2011-2012 Boston University Application Thread

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cici269 said:
ok yea, i just realized that the "!" goes away AFTER you enter in numbers...so nm.
but just to make sure, if u did AP English and 2 semesters of English in college, do you put 3 Total Lecture only Semesters, and 2 Total Semesters at Pref. Instit?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes. 3 total, two at preferred.
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cici269 said:
ok yea, i just realized that the "!" goes away AFTER you enter in numbers...so nm.
but just to make sure, if u did AP English and 2 semesters of English in college, do you put 3 Total Lecture only Semesters, and 2 Total Semesters at Pref. Instit?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes.

I included all of my AP credits, but did not count them as semesters at a preferred institution. I then explained down in the box that x semesters were from AP.
 
If you are not expecting to go directly to medical school after completing your undergraduate work, please explain. (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)

If you have spent more than 4 years as an undergraduate, please explain below. (You may skip this question if you have graduated within 4 years.)

I'm a bit confused what I should be entering for these 2 questions. I'm a post-bac. I graduated from a 4-year university, worked for 5 years, then just finished my post-bac courses (2 years). I plan to go to med school immediately.

For the first question, I'm expecting to go to medical school after my post bac. But my post-bac is not my undergrad, so do I have to explain the 5 years of work?

Also, it took me 4 years to receive my undergrad degree, but I spent 2 more years taking undergrad couses at my post-bac. Is this another one I should clarify?
 
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ghostman said:
If you are not expecting to go directly to medical school after completing your undergraduate work, please explain. (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)

If you have spent more than 4 years as an undergraduate, please explain below. (You may skip this question if you have graduated within 4 years.)

I'm a bit confused what I should be entering for these 2 questions. I'm a post-bac. I graduated from a 4-year university, worked for 5 years, then just finished my post-bac courses (2 years). I plan to go to med school immediately.

For the first question, I'm expecting to go to medical school after my post bac. But my post-bac is not my undergrad, so do I have to explain the 5 years of work?

Also, it took me 4 years to receive my undergrad degree, but I spent 2 more years taking undergrad couses at my post-bac. Is this another one I should clarify?
Click to expand...

Call admissions.
 
ghostman said:
If you are not expecting to go directly to medical school after completing your undergraduate work, please explain. (1400 character limit, approximately 280 words)

If you have spent more than 4 years as an undergraduate, please explain below. (You may skip this question if you have graduated within 4 years.)

I'm a bit confused what I should be entering for these 2 questions. I'm a post-bac. I graduated from a 4-year university, worked for 5 years, then just finished my post-bac courses (2 years). I plan to go to med school immediately.

For the first question, I'm expecting to go to medical school after my post bac. But my post-bac is not my undergrad, so do I have to explain the 5 years of work?

Also, it took me 4 years to receive my undergrad degree, but I spent 2 more years taking undergrad couses at my post-bac. Is this another one I should clarify?
Click to expand...
the first question should explain what you've done since ugrad. the second question doesn't apply to you.
 
BUMED2015 said:
Hi Shakespeare 37,

BU has many strengths:

Patient population - VERY diverse due to BU being a safety-net hospital. You will get to meet pts from all socioeconomic backgrounds, including international refugees. For this reason, BU has one of the best language interpretation services in the nation.

Research - BU is a strong research institution that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration. Many of our faculty members are leading experts in the fields. This is definitely a plus if you're interested in academic medicine.

Holistic Admissions - Thanks to BU's holistic approach to medicine, your medical peers will not only be intelligent and academically successful, but they will also have diverse life/work experiences and interests.

Early Clinical Exposure - You will get to work with pts starting from your first week of medical school. Also, BU has an introduction to clinical medicine course and an integrated problems course that allows you to apply what you learn in a classroom environment to real life cases. This fosters critical thinking skills early on.

Trauma Center - BU has the busiest major trauma center in New England, and BMC is the level I trauma center for boston.

Hope this helps a little!

Also, BU has the most transparent admissions process. If it knows for certain that they want to reject you, it will do so in exactly 3 weeks (plus or minus 2-3 days). It doesn't leave you hanging. Also, it's a good sign if you receive the "30 day" email (please see 2010-2011 thread for more details).

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

What is the "30 day" email?
 
For the prereq grid, would upper division inorganic chemistry be put in with general chemistry? I'm only asking because there doesn't seem to be any other category where it would go.
 
I got the secondary today at like 5 am. I have like 10 secondaries that I have yet to start. Gotta start cranking them out soon.

