Application to UW-Madison...what is my chance?

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6479993

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I have a friend that just sent in her secondary to UW-Madison on Friday night. Her stats are:

10 P.S.
7 Verbal
9 B.S.

Science GPA 3.87
Total GPA 3.91

She has one-year of graduate school (4.0 GPA). She has a lot clinical experience and is an in-state applicant.

I really want her to get in to UW-Madison because we are best friends.

WHAT ARE HER CHANCES?

Another friend gave her a 50/50 chance and he is a first year medical student at UW-Madison.

😕
 
6479993 said:
I have a friend that just sent in her secondary to UW-Madison on Friday night. Her stats are:

10 P.S.
7 Verbal
9 B.S.

Science GPA 3.87
Total GPA 3.91

She went to Vanderbilt (4.0 GPA) for one-year of graduate school. She has a lot clinical experience and is an in-state applicant.

I really want her to get in to UW-Madison because we are best friends.

WHAT ARE HER CHANCES?

Another friend gave her a 50/50 chance and he is a first year medical student at UW-Madison.

😕
Click to expand...

your friend huh...tittle suggests otherwise...anyways with that MCAT chances are very low
 
Her GPA is great, assuming she went to a school with a typical bell curve to their grading system. MCAT will be a major minus on her application. Its about 5+ points lower than the average for 2010er's at Madison. So, her GPA and MCAT virtually cancel each other out (one strength + one major weakness = no advantage, if not still a disadvantage). It will come down to the LOR and EC's. She's in-state, that's good. She applied "somewhat" late with a "meh" GPA/MCAT, that's bad, if not problematic. Clinical experience is a plus, it will all depend on what it is, and how well she can highlight that strength in the interview. The interviews here are laid back, its up to the candidate to show his/her strengths, as the interviewers tend to avoid the tough/unusual questions. What about volunteer experiences? Madison puts alot of emphasis on this (as opposed to research experiences at other schools).

Chances? Since she's in-state, she'll have a good chance at an interview, Madison tries to interview as many as they can from Wisconsin, despite whether the applicant has a high or low probability of acceptance. With what I see here, it would be tough, based solely on GPA/MCAT/Time of application submission. It will all depend on the LOR/EC's, and I do not know enough about them to determine whether they can make-up for the MCAT score.
 
Thanks for the information! I will pass it along to her 🙂

She has clinical experience and a lot of volunteer experience at the Hospital.

I hear that interviews at Madison don't count for very much in the process. Will she be able to pursuade her interviewer to advocate for her? Would that even help?
 
True, her MCAT is not great...however I have had two friends in her situation who are first years. One had a 4.0 gpa and a 27 while the other went back to grad school, received a 3.9 and had a 26. I think that both of them may have completed their applications earlier, though. The interviews don't count for much-only a letter of recommendation. Also, it's the most laid back and fun interview, so at this point...the best thing for her to do is to just enjoy the interview and see what happens. What undergrad institution/grad school did she attend? I know Madison favors UW graduates, so that my help your friend. Also, has she also applied to MCW? Her chances may be better there as long as she does well on the interviews there. Good luck!
 
The interviewers at Madison will always be an advocate for the interviewee, unless the interviewee is crazy or tells them to F-off. For the most part, the interviews are for the so-so applicants to highlight his/her strengths. The interviewers needs all the ammunition they can get to defend an applicant's weak MCAT score or subpar EC's. My interviewer basically wrote her notes right in front of me, and basically showed what she would make sure she would talk about.

What will give her a shot is whether she can relate her volunteer and clinical experiences beyond the level of "I did this for 2 years." If she can passionately talk about lessons learned or how it impacted her, it will be a major help for the interviewer to defend her in the adcom meeting. Heck, she should talk about her GPA and classes, it is a strength, my interviewer didn't have access to my transcript, yet when I started talking about a series of classes she made a point of writing those down (then again, she knew about them).
 
6479993 said:
I have a friend that just sent in her secondary to UW-Madison on Friday night. Her stats are:

10 P.S.
7 Verbal
9 B.S.

Science GPA 3.87
Total GPA 3.91
Click to expand...

How in the world do you get a 26 MCAT with a GPA of 3.87 in the sciences? That just makes no sense to me.
 
Well, my friend got really sick on the day of the MCAT and ended up being diagnosed with an actual medical illness.
 
PhantomfanMD said:
How in the world do you get a 26 MCAT with a GPA of 3.87 in the sciences? That just makes no sense to me.
Click to expand...
Some people just can't apply their knowledge to new situations as well (the passages have weird scenarios sometimes).

I'd say your friend has a pretty low chance of getting in, honestly. A VR 7 is pretty much the nail in her coffin. I had a friend with a slightly more balanced score (11, 10, 8) get rejected. I was accepted last year (in-state applicant as well), but my MCAT was higher than their average.
 
abj said:
The interviewers at Madison will always be an advocate for the interviewee, unless the interviewee is crazy or tells them to F-off. For the most part, the interviews are for the so-so applicants to highlight his/her strengths. The interviewers needs all the ammunition they can get to defend an applicant's weak MCAT score or subpar EC's. My interviewer basically wrote her notes right in front of me, and basically showed what she would make sure she would talk about.

What will give her a shot is whether she can relate her volunteer and clinical experiences beyond the level of "I did this for 2 years." If she can passionately talk about lessons learned or how it impacted her, it will be a major help for the interviewer to defend her in the adcom meeting. Heck, she should talk about her GPA and classes, it is a strength, my interviewer didn't have access to my transcript, yet when I started talking about a series of classes she made a point of writing those down (then again, she knew about them).
Click to expand...
Just so you know, your interview at UWisc doesn't count for a whole lot (I was told it's no more than an LOR). My interviews both went really well and were extremely laid back.
 
