2009-2010 Mayo Medical School Application Thread

[itsalovestory]

I hope I don't get rejected, but I guess I would rather know earlier than being strung along for a while. I hope I am strong enough that I don't get rejected...now you got me all paranoid!!!

Haha, don't be too paranoid, at least not during the day! Mayo has an automated email system that only sends emails out in the middle of the night, similar to last night. Here's to hoping for another night of not getting axed.

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[flip26]

I have tried to include letters that will cover the requirements at most schools, and then I just made all of them available to all my schools. I think between the four I am pretty well covered.

Yeah, but...if you go to the Mayo website, they ask for 3 letters, not 4...the AMCAS letter service is designed to allow you to tailor your letter submissions to schools depending on their requirements...hence why I am waiting for schools to tell me exactly what kind of letters they want before I am going to instruct AMCAS to release them.

 

[lrkoehle]

Yeah, but...if you go to the Mayo website, they ask for 3 letters, not 4...the AMCAS letter service is designed to allow you to tailor your letter submissions to schools depending on their requirements...hence why I am waiting for schools to tell me exactly what kind of letters they want before I am going to instruct AMCAS to release them.

Unfortunately my school didn't really give me the option of having the letters loaded on to VirtualEvals individually. I know they ask for three (I think they even say one can be from a TA), but one or two extra won't irritate them. I don't think tailoring your letters to each school is a bad idea though.

 

[osumc2014]

Hey guys, for those of you who have paid, did any of you use a different credit card not under your name? If so, when it asked for contact information, do we enter our names or what the credit card name says?

 

[itsalovestory]

Hey guys, for those of you who have paid, did any of you use a different credit card not under your name? If so, when it asked for contact information, do we enter our names or what the credit card name says?

I was kind of confused about this too, but I ended up entering my own name. The only parts relevant to the credit card were the number, expiration date, and billing address. It all worked out on my confirmation page.

 

[Appless]

man i didnt recieve anything...maybe i got screened out already? lol

 

[itsalovestory]

man i didnt recieve anything...maybe i got screened out already? lol

From what I've heard, they send them out in waves and their computers are programmed to send this at obnoxious times in the night. Look at last year's thread for more about how ridiculous this overnight axing/acceptances are.

 

[flip26]

Unfortunately my school didn't really give me the option of having the letters loaded on to VirtualEvals individually. I know they ask for three (I think they even say one can be from a TA), but one or two extra won't irritate them. I don't think tailoring your letters to each school is a bad idea though.

I think you are in the clear since it was out of your control, but my advice stands for people who do have control over individual letters - be sure you understand exactly what kind and how many letters a med school wants to see, and don't just flood them with 7 or 8 letters.

 

[lrkoehle]

I think you are in the clear since it was out of your control, but my advice stands for people who do have control over individual letters - be sure you understand exactly what kind and how many letters a med school wants to see, and don't just flood them with 7 or 8 letters.

I completely agree with this. Five should be ok, but 6 and up is just too many. I think above that you run the risk of ADCOMs looking at you application and going, "are you freaking kidding me?" especially later in the cycle after a couple of hundred other applications. It may be different if they are all short, but since we aren't suposed to see them we can't know that. This doesn't apply to people applying to schools that want a letter from every research PI you worked with.

 

[flip26]

I completely agree with this. Five should be ok, but 6 and up is just too many. I think above that you run the risk of ADCOMs looking at you application and going, "are you freaking kidding me?" especially later in the cycle after a couple of hundred other applications. It may be different if they are all short, but since we aren't suposed to see them we can't know that. This doesn't apply to people applying to schools that want a letter from every research PI you worked with.

I have 4 letters: 2 sci, and one non-sci, and I have virtually no doubts about the high quality of these letters. I have known all of these letter writers for years.

My 4th letter is a post bacc "director's" letter; they call it a "committee" letter because several people in the post bacc office had input, and I had to list it as such in AMCAS, but I don't think of it that way. This is the only letter in my bunch that I have any doubts about, and while I have no doubts about how well I did in the post bacc, I have doubts of the contents of the letter only because I really do not understand what the post bacc insights add to my benefit (they did not collect my other letters like the typical committee process - no interview).

So I am picking and choosing which schools I will send the 4th letter to, if any. For schools that insist on a committee letter, I will probably use it, but I intend to send the first 3 letters to all schools, even if it puts me over the limit of 3...and under no circumstances will I use the post bacc letter alone as a proxy for the other letters.

 

[creativekat]

So I don't understand how the letters work.

I went through my school's letter service. No pre-med committee, just a letter collection service. Doesn't that mean that all the schools will receive the same letter packet? I'm trying to cover all my bases here since diff. schools require diff. things but that just makes my letter packet up to 8 letters max which seems pretty ridiculous.

 

[lrkoehle]

So I don't understand how the letters work.

