2008-2009 Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Secondary Application Thread

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i'm drawing a blank with this no-specific-topic essay. what kinds of stuff are people writing about?



The poster "The Remix" here on SDN submitted this as his/her essay for VCU/MCV and was interviewed and accepted:

"Concerning Weathermen
I wonder, as I take a break from reading Lord of the Rings, what’s it like being a weatherman? Let’s ponder for a second. Can you think of another profession where you get to dress like a mafia don, play with incredibly expensive equipment, even say neat words like “cumulonimbus,” and yet, have almost no accountability for what you say? Weathermen have it good, and they do a fantastic job of keeping the details of their operation in the dark. However, there is a downside. They pour their hearts and souls into their work, yet the topic of their toil never emerges amongst laymen unless there is nothing else to talk about. I wonder if there is a “National Weathermen’s Convention” – an event where fellow climate brethren journey from all walks of the land, gather in a luxurious hotel, and discuss…the weather — intentionally. If there is, by gale-force, I’m going to go one day! I’ll stand and give our valiant meteorological soothsayers an intense round of applause. O wise weatherman, bravo for warning your flock of the approach of the angry neon green radar splotches, we heed. Duly shall our umbrellas cast asunder thy watery projectiles!
Thank you."

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I know most people in this thread are applying now, but does anyone know how lenient VCU is if I can't meet the LOR requirements? I'm a nontrad and most schools will accept non-academic letters, but I just called and spoke with someone at VCU admissions office and was told that I need two science faculty letters. So, should I go ahead and apply just in case without 2science letters, or is there no point? (just fyi, i do have 1 science letter plus i've been working in healthcare for the past couple of years so my letters are healthcare oriented). What do you guys think?
 
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I know most people in this thread are applying now, but does anyone know how lenient VCU is if I can't meet the LOR requirements? I'm a nontrad and most schools will accept non-academic letters, but I just called and spoke with someone at VCU admissions office and was told that I need two science faculty letters. So, should I go ahead and apply just in case without 2science letters, or is there no point? (just fyi, i do have 1 science letter plus i've been working in healthcare for the past couple of years so my letters are healthcare oriented). What do you guys think?

If you explained your situation to the admissions office and were still told that you "need" two sci letters....I wouldn't waste my time applying and not sending what they require.
 
If you explained your situation to the admissions office and were still told that you "need" two sci letters....I wouldn't waste my time applying and not sending what they require.

Well, if the application fee isn't too heavy a load, why not? You've already spent your $30 AMCAS fee, I assume. You really don't have anything to lose (except time you could spend writing other secondaries).

But yeah, it's up to you. Like RockDoc says, it might be a waste of time. So it's up to you to decide.
 
so for that filling in the years for when I reapplied....I'm confused do put in 2008 for entering class or 2007 for when I applied???????? I'm thinking 2008 but I need someone to confirm this for me. Thanks!!!
 
What are the opinions of people re: Inova Fairfax hospital vs. VCU hospital? I'm still thinking about it.
 
The poster "The Remix" here on SDN submitted this as his/her essay for VCU/MCV and was interviewed and accepted:

"Concerning Weathermen
I wonder, as I take a break from reading Lord of the Rings, what’s it like being a weatherman? Let’s ponder for a second. Can you think of another profession where you get to dress like a mafia don, play with incredibly expensive equipment, even say neat words like “cumulonimbus,” and yet, have almost no accountability for what you say? Weathermen have it good, and they do a fantastic job of keeping the details of their operation in the dark. However, there is a downside. They pour their hearts and souls into their work, yet the topic of their toil never emerges amongst laymen unless there is nothing else to talk about. I wonder if there is a “National Weathermen’s Convention” – an event where fellow climate brethren journey from all walks of the land, gather in a luxurious hotel, and discuss…the weather — intentionally. If there is, by gale-force, I’m going to go one day! I’ll stand and give our valiant meteorological soothsayers an intense round of applause. O wise weatherman, bravo for warning your flock of the approach of the angry neon green radar splotches, we heed. Duly shall our umbrellas cast asunder thy watery projectiles!
Thank you."


LOL, Thanks for sharing. Of course now I feel stupid for writing a "safe" and generic essay for that question.
 
What are the opinions of people re: Inova Fairfax hospital vs. VCU hospital? I'm still thinking about it.

Don't stress too much about it. You can change your mind when you get to VCU.

INVOA is in northern VA, which is a very different part of the state. Personally, I think I'd stay in Richmond because that's where all of your friends are, but if you want to be closer to DC then pick INVOA. It's a great hospital-giant cardiac center, they're building a children's hospital, always full of the top doctors from the area-but you do have to move. At INVOA you'll be doing rotations with students from VCU, UVa, GW, and Georgetown, so if you want to meet new people that works. But it's very much in the suburbs-it's not urban-so it's a different vibe than VCU's location.
 
