2010-2011 SUNY Upstate Application Thread

Hey Everyone Applying to Upstate,

If anybody has any questions or is looking for some insight through the application process, I successfully applied, interviewed and was admitted to matriculate to SUNY Upstate for the fall of 2011 through the early assurance program. I'll be seeing you all after one more year of undergrad. Good Luck.

What's up docs?

RobertRedford

Hey Redford,

Could you give some information as to the typical stats a SUNY Upstate EAP acceptee has? Also, what were the questions that they asked you in the interview?

what is upstate like with OOS apps?

Also, this is Buffalo right? or is there another upstate

turkaglew said:

what is upstate like with OOS apps?

Also, this is Buffalo right? or is there another upstate

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SUNY-Upstate is in Syracuse, SUNY-Buffalo is its own school.

roberttoha said:

Hey Redford,

Could you give some information as to the typical stats a SUNY Upstate EAP acceptee has? Also, what were the questions that they asked you in the interview?

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I don't know how typical I am. I think I was accepted because I was not a typical applicant, I feel like you need to show how you are different and what you are going to bring to your school that no one else can. I'm from the Adirondack park, go to school in PA. I have about a 3.6 GPA, behavioral neuroscience major. really involved on campus, leadership positions and such. research too, a summer internship in biomedical engineering and four semesters of behavioral research on mice. Against the advice of my advisor I wore khaki's, a beige sport coat and boat shoes instead of a dark suit and I don't own dress shoes. Talked a lot about Horses, Alpine Skiing and Upstate New York in general.

There were two interviews, some students had a doctor and a student, I had two doctors. The first interviewer went through my application and had highlights and wanted me to expand on certain things, we went off on lots of tangents and it was more like a conversation than an interview. The second interview was even more conversational, I don't know if this was typical or not for med school interviews, but this was my experience. We talked the atmosphere's of smaller universities and upstate new york culture. By the end we were just talking about east coast mountains vs. west coast mountains. One of my interviewers invited me to come into their Anatomy class, so I got to see some first years doing dissections. They may have been impressed that I stuck around so long.

Some questions I got: Why Medicine? Why Upstate? How will you benefit from the EAP? What did you think of the tour? Like I said before though, it was mostly conversational.

The vibes that I got from this school in general was pretty laid back. It seems like the faculty develops relationships with their students and they are looking for nice and friendly and fun students to get to know. Be yourself! You should know yourself for the interview like the back of your hand, but you shouldn't memorize answers to predictable questions. Go with the flow.

Is SUNY Upstate rolling? Also, do they screen for secondaries?

No secondary yet or are not many people applying here....

Rolling admissions. They do not screen for secondaries (there is no secondary until you receive an interview).

Hang in there.

lovemesomeTJ said:

Rolling admissions. They do not screen for secondaries (there is no secondary until you receive an interview).

Hang in there.

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And no secondary essay [false info removed from here] = yey

does anyone know if we have to wait for the email invite?

Suncrusher said:

And no secondary essay, even if you are invited to interview and complete secondary = yey

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Amazing. One of those schools that won't steal my money wthout giving me slightly higher chance of admission!

Where are you getting this false information from?

From SUNY UPSTATE Admissions page:

Who do you send a supplemental application to?

We send a supplemental to every verified AMCAS applicant.

You pay for a secondary, which has some info like grades and whatever, but you don't write essays unless you get an invite.

I got my info from this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=645545&page=5

...Which I guess really only says that SUNY Upstate has no essays, although it still could have a supplemental with a fee.

EDIT: oh hah thanks lovemesomeTJ i get it

Clarification: there are no secondary ESSAYS until you are invited for an interview. The supplemental from this school involves verifying information and submitting payment. Sorry for the confusion.

Just to add on, the interviews are blind interviews, meaning the essays (which are only written after an interview invitation) are the only thing your interviewers will know about you.

Did anyone of you apply to the SUNY Upstate Early Assurance Program this year? I heard that 61 people applied and they are accepting 30-35.

hey robertto,

did you hear that from upstate itself? bc from my knowledge they average about 300 applicants for EAP every year.

redford,

when do you usually hear from upstate regarding interviews or acceptance to EAP?

hey talktome25,

Yes. I called them on July 2nd and they said 61 people applied which is lower than normal. Normally they have about 70 people apply. When the program was nonbinding they used to have 100 apply, but never 300. By the way, did you apply to the program this year?

yea robertto,

i applied this year too. it was pretty nerve-wracking, i don't know what my chances are because my grades are decent but not super fantastic like Redfords. im sure they are looking for brilliant kids with 4.0s and 1400s on their SATs. but i would still love to get in! where do you think you stand?

Yeah, but our chances are pretty good with about a 50% acceptance. I think SUNY Upstate's general admission accepts like 6% of applicants. By the way, I have talked to quite a few applicants in the past who have applied/accepted into the program and their stats are amazing. That's not to say that everyone who doesn't match up will not have a chance. We can only hope for the best. What school do you attend?

does anyone know if EA is rolling? Also I've read that ~300 people apply and 60 interview of which 30 are accepted....
Also, are there secondary essays before the interview for EA as well?

talktome25 said:

hey robertto,

did you hear that from upstate itself? bc from my knowledge they average about 300 applicants for EAP every year.

redford,

when do you usually hear from upstate regarding interviews or acceptance to EAP?