Boston U seems like an awesome school...problem is they get soo many apps. I feel like you have to be especially blessed to have your app looked at even.
 
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verified 6/1 got secondary yesterday..

Please provide a narrative or timeline to describe any features of your educational history that you think may be of particular interest to us. For example, have you lived in another country or experienced a culture unlike your own, or worked in a field that contributed to your understanding of people unlike yourself?


if I mention living in NY that I get to meet diverse group of ppl, would that be frown upon?

I feel like mentioning my residency state in appliation will be (-) b/c they would probably think "this person probably did not have intention to stay in boston after medical school or why would we wanna pick this person who does not have any relation with Boston"

Is this true? :( i hope not..
 
Does anyone have any idea how Boston feels about English prereqs? I go to a tech school (not many English gen ed requirements, or very many class options) and took a bunch of IB and AP classes in high school that covered them anyway. I've taken philosophy, reading and writing-intensive social science, and linguistics classes. Would any of these count?
 
Snuke said:
Yes.

I included all of my AP credits, but did not count them as semesters at a preferred institution. I then explained down in the box that x semesters were from AP.
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ok thanks!:)
 
The Email said that they accept three letters of rec (if there is no committee letter), can we also include a couple more, or would they prefer to limit it to three.
 
my undergrad had only 1 quarter for chemistry lab for 3 units. what should I do? It is definitely not 2 semesters.


actually read the instructions this time.
 
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I'm confused, are we not allowed to submit our secondary until BU receives our letters from AMCAS?
 
Submitted. :xf::xf::xf:

I really like their "first time research" opportunities and think it is just an awesome school in general.
 
Hmm, I wonder why I haven't received this secondary yet. I was verified 6/9 :confused:
 
"Or, have you experienced advanced training in any area, including the fields of art, music, or sports? This is an opportunity to describe learning experiences that may not be covered in other areas of this application. It is not necessary to write anything in this section. (2000 character limit, approximately 400 words)"

What exactly does "advanced training" mean? I took 7 years of piano lessons, and I've had 6 years of figure skating training, but this was quite a while back. Would these be relevant things to mention?
 
BUMED2015 said:
Hi Shakespeare 37,

BU has many strengths:

Patient population - VERY diverse due to BU being a safety-net hospital. You will get to meet pts from all socioeconomic backgrounds, including international refugees. For this reason, BU has one of the best language interpretation services in the nation.

Research - BU is a strong research institution that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration. Many of our faculty members are leading experts in the fields. This is definitely a plus if you're interested in academic medicine.

Holistic Admissions - Thanks to BU's holistic approach to medicine, your medical peers will not only be intelligent and academically successful, but they will also have diverse life/work experiences and interests.

Early Clinical Exposure - You will get to work with pts starting from your first week of medical school. Also, BU has an introduction to clinical medicine course and an integrated problems course that allows you to apply what you learn in a classroom environment to real life cases. This fosters critical thinking skills early on.

Trauma Center - BU has the busiest major trauma center in New England, and BMC is the level I trauma center for boston.

Hope this helps a little!

Also, BU has the most transparent admissions process. If it knows for certain that they want to reject you, it will do so in exactly 3 weeks (plus or minus 2-3 days). It doesn't leave you hanging. Also, it's a good sign if you receive the "30 day" email (please see 2010-2011 thread for more details).

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

In response to the other post above, yes BU does like liberal applicants in general, specifically folks who like to experience working with people from different backgrounds (maybe this is the definition of a true liberal, more open to new ideas and people), and if you are a member of GLBT community/URM then you find your classmates to be a comfortable fit.

This is how I would rate BU on a point-by-point objective basis:

1. Patient population. If you walk into pretty much any large urban medical school you will see a lot of diverse patient cases. In Boston, the big magnet hospital for difficult to diagnose cases is at Harvard (if you read the New England Journal of Medicine then you know that is where they get their interesting patient cases). I grew up in rural MA and my family doc always sent the really hard to diagnose cases to Harvard's MGH. Of course, BU gets unusual cases too, but due to MGH's repuation they feel the need to do some marketing concerning the diversity of cases at BUMC. I think its cool to come to BU for the cases, BUT realize that you can get this at many other hospitals around the country.

2. Research. I can't comment specifically on this aspect, but have known a couple of folks who have done research at BU. BU doesn't have everything as far as research goes, but has a handful of really strong areas, so do your research concerning this aspect (no pun intended.)

