Michigan State University (MSUCOM) Discussion Thread 2013 - 2014

[runawaycar09]

Just got off the phone with admissions.. Officially accepted!!!

Congrats!! Stats??

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[saddleup]

Did your portal change as well yet? Or just the phone call?

 

[UPNorth89]

I got the call a couple hours ago! I interviewed last week. 3.62 cGPA, 3.46 sGPA, 31 MCAT, ~500 volunteer hours, non-traditional applicant. I submitted my secondary on 9/3 and got the interview invite on 12/5. My portal took awhile to update after the call.

Also, on the phone, the admissions person told me that they are interviewing more people this year and not to feel singled out if you get an interview. If anyone offered an interview has questions, feel free to PM me. Good luck everyone!

 

[just DO it]

Congrats!! Stats??

Thank you!!

3.79 cGPA, 3.76 sGPA, 29 MCAT, ~1200 volunteer hours. Complete 8/26 and in-state applicant.

The portal looks the same except for a welcome letter within the communications tab I received a few hours after the phone call.

 

[Doctor11]

Thank you!!

3.79 cGPA, 3.76 sGPA, 29 MCAT, ~1200 volunteer hours. Complete 8/26 and in-state applicant.

The portal looks the same except for a welcome letter within the communications tab I received a few hours after the phone call.

Did you have an interview?

 

[almirbhf]

It's been pretty quiet on here for a while ....

 

[raidergoblue]

Probably bc those that havent heard back are all slightly loosing hope...

 

[Stoptheclot]

Probably bc those that havent heard back are all slightly loosing hope...

Still haven't heard, but I like to think my hope as tighly-bound instead of loose...

 

[raidergoblue]

Haha... my hope was tightly-bound... but its slowly starting to sink in as the probability of NOT getting in is increasing exponentially with each week

 

[almirbhf]

Keep the hope up people, if it could happen to me off the wait list it can happen to you guys too !

 

[Yehoshua24]

It's been pretty quiet on here for a while ....

I visited the school last week at the open house and spoke with admissions. They mentioned that the wait list will usually get a lot of movement between march and may.

 

[runawaycar09]

I got the call!!
IS, 3.39 cum, 3.3 undergrad science, 3.96 post bacc science, 27Q, crazy upward gpa trend, >1300 hours volunteer work, clinical experience as an aid in an oncology unit...
Do NOT give up!

 

[raidergoblue]

I got the call!!
IS, 3.39 cum, 3.3 undergrad science, 3.96 post bacc science, 27Q, crazy upward gpa trend, >1300 hours volunteer work, clinical experience as an aid in an oncology unit...
Do NOT give up!

Congratulations

 

[Stoptheclot]

Folks, its been real - I'm withdrawing, pre-acceptance. Best wishes, friends, and if you're still waiting to hear back, show them you want it!!

 

[Flightdoctor89]

I got the call!!
IS, 3.39 cum, 3.3 undergrad science, 3.96 post bacc science, 27Q, crazy upward gpa trend, >1300 hours volunteer work, clinical experience as an aid in an oncology unit...
Do NOT give up!

Hey Congrats! Do you know what campus you are going to select?

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Hey Congrats! Do you know what campus you are going to select?

Just FYI: last I heard, I believe DMC was basically full, there were ~ 30 spots left at Macomb, and ~30 spots left at EL.

 

[runawaycar09]

Just FYI: last I heard, I believe DMC was basically full, there were ~ 30 spots left at Macomb, and ~30 spots left at EL.

Yep that's what she told me. I'm totally torn between macomb and EL. Can't wait to see the sites and I will definitely update when I decide!

 

[aharddaysnight]

Canadian waitlist received today. 3.6+ cGPA, 3.6+ sGPA ~800 volunteer hours MSc in progress. I'm not sure the likelihood, of getting accepted but I'm guessing I'll have to wait till the Canadian match date in May.

 

[almirbhf]

When I got into DMC site there was only one spot left after me. You can always be placed on WL there and select another site in the mean time, not a problem. Congrats runaway on your acceptance , welcome to class of 2018

 

[Lamassu]

Canadian waitlist received today. 3.6+ cGPA, 3.6+ sGPA ~800 volunteer hours MSc in progress. I'm not sure the likelihood, of getting accepted but I'm guessing I'll have to wait till the Canadian match date in May.

