2013-2014 University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

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mtb1507 said:
What are everyone's thoughts regarding the optional essay? Being a somewhat below-average applicant (see stats above), I thought it would be good to show initiative and submit a response. I've had friends at UW, however, say that my response may come off as "trying too hard." Thoughts?
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I don't think your friends know what they are talking about. Half this processes is about showing motivation and perseverance. They do not like laziness; ie. leaving things blank. Especially when you have something valid to explain.

Few people realize how awesome Wisconsin's secondary is. Specifically, the fact that there are no word limits in the chronology. Brevity is essential, but giving them a full picture of who you are is very important. Trust me, when you get wait listed at the end of the cycle, you wish you could go back and give them more details about who you are and why they should pick you.
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mtb1507 said:
What are everyone's thoughts regarding the optional essay? Being a somewhat below-average applicant (see stats above), I thought it would be good to show initiative and submit a response. I've had friends at UW, however, say that my response may come off as "trying too hard." Thoughts?
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I think it's one of the more non-optional optional ones. They clearly inviting you giving them more information.

I ended up putting in a merger of my diversity essay and a 'why wisconsin' essay. I am OOS without ties and wanted to make my specific interest in the school clear.
 
mtb1507 said:
Would love to get some feedback on my application for UW. I have five interviews lined up elsewhere, but being a WI resident and having a familial history with UW, I would enjoy staying in the area.

MCAT: balanced 32
GPA: (what I perceive as my greatest weakness)
sGPA: 3.32 - AMCAS way of averaging an original grade with the retake hurt me. I have two classes that were retakes, one with extraneous circumstances that is explained in my personal statement.
cGPA: 3.51

Degree in Biology, University Honors Program Graduate.
Extracurriculars are all over the place, from competing as a collegiate volleyball player, to titles in equestrianism, to music.
+ 900 hours of non-medical related volunteer experience.
+ 1500 hours as an ER scribe.
+ 2000 hours as a phlebotomist
+ 200 hours as a Health Coach and Health Risk Assessment screener
+ 4000 hours as a Service Desk Tech for Yahoo!
+ 200 hours of primary, archival research in the Wisconsin Historical Society with first author publication of my final thesis.
+ 200 hours as a tutor and note-taker.
Currently working as a medical assistant during my gap year.

My personal statement and the optional essay for UW detail the reason for my class retake. They also emphasize that adapting my time management skills to accommodate multiple positions (2-4 at a time during school) is reflected in my grades not having any consistent trend, one way or another.

Any thoughts are welcomed, and good luck to everyone applying.
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You have more than 9000 hours of extracurriculars?
Which is more than a year's worth of work 24/7 without sleep or weekends.
 
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MrPotat0 said:
You have more than 9000 hours of extracurriculars?
Which is more than a year's worth of work 24/7 without sleep or weekends.
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None traditional applicants have real experience. I have over 6,000 hours of research alone. It's the reason the average age of matriculation is 24.
 
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Correct, I took a gap year and worked 40-60 hours per week during my final three years of undergrad. Any opinions (in place of skeptical criticism) on my application would be appreciated.
 
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mtb1507 said:
Correct, I took a gap year and worked 40-60 hours per week during my final three years of undergrad. Any opinions (in place of skeptical criticism) on my application would be appreciated.
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what do you want from us that the msar and wamc forums can't handle? all you're going to get is opinions from other applicants.
 
Nah- there are current students and reapplicants out there that can lend useful input.
 
mtb1507 said:
Nah- there are current students and reapplicants out there that can lend useful input.
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lol reapplicants' advice would seem to be of dubious value if they didn't get in the first time, but yeah i see your point about current students. good luck to you in your quest for information.
 
