2013-2014 Rutgers University - NJMS Application Thread

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Space reserved for prompt.

Please PM the essays or lack thereof to me when the secondary is available and I will update this.

Good luck to everyone applying! :luck:
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NJ Resident. 3.57 GPA / 31 (12/10/9) MCAT Any shot here? Good luck everyone!
 
Darth said:
NJ Resident. 3.57 GPA / 31 (12/10/9) MCAT Any shot here? Good luck everyone!
Click to expand...

Well the Class of 2016 average was 3.60 and 3.65 sgpa with a 32 Mcat. I suspect the incoming class would be slightly higher so I'd say your within range.
 
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Did anyone receive secondaries yet?
I am still waiting to be verified. Maybe they only send to EDP applicants first.
 
Just received a secondary from here!
 
Secondary's up. Same as last year. I'm unverified and received jt
 
Received the secondary today as well – unverified (submitted 6/27), NJ resident, 4.0/33.

Hoping for a shot here!
 
Is not having any relation to New Jersey a horrible thing for the secondary application?
 
.
 
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DoktorO said:
Is not having any relation to New Jersey a horrible thing for the secondary application?
Click to expand...

It certainly doesn't help. It is a state school that has historically taken a significant number of students from NJ.
 
I'm looking at last year and the year before's secondary questions and they both don't have the following question/prompt:

"Please feel free to elaborate on any additional information pertaining to your candidacy for medical school."

What exactly do you write for this? Is this an optional prompt?
 
yea, thats what i think. im not writing anything for that though
 
Darth said:
It certainly doesn't help. It is a state school that has historically taken a significant number of students from NJ.
Click to expand...

do you have a particular interest in the school/
 
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Anyone else having an issue submitting the 2ndary? Keeps coming back with a failed report with debugging
 
Question to all about the secondary prompt:

Please provide any additional insight into those personal characteristics you believe make you an ideal candidate for NJMS?
Click to expand...

How would you address this? Did you just hit the main points that qualify you for medical school, or did you tailor it to NJMS specifically?
 
Hey guys, incoming student here. I will try to follow this thread throughout the year and answer as many questions as I can.

How would you address this? Did you just hit the main points that qualify you for medical school, or did you tailor it to NJMS specifically?
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I think I answered this by outlining a few of my interesting characteristics, while connecting those characteristics to the school's mission (which can be found on the website). If you think you have something specific that really sets you apart from the rest of the applicants then by all means talk about it. But I think just talking about yourself and how you could add to the school works as well.

Also last year I submitted my secondary and then later on found out that my last sentence had been cut off. Kind of freaked out because I knew I was really interested in this school, but it all worked out in the end. Main point is that admissions knows you are human, and that both human and computer errors happen. So try not to freak about spelling or anything like that too much. If they are a good candidate they will interview you.

Is not having any relation to New Jersey a horrible thing for the secondary application?
Click to expand...

I personally wouldn't want to pay OOS tuition for NJMS, it can be pretty painful. That, combined with the tiny amount of accepted OOS students, would really make me question submitting that secondary. Ask yourself why you want to come to this school. Are you afraid you don't have a good chance of getting in anywhere else? Because if so, then this school is not a good bet.
 
hey guys, after you submitted your secondary, did you guys only get a payment confirmation email?? How do you check your status of your application????
 
Anyone have insight on clinical exposure experiences at NJMS vs RWJ?

Good Luck all!
 
Any thoughts on answering the second prompt in the secondary?

The one that asks if there is any additional information you would like to share? Is that for explaining low grades, MCAT, etc? Or is it another essay to highlight your interest?

Just wondering what the rest of you guys thought!
 
Xylene said:
Any thoughts on answering the second prompt in the secondary?

The one that asks if there is any additional information you would like to share? Is that for explaining low grades, MCAT, etc? Or is it another essay to highlight your interest?

Just wondering what the rest of you guys thought!
Click to expand...

