2008-2009 Case Western Secondary Application Thread

Getting into Med School is Hard? Not with BeMo.
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(Required for all applicants)The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining further insight into you as a person. Please describe the experience which you found most personally challenging to this point in your life and discuss how it helped shape you as a person. You may discuss a moral or ethical dilemma, situation of personal adversity or other life-event you believe to have been an important hurdle for you. Please limit your essay to 1 page (about 3,500 characters) and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Optional Scholarly Essay:

One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve2 Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a pre-requisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or another scholarly project please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non-medically-related investigations. Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs. If you cut and paste your essay from a word processing program, be sure to place your cursor at the end of the pasted text and click on the space bar. This assures that the program will save your text correctly.

Please note that your application will not be viewed unfavorably if you have not participated in scholarly work or research.
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Oy vey, you might want to change the thread name to 2008-2009 Case Western Secondary Application Thread or Shemarty will have a stroke...the poor woman has been trying to keep up with all the secondaries :oops:
 
haha i just did- good call, i wouldnt want shemarty to cyber slap me:rolleyes:
 
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Is it a bad sign if I haven't received it ??
 
Are there extra essays for CCLCM?
 
LET said:
Oy vey, you might want to change the thread name to 2008-2009 Case Western Secondary Application Thread or Shemarty will have a stroke...the poor woman has been trying to keep up with all the secondaries :oops:
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Haha, it's okay...

I'm gonna ask a mod to change it :)
 
The adversity question is definitely the toughest one I'll face on any secondary. I really have no clue what to put at this point.
 
CCLCM Curriculum Essay:
(Required for CCLCM Applicants)
What is it about the CCLCM curriculum that you feel makes it a good match for your learning style? Please limit your essay to 300-750 characters and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

CCLCM Small Group Essay:
(Required for CCLCM Applicants)
If you were working on a small group project and another student didn't carry their load, how would you handle it? Please limit your essay to 300-1000 characters and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

CCLCM Areas of Improvement Essay:
(Required for CCLCM Applicants)
Targeted areas for improvement are identified by our students at the end of each year. Other than knowledge, what would you identify as an area that is not a strength for you? Design a plan how you could improve it. Please limit your essay to 500-1000 characters and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
 
Research Essay:
(Required)
Please describe your research experience, including the hypothesis you pursued, the methods selected, your results and interpretation of the results with respect to future findings. In addition, please add your thoughts about why this research experience has motivated you to consider a career as a physician investigator. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below. Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

It says this is required for me???
 
can someone explain the difference between Cleveland clinic lerner and case western? i know to apply to both, you have to designate case western on amcas... when do you decide if you also want to apply to lerner? thanks!
 
copingmethods said:
Are there extra essays for CCLCM?
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Yes. See funkydrmonkey's post above.

funkydrmonkey said:
Research Essay:
(Required)
Please describe your research experience, including the hypothesis you pursued, the methods selected, your results and interpretation of the results with respect to future findings. In addition, please add your thoughts about why this research experience has motivated you to consider a career as a physician investigator. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below. Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

It says this is required for me???
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Yes. Research is not required for the Case University Program (UP), but it is required for CCLCM.

TheVerve said:
can someone explain the difference between Cleveland clinic lerner and case western? i know to apply to both, you have to designate case western on amcas... when do you decide if you also want to apply to lerner? thanks!
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Case has two MD programs, CCLCM and the UP. The UP is Case's four-year MD program, while CCLCM is a five year research MD program. If you are in the UP, you can opt to take a fifth year for research if you want to, but if you go to CCLCM, you must take a fifth year for research. To apply, you pick Case on AMCAS, then designate the UP, CCLCM, or both on the secondary. The programs have basically separate admissions and interviews, so it's possible to be accepted to one program and rejected post-secondary to the other.

Go to the Case and CCLCM med school websites for more info about each program's specific curriculum.
 
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Sadly, the only significant adversity that I can remember is poor grades and motivation and addiction to MMORPG, do you think this is a legitimate topic?
 
DrYoda said:
I haven't received it either. The holy book of MSAR says they don't screen.
What gives?
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They don't. Be patient, it will come. You have all the questions already, so start working on them if you have the time.

floja2 said:
Sadly, the only significant adversity that I can remember is poor grades and motivation and addiction to MMORPG, do you think this is a legitimate topic?
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If you had poor grades and overcame them, sure, go for it. I don't think I'd mention the MMORPG addiction. ;)
 
When you actually submit it, does the essay get cut off (like the primary app in AMCAS) or could we have over 3500 characteristics (~1 page)? Mine is a bit over 3500 characters and was wondering if I really need to cut it down more (I already cut down from 4500 characters). Any insights are appreciated!!
 