My biggest question is why did you have to work so much during college? Equestrianism is the kind of thing that usually only people from well-to-do backgrounds can afford. I just think it's weird that you can afford one of the ritziest sports possible, but still have to work 40-60 hours a week with classes to pay for college.
 
cookiemonsters said:
My biggest question is why did you have to work so much during college? Equestrianism is the kind of thing that usually only people from well-to-do backgrounds can afford. I just think it's weird that you can afford one of the ritziest sports possible, but still have to work 40-60 hours a week with classes.
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passion, my friend. if you love something, you'll do anything for it.
 
I'm a first generation college student and do not come from a "well-to-do" background. My tuition, along with everything equine related, was paid for by me.
 
Has anyone else not been had their residency verified yet? I submitted around August 18-20 and I'm instate.
 
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Captain Sisko said:
lol reapplicants' advice would seem to be of dubious value if they didn't get in the first time, but yeah i see your point about current students. good luck to you in your quest for information.
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I'm not offended, because I would probably say the same thing if I was in your shoes. I would advise you to reconsider that thought though. In my case I interviewed at three top 30 schools and was wait listed at each. I was told by all three that I was a great applicant, I just lacked clinical experience. I don't think this detracts from my ability to give advice about this process in any way. I have spoken to my interviewers, the Deans of admissions at a few schools, and pre-med advisors that reviewed the comments on my files after my interviews. In most cases, people who got close to being accepted actually know more about the process than those that were accepted because they seek out answers as to why they didn't make the cut.
 
jlescher said:
i'm not offended, because i would probably say the same thing if i was in your shoes. I would advise you to reconsider that thought though. In my case i interviewed at three top 30 schools and was wait listed at each. I was told by all three that i was a great applicant, i just lacked clinical experience. I don't think this detracts from my ability to give advice about this process in any way. I have spoken to my interviewers, the deans of admissions at a few schools, and pre-med advisors that reviewed the comments on my files after my interviews. In most cases, people who got close to being accepted actually know more about the process than those that were accepted because they seek out answers as to why they didn't make the cut.
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+1
 
jlescher said:
I'm not offended, because I would probably say the same thing if I was in your shoes. I would advise you to reconsider that thought though. In my case I interviewed at three top 30 schools and was wait listed at each. I was told by all three that I was a great applicant, I just lacked clinical experience. I don't think this detracts from my ability to give advice about this process in any way. I have spoken to my interviewers, the Deans of admissions at a few schools, and pre-med advisors that reviewed the comments on my files after my interviews. In most cases, people who got close to being accepted actually know more about the process than those that were accepted because they seek out answers as to why they didn't make the cut.
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i see your point, but i maintain that reapplicants' opinions are still of dubious value, just because they might know why their application didn't work at a particular school. transferring that insight, which may or may not be the complete story, to someone else's brief description of themselves, doesn't seem like it would be much better than nothing. along with that, i don't think anyone can really tell you the strength of an application except for yourself and maybe the adcom who's reviewing it.

i suspect the reason is because it's not just a numbers game with a checklist of activities. i would posit that on your last cycle, people with equal or fewer hours of clinical time got in, but they talked about it in a more meaningful way. the previous poster can say they worked 9000 hours on something, but unless they say exactly what they got out of their experiences no one, especially no one on student doctor, can tell them what that buys them.
 
Captain Sisko said:
i see your point, but i maintain that reapplicants' opinions are still of dubious value, just because they might know why their application didn't work at a particular school. transferring that insight, which may or may not be the complete story, to someone else's brief description of themselves, doesn't seem like it would be much better than nothing. along with that, i don't think anyone can really tell you the strength of an application except for yourself and maybe the adcom who's reviewing it.

i suspect the reason is because it's not just a numbers game with a checklist of activities. i would posit that on your last cycle, people with equal or fewer hours of clinical time got in, but they talked about it in a more meaningful way. the previous poster can say they worked 9000 hours on something, but unless they say exactly what they got out of their experiences no one, especially no one on student doctor, can tell them what that buys them.
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I agree with you for the most part. Mainly that SDN is not the best place for advice regrading applications. Replies and critiques are often thin and incomplete at best.

