2011-2012 NYU Application Thread

does NYU send secondaries to everyone or do they screen? Is it pass/fail and ranked or unranked?

Anyone? Any opinions at all? I'm on the fence about NYU - some people seem happy, others don't.

Canadian applying here First time to this school

Snuke said:

Anyone? Any opinions at all? I'm on the fence about NYU - some people seem happy, others don't.

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I can't specifically answer your question, but if it is the only school you get into, you'll probably be happy.

Snuke said:

Anyone? Any opinions at all? I'm on the fence about NYU - some people seem happy, others don't.

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What's not to like about NYU?

That's my question - what's there to like/not like? Do people seem happy? Is there camaraderie between students, and students and professors?

I can research curriculum and buildings and matches, but it's more difficult to get a feel for it without attending there.

Hi All,

I will be a First Year at NYU in August, and I just wanted to wish everyone luck with the app process.
It made me pretty tense for most of my senior year, but everything has a way of working out in the end--I hope y'all believe me.

There are a ton of people who matriculate here every year who have turned down positions at top 20 schools. NYU is a pretty special place to be because of it's location in NYC (obvious) and within NYC (read: proximity to the party neighborhoods).

They definitely go out of their way to remind you how awesome Bellevue is every chance they get--you take a tour of it on interview day--and though it might get annoying at times, it lives up to all the hype.
Other places will try telling you that they have resources like that too (Mount Sinai/Elmhurst Hospital in Queens) and how they have a shuttle there, but how awesome is it to have Bellevue across the street from your dorm??? But I'm just lazy.
While doing a summer program @ NYU LMC, every resident I talked to echoed the sentiment that Bellevue is awesome for the degree of "independence" you get there.
Additionally, you have Rusk Rehab, HJD and the VA as stomping grounds. The more you see, the more you learn!
Paired with this is the whole pre-clinical curriculum (PCC) thing. One of the themes I picked up on during the interview trail was how relatively irrelevant the structure of the PCC was (early patient contact, PBL vs lecture etc). The place where you learn real medicine is on the wards. I think NYU offers the only significant leg up in this aspect (along w/ Columbia & Penn) with it's 1.5 (vs 2) year PCC. Not only do you get more time on the wards learning clinical medicine, you have more time to explore specialties you're interested in which aren't one of the required clerkships before having to apply to residency programs.
Wow, I'm getting super excited to start up in 1.5 months just writing all this down for you guys!

A word of advice, in case you guys haven't stalked the NYU thread from the past 2 cycles
(haha hopefully you haven't b/c it's a little too early to be that neurotic):
the key to NYU is to submit your stuff early.
They didn't offer interviews to anyone who was marked complete after like October (I forget the exact date)
and they didn't offer any outright acceptances outside of the Dec 15th date (except 2 or 3ish diversity office offers).
I highly recommend you guys stay on top of this app if you want to give yourself a serious shot here.

Once again, good luck and I'll be around the thread to try to answer any questions you guys might have--just gimme a sec to settle in before you go at me with the nitty gritty!

Hey guys, I will also be starting at NYU in August and I just wanted to say I will be in here to try and help answer your questions or ease your nerves when I can.

@prateek: I am also Canadian so let me know if you have any specific questions about applying to the states.

Hopefully, once school starts up we will be better able to let you know "what its like" at NYU. Until then, I think etherpentane said it well.

Best of luck guys

anyone received the link to the secondary yet?

I haven't yet, and I've been verified for some time. If anyone else has received the secondary, please share. Good luck to everybody.

indianaPA said:

I haven't yet, and I've been verified for some time. If anyone else has received the secondary, please share. Good luck to everybody.

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They haven't started yet. See the first item under "Upcoming Events" on http://school.med.nyu.edu/md-admissions. It says they will start taking them 7/1, so I assume that is when they will send the invites.

Hey guys! Would it be plain stupid to apply to NYU with a 28 MCAT in the hopes of a semi-miracle ? I know people that have been accepted with a 28 (VERY similar: GPA, experience, artistic background, etc.), but they were legacies (I'm not). It would be a dream come true to be accepted!

eliz220 said:

Hey guys! Would it be plain stupid to apply to NYU with a 28 MCAT in the hopes of a semi-miracle ? I know people that have been accepted with a 28 (VERY similar: GPA, experience, artistic background, etc.), but they were legacies (I'm not). It would be a dream come true to be accepted!

