourage you to apply as an Early Decision Program Applicant."

It's the right move for my family, but I'm going to be a nervous wreck. I wish there were some guarantees in this process. The only thing I'm sure of is some sleepless nights.
 
pingouin said:
:wow: holy smokes. just got my first (unscreened) secondary!

...it begins... :scared:
Click to expand...


Annnnd they're off!

Good luck - I'm still waiting to be verified. I'm setting a personal goal of getting each secondary complete within a week of receiving them (if not earlier - if Pitt sends me one, I'll have it done the following day).
 
Count me in! Application has been processed, all transcripts and LORs received. My LOR writers seriously rock! MCAT results on July 6th.
 
Just checked the AMCAS website:


"Submitted to AMCAS - Under Review An AMCAS verifier is reviewing transcripts and course work."

Holy crap - this is faster than last cycle by orders of magnitude!
 
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