I went through my school's letter service. No pre-med committee, just a letter collection service. Doesn't that mean that all the schools will receive the same letter packet? I'm trying to cover all my bases here since diff. schools require diff. things but that just makes my letter packet up to 8 letters max which seems pretty ridiculous.

I don't think any one really fully understands how the letter system works, but I think AMCAS just makes them available to the schools you designate. That way when the schools are ready for them they just go download them. I think the schools will contact us first, then download them. That way people like flip don't get screwed if they wait to assign letters.

It sounds like your school's system is similar to mine in that they collect all our letters and submit them as one packet. That does mean all our schools will get the same packet. I think you can cover pretty much every school's requirements in 5 letters, so you shouldn't need 8.

 

[itsalovestory]

I don't think any one really fully understands how the letter system works, but I think AMCAS just makes them available to the schools you designate. That way when the schools are ready for them they just go download them. I think the schools will contact us first, then download them. That way people like flip don't get screwed if they wait to assign letters.

It sounds like your school's system is similar to mine in that they collect all our letters and submit them as one packet. That does mean all our schools will get the same packet. I think you can cover pretty much every school's requirements in 5 letters, so you shouldn't need 8.

Wait... not necessarily true. I assigned my letters to UMichigan, and although I haven't received a confirmation for a secondary or anything, UMichigan's website already has my letters on it which means they downloaded them already. I sincerely doubt that UMich consciously downloaded my letters and entered my recommenders' names onto my status page, and so it seems as if this is automatically done. Also, one of my letters arrived at AMCAS Thursday morning, and it was on UMich's website on Thursday afternoon.

 

[creativekat]

It sounds like your school's system is similar to mine in that they collect all our letters and submit them as one packet. That does mean all our schools will get the same packet. I think you can cover pretty much every school's requirements in 5 letters, so you shouldn't need 8.

I have 5 submitted to the career services ATM, but Harvard requires a letter from every PI and I've been in 3 labs (incl. a current summer research lab that I've been in for a couple weeks). I was only going to get it from the one PI who knows me best, which makes it 6. What should I do?

 

[lrkoehle]

I have 5 submitted to the career services ATM, but Harvard requires a letter from every PI and I've been in 3 labs (incl. a current summer research lab that I've been in for a couple weeks). I was only going to get it from the one PI who knows me best, which makes it 6. What should I do?

At my school, we have to pay a fee for them to do virtual evals. If this is similar at your school maybe you can pay the fee again for a second virtual evals account that you can then put the extra letters on. Then on AMCAS just designate both accounts to Harard, and then for your other schools only send the first 5 letters. Have you asked your school for ideas how to handle it?

I had another idea. Isn't it possible to send letters directly to AMCAS? If so, just have the other two reseach letters go to AMCAS idividually, and then you can assign those two letters as you see fit.

 

[lrkoehle]

It just occurred to me that I did not receive a confirmation email after paying Mayo. I seem to remember seeing somewhere that they would send one. Did anybody else get a email after paying?

My online banking shows a payment to Mayo as pending, so my money is going somewhere...

 

[osumc2014]

It just occurred to me that I did not receive a confirmation email after paying Mayo. I seem to remember seeing somewhere that they would send one. Did anybody else get a email after paying?

My online banking shows a payment to Mayo as pending, so my money is going somewhere...

Yes I did receive a confirmation email, make sure its not spammed out, also did you get a confirmation code? That should be good enough.

 

[lrkoehle]

Yes I did receive a confirmation email, make sure its not spammed out, also did you get a confirmation code? That should be good enough.

I did get a confirmation code, MMSMMS00000XXXX. Is that the format of the confirmation code you guys got? I am thinking I should call/email them to make sure nothing gets mixed up. I would be furious if something stupid like this affected my chances at Mayo after working so hard to be competitive there. Do you all think I should contact them?

 

[osumc2014]

I did get a confirmation code, MMSMMS00000XXXX. Is that the format of the confirmation code you guys got? I am thinking I should call/email them to make sure nothing gets mixed up. I would be furious if something stupid like this affected my chances at Mayo after working so hard to be competitive there. Do you all think I should contact them?

Ya thats the confirmation code. Here's the email, you decide if you need to contact them, I don't really think its necessary.

*** PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL ***
Thank you for your payment.
This email is to confirm your payment submitted on Jun-2009 for Application Fee Payment.
Confirmation Number: MMSMMS00000xxxx
Payment Amount: $100.00
Scheduled Payment Date: Jun-2009
Amount Due: $100.00
Account Nickname: N/A
Credit Card Number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Credit Card Type: XX
Expiration Date: XXX-XX-XXXX
If you have questions about this payment or need assistance, please view the payment online at http://www.mayo.edu/mms , or call Customer Service at (507)284-3671.
Thank you for using the Mayo Clinic electronic payment system.

