2020-2021 Wake Forest

[ss901]

You should assume they have read your primary essays and write something different in the secondary.

Yeah for most cases but they specifically said they will not have access to the primary. In which case you wouldn’t want to leave out something in your secondary because you assumed they would have already seen it

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[GameOfZones]

I think in the application it said that people reading these apps dont have access to your primary (double check me on that) but if this is true then repeating some themes from your PS/Primary is probably ok

You are correct. The app says the following:

"Application reviewers do not have access to your full AMCAS application with personal statement and experiences when reviewing your secondary application."

 

[Pathdocmd]

I have two questions:
1) I received below a C+ in a math course but Wake doesn't necessarily require the course as a pre-req should I still write the optional essay?

2) And on their portal, it asks if you're economically disadvantaged. According to AMCAS I am (I'm on FAP/income below $40K) but the link to their guideline uses the poverty guidelines which I don't meet so do I say yes or no?

@Pathdocmd do you happen to have any insight on this?

Sorry, I don't know. I would call and ask.

 

[deleted1061754]

Anyone still waiting on materials who has everything completed (Casper sent, mcat, lor in)?

 

[deleted992680]

They'll probably reject me after seeing how hideous I look in the photo I uploaded

 

[WFSOM]

Anyone still waiting on materials who has everything completed (Casper sent, mcat, lor in)?

It takes our system a couple days to mark all the materials as complete.

 

[WFSOM]

I have two questions:
1) I received below a C+ in a math course but Wake doesn't necessarily require the course as a pre-req should I still write the optional essay?

We do not have prerequisite courses, so you would fill out the optional essay.

 

[Hulk_MD]

Complete email today, submitted 7/12

 

[bananabeauxt]

Looks like Wake will be using AMCAS VITA

 

[Sixsuit]

Another M3 dropping in to answer questions. The school is great, very little to complain about from my experiences so far.

 

[InfectiousDiseasesH&TM]

Another M3 dropping in to answer questions. The school is great, very little to complain about from my experiences so far.

What is the culture like at WF? And the feel of Winston-Salem?

In general, what is day-to-day life like at this medical school, and what outlets are available to get a release from the many academic stressors in medical school?

Thanks for sharing your insights!

 

[Sixsuit]

What is the culture like at WF? And the feel of Winston-Salem?

In general, what is day-to-day life like at this medical school, and what outlets are available to get a release from the many academic stressors in medical school?

Thanks for sharing your insights!

From my experience, the culture among the students is very collaborative. We all share resources, notes, tips etc. We don't have very many "gunners" who are only looking out for themselves and refuse to collaborate. I think a lot of this is due to the P/F nature of the first 18 months, but also (at least for my class) the majority of the students are just good people, and for the most part we genuinely like each other, which makes it easy to get along with each other. This will vary by class, but I think it mostly holds true for the classes immediately above and below mine as well.

The day-to-day for preclinical years is probably very similar to most schools. There are (almost) daily lectures, which are recorded but attendance is not required. Those who attend in person really enjoyed it. Those who watched lectures on 3x like myself, found the lectures to be tolerable and not full of extraneous PhD-level nonsense. The vast majority of the lecturers are physicians, so they really try to keep you clinically focused which is really nice. The non-basic science lecture material (MAPS/ICRIT/Clinical Skills) vary in terms of utility in my opinion, but the school is intensely interested in feedback from current students, and they are constantly changing the curriculum and courses in response to student feeback. For a small example, our class was given Firecracker as a free resource by the school to use for block exams and step studying, but many of us opted to pay for USMLE-Rx instead, so the school dropped Firecracker for the following class and bought them USMLE-Rx instead. They really listen to feedback and implement changes. My personal advice is that most schools probably have a similar workload/stress level in the preclinical years, so look for schools that actively seek out ways to make their students' lives easier, which in my experience, Wake does a tremendous job of doing.

As far as outlets for the stress, it depends on what you're looking for. There are outdoor things to do nearby. Downtown, while small, has a surprisingly robust selection of local breweries. There are some real restaurant gems in/around Winston. There is a relatively large arts scene in the city. There are 3 therapists on staff, who are available at any time throughout your entire stay here and are all wonderful. In my personal experience, the biggest release came from making friends and spending time with them at night and on weekends.

Hopefully that helped. I've really enjoyed Wake so far. I think its a great program and a true hidden gem.