The optional four pillars for case and the research question for CCLM seem to be nearly identical. Do the adcoms for case and CCLM talk? AKA should we write differently worded essays to show more interest rather than just copy pasting?
 
Ah. Answered it for myself. It's automatically merged if you apply to both.
 
Yes, both schools do talk. If one gives you an interview, the other will see if they want to give you one too and will schedule them together.

They can also see the comments the other admissions office made about your application.
 
hey..what four pillars essay?
 
For the CCLCM essay, what is the "weakness" one referring to? Academic weakness or general?
 
The four pillars essay is just a reworded version of the research experience essay. It shows up if you apply only to case and not CCLM. If you apply to both, they get merged into one essay prompt.


For the weakness, I think it's open ended so you can do whatever you want. Academic or otherwise.
 
if you are applying to both the university program and Cleveland Clinic, can letters be sent to just Case Western?
 
okay so I just found the answer to my question.... its just needs to be to Case Western
 
when i print my application, it doesnt print the three additional essays needed for cleveland clinic... anyone else having this problem?
 
Wow, this secondary and Duke's are probably by far the hardest...
 
Ahhh... did a lot of other people not get this yet??
 
copperfrog09 said:
Ahhh... did a lot of other people not get this yet??
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I actually ended up emailing them about this and they said that I should have received the email last week and they even gave me a sent date/time. They were very helpful and re-sent the email. If you haven't received one from Case I'd recommend doing that.
 
seven87 said:
I actually ended up emailing them about this and they said that I should have received the email last week and they even gave me a sent date/time. They were very helpful and re-sent the email. If you haven't received one from Case I'd recommend doing that.
Click to expand...

Surely, surely. Just e-mailed them back and they immediately responded that I should have received it a week ago Sunday. Oh well, I have it now!


:love: Case :love:
 
copperfrog09 said:
Surely, surely. Just e-mailed them back and they immediately responded that I should have received it a week ago Sunday. Oh well, I have it now!


:love: Case :love:
Click to expand...

Do you mind sharing that email address with a fellow SDNer who still hasn't gotten the secondary?
 
Case wins the award for most helpful office of admissions so far. I just submitted and saw that my status said I wasn't complete because I was missing LORs. But my LORs were marked as received. The lady marked me as received on the phone! Plus she said that she wasn't sure when they were starting to look over applications, but the first interview date was September 8th.
 
seven87 said:
For the CCLCM essay, what is the "weakness" one referring to? Academic weakness or general?
Click to expand...
The question is ambiguous on purpose. Answer it however you think is best.
 
Ok, this is possibly a really *****ic question, but when it asks for your application year, am I supposed to be putting 2008 (when I am applying) or 2009 (when I would matriculate)? It defaults to 2009, so I was just wondering.

I think these secondaries are frying my brain.
 
ok, so I am pretty sweet at photoshop and I am pretty sure there is no way to make a 150x150 jpg that is less than 10k...

anyone have any solutions?
 
kappa09 said:
Ok, this is possibly a really *****ic question, but when it asks for your application year, am I supposed to be putting 2008 (when I am applying) or 2009 (when I would matriculate)? It defaults to 2009, so I was just wondering.

I think these secondaries are frying my brain.
Click to expand...
Put when you'd matriculate, not when you apply. Unless you're planning to ask for a deferral, everyone should be applying to both programs for the entering class of 2009.
 
sxs316 said:
ok, so I am pretty sweet at photoshop and I am pretty sure there is no way to make a 150x150 jpg that is less than 10k...

anyone have any solutions?
Click to expand...

It's entirely possible to make a 150x150 .jpg less than 10 KB. Photoshop is overkill if you just need to crop, but if you want to use it, lower the quality settings when you save the file. JPEG is a lossy codec anyway, so you're not going to notice too much difference between say 7 vs 10 in quality, but there will be a big difference in file size.
 
Wow... CCLCM's essays are killing me. I'm taking days to write them. I don't know why!
I've had describe your weakness essays before... but this asks for a PLAN to overcome them!?!

And then, there's the "if your group mate isn't doing his work, what do you do essay?" In all the secondaries I've completed, these are by far the hardest. I'm done with Case and I just want to submit... but I can't because of CCLCM. I wish they had their own application.
 