Regarding my application, no one really got in with equal or less than me because I only had about 20 hours of shadowing. I don't know a single person who has gotten in with this or less. It's a long story but I did a lot of shadowing during the application year and by the time I interviewed at Wisconsin I had great experience. The problem was my interviewer didn't mention it in the review. By the time I found out about this after emailing her and getting feedback from the pre-med advisor, I had been wait listed and cut from the list.

This brings me to another point. The first screens in this process are often done by one person. They review your file and screen you in for a secondary or an interview. You either impress them or you don't. That's why getting interviews can seem so random at times. I believe this is why I got the interviews I did. I assume the person who read my file really liked that I work at the NIH and I have a lot of research experience. Then you interview and your interviewer writes up a review. Typically in favor or against admittance. After that your interviewer has little to no influence on the decision. At this point 1-3 people have weighed in on your application. The file then goes to the adcom (5-10 people) for a decision. If they collectively vote and are apprehensive about an applicant, in my case lack of clinical experience, they get the ax. This is why people can have great interviews and end up getting rejected. Likewise, you can have a bad interview and get accepted.
 
jlescher said:
I agree with you for the most part. Mainly that SDN is not the best place for advice regrading applications. Replies and critiques are often thin and incomplete at best.

Regarding my application, no one really got in with equal or less than me because I only had about 20 hours of shadowing. I don't know a single person who has gotten in with this or less. It's a long story but I did a lot of shadowing during the application year and by the time I interviewed at Wisconsin I had great experience. The problem was my interviewer didn't mention it in the review. By the time I found out about this after emailing her and getting feedback from the pre-med advisor, I had been wait listed and cut from the list.

This brings me to another point. The first screens in this process are often done by one person. They review your file and screen you in for a secondary or an interview. You either impress them or you don't. That's why getting interviews can seem so random at times. I believe this is why I got the interviews I did. I assume the person who read my file really liked that I work at the NIH and I have a lot of research experience. Then you interview and your interviewer writes up a review. Typically in favor or against admittance. After that your interviewer has little to no influence on the decision. At this point 1-3 people have weighed in on your application. The file then goes to the adcom (5-10 people) for a decision. If they collectively vote and are apprehensive about an applicant, in my case lack of clinical experience, they get the ax. This is why people can have great interviews and end up getting rejected. Likewise, you can have a bad interview and get accepted.
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Out of curiosity, did you also lack substantial direct service volunteering activities?

I also have light shadowing experience and heavy research experience. I am (possibly in vain) counting on my extremely substantial non-clinical volunteer experience to highlight my ability to handle the personal side of medicine, and also have started another clinical volunteering gig in the meantime. But either way, nothing changes the fact that my shadowing hours are light and my boss is not interested in giving me time off to improve them.
 
SN12357 said:
Out of curiosity, did you also lack substantial direct service volunteering activities?

I also have light shadowing experience and heavy research experience. I am (possibly in vain) counting on my extremely substantial non-clinical volunteer experience to highlight my ability to handle the personal side of medicine, and also have started another clinical volunteering gig in the meantime. But either way, nothing changes the fact that my shadowing hours are light and my boss is not interested in giving me time off to improve them.
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I actually had a lot of other volunteer work. Most of it being non-medical. Tutoring and mentoring underserved high school and middle school students in Milwaukee. We had a lot of kids come in that needed help with writing, science, and math. Most of the people who helped were education majors, and I had the background in science and math so I had the leadership role in that realm. Another person PMed me asking a similar question and I wrote a pretty lengthy response about the details of my application process. I don't want to post it on here because I don't think this is the appropriate place to discuss it, but I would be happy to PM it to you. My situation involved some pretty unfortunate omissions of information and schools not accepting updates.
 
jlescher said:
I actually had a lot of other volunteer work. Most of it being non-medical. Tutoring and mentoring underserved high school and middle school students in Milwaukee. We had a lot of kids come in that needed help with writing, science, and math. Most of the people who helped were education majors so I had the background in science and math so I had the leadership role in that realm as well. Another person PMed me asking a similar question and I wrote a pretty lengthy response about the details of my application process. I would be happy to PM it to you. My situation involved some pretty unfortunate omissions of information and schools not accepting updates.
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Thanks very much, I would appreciate that.
 