Did they call for the waitlist or email? Mind sharing your MCAT?

 

[aharddaysnight]

Did they call for the waitlist or email? Mind sharing your MCAT?

Hi Lamassu, they e-mailed and I got a new "waitlist" tab on the portal. My MCAT is a 29, and I was complete on July 25th I believe. I thought they would have got to my application more soon. Oh well, I'm happy with a waitlist at this point. I have an acceptance at AZCOM and an interview at NSUCOM but I'd prefer to stay closer to home if possible. Does anyone know if accepting a waitlist position at MSU would compromise my acceptance at AZCOM somehow? I've already payed deposit there. Tuition will also factor in to my final decision for sure.

 

[almirbhf]

Hi Lamassu, they e-mailed and I got a new "waitlist" tab on the portal. My MCAT is a 29, and I was complete on July 25th I believe. I thought they would have got to my application more soon. Oh well, I'm happy with a waitlist at this point. I have an acceptance at AZCOM and an interview at NSUCOM but I'd prefer to stay closer to home if possible. Does anyone know if accepting a waitlist position at MSU would compromise my acceptance at AZCOM somehow? I've already payed deposit there. Tuition will also factor in to my final decision for sure.

Yeah tuition is crazy at msu but we get the 20,000 off a year so that makes it a bit more manageable

 

[almirbhf]

Attn Canadian applicants. Question for those who have been accepted ! Have you submitted your financial aid stuff for issuing of I20 ? if so how long did it take until you heard back about that ? I handed in my forms to their office Jan 24th, still nothing. Not sure if my bank letter was sufficient or not ?

 

[iTcanBdone]

Was kind of looking forward to the monthly update email for Feb.

 

[StudyShy]

I just got off the phone with having and advising appointment. The person who I talked to was pretty rude and wouldn't let me talk. She said that my MCAT would have been fine for previous years but maybe not for this year since they got an exceptional number applicants with very high MCATs which was unusual for this year.

But it gets a lot worse...

My nursing degree was poo-pooed and is considered not rigorous so my GPA is discredited in their eyes. I have taken the same pre-reqs as everyone else except for biochemistry which I am currently taking. The classes such as microbiology that I have taken were also not impressive. She advised that I do a post bac and that the work that I have done so far doesn't really count or impress anyone. One of my pre-reqs (I'm assuming she is talking about gen chem I) is from 10 years ago and she said that was too long ago. She also said that my master's degree in history doesn't help me either, and it doesn't matter that I got close to a 4.0 in the program. I didn't ask her about my masters; she is the one who brought it up. She also grilled me about why I did a master's degree in history, and I told her the truth that I did for fun and for the love of learning and that it was one of my passions. She was less than enthusiastic.

She said that I would need to prove that I can handle school work. This is kind of ridiculous to me since I have well over 200+ credit hours, and I have been going to college for the last 10 years. I would also like to mention that I got a 10 on the biology section of the MCAT. Although it could be higher, I feel like that helps prove that I have an adequate foundation in ochem and biology.

I am also someone who has 20,000+ clinical hours and 3,000+ volunteer hours. It leads me to think that MSU is a little less holistic than what they like to paint themselves as being. Although, with the nursing dislike, I think that my clinical experiences as a nurse are probably also discredited and looked down upon. I should have been an ER scribe instead of an ER nurse it looks like, lol!

I am basically writing this to help nurses and others who do not have biology degrees to inform the community that they will basically need to have a biology degree to be competitive or even have their file looked at. It was good for me to have this advising appointment because now I know that what I have done so far in life (nursing degree, paramedic degree, masters in history, prereqs for medical school) do not count for anything in MSU's eyes and I know not to spend money on this school in the future unless I do a post bach, but even then, I'm not guaranteed that my file will go to the committee. I wish that I would have really paid attention to the SDN hysteria that nurses shouldn't or couldn't get into medical school because it looks like some schools really still have this bias such as MSU. In a nut shell, I basically had no chance. I thought that it was my average MCAT at was holding me back here, but really it goes much deeper, and I can't undo my nursing degree now.