TheProwler said:
Just so you know, your interview at UWisc doesn't count for a whole lot (I was told it's no more than an LOR). My interviews both went really well and were extremely laid back.
Click to expand...

Oh, don't worry, I'm well aware of how everything operates here. I'm just trying to convey to the OP that the interview is still a major opportunity, as a 26/3.91 + clinical experiences + in-stater - "somewhat" late submission (as mine was desposited on the admissions desk on Dec 1st) is not a DOA application. Sure the interview won't matter much for most applicants, but it is probably the only chance for the OP's friend to turn a low probability of success application into an acceptance.
 
abj said:
Oh, don't worry, I'm well aware of how everything operates here. I'm just trying to convey to the OP that the interview is still a major opportunity, as a 26/3.91 + clinical experiences + in-stater - "somewhat" late submission (as mine was desposited on the admissions desk on Dec 1st) is not a DOA application. Sure the interview won't matter much for most applicants, but it is probably the only chance for the OP's friend to turn a low probability of success application into an acceptance.
Click to expand...

My advice is: "Why worry?" If they have an interview, go to it and adress any shortcomings. Sell oneself as a good doc. This amounts to a "worry thread" and there is no point in worrying - ever. Do your damn best and what happens, happens. I was rejected from UW as well and my interviewer loved me. She told me she'd go to the mat for me; she said, "I'd admit you right now if I could."

Well, her words weren't enough - and as it's been said a bajillion times - you almost never know what they are looking for right then and there in that particular application cycle. That's why this system is impossible to predict or base future prediction on past occurences - they continually tweak their admissions to reflect what kind of class they want...
 
When did you interview at Madison abj?
 
LabMonster said:
My advice is: "Why worry?" If they have an interview, go to it and adress any shortcomings. Sell oneself as a good doc. This amounts to a "worry thread" and there is no point in worrying - ever. Do your damn best and what happens, happens. I was rejected from UW as well and my interviewer loved me. She told me she'd go to the mat for me; she said, "I'd admit you right now if I could."

Well, her words weren't enough - and as it's been said a bajillion times - you almost never know what they are looking for right then and there in that particular application cycle. That's why this system is impossible to predict or base future prediction on past occurences - they continually tweak their admissions to reflect what kind of class they want...
Click to expand...


I'm sorry to be nosy labmonster, but what were your stats? I'm just curious to see how competitive i might be. i'm going to be interviewing there on nov. 27.

also, does anyone know what percentage of the interviewees get accepted?
thanks so much!
 
LabMonster said:
That's why this system is impossible to predict or base future prediction on past occurences - they continually tweak their admissions to reflect what kind of class they want...
Click to expand...

True, but the OP's friend is not a typical applicant where it is a crapshoot whether they will get in or not. For her, the odds are clearly stacked against an acceptance. I agree that all you can do is sell yourself, your application will do most of it, but for the OP's friend, the interview is the final opportunity to make "amends" over her other stats. Is that being overly realistic, and turning this into a "worry thread?" Its a matter of opinion. I personally would rather know as much as I could about the moutain that I have to climb than to look back and wonder "what if" I knew about this or that. Maybe that's where we differ.
 
6479993 said:
When did you interview at Madison abj?
Click to expand...

The interview was Feb 10th, decision by March ~8th or so, came in the scary small, white envelope.
 
abj said:
True, but the OP's friend is not a typical applicant where it is a crapshoot whether they will get in or not. For her, the odds are clearly stacked against an acceptance. I agree that all you can do is sell yourself, your application will do most of it, but for the OP's friend, the interview is the final opportunity to make "amends" over her other stats. Is that being overly realistic, and turning this into a "worry thread?" Its a matter of opinion. I personally would rather know as much as I could about the moutain that I have to climb than to look back and wonder "what if" I knew about this or that. Maybe that's where we differ.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. If you apply to UW as a Wisconsin resident, you are granted an interview automatically. So if this person knows their MCAT is not as strong as competitors, then that may be the reason for rejection. The point being, as a resident, they have an interview - so make the best of it, albeit knowing one's statistics aren't on par with their past entering classes.

Really, this person MUST understand that the interview at UW isn't highly weighted - so they must make the most of it.
 
SoccerGuy09 said:
also, does anyone know what percentage of the interviewees get accepted?
Click to expand...

http://www.med.wisc.edu/education/md/admissions/factsheet.php

2010ers: 255 acceptances. I don't see the # of interviewees, but the season is from Sept-late Feb/March, with interviews every Friday. So that leaves ~25 interview Fridays, with about 20-25 interviewees, putting the estimated number interviewed around 625. I wish I still had my folder with me that had all the data for the 2009 class.
 
LabMonster said:
Really, this person MUST understand that the interview at UW isn't highly weighted - so they must make the most of it.
Click to expand...

🙂 and the only reason the OP's friend should know this is because her application is not the most competitive (at least on paper). If it was someone with stats more in-line with Wisconsin, I'd be telling him/her the interview is hardly going to change the minds of the adcom either way, so don't worry. The interview can be another "gold star" (although small) on an application, and that may be drastically important for the chances for the OP's friend, versus someone else who has "gold stars" already visible on paper with the MCAT/GPA.
 
FYI last year:

In state:
Applicants: 637
Interviewed: 502
Accepted: 197
Matriculated: 139

Out of State:
Applicants: 1965
Interviewed: 128
Accepted: 80
Matriculated: 24
 
Anyone know if any of the Wisconsin rejections are post-secondary?? I see a handful in the Shame thread, and I know the odds are heavily stacked against me being OOS, but it's my top choice!! How hard is it to get an OOS secondary?
 
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