I just finished my secondary for NJMS, but I won't be submitting it until I'm verified (need to gather the funds).

I answered that question by highlighting aspects of the school that interest me (such as their thesis program, which appeals strongly to me as my focus during undergrad was research). With that said, though, I think the question is open to whatever you'd like to talk about. Some may use it to explain low grades, while others may try to emphasize their "fit" with the program.

This is just my impression – I'd love additional insight from matriculants or anyone with experience here.
 
This year's prompts! Pretty similar to last year's:


Please discuss any personal characteristics you believe make you an ideal candidate for NJMS? (Please respond in 1500 characters or less)

If your legal residence on your AMCAS application is not NJ, please answer questions 4a and 4b:

a. Please discuss specific and/or unique reasons you have applied to NJMS. (Please respond in 1000 characters or less)

b. Please discuss significant connections to New Jersey (i.e. family, previous residence, etc.). (Please respond in 1000 characters or less)

Please feel free to elaborate on any additional information pertaining to your candidacy for medical school. (Please respond in 1500 characters or less)

If you are not attending college/university full-time as of fall 2013, please describe your planned activities from June 2013 through August 2014. (Please respond in 1500 characters or less)
 
Does anyone know when the committee is meeting first for early decision applicants? Is it today. Or tomorrow?
 
KeithRY19 said:
Anyone have insight on clinical exposure experiences at NJMS vs RWJ?

Good Luck all!
Click to expand...

As someone who went to Rutgers and got into both schools I have a bit of insight into this question.

NJMS is primarily associated with University Hospital, which is a large intercity trauma center. RWJ is primarily associated with RWJUH, which is also a large trauma center, but tends to bring in more private patients than UH. From what I have gathered UH offers a great clinical experience because the hospital is constantly overwhelmed by a very large number of patients, as well as a lack of sufficient employees to handle those patients. That means that as a student you get to get your hands dirty early, and you get them dirty often. That combined with the fact that NJMS is directly connected to the hospital (whereas RWJ hospital is in another town) seems to allow students very early clinical exposure (assuming they are interested in it and know where to look - for example the emergency room elective rotation that you can do the very first semester). That's not to say that RWJ have a hard time getting clinical experience, it just seems that they are further removed from it and slightly more hindered by the type of patient population that comes to their main hospital (more private patients typically means less first hand experience for medical students).

Both schools have student run clinics but once again NJMS seems to do better in this regard (get to do more, have more autonomy in the clinic). There is a very popular health professions counselor at the Rutgers undergraduate campus who, despite his proximity to RWJ, always raves about how amazing the NJMS student clinic is.

In terms of third year rotation sites NJMS students get to rotate at HackensackUMC, which is rated the best hospital in the state (not that ratings are everything). Its seems the combination of UH, where you get to see a lot of intercity patients, and Hackensack, where you see a lot of private patients, gives students a good exposure to different populations. RWJ students rotate mostly at RWJUH, Princeton, and Jersey Shore Medical. RWJ was talking about starting a program where students could choose to do all of their rotations at Jersey Shore and would be able to follow groups of patients throughout their rotations (you would be assigned patients and would come to all of their doctors appointments within the hospital, thus building a patient relationship over the year). It sounded very interesting, but I don't think I would want to be at one hospital the entire year.

Of course a lot of these things are personal preference. So take from this what you will.
 
When I spoke to the director of admissions for NJMS she mentioned all of these things which I found really interesting and attractive about that school.

My only concern is the amount of debt UH is in. I read that with the merger, Rutgers will take both medical schools and RWJUH and that UH will become its own state-funded entity. Rutgers will not take over the $116.9 million debt UH is in (that duty is handed over to the state). I know they were looking for a nonprofit company to partner with the hospital but, to the best of my knowledge, the state still hasn't come up with a solution to handle that debt.

The unresolved future of UH just makes me a little bit nervous but, of course, both Jersey MD schools are excellent and I would be happy to go to either one.
 
futureczar said:
As someone who went to Rutgers and got into both schools I have a bit of insight into this question.

