2008-2009 University of North Dakota

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Deepa100

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Since this university does not use AMCAS, can I send the MCAT score only if they are good (I am still waiting for them, yet to be announced on 8/11)? That way, if I need to retake, my application will be put on hold automatically. What do you think?
Thx!
 
Just so you know this in advance this school does not have rolling admissions. They just have one deadline (Nov. 1st in the past) and conduct all of their interviews over 2 or 3 weekends in late Dec. or early Jan.

I also have one question for you, and I don't want to try to outright say don't apply to the school, but where are you a state resident of? I only ask this because the interviews are given out based on a 300 point scale and state residency is a 100 point value and if you graduated from a state high school you get 100 points and it goes down pretty quickly from there.
 
Crevec said:
Just so you know this in advance this school does not have rolling admissions. They just have one deadline (Nov. 1st in the past) and conduct all of their interviews over 2 or 3 weekends in late Dec. or early Jan.

I also have one question for you, and I don't want to try to outright say don't apply to the school, but where are you a state resident of? I only ask this because the interviews are given out based on a 300 point scale and state residency is a 100 point value and if you graduated from a state high school you get 100 points and it goes down pretty quickly from there.
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Thanks for the reply. I am a Minnesota resident. They do take a few MN residents. I only got their application from them after they screened the residency thing. So, I figured I would give it a shot.
 
Here are the numbers for this year's entering class:

Bases on Residency
ND = 46
MN = 4
MT =5 (WICHE)
All the rest are part of the INMED program

Total = 62
 
Hey, that's about 8% right there😉

Can someone answer my actual Q? I would be very grateful!
 
This is right from their website with my underlining:

"Since January 2007, the test is administered electronically at several Prometric Centers across the nation. All applicants are encouraged to take the test early in the year, but no later than the fall of the year in which the application is filed. All applicants must report MCAT scores prior to consideration for admission to the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. If an applicant has taken the MCAT more than one time, the most recent score will be used in the admissions process. Test results must be recent. If more than three years old, MCAT scores will not be accepted as valid for application."

But, I would only retake the test if you do really bad. If you retake the test and only improve a point or two I do not think your odds would improve at UND. It would be better to spend your time in a rural clinic rather than studing for the MCAT again. I say this because UND is not known for their MCAT scores; there are know for having a diverse student population of all ages and life experience that wish to work in a rural area of ND.

So in my opinion do not retake the MCAT unless it is not even close to the 28 average at UND. If their is a school that looks at the whole application rather than just GPA and MCAT it is UND. So, you will just have to realy on or extracurrs, essay, and interview.

Hope this one opinion helps.
 
Thanks!
You know how it is with MCAT, you just don't know till you get the scores. I don't plan to retake if I get >28 or 29


joponoda said:
This is right from their website with my underlining:

"Since January 2007, the test is administered electronically at several Prometric Centers across the nation. All applicants are encouraged to take the test early in the year, but no later than the fall of the year in which the application is filed. All applicants must report MCAT scores prior to consideration for admission to the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. If an applicant has taken the MCAT more than one time, the most recent score will be used in the admissions process. Test results must be recent. If more than three years old, MCAT scores will not be accepted as valid for application."

But, I would only retake the test if you do really bad. If you retake the test and only improve a point or two I do not think your odds would improve at UND. It would be better to spend your time in a rural clinic rather than studing for the MCAT again. I say this because UND is not known for their MCAT scores; there are know for having a diverse student population of all ages and life experience that wish to work in a rural area of ND.

So in my opinion do not retake the MCAT unless it is not even close to the 28 average at UND. If their is a school that looks at the whole application rather than just GPA and MCAT it is UND. So, you will just have to realy on or extracurrs, essay, and interview.

Hope this one opinion helps.
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Well, I wish you the best. I am sure the MCAT will come back better than expected.

So, are you also applying to Minnesota...I wonder when they will send out secondaries.
 
I got a couple of friends that are starting this year. According to them U of M sends them out in Sept.
And yes, I am applying to MN schools as well.
 
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How are all of you formatting your activities section. So far I have been just putting:
title (date) - brief description.