 

[lrkoehle]

Ya thats the confirmation code. Here's the email, you decide if you need to contact them, I don't really think its necessary.

*** PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL ***
Thank you for your payment.
This email is to confirm your payment submitted on Jun-2009 for Application Fee Payment.
Confirmation Number: MMSMMS00000xxxx
Payment Amount: $100.00
Scheduled Payment Date: Jun-2009
Amount Due: $100.00
Account Nickname: N/A
Credit Card Number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Credit Card Type: XX
Expiration Date: XXX-XX-XXXX
If you have questions about this payment or need assistance, please view the payment online at http://www.mayo.edu/mms , or call Customer Service at (507)284-3671.
Thank you for using the Mayo Clinic electronic payment system.

Thanks. I think I will just give Marcy at Mayo a quick call Monday just to double check. It will only take a couple of minutes anyways. My bigger concern is that they sent the confirmation email, but somehow it went to the wrong email. Then I will miss the next series of emails.

 

[itsalovestory]

Thanks. I think I will just give Marcy at Mayo a quick call Monday just to double check. It will only take a couple of minutes anyways. My bigger concern is that they sent the confirmation email, but somehow it went to the wrong email. Then I will miss the next series of emails.

My Mayo confirmation went to my junk mail folder. Check that first.

 

[lrkoehle]

My Mayo confirmation went to my junk mail folder. Check that first.

The first email I got from Mayo went into my spam folder, so I added them to my contacts. The second email (the explaination about the fee being $100 not $85) went to my main inbox. Like I said, my bank shows it as being paid to Mayo, so I think they got my payment. I just don't know what happened to the confirmation. Too bad it is Sunday, I want to call them now.

 

[itsalovestory]

The first email I got from Mayo went into my spam folder, so I added them to my contacts. The second email (the explaination about the fee being $100 not $85) went to my main inbox. Like I said, my bank shows it as being paid to Mayo, so I think they got my payment. I just don't know what happened to the confirmation. Too bad it is Sunday, I want to call them now.

The two emails you received were from different addresses. The confirmation email comes from a third email address ([email protected]), even though it comes into your mailbox with the name [email protected] leading people to possibly think that they have them in their contacts list already.

 

[lrkoehle]

The two emails you received were from different addresses. The confirmation email comes from a third email address ([email protected]), even though it comes into your mailbox with the name [email protected] leading people to possibly think that they have them in their contacts list already.

That might be what happened then. What was the subject line? I be I looked at the sender and didn't recognize it as a medical school and deleted it.

 

[itsalovestory]

That might be what happened then. What was the subject line? I be I looked at the sender and didn't recognize it as a medical school and deleted it.

Payment Confirmation for Application Fee Payment

 

[lrkoehle]

Apparently Mayo will send out its own email when the process the payment and match it up to your application. This takes up to 48 hours (not including weekends), so has any one received an email from Mayo about the payment? If you paid the first day it would come in sometime before tomorrow.

 

[Jolt21]

not i.

but i do find it weird they are so early this year. like, a good 20 days earlier than last year.

sucks that the price also went up $15.

 

[lrkoehle]

not i.

but i do find it weird they are so early this year. like, a good 20 days earlier than last year.

sucks that the price also went up $15.

Well, they did say they were trying to accelerate everything this cycle. It makes me really happy. I am already going crazy as it is.

 

[lrkoehle]

Because I know you were all so worried about me, I just got the email from Mayo saying they got my payment. Apparently there was no need for me to be so crazy. I hope I get the LOR request now.

 

[itsalovestory]

Because I know you were all so worried about me, I just got the email from Mayo saying they got my payment. Apparently there was no need for me to be so crazy. I hope I get the LOR request now.

I got another email from them confirming the same thing... although my heart did skip a beat going, "NOOOOOO another email from Mayo = rejection!"

 

[osumc2014]

I got another email from them confirming the same thing... although my heart did skip a beat going, "NOOOOOO another email from Mayo = rejection!"

Ya same...so how long do you guys think til LOR requests will go out

 

[lrkoehle]

I got another email from them confirming the same thing... although my heart did skip a beat going, "NOOOOOO another email from Mayo = rejection!"

I don't think they would be rejecting us so quickly, so I didn't get worried. I am staying positive; I don't want to think about rejection from Mayo. I just hope all my efforts from the past few years will help me. We need to stay positive together!

 

[pharaoh88]

Ya same...so how long do you guys think til LOR requests will go out

It's hard to guess since Mayo sent out fee requests so early this year. But...if go off of what happened last year, we should be receiving rejections/LOR requests in the next week or two.

 

[lrkoehle]

I'm also guessing about a week or two. For those of us who paid our fee on the first day, it will be within two weeks probably. Does any one recall seeing anywhere how many LOR requests go out? I wrote it down somewhere, but I am not at home to look for it.