NJMS is primarily associated with University Hospital, which is a large intercity trauma center. RWJ is primarily associated with RWJUH, which is also a large trauma center, but tends to bring in more private patients than UH. From what I have gathered UH offers a great clinical experience because the hospital is constantly overwhelmed by a very large number of patients, as well as a lack of sufficient employees to handle those patients. That means that as a student you get to get your hands dirty early, and you get them dirty often. That combined with the fact that NJMS is directly connected to the hospital (whereas RWJ hospital is in another town) seems to allow students very early clinical exposure (assuming they are interested in it and know where to look - for example the emergency room elective rotation that you can do the very first semester). That's not to say that RWJ have a hard time getting clinical experience, it just seems that they are further removed from it and slightly more hindered by the type of patient population that comes to their main hospital (more private patients typically means less first hand experience for medical students).

Both schools have student run clinics but once again NJMS seems to do better in this regard (get to do more, have more autonomy in the clinic). There is a very popular health professions counselor at the Rutgers undergraduate campus who, despite his proximity to RWJ, always raves about how amazing the NJMS student clinic is.

In terms of third year rotation sites NJMS students get to rotate at HackensackUMC, which is rated the best hospital in the state (not that ratings are everything). Its seems the combination of UH, where you get to see a lot of intercity patients, and Hackensack, where you see a lot of private patients, gives students a good exposure to different populations. RWJ students rotate mostly at RWJUH, Princeton, and Jersey Shore Medical. RWJ was talking about starting a program where students could choose to do all of their rotations at Jersey Shore and would be able to follow groups of patients throughout their rotations (you would be assigned patients and would come to all of their doctors appointments within the hospital, thus building a patient relationship over the year). It sounded very interesting, but I don't think I would want to be at one hospital the entire year.

Of course a lot of these things are personal preference. So take from this what you will.
Click to expand...

Great post. Thank you for your input.
 
Why should the debt of the hospital bother you... It's not like you won't have rotations there still. Plus more debt means less staff and better cases for students.
 
spankydog said:
When I spoke to the director of admissions for NJMS she mentioned all of these things which I found really interesting and attractive about that school.

My only concern is the amount of debt UH is in. I read that with the merger, Rutgers will take both medical schools and RWJUH and that UH will become its own state-funded entity. Rutgers will not take over the $116.9 million debt UH is in (that duty is handed over to the state). I know they were looking for a nonprofit company to partner with the hospital but, to the best of my knowledge, the state still hasn't come up with a solution to handle that debt.

The unresolved future of UH just makes me a little bit nervous but, of course, both Jersey MD schools are excellent and I would be happy to go to either one.
Click to expand...

To echo what giants25 said, don't let the debt bother you. What are you worried about? The hospital closing down? Just like our nations biggest banks, UH is too big to fail. The area relies waaaaay too much on this hospital for it to close down. I believe that the decision not to include UH in the merger is a strategic move for Rutgers to not have to support the hospital (NJMS used to actually give money to the hospital, which from what I understand is a ridiculously rare scenario). Rutgers probably didn't want anything to do with that, and pushed hard for UH to not be included. But trust me, there is absolutely no way this area will survive without UH. There are just simply way too many patients who rely on this hospital, and who would have nowhere to go if the hospital were to close. Not to mention UH is northern jersey's only level 1 trauma center. UH will either be picked up by a private organization (St Barnabas, one of the largest healthcare organizations in the area, has been looking at UH for at least a few years now) or the state will continue to fund them. In any case I don't think any of this will negatively impact NJMS or their students.
 
futureczar said:
As someone who went to Rutgers and got into both schools I have a bit of insight into this question.