Suburbs, yes, but less than 20 minutes from D.C.
 
Haha...so then I guess it wouldn't really matter where you do your last 2 years...
 
Haha...so then I guess it wouldn't really matter where you do your last 2 years...

Your concern should be the patient population you will see and the opportunities you will have at whatever institution you do your last 2 years. Having DC that close will affect your pt population, but people shouldn't be fooled into thinking they will have the opportunity to live an "urban" life by rotating at Fairfax. They'll be at Fairfax. In the suburbs. And if they're cool with that, then by all means consider it, as there is plenty to see and do there.
 
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Your concern should be the patient population you will see and the opportunities you will have at whatever institution you do your last 2 years. Having DC that close will affect your pt population, but people shouldn't be fooled into thinking they will have the opportunity to live an "urban" life by rotating at Fairfax. They'll be at Fairfax. In the suburbs. And if they're cool with that, then by all means consider it, as there is plenty to see and do there.

There is a variety of people who come to INVOA, but it will be different than the population at VCU. There are a lot of immigrants in the area (speaking Spanish is a huge help), but of course there's the typical upper-middle class suburbia population as well. I'm not super familiar with the patient population VCU sees, so I won't even pretend that I know anything about it (although I'm sure that it's wide and diverse).

I agree with you about the patient population-I think having a variety of opportunities is perhaps more important that living in a really nice area (at least for med school). You can also go to the suburbs as a resident.

Suburbs, yes, but less than 20 minutes from D.C.

20 minutes? Maybe in the middle of the night. Traffic in the area is a nightmare!
 
Hmm...interesting. I guess maybe I'll just say "either location". I should talk with my dad first because I know he lived in Richmond for quite a while before I was born.

[Incidentally, I'm guessing VCU doesn't care so much about "ties to the state"?]

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful responses (esp. beachblonde --very helpful).
 
Also cost of living and expenses will be higher in northern va vs richmond, not to mention traffic. So that is also something to consider.
 
Also cost of living and expenses will be higher in northern va vs richmond, not to mention traffic. So that is also something to consider.

Ah, yes, very good point.

I believe VCU does have some sort of housing arrangement set up for their students, but regardless rent will be much higher in Falls Church than it is down in Richmond. You'll also have to have a car-the public transportation leaves a lot to be desired. I would say anybody considering moving to the area needs to have a lot of patience when it comes to driving; if you cannot stand sitting in traffic, northern VA is not the place for you.
 
Ah, yes, very good point.

I believe VCU does have some sort of housing arrangement set up for their students, but regardless rent will be much higher in Falls Church than it is down in Richmond. You'll also have to have a car-the public transportation leaves a lot to be desired. I would say anybody considering moving to the area needs to have a lot of patience when it comes to driving; if you cannot stand sitting in traffic, northern VA is not the place for you.

Hmm. Well, fortunately, since I live in Florida it wouldn't be an impossibility to bring my car (I went to undergrad in CA and driving was an impossibility for me). I actually really like driving and the thought of being in the suburbs. :)

Good to know the VCU does help with housing in some way! That was one of the things I started wondering as I posted the last message. Do you happen to know if the housing is anywhere close to the hospital or if it's rather a long drive?

Thanks a million times for your help. Maybe I'll have the good luck to meet you guys in person in interviews :)
 
does anyone know how their priority score system works?
 
so for that filling in the years for when I reapplied....I'm confused do put in 2008 for entering class or 2007 for when I applied???????? I'm thinking 2008 but I need someone to confirm this for me. Thanks!!!

I also applied for to VCU the previous year for the 2008 entering class. I put in 2008 for the year of my previous application.

After I submitted my secondary, the university emailed me asking for a clarification on my past application year. I told them that I put in 2008 for the entering class year. The university emailed me back saying everything was fine.

Unfortunately, I'm not completely sure if VCU wants you to put down the year you actually applied during (which would be 2007) because I also withdrew pre-secondary last year, so VCU may have contacted me for that reason.

Either way, if there is a problem, VCU will email you about it and they are quick to pick up your response. Good luck!
 
Hmm. Well, fortunately, since I live in Florida it wouldn't be an impossibility to bring my car (I went to undergrad in CA and driving was an impossibility for me). I actually really like driving and the thought of being in the suburbs. :)

Good to know the VCU does help with housing in some way! That was one of the things I started wondering as I posted the last message. Do you happen to know if the housing is anywhere close to the hospital or if it's rather a long drive?