All thread titles should start with "2008-09 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" like this one.
 
Mine have! As of a few days ago anyway... So they are going through them...
 
TheVerve said:
has anyone's letters been marked as received?
Click to expand...

Mine was marked as received on 7/7, even though I submitted my secondary today. I really messed it up though because I entered information for a letter packet, but they had already filled it out themselves since they had already received it. I e-mailed them and hopefully it gets straightened out :rolleyes:
 
bozz said:
Wow... CCLCM's essays are killing me. I'm taking days to write them. I don't know why!
I've had describe your weakness essays before... but this asks for a PLAN to overcome them!?!

And then, there's the "if your group mate isn't doing his work, what do you do essay?" In all the secondaries I've completed, these are by far the hardest. I'm done with Case and I just want to submit... but I can't because of CCLCM. I wish they had their own application.
Click to expand...
Welcome to our world. You'll be writing a lot more of those learning plans if you come here.
 
CCLCMer said:
Welcome to our world. You'll be writing a lot more of those learning plans if you come here.
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Hmm, it says those are written only once a year. Hope yours are cut off at 1000 characters too. ;)

That seems kinda like an assignment in BSing, though. What's the stated purpose?
 
schismal said:
Hmm, it says those are written only once a year. Hope yours are cut off at 1000 characters too. ;)

That seems kinda like an assignment in BSing, though. What's the stated purpose?
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Oh, no, you write one SUMMATIVE portfolio essay per year first and second years, but you write several formatives. Formatives are just seen by you and your advisor and are kind of like drafts for the summatives, which are the ones that actually count. It's a total of four essays first year and three second year. After that, you do (on average) one more formative per year for third through fifth years, and one final summative. Grand total for all of med school will be 3 + 2 + 3 = 8 formatives and 3 summatives. Length depends on the essay. They get longer as the year goes on and more competencies get added. The summatives are 18 pages (or maybe a little less if you are not as verbose as I am.)

The reason we do them is to provide evidence for the MSPRC (promotions committee) to determine whether we should be promoted from Year 1 to Year 2, Year 2 to Year 3, and graduate in Year 5. We are given the list of standards and we have to provide the evidence to prove that we've achieved them. I know it sounds weird compared to what other med schools do, but keep in mind that we have no tests or grades here whatsoever. (Literally the only test I've taken since I started med school is Step 1.) So if we didn't assemble portfolios and write portfolio essays, we'd have no way to be evaluated. Writing them can be a total pain, especially if you haven't been good about keeping your evidence organized all year and you wait too long to start. But it's like anything else. Once you learn how the system works, you know what you need to do to excel in it. You just won't be getting a letter or number grade for any of your work.
 
CCLCMer said:
Oh, no, you write one SUMMATIVE portfolio essay per year first and second years, but you write several formatives. Formatives are just seen by you and your advisor and are kind of like drafts for the summatives, which are the ones that actually count. It's a total of four essays first year and three second year. After that, you do (on average) one more formative per year for third through fifth years, and one final summative. Grand total for all of med school will be 3 + 2 + 3 = 8 formatives and 3 summatives. Length depends on the essay. They get longer as the year goes on and more competencies get added. The summatives are 18 pages (or maybe a little less if you are not as verbose as I am.)

The reason we do them is to provide evidence for the MSPRC (promotions committee) to determine whether we should be promoted from Year 1 to Year 2, Year 2 to Year 3, and graduate in Year 5. We are given the list of standards and we have to provide the evidence to prove that we've achieved them. I know it sounds weird compared to what other med schools do, but keep in mind that we have no tests or grades here whatsoever. (Literally the only test I've taken since I started med school is Step 1.) So if we didn't assemble portfolios and write portfolio essays, we'd have no way to be evaluated. Writing them can be a total pain, especially if you haven't been good about keeping your evidence organized all year and you wait too long to start. But it's like anything else. Once you learn how the system works, you know what you need to do to excel in it. You just won't be getting a letter or number grade for any of your work.
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:eek: Good thing I enjoy writing, then! It sounds like good communication skills are a must, given that your evaluation depends partly on written proficiency.

Well, it makes sense in lieu of periodic tests, even though it looks like you get to argue for your advancement rather than it being determined from an objective number scale. Some kind of external compass is probably necessary to gauge one's progress, either in terms of letter grades or written feedback like Lerner provides. But how often do you get evaluated? It says online that each PBL group lasts 8-10 weeks, so are you only provided detailed feedback every few months, at the end of the particular organ system?
 
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