NJMS is primarily associated with University Hospital, which is a large intercity trauma center. RWJ is primarily associated with RWJUH, which is also a large trauma center, but tends to bring in more private patients than UH. From what I have gathered UH offers a great clinical experience because the hospital is constantly overwhelmed by a very large number of patients, as well as a lack of sufficient employees to handle those patients. That means that as a student you get to get your hands dirty early, and you get them dirty often. That combined with the fact that NJMS is directly connected to the hospital (whereas RWJ hospital is in another town) seems to allow students very early clinical exposure (assuming they are interested in it and know where to look - for example the emergency room elective rotation that you can do the very first semester). That's not to say that RWJ have a hard time getting clinical experience, it just seems that they are further removed from it and slightly more hindered by the type of patient population that comes to their main hospital (more private patients typically means less first hand experience for medical students).

Both schools have student run clinics but once again NJMS seems to do better in this regard (get to do more, have more autonomy in the clinic). There is a very popular health professions counselor at the Rutgers undergraduate campus who, despite his proximity to RWJ, always raves about how amazing the NJMS student clinic is.

In terms of third year rotation sites NJMS students get to rotate at HackensackUMC, which is rated the best hospital in the state (not that ratings are everything). Its seems the combination of UH, where you get to see a lot of intercity patients, and Hackensack, where you see a lot of private patients, gives students a good exposure to different populations. RWJ students rotate mostly at RWJUH, Princeton, and Jersey Shore Medical. RWJ was talking about starting a program where students could choose to do all of their rotations at Jersey Shore and would be able to follow groups of patients throughout their rotations (you would be assigned patients and would come to all of their doctors appointments within the hospital, thus building a patient relationship over the year). It sounded very interesting, but I don't think I would want to be at one hospital the entire year.

Of course a lot of these things are personal preference. So take from this what you will.
Click to expand...

current NJMS 4th year student here and I agree with this post. The clinical experience received at NJMS, while my only perspective, I truly believe to be second to none. Don't worry about UH being in debt as someone said, you'll always have good training here
 
Endure said:
I just finished my secondary for NJMS, but I won't be submitting it until I'm verified (need to gather the funds).

I answered that question by highlighting aspects of the school that interest me (such as their thesis program, which appeals strongly to me as my focus during undergrad was research). With that said, though, I think the question is open to whatever you'd like to talk about. Some may use it to explain low grades, while others may try to emphasize their "fit" with the program.

This is just my impression – I'd love additional insight from matriculants or anyone with experience here.
Click to expand...

true, you should mention anything about yourself and your life you believe is relevant. Also, maybe the unique patient population (literally almost 100% of patients are poor and on charity care) interests you in one way or another, and maybe you plan to work with these patients in the future. I bet if you did, the school would love to hear about it
 
image187 said:
true, you should mention anything about yourself and your life you believe is relevant. Also, maybe the unique patient population (literally almost 100% of patients are poor and on charity care) interests you in one way or another, and maybe you plan to work with these patients in the future. I bet if you did, the school would love to hear about it
Click to expand...

Awesome – thanks for the help!
 
Last edited:
Does anyone know when early decision applicants that have already interviewed find out?
 
igeak691 said:
Anyone else having an issue submitting the 2ndary? Keeps coming back with a failed report with debugging
Click to expand...

Hey, I have the same error message. Were you able to get it fixed? Please let me know. Thanks.
 
I received a 4.0 in UMDNJ's masters program (concentration in neuroscience). The relief is overwhelming!!!!!
 
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futureczar said:
As someone who went to Rutgers and got into both schools I have a bit of insight into this question.

NJMS is primarily associated with University Hospital, which is a large intercity trauma center. RWJ is primarily associated with RWJUH, which is also a large trauma center, but tends to bring in more private patients than UH. From what I have gathered UH offers a great clinical experience because the hospital is constantly overwhelmed by a very large number of patients, as well as a lack of sufficient employees to handle those patients. That means that as a student you get to get your hands dirty early, and you get them dirty often. That combined with the fact that NJMS is directly connected to the hospital (whereas RWJ hospital is in another town) seems to allow students very early clinical exposure (assuming they are interested in it and know where to look - for example the emergency room elective rotation that you can do the very first semester). That's not to say that RWJ have a hard time getting clinical experience, it just seems that they are further removed from it and slightly more hindered by the type of patient population that comes to their main hospital (more private patients typically means less first hand experience for medical students).