Thanks a million times for your help. Maybe I'll have the good luck to meet you guys in person in interviews :)

I believe that there's an apartment complex nearby that gives a discounted rated to VCU students. I don't think it's a very long drive (I'm not quite sure where it is, but I can't imagine that it's very far). VCU's website doesn't have a lot of info about this (I looked, not much luck) so I'm just trying to remember what I heard at my interview last year. Even if you did have to find your own housing, there are plenty of apartments nearby. But no promises that any of them will be remotely affordable! I would say it's reasonable to expect rent to be double what you'd pay in Richmond.
 
OOS applicant with good stats and decent ECs.

I just got an email a few hours ago


"The committee's file review indicates that they are interested in your candidacy. However, due to the increase in the applicant pool this year, it is clear we MAY be unable to interview all the candidates at your priority score. If we do find that we are able to grant an interview you will be notified by e-mail"



Good, bad??? Who knows?

O and they bolded that MAY, not me

Consider the diction of the two statements. I received the same one you did today, after I submitted my secondary last night. Our statement seems to indicate that the file has been completely and positively reviewed, thus the statement "interested in your candidacy." The other statement says the admissions committee "would like to consider your file further," indicating a necessary further review of the file. It seems like the second statement is saying that the initial review was not sufficient for granting interest in a candidate, and must be looked at further. If I had to bet, I would guess that the "MAY" statement is a more positive indicator of an interview.
 
Good luck everyone!

Just a word of advice about the secondary (and honestly, I don't even remember what I wrote, except that I was careful to not discuss anything from AMCAS): be prepared to be asked about it in your interview. So write about something you want to talk about.

Instatewaiter has posted a lot of good tips on SDN : )

To those asking about INOVA: there is a whole bunch of chit chat about this over on the allo class thread. Personally, I don't exactly think of Richmond or DC the way I think of Manhattan, so this whole urban/suburban thing I don't get. If you live right next to the hospital, it will be suburban (little rows of homes, older strip malls, falls church and fairfax are "cute" old towns. But Alexandria, Arlington (I'm thinking of Shirlington) and Tysons Corner all have their high rises and walkable communities, and they're 15 min from the hospital (remember, you'll be going in before 7 most days, traffic is fine then -maybe it will take you a little longer to get home!)

Public transport to INOVA stinks, but there are several metro stations within easy driving distance.

You will have time to play 4th year. And you could certainly make time to get downtown for a concert or a museum trip, esp on the easier rotations.
 
Strange. I was complete last week (the 17th), and I haven't gotten an e-mail from them (i.e. the "we MAY..." message). Is anyone else complete but did not receive an e-mail??
 
Strange. I was complete last week (the 17th), and I haven't gotten an e-mail from them (i.e. the "we MAY..." message). Is anyone else complete but did not receive an e-mail??

I received an email simply stating check your status. Then I did, and it shows file complete, we're in the process of reviewing and determining your priority...none of the MAY in bolds stuff...don't know if that's good or bad...or neither?
 
Yep, that's exactly what I got. I don't know if it's good or bad either...
 
Just give them some time. It was about a week after I submitted that I got one of those messages; other peoples took longer or shorter. Don't sweat it for a little while longer.
 
This may be a strange question, but did anyone receive any e-mails from VCU during the day, or were they all after 6 pm?? (VCU time)
 
This may be a strange question, but did anyone receive any e-mails from VCU during the day, or were they all after 6 pm?? (VCU time)
According to a thread from last year (or a poster who applied last year, I forget) they only send out status messages at 6:30 the day of.
 
I got mine at 6pm Sunday night :confused:

Not sure how they have their system set up, but it seems to me they automatically send them out at some point in the evening. I just don't see an adcomm hitting send at 8pm EST on a Sunday to let me know I might get an interview, but maybe not, kinda depends on how they feel, or if they have enough spots, or maybe if they just got bored...
 
They got my primary application July 8th and still no word on a secondary...
 
This may be a strange question, but did anyone receive any e-mails from VCU during the day, or were they all after 6 pm?? (VCU time)

I used to get all my status updates at 6:03PM. YMMV.
 
I got mine at 6pm Sunday night :confused:

Not sure how they have their system set up, but it seems to me they automatically send them out at some point in the evening. I just don't see an adcomm hitting send at 8pm EST on a Sunday to let me know I might get an interview, but maybe not, kinda depends on how they feel, or if they have enough spots, or maybe if they just got bored...

They're not. It's pretty clear it's a batch system. From my and everyone else's experiences last year, it seems to work like this:

1. The ADCOM makes changes to the data in the system for those students where there's a change. This could happen any day during the week. Students at this point see no change in their status.
2. During interview season, status updates occur every evening. During offer season, they occur on specific dates. So, in the latter case, even though an update has been made, it won't show up until an official offer date. In the former, the change occurs in the evening.
3. At sometime around 6PM the day the change has been made in the case of secondary offers and interview invites (but not acceptances), the system now reflects the change on the student's page. This means that if you log in, you will see the change, even prior to receiving an update email. I *know* this is how this works for acceptances, and if I remember correctly, it's true for secondaries/interview invites. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
4. Another 24 hours passes, and the system generates an email saying the status has changed, and sends it to the individual. However, that change had been visible during that entire previous 24 hour period - you just had to have logged in arbitrarily and noticed it.
 