 

[bionerd89]

I just got off the phone with having and advising appointment. The person who I talked to was pretty rude and wouldn't let me talk. She said that my MCAT would have been fine for previous years but maybe not for this year since they got an exceptional number applicants with very high MCATs which was unusual for this year.

But it gets a lot worse...

My nursing degree was poo-pooed and is considered not rigorous so my GPA is discredited in their eyes. I have taken the same pre-reqs as everyone else except for biochemistry which I am currently taking. The classes such as microbiology that I have taken were also not impressive. She advised that I do a post bac and that the work that I have done so far doesn't really count or impress anyone. One of my pre-reqs (I'm assuming she is talking about gen chem I) is from 10 years ago and she said that was too long ago. She also said that my master's degree in history doesn't help me either, and it doesn't matter that I got close to a 4.0 in the program. I didn't ask her about my masters; she is the one who brought it up. She also grilled me about why I did a master's degree in history, and I told her the truth that I did for fun and for the love of learning and that it was one of my passions. She was less than enthusiastic.

She said that I would need to prove that I can handle school work. This is kind of ridiculous to me since I have well over 200+ credit hours, and I have been going to college for the last 10 years. I would also like to mention that I got a 10 on the biology section of the MCAT. Although it could be higher, I feel like that helps prove that I have an adequate foundation in ochem and biology.

I am also someone who has 20,000+ clinical hours and 3,000+ volunteer hours. It leads me to think that MSU is a little less holistic than what they like to paint themselves as being. Although, with the nursing dislike, I think that my clinical experiences as a nurse are probably also discredited and looked down upon. I should have been an ER scribe instead of an ER nurse it looks like, lol!

I am basically writing this to help nurses and others who do not have biology degrees to inform the community that they will basically need to have a biology degree to be competitive or even have their file looked at. It was good for me to have this advising appointment because now I know that what I have done so far in life (nursing degree, paramedic degree, masters in history, prereqs for medical school) do not count for anything in MSU's eyes and I know not to spend money on this school in the future unless I do a post bach, but even then, I'm not guaranteed that my file will go to the committee. I wish that I would have really paid attention to the SDN hysteria that nurses shouldn't or couldn't get into medical school because it looks like some schools really still have this bias such as MSU. In a nut shell, I basically had no chance. I thought that it was my average MCAT at was holding me back here, but really it goes much deeper, and I can't undo my nursing degree now.

Wow I'm sorry to hear that...I am surprised that they would react that way to a nursing degree.. I don't think the degree should matter as long as you've done enough science classes...I think being a nurse is way more reputable and challenging than being a scribe... Did she really say that the work you've done so far doesn't impress anyone? That's pretty rude. I hope you get accepted else where. Good Luck!!

 

[StudyShy]

Wow I'm sorry to hear that...I am surprised that they would react that way to a nursing degree.. I don't think the degree should matter as long as you've done enough science classes...I think being a nurse is way more reputable and challenging than being a scribe... Did she really say that the work you've done so far doesn't impress anyone? That's pretty rude. I hope you get accepted else where. Good Luck!!

She said that my work wouldn't impress the admissions committee. Maybe I was being sensitive after hearing that all my accomplishments over the years aren't adequate and are looked down upon. She said that my science courses weren't rigorous enough, but that's not true since I had the same sciences courses as the other premeds. They were not nursing science classes like I think that she is assuming. And I got either the best grade in the class or one of the best in every single premedical requirement. She did not say anything complimentary about my application.

As far as nursing work experience, I really do think that doing anything else would have been more beneficial in terms of what med schools desire. Nursing isn't respected at all from what I have gathered from this advising appointment.

I was just planning on retaking the MCAT and getting a 30+ if I did decide to try again, but now I would have to retake the MCAT AND do an SMP/post bac program. My science GPA will be about a 3.9 if I get an A in biochem this semester. Basically, I have to prove that my GPA isn't inflated because I'm a nurse, yet I didn't take any nursing science courses except for anatomy and physiology. ALL my other science courses were for science majors.

Feeling bummed, lol.

 

[bark]

This is painful to read Studyshy. I'm sorry about that experience you had. I'll be having an advising meeting soon too and will post how it goes.