 

[InfectiousDiseasesH&TM]

From my experience, the culture among the students is very collaborative. We all share resources, notes, tips etc. We don't have very many "gunners" who are only looking out for themselves and refuse to collaborate. I think a lot of this is due to the P/F nature of the first 18 months, but also (at least for my class) the majority of the students are just good people, and for the most part we genuinely like each other, which makes it easy to get along with each other. This will vary by class, but I think it mostly holds true for the classes immediately above and below mine as well.

The day-to-day for preclinical years is probably very similar to most schools. There are (almost) daily lectures, which are recorded but attendance is not required. Those who attend in person really enjoyed it. Those who watched lectures on 3x like myself, found the lectures to be tolerable and not full of extraneous PhD-level nonsense. The vast majority of the lecturers are physicians, so they really try to keep you clinically focused which is really nice. The non-basic science lecture material (MAPS/ICRIT/Clinical Skills) vary in terms of utility in my opinion, but the school is intensely interested in feedback from current students, and they are constantly changing the curriculum and courses in response to student feeback. For a small example, our class was given Firecracker as a free resource by the school to use for block exams and step studying, but many of us opted to pay for USMLE-Rx instead, so the school dropped Firecracker for the following class and bought them USMLE-Rx instead. They really listen to feedback and implement changes. My personal advice is that most schools probably have a similar workload/stress level in the preclinical years, so look for schools that actively seek out ways to make their students' lives easier, which in my experience, Wake does a tremendous job of doing.

As far as outlets for the stress, it depends on what you're looking for. There are outdoor things to do nearby. Downtown, while small, has a surprisingly robust selection of local breweries. There are some real restaurant gems in/around Winston. There is a relatively large arts scene in the city. There are 3 therapists on staff, who are available at any time throughout your entire stay here and are all wonderful. In my personal experience, the biggest release came from making friends and spending time with them at night and on weekends.

Hopefully that helped. I've really enjoyed Wake so far. I think its a great program and a true hidden gem.

This was extremely helpful -- thanks so much!

 

[<3ClinicalResearch]

Thank you for doing this! Have you heard anything about if/how Wake is planning to adapt to Step 1 going P/F? Any changes in curriculum focus, methods of evaluation, etc.?

No information about changes has gone out to students yet. Right now I would say the preclinical curriculum is focused pretty well. I would call it Step 1+ where in lecture you are given all the information you need to do well on Step 1 + clinical pearls which are going to help you on the wards and on Step 2 CK.

While I did not always go to lecture in person, I always watched it online and I focused my study for in-house exams and not just on Step 1. Now that I am on the wards I am seeing the difference between those that just Anki-ed for the Step 1 facts and those that absorbed some of the extra lecture material that was beyond the scope of Step 1. If Step 2 becomes the new Step 1, I think Wake is already set up pretty well to prepare students.

 

[let-me-take-my-mcat]

Is anyone else having trouble accessing the portal? It was fine yesterday morning, and now the site won't load because the "server won't connect."

 

[orangenotebook]

Is anyone else having trouble accessing the portal? It was fine yesterday morning, and now the site won't load because the "server won't connect."

Yeah, I am also having this issue.

 

[ctctgirl]

Same here - was worried they like rescinded my secondary or something hahahah

 

[MaesterDean]

Is anyone else having trouble accessing the portal? It was fine yesterday morning, and now the site won't load because the "server won't connect."

I could be mistaken, but I believe that when I looked at Wake's portal yesterday there was a message stating that the site would be down for some period of time today for scheduled maintenance.

Could have been a different school/secondary portal, but hopefully that can temporarily relieve some anxiety! (I am having the same issue).

 

[let-me-take-my-mcat]

I could be mistaken, but I believe that when I looked at Wake's portal yesterday there was a message stating that the site would be down for some period of time today for scheduled maintenance.

Could have been a different school/secondary portal, but hopefully that can temporarily relieve some anxiety! (I am having the same issue).

Now that you say it, that does ring some bells because I remember thinking "I need to submit this afternoon, then." Thanks!

 

[deleted1057987]

I could be mistaken, but I believe that when I looked at Wake's portal yesterday there was a message stating that the site would be down for some period of time today for scheduled maintenance.

Could have been a different school/secondary portal, but hopefully that can temporarily relieve some anxiety! (I am having the same issue).