They're not. It's pretty clear it's a batch system. From my and everyone else's experiences last year, it seems to work like this:

1. The ADCOM makes changes to the data in the system for those students where there's a change. This could happen any day during the week. Students at this point see no change in their status.
2. During interview season, status updates occur every evening. During offer season, they occur on specific dates. So, in the latter case, even though an update has been made, it won't show up until an official offer date. In the former, the change occurs in the evening.
3. At sometime around 6PM the day the change has been made in the case of secondary offers and interview invites (but not acceptances), the system now reflects the change on the student's page. This means that if you log in, you will see the change, even prior to receiving an update email. I *know* this is how this works for acceptances, and if I remember correctly, it's true for secondaries/interview invites. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
4. Another 24 hours passes, and the system generates an email saying the status has changed, and sends it to the individual. However, that change had been visible during that entire previous 24 hour period - you just had to have logged in arbitrarily and noticed it.


The system does send emails at 603pm ET saying that you've had a status change, but I'm pretty sure your status does not change online until around the time the system updates. I knew I would be accepted from the waitlist about 12 hours before I got the email saying my status had changed (long story) and my status did not change until right around the time I got the email. Believe me, I checked that day. Often. I couldn't believe it until I had the acceptance notification in front of me.
 
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The system does send emails at 603pm ET saying that you've had a status change, but I'm pretty sure your status does not change online until around the time the system updates. I knew I would be accepted from the waitlist about 12 hours before I got the email saying my status had changed (long story) and my status did not change until right around the time I got the email. Believe me, I checked that day. Often. I couldn't believe it until I had the acceptance notification in front of me.

Interesting. Then all I can figure is that it only applies to the batch offer days. If it's one of the things that are done on a daily basis, like secondary offers, interview invites, and waitlist offers, the update on the page doesn't occur until the same time that the email is sent out. But for acceptance offers on the main offer dates (of which there were 4 last year), it definitely changes your status 24 hours in advance. The offer date I received an acceptance was 2/1, and at 6:00 on 2/1, my status had changed. I didn't receive the status email until 6:03 on 2/2.

So, except for admission offers, everyone should just expect the email and the status change to occur almost simultaneously.
 
No news is better than bad news :)

I volunteer at Montgomery General in Olney. :)

Btw, I got my secondary today from VCU at 6:04 PM. I am so awesome I shot myself in the foot (again) like I do in daily life. I submitted the application a short while ago. In one of the essays, I accidentally misspelled their school's name with "Commonweath" hahah. Man I am awesome. $80 just thrown away. :( I will be absolutely shocked if I get an interview invitation. I really dislike Windows Vista with that weird Microsoft Word they now have. :(
 
About what % of people who submit secondaries are rejected outright after their secondary is evaluated and do not get the "MAY" message, etc.?
 
I volunteer at Montgomery General in Olney. :)

Btw, I got my secondary today from VCU at 6:04 PM. I am so awesome I shot myself in the foot (again) like I do in daily life. I submitted the application a short while ago. In one of the essays, I accidentally misspelled their school's name with "Commonweath" hahah. Man I am awesome. $80 just thrown away. :( I will be absolutely shocked if I get an interview invitation. I really dislike Windows Vista with that weird Microsoft Word they now have. :(

Whoa, you completed it in under 3 hours? Did you already send your LORs too?
 
7/8 submit, 7/23 receive.
 
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If they determine your pre-interview priority score after evaluating your secondary, would it make sense to send a "why I like VCU" letter before you get your post-secondary message instead of waiting to send it out after you get placed on the pre-interview hold?
 
Wow, I just submitted my secondary last night, and tonight I received an email saying my status had changed. I ended up getting the "we MAY be unable to interview applicants at your priority score," which I'll take as a good sign? They're really on the ball, though, less than one day (and a Saturday at that) to review my secondary application. Perhaps I was given priority since I'm in-state (and a VCU alum).
 
Wow, I just submitted my secondary last night, and tonight I received an email saying my status had changed. I ended up getting the "we MAY be unable to interview applicants at your priority score," which I'll take as a good sign? They're really on the ball, though, less than one day (and a Saturday at that) to review my secondary application. Perhaps I was given priority since I'm in-state (and a VCU alum).

Wow, in less than one day... That is awesome. Congrats! Hopefully it turns into an invite soon.
 
Anyone else still waiting on VCU to send a secondary? They have been looking at my AMCAS application for a while now... over 3 weeks and I haven't hurd anything....

jeff
 
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