SN12357 said:
Out of curiosity, did you also lack substantial direct service volunteering activities?

I also have light shadowing experience and heavy research experience. I am (possibly in vain) counting on my extremely substantial non-clinical volunteer experience to highlight my ability to handle the personal side of medicine, and also have started another clinical volunteering gig in the meantime. But either way, nothing changes the fact that my shadowing hours are light and my boss is not interested in giving me time off to improve them.
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If you are starting medical volunteering I think that is great. I don't think it's imperative to have medical volunteering and shadowing so long as you have a good understanding of medicine and the environment.
 
Is there a re-applicant essay on the secondary application for those of you who have received it? If so, is there some sort of prompt?
 
Runforlife said:
Is there a re-applicant essay on the secondary application for those of you who have received it? If so, is there some sort of prompt?
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Yes, explain what you have done since the last time you applied. 500 words.
 
mtb1507 said:
Correct, I took a gap year and worked 40-60 hours per week during my final three years of undergrad. Any opinions (in place of skeptical criticism) on my application would be appreciated.
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Please don't be offended. I was just dubious of this obscenely large number. 40-60 hours during undergrad, with a gap year just sounds like a huge challenge!
But, huge props to you! Even fitting 20 hours into a work week with classes is very difficult, and with a heavy load can certainly be a GPA killer.
 
Would sending a secondary to UW be considered late at this point?
 
Hey guys I know many of you were wondering why they make us repeat what was on our AMCAS in terms of life activities. I called in and they referred me to their FAQ and lo and behold there it was:

Q: Why is there a life experiences and activities section on the secondary application? Didn’t I already provide this information in my AMCAS application?

A: Information about life activities is requested on our secondary application. It does parallel that on the AMCAS application. However, this information on our secondary application allows our reviewers to view a chronological listing of your life activities and experiences in a bar graph. Therefore, be sure to give a full accounting of life experiences since completing high school. In addition, the secondary application allows you to add additional comments, if you wish to do so. We are aware that there will be repetition.
 
anyone just copy and past the description for many/most of their activities from the AMCAS into Wisconsin's?
 
Synapsin said:
anyone just copy and past the description for many/most of their activities from the AMCAS into Wisconsin's?
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Yes, I did. I put a lot of time into my AMCAS descriptions and for the most part it was just a copy paste situation for me. I am a former UW student and one of the premed advisors at UW (who has fairly close contact with admissions) assured me this was fine and they didn't expect you to rewrite everything. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
Synapsin said:
anyone just copy and past the description for many/most of their activities from the AMCAS into Wisconsin's?
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I did a little of both. I added a lot of activities to my secondary that weren't on my primary so I wrote comments for those. I elaborated on some AMCAS activities and others I just put "please see AMCAS". I did that so they would know which comments were new and which ones were from my AMCAS.
 
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If I'm an in state applicant, do you guys think it would be better to write a why uwsmph for the optional essay or use a strong essay about diversity that I have already written? thanks!!
 
Beepboop said:
If I'm an in state applicant, do you guys think it would be better to write a why uwsmph for the optional essay or use a strong essay about diversity that I have already written? thanks!!
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Def the diversity essay in my opinion, especially if you say its strong. To me, that is more aligned with the prompt, plus they probably already know some of the reasons you want to go here if you're in state (e.g. great price tag, family nearby, Bucky rules!, etc.). I would say a "why here/this is my top choice" type thing would be more important for out of staters, b/c they can only interview a small percentage of them, where as for in-staters they can interview about half of us, and can reasonably assume they are a top choice for most of us, so you probably dont have to make yourself stand out as much in the "why here" regards. Might as well let your diversity help you stand out since it seems like that is what they are asking for :thumbup:
 
Does anyone know when Wisconsin usually starts sending out II? Just wondering.
 