Having the same issues right now

 

[dholida]

I could be mistaken, but I believe that when I looked at Wake's portal yesterday there was a message stating that the site would be down for some period of time today for scheduled maintenance.

Could have been a different school/secondary portal, but hopefully that can temporarily relieve some anxiety! (I am having the same issue).

I'm still running into issues (as of 7/19, 3:20AM PT). I've tried to login in five times over the past two days (at different times), and the website just won't load. Anyone else running into these issues, or should I reach out to them and ask what's up with it?

 

[bluefreckles]

I'm still running into issues (as of 7/19, 3:20AM PT). I've tried to login in five times over the past two days (at different times), and the website just won't load. Anyone else running into these issues, or should I reach out to them and ask what's up with it?

Before you contact them, I'd try clearing cookies/history on your browser and maybe incognito mode. You can also try downforeveryoneorjustme.com, to let you know if it's your browser or an actual problem.

 

[ScrubswithnoSleeves]

If anyone answered the question "Please describe if you have made any significant changes or improvements to your previous application", did you just list the activities and hours that you've done since your last application? Or did you answer it in more of a narrative form? I was thinking of just listing everything I've done since my last application, the type of activity it was (e.g. volunteering, clinical experience, research), and the hours.

Thoughts?

That's probably fine. I did it in a narrative form tho, but still punctual. Kind of like a CV but I usually had a sentence or two reflecting on each experience and organized them in the order which they occurred.

 

[ScrubswithnoSleeves]

Is anyone else not able to access the student portal right now? I keep trying to load it but it just says it can't load the page.

 

[cms18]

Is anyone else not able to access the student portal right now? I keep trying to load it but it just says it can't load the page.

When I logged in on Friday it said that ApplyWeb would be down for maintenance from 5 AM Saturday - 12:01 AM Monday!

 

[deleted1061754]

Anyone get a complete email but status still says submitted?

 

[CountryBoy2134]

I am having trouble deciding what to do with the IA question. I think I did pretty well to describe it in my AMCAS. Would it be a bad idea to rewrite my AMCAS response? should I just tell them to refer to my AMCAS app? I'm wondering if there is a general consensus on this.

 

[ScrubswithnoSleeves]

I am having trouble deciding what to do with the IA question. I think I did pretty well to describe it in my AMCAS. Would it be a bad idea to rewrite my AMCAS response? should I just tell them to refer to my AMCAS app? I'm wondering if there is a general consensus on this.

Don't tell them to refer to AMCAS, just copy paste and maybe make some adjustments if necessary. If you explained it well, I don't think you should rewrite it.

 

[LiteralLungs]

How are you guys addressing the most meaningful activity question. I don't really see how to answer this without being redundant because I feel like it's pretty much already laid out in my primary how my activities lead me to medicine

Yeah I'm wondering the same. There isn't anything to say beyond what I've already explained. If what people say is true, I guess we can just basically repeat ourselves?

 

[ScrubswithnoSleeves]

Yeah I'm wondering the same. There isn't anything to say beyond what I've already explained. If what people say is true, I guess we can just basically repeat ourselves?

I talked more personally about the experience, focusing less on what exactly I did and more on why I enjoyed it, and then how I think it prepared me to be a physician. It still will be a lil repetitive, but I would hope they expect that with a question like that haha;

 

[Hellogoodbye90]

Is anyone else having difficulty accessing their submitted application? My portal is saying that my access has been denied. Is this normal?

 

[fishberry]

Is anyone else having difficulty accessing their submitted application? My portal is saying that my access has been denied. Is this normal?

When I try to access it through the secondary link that was initially sent to me, I get this message too. However, my app was marked as complete today and in the email notifying me of this, there's a different link to the app. That one works.

 

[TheDataKing]

Hey everyone! @Orangekiwi and I are current M1’s here. If you have any questions about Wake, feel free to tag us and we’ll do our best to answer!

 

[jwar79]

When I try to access it through the secondary link that was initially sent to me, I get this message too. However, my app was marked as complete today and in the email notifying me of this, there's a different link to the app. That one works.

I also can't access through the secondary link they initially sent. I was waiting to submit until I got my LOR so hopefully it starts working soon.

 

[Orangekiwi]

@TheDataKing @Orangekiwi

Thanks for doing this! What is the culture like with regards to class attendance? Do most people attend the lectures? Also, in the first two years of classes, do you think it would be possible for someone to leave campus on a Thursday evening and return Sunday evening once every two or three weeks?

