Hello Elietero,
Thank you for replying to this thread. Which branch are you, and how has this experience been for you so far? Do you have any idea when the results will be out for this year's class? My anxiety is on 1000 right now. I have sooo many questions!!!
1- Do you know how they select candidates for each branch? It seems like some branches have more seats than others. I've noticed a pattern of Air Force having more candidates accepted compared to the other branches.
2- Was it hard to find appartments in a reasonable price close to George Mason and did you report early so you could establish yourself in the area?
3- Did you get selected on your first application? If not, did you re-apply with the same packet and only improved what you needed to, or you had to request new letters of recommendation, and approval?
4- With covid- 19 are all classes still traditional or did they move to online?
5- Do they provide books and other studying materials or do you have to buy them? I actually wanted to start studying now (if I know the books name) so I can get used to science courses again.
I am hoping that the milper message will be out by the begining of April because I got PCS orders to move to a new duty station with a report date of 10 May 21. I'll have to start clearing my current base in April, but if I get selected it'll cancel those orders. I need these results to be out because I don't have enough time!!!! I'm trying to prevent PCsing in May because if I move before the results come out and I end up getting selected, that will be a total waste of time and money. I'm hopeful that the results will be out soon. The best of luck to all who applied this year!
Hi, its my pleasure to help. I am AF and the experience has been amazing. It is one of the toughest things I have ever done, but it has been very rewarding and also showed me what I am capable of. This year has been like no other, so it is not surprising they are taking their time releasing the results. Also, i believe that they are accepting candidates differently than other years. I think they made you go through DODMERBS right? We didn't have to do that until we applied to med school.
1- As far as I know, each branch has their own processes to selecting candidates, and then they release the applicant pool to USU for confirmation. The trend certainly is more AF than other branches, but hopefully the program keeps growing and it becomes more equitable.
2- there are a bunch of nice places around campus, so it all depends on where you want to live. Classes are in the Manassas campus (Science and Technology) of GMU. If you want to be close to campus, something around Manassas would be your best bet. If cost is an issue, the farther away West you go from D.C, the cheaper it is (haymarket, Bristow, Gainesville) but it would make a longer commute to USU (you don't have to go too often, but still you will go there sometimes). Also traffic is terrible in the DMV (Washington DC metro area). I chose to live somehwere closer to DC but not too far away to campus, so I live in Centreville. For BAH you will get 2544 a month (for E5) so you could budget around that price. I recommend using zillow to search and filter through some places and then get a realtor to work with you. I have the info of one so if you would like let me know and will send you his info.
3- I was lucky enough to get accepted first time. However, I thought about joining the program 2 years before, but I didn't because of my GPA and I got a masters to improve my chances. So basically, I got a masters to increase my overall GPA and to show them (and med schools) that i am for real about being a physician.
4- Covid sucks and it has made classes extremely hard to focus on. Cohort 7 did face-to-face labs (chem, physics, bio) and online lectures while Cohort 6 did straight online for everything. I know that GMU and USU are trying to bring people back for the summer and fall, so you will probably (hopefully) will get face-to-face classes. Online classes are convenient schedule wise, but they are a drag to sit through and look at a screen for hours (at least for me)
5- They do provide all books, even for the MCAT. There are some sites that you can download the textbooks from. I can get you some of the titles and you cans earch for them if you like. However, if you really wanted to get ahead of the curve, I would suggest start studying for the MCAT, especifically for the Psych/soc area. All classes in the program are geared towards the sciences (chem, physics, bio) but none for psych/soc. So if you want to buy psych/soc study books and read ahead you could. We used Kaplan (I don't know if you will too). Theres also a ton on resources online. but I can shows you in the right direction.
6- I had the same problem as you. I was supposed to PCS in February, but i extended until April. I lost that assignment, and they gave me a new one. So it was a lot of unknowns. I would try to extend at your current base if possible just so you could have some time to do all the admin stuff.
Let me know if you have more questions, or pm me so we could talk more about the textbooks and any other info you would like. Good luck