 

[100312]

She said that my work wouldn't impress the admissions committee. Maybe I was being sensitive after hearing that all my accomplishments over the years aren't adequate and are looked down upon. She said that my science courses weren't rigorous enough, but that's not true since I had the same sciences courses as the other premeds. They were not nursing science classes like I think that she is assuming. And I got either the best grade in the class or one of the best in every single premedical requirement. She did not say anything complimentary about my application.

As far as nursing work experience, I really do think that doing anything else would have been more beneficial in terms of what med schools desire. Nursing isn't respected at all from what I have gathered from this advising appointment.

I was just planning on retaking the MCAT and getting a 30+ if I did decide to try again, but now I would have to retake the MCAT AND do an SMP/post bac program. My science GPA will be about a 3.9 if I get an A in biochem this semester. Basically, I have to prove that my GPA isn't inflated because I'm a nurse, yet I didn't take any nursing science courses except for anatomy and physiology. ALL my other science courses were for science majors.

Feeling bummed, lol.

I'm sorry to hear you had this experience
There are a lot of former nurses in my class at msucom and they are excelling.

 

[FuzzyMemory]

I just got off the phone with having and advising appointment. The person who I talked to was pretty rude and wouldn't let me talk. She said that my MCAT would have been fine for previous years but maybe not for this year since they got an exceptional number applicants with very high MCATs which was unusual for this year.

But it gets a lot worse...

My nursing degree was poo-pooed and is considered not rigorous so my GPA is discredited in their eyes. I have taken the same pre-reqs as everyone else except for biochemistry which I am currently taking. The classes such as microbiology that I have taken were also not impressive. She advised that I do a post bac and that the work that I have done so far doesn't really count or impress anyone. One of my pre-reqs (I'm assuming she is talking about gen chem I) is from 10 years ago and she said that was too long ago. She also said that my master's degree in history doesn't help me either, and it doesn't matter that I got close to a 4.0 in the program. I didn't ask her about my masters; she is the one who brought it up. She also grilled me about why I did a master's degree in history, and I told her the truth that I did for fun and for the love of learning and that it was one of my passions. She was less than enthusiastic.

She said that I would need to prove that I can handle school work. This is kind of ridiculous to me since I have well over 200+ credit hours, and I have been going to college for the last 10 years. I would also like to mention that I got a 10 on the biology section of the MCAT. Although it could be higher, I feel like that helps prove that I have an adequate foundation in ochem and biology.

I am also someone who has 20,000+ clinical hours and 3,000+ volunteer hours. It leads me to think that MSU is a little less holistic than what they like to paint themselves as being. Although, with the nursing dislike, I think that my clinical experiences as a nurse are probably also discredited and looked down upon. I should have been an ER scribe instead of an ER nurse it looks like, lol!

I am basically writing this to help nurses and others who do not have biology degrees to inform the community that they will basically need to have a biology degree to be competitive or even have their file looked at. It was good for me to have this advising appointment because now I know that what I have done so far in life (nursing degree, paramedic degree, masters in history, prereqs for medical school) do not count for anything in MSU's eyes and I know not to spend money on this school in the future unless I do a post bach, but even then, I'm not guaranteed that my file will go to the committee. I wish that I would have really paid attention to the SDN hysteria that nurses shouldn't or couldn't get into medical school because it looks like some schools really still have this bias such as MSU. In a nut shell, I basically had no chance. I thought that it was my average MCAT at was holding me back here, but really it goes much deeper, and I can't undo my nursing degree now.

I'm very sorry to hear about that disappointing appointment, studyshy . I've also decided to call it quits on trying to get in this year at MSUCOM as well, and I've scheduled an advising appointment for March. I'll let you guys know how it goes. It should be interesting, because I've basically done what they've told people to do. I completed 30 credits of upper-level, hard sciences in my post-bacc, and I have a 3.72 in it. I also have a 34 MCAT score. My c/s GPA is only at a 3.1-3.2, however, so I'm expecting them to grill me over that and the fact that I'm Canadian and have full health coverage . Good luck to the rest of you waiting. There's still 60 empty seats by the looks of it, so never say never!