Little tough to answer this since we obviously both started during a pandemic, but from what I’ve seen and what I’ve gathered from other students, attendance policy is pretty lax. Almost everything is live-streamed and then posted online afterwards, so you can watch non-mandatory lectures when you want. Obvious things like labs and introductory stuff and clinical skills and small group learning activities are all mandatory and there are quite a few of those, but overall not too bad. Wake does 18 month preclinical so I think if you picked wisely you could probably get away with at least one week a month and possibly 2 where you left on Thursday night, but again only for the first 18 months, not two years afaik. I think tests are on fridays though, so that’s another consideration

 

[NIKK234]

Hey everyone! @Orangekiwi and I are current M1’s here. If you have any questions about Wake, feel free to tag us and we’ll do our best to answer!

Hi! Is wakeforest non-trad friendly?

 

[TheDataKing]

Hi! Is wakeforest non-trad friendly?

Yep! A good chunk of our class has taken 3+ gap years but the median age for matriculants is 24 so take that with a grain of salt

 

[uglyegg]

Hey everyone! @Orangekiwi and I are current M1’s here. If you have any questions about Wake, feel free to tag us and we’ll do our best to answer!

Hi! Since you're an M1, how has meeting other students gone with COVID? Do you feel kind of isolated, or do you still feel like the school is making an effort to connect students?

 

[TheDataKing]

Hi! Since you're an M1, how has meeting other students gone with COVID? Do you feel kind of isolated, or do you still feel like the school is making an effort to connect students?

They're definitely making an effort to connect students. M1s were paired with an M2 and there were also summer social groups where 3-4 M1s were paired with 1-2 M2s. Also, they had socially distanced get-togethers every night for the first week in various parks around Winston. We have enough in-person stuff (anatomy, clinical skills, team-based learning) for friendships to be made and we were purposefully put in groups for orientation to facilitate getting to know other students. I honestly haven't felt isolated at all

 

[Sixsuit]

@TheDataKing @Orangekiwi

Thanks for doing this! What is the culture like with regards to class attendance? Do most people attend the lectures? Also, in the first two years of classes, do you think it would be possible for someone to leave campus on a Thursday evening and return Sunday evening once every two or three weeks?

You could probably pull this off depending on which days your non-lecture coursework occurs. There are usually 1 - 3 required things per week in the afternoons. Mine usually fell on Mon - Thurs, but everyone has a different schedule.

Hi! Is wakeforest non-trad friendly?

Yes

 

[premiepremie]

Is there a field where we need to provide social security on the secondary?

 

[inked.cuse]

When should we expect to receive interview invites ?

 

[drgoldenboy]

When should we expect to receive interview invites ?

Anytime between now and March.

 

[deleted1017749]

For the secondary question asking about meaningful experiences and how it ties into medicine, would it be a bad idea to choose one that wasn't on the "most meaningful" list? I basically talked about how each of the "most meaningful experiences" tied to medicine on my primary and I'm worried about sounding repetitive.

 

[deleted776417]

Hey all, I am a current M3 at Wake. If you have any questions, I would be willing to be a resource (where I am able). Please do not ask specific questions about the application/secondary because as a student I have minimal insight into what is desired by the AdCom, but questions about Winston Salem, extracurricular activities, curriculum (pre-COVID), and personal experience are fair game

Are there any free community clinics that Wake Forest Medical students volunteer at?

How involved are students with the community and community health services like health fairs, etc?

 

[kpessi20]

Are there any free community clinics that Wake Forest Medical students volunteer at?

How involved are students with the community and community health services like health fairs, etc?

I am not a med student at Wake Forest, but I went there undergrad and I can answer your first question. The big student-run clinic that med students volunteer at (and I think undergrads too) is the DEAC Clinic. Theres a page about it on their website.

 

[inked.cuse]

Anyone know when we can expect to receive interview invitations? / Has anyone yet ?

 

[deleted1040408]

Anyone know when we can expect to receive interview invitations? / Has anyone yet ?

following

 

[SpreadKindness20]

Personally, I didn’t worry too much about sounding repetitive because Wake Forest explicitly states that those who review secondaries don’t have access to any primary app materials.

That's interesting. Where did you see that?

 

[deleted1040408]

Anyone know when we can expect to receive interview invitations? / Has anyone yet ?

last year the first one on SDN reported was from july 31