3. Early Clinical Exposure. It's no secret that PBLs and the early intro to clinical medicine courses seen at pretty much every school across the country were an effort by educators to help students learn critical clinical skills by teaching them from year one. In the end, only doing clinicals on the wards for months really gives you the immersive clinical experience that you need. Some of the clinical sites that BU uses are only so-so in terms of preceptors and what you actually learn.

4. Trauma Center. There are a lot of trauma cases, but you might not get that much exposure to them during your surgery clerkship, you do have the option to do an elective to see more. However, a lot of community hospitals and academic centers have large trauma services, it really doesn't matter if there is a super high case load as you can only see so much as a student and because there are so many students at BU you will compete for cases just like anywhere else. If you are interested in surgery then ask about this.

5. Education. Despite BU's positive offerings, the overall educational experience is pretty much what you would find at other medical schools. The Step 1 scores are average (have been for the last couple years), and Step 2 scores are supposedly average as well, but those don't matter unless you are going for an uber competitive specialty or are trying to make up for a poor Step 1. In the end, the education is what you make it, and BU doesn't enjoy any special preference in terms of applying for residency, you won't get a "Wow" factor on the C.V. like Harvard or John Hopkins. If you like swimming in a smaller pond then BU might be for you.

6. Clinicals can be rough, despite its progressive leanings BU is still an old-school medical school at heart. You will often be told that you won't be "spoon fed" during clerkships and learning is pretty much up to the student to be proactive. Overall, clinicals need to be improved and there is some increased crowding due to increasing number of students in each class.

7. Facuty mentorship: hit and miss. Some faculty can be pretty supportive, others you can tell that they don't really like interacting with students or they just aren't a good mentor for you personally. Do your due diligence and get to know somebody who is supportive. It can be very very very hard to setup a gap year or a special project! Know who helps and who doesn't before you bang your head against the wall too many times! Believe me, I've heard some horror stories. If you have a family, or are focused on just getting the core medical education, then you'll do fine, if you want to cure Malaria in your spare time then you will face some barriers. ( I know this isn't politically correct, but if you want a good mentor then get one who is "like" you, if you are GLBT then get a similar mentor, and if you are an URM then get a similar mentor, and same gender, a lot of faculty don't seem to pull for students who aren't like them in these respects. I know that it isn't PC to say this, but gender discrimination and even racism will rear their ugly head in subtle ways, even at BU.)

8. Tuition. Yes, it is very high and yes, living in Boston is very expensive, there's no way around this one. If you really want to live in Boston, or get and enjoy the whole BU vibe then go to the school, but otherwise I would consider a less expensive option if you can, like a state school, which in the end provides the same education at a fraction of the cost. Because of the high tuition, BU ranks near the bottom in terms of "Social Mission" medical schools, as most of us decide to go into higher paying positions such as hopsitalist, before deciding to work in a truly underserved environment. If you want to, right after residency, setup a clinic for underserved patients then have low tuition burden is key, so I would actually recommend a less expensive school in this scenario. I actually know two people who had to forgo fellowships (geriatric and cardiology), and work as a hospitalist to pay off loans before going back for the fellowship. Being flexible helps a lot.

Hope you all consider BU!:)
 
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stay gold said:
"Or, have you experienced advanced training in any area, including the fields of art, music, or sports? This is an opportunity to describe learning experiences that may not be covered in other areas of this application. It is not necessary to write anything in this section. (2000 character limit, approximately 400 words)"

What exactly does "advanced training" mean? I took 7 years of piano lessons, and I've had 6 years of figure skating training, but this was quite a while back. Would these be relevant things to mention?
Click to expand...

I think that is perfectly relevant.
 
BeanieWonder said:
This is how I would rate BU on a point-by-point objective basis...

Hope you all consider BU!:)
Click to expand...

Thank you for the wonderful point-by-point analysis. I wish all schools had a student giving such an unbiased view. No school is perfect, but all in different areas.
 
I have a committee letter that is part of a packet that includes three other letters of Rec. Should I answer question #3 on the LoR part of the seoncdary if it applies? Or is that question only for those that don't have a committee letter?
 
Can we submit our application before a committee letter has been uploaded, or do I need to wait until the committee letter has been received by BU in order to submit my application. I already had my interview and am waiting for the letter, not sure if I should submit and have the letter get to them when it gets to them, or if I should wait till it shows as received and then submit?
Any ideas?
 
topherP said:
Can we submit our application before a committee letter has been uploaded, or do I need to wait until the committee letter has been received by BU in order to submit my application. I already had my interview and am waiting for the letter, not sure if I should submit and have the letter get to them when it gets to them, or if I should wait till it shows as received and then submit?
Any ideas?
Click to expand...