Interview Invite this morning, was complete 8/5 (OOS) :p. They're scheduling me for late Sept

My MCAT score is below average for this school. Like....10-30th percentile. What the other folks are saying is true - they're looking beyond the numbers :D!
 
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Thanks! My last post missed about 100 exclamation points since it's my first II :laugh:

Starting to feel a lot more hopeful abt this cycle! Maybe I'll see some of you there on 9/20 :D
 
I just received my secondary application for UW today. Assuming I can complete it in the next few days is this considered a bit late in the game? I have a 33 MCAT and a 3.96 GPA, low-average ECs.
 
Is there a status page besides just what's on the secondary homepage?
 
Jennyfishy said:
Interview Invite this morning, was complete 8/5 (OOS) :p. They're scheduling me for late Sept

My MCAT score is below average for this school. Like....10-30th percentile. What the other folks are saying is true - they're looking beyond the numbers :D!
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awesome, congrats! when were you complete, and what was your strategy on the secondary? did you use it to expound on your primary, or did you just paste everything in?
 
I get rejected yesterday OOS. I did the optional essay. I applied here hoping for one of their OOS scholarships, but wasn't meant to be. The Vandy interview invite this morning is helping me cope.
 
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Kered said:
I just received my secondary application for UW today. Assuming I can complete it in the next few days is this considered a bit late in the game? I have a 33 MCAT and a 3.96 GPA, low-average ECs.
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Only a handful of the OOS IIs have been awarded, since the school starts interviewing in late Sept. If you look on the thread, you will see that a handful of super qualified ppl from OOS have already been put on hold/rejected. You'll never know until you try!

The big part would be making sure your secondary sets you apart to convince them why you are a good fit for this school. GL!

GBODumich2012 said:
Is there a status page besides just what's on the secondary homepage?
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None that I'm aware of. All updates I got were via email and my secondary home page looks the same.
 
Captain Sisko said:
awesome, congrats! when were you complete, and what was your strategy on the secondary? did you use it to expound on your primary, or did you just paste everything in?
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I was complete ~8/5, which isn't terribly early like the 6/10 verified folks. I used all of my word limit to talk about what I have to offer the school, expand on why I'm interested in the specific field that I'm in, and tie it into how this school specifically will help me fulfill my career ambitions. Not all new info, but it also gave the "bigger picture" behind my primary, since that was just "why medicine and who are you?"

I also used that description space for activities to add new info to what I wrote on AMCAS, but most of it was sameish

I guess that explanation was about as long as my second essay :laugh:

The school has very strong primary care and public health related programs and My ECs have a very heavy focus on education and mentorship to serve the medically underserved, just as a disclaimer if you're wondering if I'm URM (which I guess is a yes and no) lol
 
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Jennyfishy said:
I was complete ~8/5, which isn't terribly early like the 6/10 verified folks. I used all of my word limit to talk about what I have to offer the school, expand on why I'm interested in the specific field that I'm in, and tie it into how this school specifically will help me fulfill my career ambitions. Not all new info, but it also gave the "bigger picture" behind my primary, since that was just "why medicine and who are you?"

I also used that description space for activities to add new info to what I wrote on AMCAS, but most of it was sameish

I guess that explanation was about as long as my second essay :laugh:

The school has very strong primary care and public health related programs and My ECs have a very heavy focus on education and mentorship to serve the medically underserved, just as a disclaimer if you're wondering if I'm URM (which I guess is a yes and no) lol
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thanks for getting back to me. I'm oos too, complete 8/20. i spent a ton of time on this secondary, hope they see that like i suspect they saw it in yours. seems like a lot of people repeated their amcas and skipped the optional. we'll see- I've interviews a lot of places but would gladly trade them for a shot at Wisconsin.
 
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