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Bottom 10%ile last year was a 30. Nobody can give you better advice than what you can deduce from this statistic.

eliz220 said:

Hey guys! Would it be plain stupid to apply to NYU with a 28 MCAT in the hopes of a semi-miracle ? I know people that have been accepted with a 28 (VERY similar: GPA, experience, artistic background, etc.), but they were legacies (I'm not). It would be a dream come true to be accepted!

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Do you know people, or a person?

.

Is the secondary different from last year's?

Thanks!

ModerateMouse said:

Is the secondary different from last year's?

Thanks!

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i don't think anyone has it yet

Do you think it would be a waste of time to apply to this school with no research? 3.7/34 somewhat decent ECs other than that though and OOS. Mount Sinai too if anyone knows?

krose113 said:

Hey, quick question here. I understand from etherpentane's post that NYU generally stops offering interviews to applicants complete after Oct. 1. My question is: I didn't score as expected on my first MCAT (28R) and plan to retake 8/23, already indicated on AMCAS. If I submit the secondary, or at least have it ready to be submitted when they invite me, would I still have a shot? Hopefully my application would be reviewed very soon after new scores come in, if they put me on hold until then, as requested?

Secondly, I want to indicate my connection to NYU somewhere, presumably on the secondary. If accepted to NYU, I would be the fifth generation in my family to attend the medical school. I recognize this is somewhat unique, as my family has one of the longest standing legacies in the school's history. For these reasons and many more, I'm bummed to retake the MCAT, but I hope that my chances at NYU are raised significantly if I can boost my score. Is there an opportunity to discuss this on the secondary? I haven't seen it yet.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

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There is usually a special circumstances/what makes you super special section on most secondaries, but if there isn't one then you are about to break this tradition

Last year people started to get secondaries on 7/15 so they should be coming soon. maybe...

No official invite yet, but I took a link from last year and it came up as 2011-2012 with a separate link to the 2010-2011 application here.

I created a login per the instructions and the application looks complete. I wouldn't submit yet though. The questions I see are as follows:

If applicable, please comment on significant fluctuations in your academic record which are not explained elsewhere on your application.

If you have taken any time off from your studies, either during or after college, please describe what you have done during this time and your reasons for doing so.

The Admissions Committee uses a holistic approach to evaluate a wide range of student qualities and life experiences that are complementary to demonstrated academic excellence, strong interpersonal skills and leadership potential. Why have you chosen to apply to NYU School of Medicine? What unique qualities or experiences do you possess that would contribute specifically to the NYU School of Medicine community?
(2500 chars max. Please type, do not copy and paste.)

The ultimate goal of our institution is to produce a population of physicians with a collective desire to improve the health of all segments of our society through outstanding patient care, research, and education. In this context, where do you see your future medical career (academic medicine, research, public health, primary care, business/law, etc) and why? Your answer need not be restricted to one category. If your plans include completion of a dual degree program, please elaborate here.


Please answer ONE of the following three questions:

The most meaningful achievements are often non-academic in nature. Describe the personal non-academic accomplishment that makes you most proud. Why is this important to you?

Conflicts arise daily from differences in perspectives, priorities, worldviews, and traditions. How do you define respect? Describe a situation in which you found it challenging to remain respectful while facing differences.

Describe a situation in which working with a colleague, family member or friend has been challenging. How did you resolve, if at all, the situation as a team and what did you gain from the experience that will benefit you as a future health care provider?

All have a 2500 character limit

thanks!!

+1

Just got the application...same questions as mentioned above

Got it this morning

I haven't gotten one yet...anyone else out there still waiting?

ywlke said:

I haven't gotten one yet...anyone else out there still waiting?

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nope...only you

ywlke said:

I haven't gotten one yet...anyone else out there still waiting?

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Waiting as well... Though AMCAS was verified 7/8, so might just be at the bottom of the virtual stack.

Etorphine said:

nope...only you

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Well, for UVA, a friend and I were the only two people that didn't get an invite and had to call because we used a plus sign in our AMCAS e-mail addresses. He didn't apply to NYU, so yeah, I think I am allowed to ask that question.