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Yo dude, uhhhh I applied in May-ish, got a call in late july, early august about an interview, interviewed that last week in august, found out about 5 or 6 weeks later. still have to do an amcas app though, just as a formality

RobertRedford said:

Yo dude, uhhhh I applied in May-ish, got a call in late july, early august about an interview, interviewed that last week in august, found out about 5 or 6 weeks later. still have to do an amcas app though, just as a formality

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AMCAS if your are accepted?

just got accepted to suny upstate and looking for a place to live in syracuse near school. I am a girl looking for a single bedroom (or sharing an apt./house with roomates)--is there anyone from the area who knows a good place to stay? ALSO if you are looking for a roomie please email me!!
Kristen
[email protected]

How many OOSers are applying via the regular MD route? Perhaps Upstate doesn't even want OOSers?

kachan0 said:

How many OOSers are applying via the regular MD route? Perhaps Upstate doesn't even want OOSers?

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i am! though i did graduate high school from a suburb of syracuse. dunno how much that matters though, bc they didn't interview me when i applied last year.
or maybe they just don't like me lol

Just got the secondary.

I'm trying to fill it out, but hardly 5 seconds goes by without this message coming up: A break-in attempt has been detected. Please login again.

I'm in the middle of filling stuff out and I get kicked off because some guy somewhere is trying to break in?? Whoever you are, leave poor SUNY Upstate alone!

Anybody else having trouble with the secondary? It's not letting me save any info!

not working either

^ yeah sounds like same problem I'm having. Oh well : )

I just can't enter my address without getting the break in attempt page. But otherwise I was able to enter everything else, like the coursework, fine.

it looks like everyone's trying to complete the secondary at the same time. lol


Also I'm assuming the policy of no secondary unless you're being interviewed is not applicable this go around?

crazynate said:

it looks like everyone's trying to complete the secondary at the same time. lol


Also I'm assuming the policy of no secondary unless you're being interviewed is not applicable this go around?

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From my understanding, everyone gets a secondary but you dont have to write essays unless you're granted an interview.

has anyone gotten either of the 2 address sections to work?

Suncrusher said:

has anyone gotten either of the 2 address sections to work?

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I'm having the same problem...

i got the current address one to work, but i can't get the permanent address to save. is there a special way we have to type in the phone numbers or something?

for both addresses, I'm able to enter everything except my state. weird

Ooh good call on the leaving out the state thing. That did it for me!

did anyone notice that the personal info section asks about your plans for the 2009-2010 year if you've already graduated? shouldn't that be asking about 2010-2011?

Wow, yeah. I was having the same problem with the permanent and current address and it seems to be resolved:

If you read the instructions, it says that if you enter a zip code, city and state will automatically be filled. As long as you enter a zip, you can leave state field blank and your application will be saved and be ready for transmittal.

Thanks to whoever figured that out. Good luck to all who can now submit apps.

dcjpitt said:

did anyone notice that the personal info section asks about your plans for the 2009-2010 year if you've already graduated? shouldn't that be asking about 2010-2011?

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Yes. I noticed it, too. I talked about 2010-2011 plans :-/ not a big deal, this has happened on at least 2 other schools' secondary apps that I know of

Yeah, thanks a lot for those who figured out this bug.

Thank goodness this is the first secondary that I can submit on the same day I received it.

From the email: "You will be able to track the status of your application on line. "

..except that my application seems to have disappeared after I submitted it(?!)

Did that happen to anyone else? When you log back in after paying, the application is gone?

Or is the "Thank you for your application to SUNY Upstate Medical University." that I can see a new message that I didn't notice was there before, and that is my current status? I thought it might have been there even before I submitted..

Nvm.

Suncrusher said:

From the email: "You will be able to track the status of your application on line. "

..except that my application seems to have disappeared after I submitted it(?!)

Did that happen to anyone else? When you log back in after paying, the application is gone?

Or is the "Thank you for your application to SUNY Upstate Medical University." that I can see a new message that I didn't notice was there before, and that is my current status? I thought it might have been there even before I submitted..

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yeah I can't find my app anymore but if i try to click on the "fill out application" button it says "You have already submitted your College of Medicine Secondary Application. Thank you!"

so as long as yours says that too i'm guessing it went through okay

Does anyone know what we're supposed to do about the signature page if we are using FAP? Thanks!

does anyone know how to fill out the phone numbers?
it says: (xxxxxx)-(xxxxxxxxxxxx) (xxxxxxxxxx extension):


but my phone number is xxx-xxxxxxx and it doesnt work.

karma points to anyone who can help me!

sgsg1988 said:

does anyone know how to fill out the phone numbers?
it says: (xxxxxx)-(xxxxxxxxxxxx) (xxxxxxxxxx extension):

but my phone number is xxx-xxxxxxx and it doesnt work.

karma points to anyone who can help me!

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I put (610) in the first space and 9054922 in the second, fake number of course

ejw5075 said:

I put (610) in the first space and 9054922 in the second, fake number of course

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This application has so many problems... -_-

Anyway, I just put: (012) 345-6789 and it worked just fine.. No idea if that's how they wanted it. I didn't feel comfortable leaving any of the spaces blank in the phone number slot, lol.