 

[almirbhf]

I'm very sorry to hear about that disappointing appointment, studyshy . I've also decided to call it quits on trying to get in this year at MSUCOM as well, and I've scheduled an advising appointment for March. I'll let you guys know how it goes. It should be interesting, because I've basically done what they've told people to do. I completed 30 credits of upper-level, hard sciences in my post-bacc, and I have a 3.72 in it. I also have a 34 MCAT score. My c/s GPA is only at a 3.1-3.2, however, so I'm expecting them to grill me over that and the fact that I'm Canadian and have full health coverage . Good luck to the rest of you waiting. There's still 60 empty seats by the looks of it, so never say never!

Seems as though the canadian stats are quite high this year. I was waitlisted (and accepted luckily later on) with 3.4-3.5 c/sGPA and 31 mcat and lots of volunteer hours.

 

[iTcanBdone]

I completely under-estimated how draining this process would be. To everyone still waiting (like myself) keep your head up, its not over until its over! To @StudyShy, I wish you nothing but the best! Your will and determination to pursue your dream will greatly pay off, you're going to make a great physician someday!

 

[runawaycar09]

Yep that's what she told me. I'm totally torn between macomb and EL. Can't wait to see the sites and I will definitely update when I decide!

I got East Lansing! Just said I would update

 

[almirbhf]

I got East Lansing! Just said I would update

Congrats ! Jealous tbh part of me wants that big campus feel. I'm at DMC, because I am living at home to save $$$.

 

[iTcanBdone]

I'm sure you all got this but just in case you didn't:

Applicant summary, as of 2/11/14

MSUCOM Applicants: 5046
Admission Offers: 292
Seat Deposits Paid: 264
Canadian Offers: 25
Canadian Deposits Paid: 25
Average MCAT: 28.71
Average Science GPA: 3.59
Site placement, as of 2/11/14
Detroit Medical Center: 53/53
Macomb University Center: 18/50
East Lansing: 169/200

I absolutely love that they do this! I guess from the email, unless you have something outstanding on your app you won't get rejected until April so that sucks. My first choice was DMC but I'll happily go to any site at this point.

As always good luck everybody!

 

[SpartanWolverine]

I'm sure you all got this but just in case you didn't:

Applicant summary, as of 2/11/14

MSUCOM Applicants: 5046
Admission Offers: 292
Seat Deposits Paid: 264
Canadian Offers: 25
Canadian Deposits Paid: 25
Average MCAT: 28.71
Average Science GPA: 3.59
Site placement, as of 2/11/14
Detroit Medical Center: 53/53
Macomb University Center: 18/50
East Lansing: 169/200

I absolutely love that they do this! I guess from the email, unless you have something outstanding on your app you won't get rejected until April so that sucks. My first choice was DMC but I'll happily go to any site at this point.

As always good luck everybody!

I was curious about the change from last month, so I compared this update to the last. Not sure if anyone else cares...

Change from January to February updates:
Applicants: +9 (+0.18%)
Admission Offers: +34 (+11.6%)
Seat Deposits Paid: +40 (+15.2%)
Canadian Offers: +0
Canadian Deposits Paid: +2 (full)
Average MCAT: -0.18 (-0.63%)
Average Science GPA: -0.01 (-0.28%)

Detroit Medical Center: +9 (now full)
Macomb University Center: +0 (32 [64%] left -- not even close to full!)
East Lansing: +32 (31 [15.5%] left)

So, at that pace, I expect there's still a full month of offers left. It's not over yet!

 

[iTcanBdone]

I was curious about the change from last month, so, I compared this update to the last. Not sure if anyone else cares...

Change from January to February updates:
Applicants: +9 (+ 0.18%)
Admission Offers: +34
Seat Deposits Paid: +40
Canadian Offers: +0
Canadian Deposits Paid: +2 (full)
Average MCAT: -0.18 (-0.63%)
Average Science GPA: -0.01 (-0.28%)

Detroit Medical Center: +9 (now full)
Macomb University Center: +0 (32 left -- not even close to full!)
East Lansing: +32 (31 left)

So, at that pace, I expect there's still a full month of offers left. It's not over yet!

63 spots left plus factoring in people that are offered will decline even if they have paid their deposit! Definitely not over yet

 

[johnny122]

63 spots left plus factoring in people that are offered will decline even if they have paid their deposit! Definitely not over yet

Just curious...how do you figure it to be 63 spots available? Do you know exactly how many applicants they accept? I thought it was 315 including Canadian students? Thanks!