 

[cast128]

~4000 students apply via the AMCAS primary
~3200 applicants are asked to send in the secondary fee after a very low GPA/MCAT screen. Mayo then looks at the entire application including EC's and essays.
~600-800 applicants are asked to submit their letters of recommendation
~250-350 are offered interviews
~65-70 students are offered appointments to the class outright, and more are accepted from the alternate pool when students withdraw

I can't guarantee the accuracy of this but I would guess if is pretty close.

 

[Jolt21]

I got another email from them confirming the same thing... although my heart did skip a beat going, "NOOOOOO another email from Mayo = rejection!"

ditto.

next e-mail is the big one...

 

[lrkoehle]

ditto.

next e-mail is the big one...

Based on the numbers posted by Cast (originally posted by PremedIowa), you are correct. It seems that only about 25% of us will get asked for our LORs (probably more than 25% of us on SDN because some of you have crazy stats/ECs/etc.).

To update my last post, I think it will take about 2 weeks from the time Mayo actually got our payment, so add about 2 days onto the time from which you paid US Bank. That means maybe in 2 weeks from today we will know if we made the 2nd cut.

 

[CielloStelatto]

I'm afraid to submit to mayo until I get my mcat scores back, because you never know what they do without a score in my app. But you guys look so far along in the process, i'm jealous!

Good luck to everyone, though!
ps anyone else applying mstp?

 

[lrkoehle]

I'm afraid to submit to mayo until I get my mcat scores back, because you never know what they do without a score in my app. But you guys look so far along in the process, i'm jealous!

Good luck to everyone, though!
ps anyone else applying mstp?

I don't think they will do anything with it yet, but when they get your MCAT they will have it and be ready to go. They aren't just going to look, see no score, and throw out your app.

I'm not applying MSTP, sorry. I have a friend applying MSTP...

 

[Hyperstudyosis]

You guys are freaking me out! I haven't submitted my primary yet because I decided 5 days ago to apply this cycle! Mayo is my #1 choice though and I so dearly hope I get in!

 

[osumc2014]

You guys are freaking me out! I haven't submitted my primary yet because I decided 5 days ago to apply this cycle! Mayo is my #1 choice though and I so dearly hope I get in!

Thats OK, its still relatively early this cycle...Get all your stuff together and you'll be fine

 

[lrkoehle]

You guys are freaking me out! I haven't submitted my primary yet because I decided 5 days ago to apply this cycle! Mayo is my #1 choice though and I so dearly hope I get in!

Well it is only July 1st, so don't be too stressed. You definitely do not want to waste any time though either. As I have said multiple times, Mayo is running on an accelerated cycle this year, so being late this year is worse than in years past. Now like I said, it is still only July 1st, so even on an accelerated cycle it is still early. If you want an idea of how long it is taking people to get verified check out the 2009-2010 AMCAS verification thread in the main pre-allo forum.

If you don't mind me asking, why did you just decide 5 days ago to apply this cycle?

 

[bamtuba]

Alright everyone, I think they are starting.

I just received notice that they would be requesting my LORs in the next 48 hours.

everyone!

 

[pharaoh88]

Alright everyone, I think they are starting.

I just received notice that they would be requesting my LORs in the next 48 hours.

everyone!

Congrats bamtuba! That is a big step. I'm still shocked at how early they are getting started this year. AHHHHH

 

[flip26]

Alright everyone, I think they are starting.

I just received notice that they would be requesting my LORs in the next 48 hours.

everyone!

What kind of notice? Email? Carrier pigeon?

Why would they send an email before the email?

Now I am getting paranoid...

 

[pharaoh88]

I think he means that they emailed him saying they would download them in the next 48 hours, as they really don't have to "request" anything.

 

[bamtuba]

What kind of notice? Email? Carrier pigeon?

Why would they send an email before the email?

Now I am getting paranoid...

I got an e-mail asking for a pre-requisite clarification request.

I then got a response to that stating that I should expect to receive the request within 48 hours.

Marcy at Mayo is very helpful indeed!

 

[osumc2014]

What kind of notice? Email? Carrier pigeon?

Why would they send an email before the email?

Now I am getting paranoid...

HAHA YES!!! Carrier pigeons. He probably got that first cause he lives closest to Rochester

 

[lrkoehle]

I got an e-mail asking for a pre-requisite clarification request.

I then got a response to that stating that I should expect to receive the request within 48 hours.

Marcy at Mayo is very helpful indeed!

So you got a request for the pre-req clarification AND they told you they will be starting to request LORs in 48 hours? Do I understand that correctly? That would be insane to get the LOR request within a week from paying my fee to Mayo.

And yes, Marcy is awesome.

 

[flip26]

I think he means that they emailed him saying they would download them in the next 48 hours, as they really don't have to "request" anything.

I am pretty sure that they will notify applicants to submit their LORs...