Both schools have student run clinics but once again NJMS seems to do better in this regard (get to do more, have more autonomy in the clinic). There is a very popular health professions counselor at the Rutgers undergraduate campus who, despite his proximity to RWJ, always raves about how amazing the NJMS student clinic is.

In terms of third year rotation sites NJMS students get to rotate at HackensackUMC, which is rated the best hospital in the state (not that ratings are everything). Its seems the combination of UH, where you get to see a lot of intercity patients, and Hackensack, where you see a lot of private patients, gives students a good exposure to different populations. RWJ students rotate mostly at RWJUH, Princeton, and Jersey Shore Medical. RWJ was talking about starting a program where students could choose to do all of their rotations at Jersey Shore and would be able to follow groups of patients throughout their rotations (you would be assigned patients and would come to all of their doctors appointments within the hospital, thus building a patient relationship over the year). It sounded very interesting, but I don't think I would want to be at one hospital the entire year.

Of course a lot of these things are personal preference. So take from this what you will.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify a few points and play devil's advocate (I'll be attending RWJMS as an M1 this year). First off, you can't go wrong with either school - both will provide you with a great education and if you are a NJ state resident, you would be hard pressed to go somewhere else (unless you're talking a Top 10-15 school...) Both UH and RWJ are Level 1 Trauma Centers though you will get more penetrating at UH and more blunt at RWJ. As for the rest of the clinical experience and how hands on you will get in M3 and M4, I can't speak to it because I have never worked in Newark, NJ. From what we have been told here in Piscataway/New Brunswick, our clinical experience will be quite strong, rotating between RWJ, Jersey Shore, and Princeton.

While I agree with most of the rest of the post, where I will differ is the issue of the location of the hospitals. At NJMS, most M3/M4 students (and I've known a whole bunch) won't even live in Newark, so the fact that the medical school is near the hospital is kind of irrelevant. The city is a dump - let's not sugar coat it. Now there are a ton of beautiful surrounding towns/cities (Hoboken, Montclair, etc.) where a ton of students live and commute into Newark and it works out just fine for them. On the other hand, at RWJMS, most M3 and M4's move from Piscataway (where the Rutgers campus, medical school, and first two years mostly take place) into New Brunswick - meaning they are within walking distance of the hospital. Also the two towns are about 5 minutes apart. Just a personal preference, but New Brunswick, College Avenue, etc. was more appealing to me for my M3/M4 than Newark, NJ. Last little correction I had was that Morristown Medical Center has been ranked #1 for the last three years, though Hackensack is up there, too. I do think NJMS rotates there though as well, but I know many RWJMS have chosen to do time there too. Anyway, not trying to hijack the thread - the way I saw it - as long as I got into 1 of the 2, I was going to be ecstatic. Best of luck to everyone.
 
WFMD17 said:
Just to clarify a few points and play devil's advocate (I'll be attending RWJMS as an M1 this year). First off, you can't go wrong with either school - both will provide you with a great education and if you are a NJ state resident, you would be hard pressed to go somewhere else (unless you're talking a Top 10-15 school...) Both UH and RWJ are Level 1 Trauma Centers though you will get more penetrating at UH and more blunt at RWJ. As for the rest of the clinical experience and how hands on you will get in M3 and M4, I can't speak to it because I have never worked in Newark, NJ. From what we have been told here in Piscataway/New Brunswick, our clinical experience will be quite strong, rotating between RWJ, Jersey Shore, and Princeton.