(And when I say the only two people, I'm not saying it because of SDN, I'm saying it because Janet at UVA wrote me an e-mail that told me so.)

ywlke said:

I haven't gotten one yet...anyone else out there still waiting?

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i didnt get it yet either. prob sending it out in bunches

MilkIsGood said:

i didnt get it yet either. prob sending it out in bunches

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Thanks, good to know.

Hi guys,
So, I had a significant drop on gpa during my senior year, but I don't have a decent reason. The honest fact was I lost focus on my studies and grades just plunged. However, my grades went back up, significantly, during my post bacc. Do you think I should explain this in the secondary? or should I just leave it till the interviews, if I get invited?
Thanks for any input.

estelyk said:

Hi guys,
So, I had a significant drop on gpa during my senior year, but I don't have a decent reason. The honest fact was I lost focus on my studies and grades just plunged. However, my grades went back up, significantly, during my post bacc. Do you think I should explain this in the secondary? or should I just leave it till the interviews, if I get invited?
Thanks for any input.

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Similar situation here. I'm not planning to divulge it, but I did on the UC Davis secondary since they asked for it. I'd suggest using the space to focus on the positive aspects of your application.

If it's brought up in an interview, I'd steer clear of the 'losing focus' part...say what you learned from the experience and what you did to correct the situation.

That's what I was thinking as well.. I guess I should just ignore it then, for the time being.

estelyk said:

Hi guys,
So, I had a significant drop on gpa during my senior year, but I don't have a decent reason. The honest fact was I lost focus on my studies and grades just plunged. However, my grades went back up, significantly, during my post bacc. Do you think I should explain this in the secondary? or should I just leave it till the interviews, if I get invited?
Thanks for any input.

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I'm in a similar situation. I'm not planning on addressing it til interviews. But, to be fair, my senior year I was in a major/career path that I didn't really like...so that's really why I lost my motivation. When I started taking med school pre-reqs, I did great.

Just got my secondary invite.

Wow this secondary is a BEAST.

beckerism said:

Wow this secondary is a BEAST.

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they def made it longer than last year

beckerism said:

wow this secondary is a beast.

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+1

Can we really not copy/paste into the secondary? If not, I doubt I am going to be finishing this one - I'm sick of writing new essays.

rxnfiend said:

Can we really not copy/paste into the secondary? If not, I doubt I am going to be finishing this one - I'm sick of writing new essays.

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Write it in a word processor, open the windows side by side and copy verbatim! As long as you aren't a one-finger typist it shouldn't take that much longer

rxnfiend said:

Can we really not copy/paste into the secondary? If not, I doubt I am going to be finishing this one - I'm sick of writing new essays.

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I copied and pasted and it looks fine. I think they just want you to be careful with formatting because you can't preview the app before you submit (it doesn't generate a pdf or anything, the submitted app/status page is just an html page). So don't use weird symbols, italics, etc. and double check your line breaks, if any. If it looks good after you copy it into Wordpad, it'll be fine.

Submitted!

I called and asked about copying and pasting.

I said I'd tested it and it seemed to work fine.

They repeated the instructions not to do it so I went back and rewrote the essays in.

Best to be on the safe side folks.


Oh, and I got the complete email this morning. (submitted yesterday) So they're really quick on the turn-around.

Good luck!

If you want to be safe about copying and pasting, and you usually type in Word, copy and paste to Notepad first, then replace all the angled quotation marks with regular ones, as well as any other symbols that Word makes special (single quote might also need to be retyped). Copy from Notepad into browser, and you should be fine.

I thought this was supposed to be an "easy" secondary

2500 characters is a lot to write for some of these essays...I can see a lot my essays being around 1500-2000 characters.

If you have taken any time off from your studies, either during or after college, please describe what you have done during this time and your reasons for doing so.


Because it says "after college," does this imply graduate school as well? I was under the impression that college = undergraduate

PeterPesto said:

I thought this was supposed to be an "easy" secondary

2500 characters is a lot to write for some of these essays...I can see a lot my essays being around 1500-2000 characters.

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+1

One of my essays is nearly 2500 because I was able to splice in some sections from other schools, but the two I have to write from scratch? Yeah, 1500 sounds about right.