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Just curious...how do you figure it to be 63 spots available? Do you know exactly how many applicants they accept? I thought it was 315 including Canadian students? Thanks!

There are ~300 spots total. There are 32 open spots of the 50 at Macomb and 32 open spots of the 200 at MSU according to their e-mail. 32 + 32 = 64. We can't say for sure if that means 64 more acceptances, but there's a decent chance they still have a number of acceptances left to hand out according to the rest of the e-mail (and the fact that they haven't even given out 300 acceptances).

 

[Driftinglily11]

.

 

[iTcanBdone]

All you have to do is count the spots from the email.

 

[Everglide]

c/o 2014 here. Feel free to pm with questions about whatever. Disclaimer: I know nothing about the new admissions or curriculum. Happy to answer questions about the campuses, where to live if you're East Lansing, etc. Good luck to those of you still waiting, I guarantee there will be some who withdraw despite paying the hefty deposit.

 

[johnny122]

Just got the phone call an hour ago!! Accepted finally!! Reapplicant 3.9 GPA 3.87 SciGPA don't give up hope!! She said there was still spots available!!

 

[xlr8er]

Same here Johnny. Just got the email. I still can't stop shaking. Reaplicant 3.55 GPA 3.55 sGPA 32P MCAT. Don't give up, if I can do it, you can definitely do it! Which campus are you looking to go to?

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Congratulations to the both of you!

 

[xlr8er]

Same here Johnny. Just got the email. I still can't stop shaking. Reaplicant 3.55 GPA 3.55 sGPA 32P MCAT. Submitted august. Secondary complete October. Waitlisted in December. Don't give up, if I can do it, you can definitely do it! Which campus are you looking to go to?

 

[iTcanBdone]

Just got the email, I'm offically on the waiting list! Mixed feelings about it but I'll take it ... anything is better than a no! Fingers crossed!

Oh and congrats you guys on your acceptance!

 

[WingsFan]

I got the call today as well and I don't think I could be happier! 3.4 cGPA, 3.3 sGPA and 31 MCAT if you're interested. Don't give up hope yet, the waiting game still isn't over and if I could squeeze in, so can you!

 

[GypsyHummus]

That really sucks

I am really surprised that they scoffed at your degree like that, and you have a really high science GPA. I wonder what they think of non science majors :O

She said that my work wouldn't impress the admissions committee. Maybe I was being sensitive after hearing that all my accomplishments over the years aren't adequate and are looked down upon. She said that my science courses weren't rigorous enough, but that's not true since I had the same sciences courses as the other premeds. They were not nursing science classes like I think that she is assuming. And I got either the best grade in the class or one of the best in every single premedical requirement. She did not say anything complimentary about my application.

As far as nursing work experience, I really do think that doing anything else would have been more beneficial in terms of what med schools desire. Nursing isn't respected at all from what I have gathered from this advising appointment.

I was just planning on retaking the MCAT and getting a 30+ if I did decide to try again, but now I would have to retake the MCAT AND do an SMP/post bac program. My science GPA will be about a 3.9 if I get an A in biochem this semester. Basically, I have to prove that my GPA isn't inflated because I'm a nurse, yet I didn't take any nursing science courses except for anatomy and physiology. ALL my other science courses were for science majors.

Feeling bummed, lol.

 

[StudyShy]

That really sucks

I am really surprised that they scoffed at your degree like that, and you have a really high science GPA. I wonder what they think of non science majors :O

Congrats Wings, and Runaway! I've been rooting for you guys for a long time. Runaway even since last year!

They weren't impressed with my science GPA because I'm a nurse, and they think that it is not accurate. Basically, they don't believe that it is really that high. About non-science majors, they would rather see you take many high-level science courses. I got the question, "who advised you to get your masters degree in history? That is not going to help you get into medical school." I told her that it was one of my passions and that no one advised me but myself, and she scoffed at me. They might like a biology degree plus a non-science degree but a non-science degree doesn't cut it for them.

I haven't made up my mind yet if I really want to do all this again, but if I do, I will need to spend the next year or two taking biology courses to really prove myself. It's all just a game and about money...and egos, lol.