It depends on your AMCAS application. If you've already designated BU as a recipient of your letter, then go ahead and submit BU. They'll get your letter when AMCAS sends it to them. If you haven't designated BU on your AMCAS, then it doesn't matter, BU won't get your letter till you designate them AND your committee uploads it. Long story short, submit to BU, designate in AMCAS, then just sit back and wait. :cool:
 
Shakespeare37 said:
It depends on your AMCAS application. If you've already designated BU as a recipient of your letter, then go ahead and submit BU. They'll get your letter when AMCAS sends it to them. If you haven't designated BU on your AMCAS, then it doesn't matter, BU won't get your letter till you designate them AND your committee uploads it. Long story short, submit to BU, designate in AMCAS, then just sit back and wait. :cool:
Click to expand...

BU has is on my AMCAS and has the letter to be sent to them once received by AMCAS. Thanks for the info, I 'll submit to them today and then play my favorite game... waiting...
 
Verifiefd 6/29
Got an email from BU 7:30 PM on 6/29 to expect a secondary.
Seconday Invite 6/30
Working on it now!
 
xATB said:
They send interview invites 3 weeks after being complete? Like without exception?
Click to expand...

I understand this as if you do not receive a rejection letter within 3 weeks (give or take a few days) after completion then your chances are better.:)
 
HereIgo2011 said:
I understand this as if you do not receive a rejection letter within 3 weeks (give or take a few days) after completion then your chances are better.:)
Click to expand...

This. If you don't get rejected in three weeks you passed the first round. Then you'll get an email after a month that you are still being considered.
 
Finally received the secondary! Working on it over the long weekend!
 
Anyone working on the MD/PhD statement?

Their webpage says you can paste the AMCAS personal statement if you have nothing additional to add. Thoughts?
 
For people that have said they are complete, did your status change from "application finalized" to "complete", or do you base your completeness off all items being marked green?
 
NeuralNetwork said:
For people that have said they are complete, did your status change from "application finalized" to "complete", or do you base your completeness off all items being marked green?
Click to expand...

It will say "Your application is complete. - xx/xx/2011"
 
So I ended up sending my LORs with my primary application. I also sent way too many. :confused: Does anyone know what I can do from here? Is it likely that they'll count that against me?
 
CaliKid2011 said:
So I ended up sending my LORs with my primary application. I also sent way too many. :confused: Does anyone know what I can do from here? Is it likely that they'll count that against me?
Click to expand...

I know I've also sent too many to a couple of schools because of the way my school handles LoRs. We pick the letters that we want to use this cycle, even if we only want to use them for some schools, and they get added to a packet together that then gets sent out everywhere we select.

I'm hoping that schools that only want a couple of letters will just ignore the ones they don't want (or, if they're really generous with their time, read 'em anyway). I wouldn't expect it to be too huge a deal, so I'm not overly concerned.

If you're worried, maybe you could email the admissions from those schools and ask them very politely to ignore some of the letters. I suppose I might do that if I were worried.
 
Just submitted! Filled out the educational history section but not the optional essay
 
The secondary questions cover two of the experiences I marked as most important on my AMCAS: travel and artistic endeavors.
Should I copy and paste my AMCAS descriptions/mini essays as the secondary? Or use them as a skeleton and add a little bit more detail?

I know it may seem silly to ask this, but when I applied to med school for the first time and interviewed, it was clear that the interviewers had barely read my AMCAS, if they had read it at all. One interviewer pulled out my AMCAS and acted in a way that made me feel that he was reading it for the first time. Because of this, it seems like it would be a good thing to reuse AMCAS material on secondaries so that you know the message gets across.

Am I crazy? Thanks for the help! :)
 
CaliKid2011 said:
So I ended up sending my LORs with my primary application. I also sent way too many. :confused: Does anyone know what I can do from here? Is it likely that they'll count that against me?
Click to expand...

How many are we allowed to send, I know it says 3, but then again it says if there are other important letters you want to add to go ahead, but is there a MAX that your worried about?
 
What are we supposed to do if we took more than 20 classes of Humanities? (i took 22 total, 19 at preferred institution and 3 AP). The Grid only allows you to go up to 20 "Total Lecture Only Semesters". Any ideas? Thanks!
 
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