While I agree with most of the rest of the post, where I will differ is the issue of the location of the hospitals. At NJMS, most M3/M4 students (and I've known a whole bunch) won't even live in Newark, so the fact that the medical school is near the hospital is kind of irrelevant. The city is a dump - let's not sugar coat it. Now there are a ton of beautiful surrounding towns/cities (Hoboken, Montclair, etc.) where a ton of students live and commute into Newark and it works out just fine for them. On the other hand, at RWJMS, most M3 and M4's move from Piscataway (where the Rutgers campus, medical school, and first two years mostly take place) into New Brunswick - meaning they are within walking distance of the hospital. Also the two towns are about 5 minutes apart. Just a personal preference, but New Brunswick, College Avenue, etc. was more appealing to me for my M3/M4 than Newark, NJ. Last little correction I had was that Morristown Medical Center has been ranked #1 for the last three years, though Hackensack is up there, too. I do think NJMS rotates there though as well, but I know many RWJMS have chosen to do time there too. Anyway, not trying to hijack the thread - the way I saw it - as long as I got into 1 of the 2, I was going to be ecstatic. Best of luck to everyone.
Click to expand...

Great post with a differing viewpoint. Not that I agree with all of it but definitely something's for applicants to think about. Either way your getting an amazing education.
 
WFMD17 said:
Just to clarify a few points and play devil's advocate (I'll be attending RWJMS as an M1 this year). First off, you can't go wrong with either school - both will provide you with a great education and if you are a NJ state resident, you would be hard pressed to go somewhere else (unless you're talking a Top 10-15 school...) Both UH and RWJ are Level 1 Trauma Centers though you will get more penetrating at UH and more blunt at RWJ. As for the rest of the clinical experience and how hands on you will get in M3 and M4, I can't speak to it because I have never worked in Newark, NJ. From what we have been told here in Piscataway/New Brunswick, our clinical experience will be quite strong, rotating between RWJ, Jersey Shore, and Princeton.

While I agree with most of the rest of the post, where I will differ is the issue of the location of the hospitals. At NJMS, most M3/M4 students (and I've known a whole bunch) won't even live in Newark, so the fact that the medical school is near the hospital is kind of irrelevant. The city is a dump - let's not sugar coat it. Now there are a ton of beautiful surrounding towns/cities (Hoboken, Montclair, etc.) where a ton of students live and commute into Newark and it works out just fine for them. On the other hand, at RWJMS, most M3 and M4's move from Piscataway (where the Rutgers campus, medical school, and first two years mostly take place) into New Brunswick - meaning they are within walking distance of the hospital. Also the two towns are about 5 minutes apart. Just a personal preference, but New Brunswick, College Avenue, etc. was more appealing to me for my M3/M4 than Newark, NJ. Last little correction I had was that Morristown Medical Center has been ranked #1 for the last three years, though Hackensack is up there, too. I do think NJMS rotates there though as well, but I know many RWJMS have chosen to do time there too. Anyway, not trying to hijack the thread - the way I saw it - as long as I got into 1 of the 2, I was going to be ecstatic. Best of luck to everyone.
Click to expand...

I'm not exactly sure which rankings you looked at when posting this, but according to this as of today HUMC is #1 and Morristown #2:

http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/nj

Morristown is a fantastic hospital though. I did my surgery rotation there and absolutely loved it, I actually felt a little spoiled being allowed to be in such a nice place (and it gives students a meal card!)

I think you've made it clear which school you're biased towards, so that point is taken. But you have no clinical medical school experience to back up your assertions. Do you have any statistics or an article on this blunt trauma statement? I tried to look this up for a while and can't find anything. Maybe a 4th year at RWJMS may chime in soon to let us all in on the scoop. As for clinical years, it's not really about living in the same city as your main hospital, firstly as you're going to be many different places for your rotations and secondly because as you said other towns are probably nicer (and safer) to be in. Many students however live in 180 (dorms) next to the hospital/school for first and second year. People realize that most of newark is a "dump", but they dont go to NJMS hoping to soak up the scenery of a beautiful city - they go there for a good medical education.
 
Has anyone received a complete email from NJMS ?
 
I got a second interview invite. Has anyone got it as well? any suggestions?
 
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