Is anyone doing anything different, and how long are your description?
 
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One of the other members sent me a private message about some of the information I had provided earlier in this thread and wanted me to add some more to the topic. So I will try to add a little bit about what I know about the interview process at UND.

The point system is used for granting interviews and is not overly influential on admission, other than you can't get in if you don't interview obviously. I had said earlier that there are 300 points max given for the interview and this total is broken down into 100 for state residency, 100 for MCAT, 50 for overall GPA and 50 for science GPA. About the only other thing that the pre-interview points do is kind of affect when you are scheduled for an interview, but like the school says in the application materials that if you need to have a specific date for interviewing they will try to work with the student to best fit their schedule.

I don't know what the cutoff is for what level of pre-interview points will get someone an interview but last year they had a total of 140 interviewed applicants. It appears that the lowest pre-interview point total was 147. Compared to other schools UND has a much more condensed interview since everyone is interviewed over a 3 week period or so. And by this I mean that instead of taking an entire day or half day for the interview, all of the activities are completed in around 1.5 to 2 hours. When you first arrive you have your picture taken and get to meet several current students and the associate dean of admissions. You also watch a video about the school at this time. There are 4 students scheduled for each interview time slot.

Once all of this is done you have your interview in front of a 3 person group. I think that the groups consist of a current faculty member, a current student and then one more person associated with the school. This interview usually lasts around 45 minutes to an hour and the 3 people then write their own comments about you to take back to the full admissions committee. This complete committee is all 4 groups that conducted the interviews of the students, so there are 12 total committee members. At this point each student is presented to the committee and voted into one of 4 categories by each member. The higher you are rated the more points you receive from that vote and you can receive a total of 36 points. From these totals the process is basically complete as the students with the highest point totals are offered a spot in the class, with a larger number of spots given for ND residents and then the rest for MN/WICHE state residents.

This is about all I can think of right now for this process but I also might have missed something. If you have any other questions I will try to answer it as best I can. And good luck to everyone in this process!
 
So, How are all of you coming on your UND Application?

Also, are there any UNDSMHS students out there, reading this?
 
This school looked real good until I found out it's not on AMCAS. Why, God, why? :laugh: It was total torture trying to collect my transcripts from a few schools, soooo I don't know if I should bother to apply. It'll probably take forever just to get the transcripts in.

So they don't award any points for ECs or LORs? Too bad. My GPA kinda sucks, and I'm a MN resident. Do I have a shot at all?
 
unsung said:
So they don't award any points for ECs or LORs? Too bad. My GPA kinda sucks, and I'm a MN resident. Do I have a shot at all?
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Hey unsung, I was the one that posted about the points for the University of North Dakota and the answer to that question is no you do not get any points for having great ECs or LORs. The points are only awarded for state residency, MCAT and GPA as I had explained earlier and only count for whether or not you are given an interview invite, although I don't know if they would take those parts of the application into account in order to break a tie for the invites they send out. If you received an interview invite then all of those positive things about you will be extremely helpful and give more topics for discussion at your interview session. I hope that answers your question well enough.

Also I don't think I can answer the question of whether or not you would have a shot at the school, sorry. I would suggest maybe calling and talking with Jude Heit (701-777-4221) at the school. She has always been very helpful when I have called in the past and would have more information for you.
 
Is anyone's application marked as complete yet?
 
I was told that they begin notifying interview invitees (?) the week before Thanksgiving ... anyone get anything yet? If so, are you IS, OOS, MN resident, etc? Thanks.
 
Haven't heard anything and it's killing...
 
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I got my interview invite letter today. They sent them out on 12/03. Good luck, everyone!

EDIT: Forgot to add, I'm in-state.
 
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Well, I gave the admissions office a call and they said I did not qualify for an automatic interview...bummer. However, they did say that the admissions committee is reviewing my application and will give a final decision on Monday or Tuesday. I hope they are feeling generous, I really would like to go to this school!
 
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Anyone interviewing this week? I received an interview invite, but won't be interviewing until Jan.

P.S. I am in-state.

Also, why is this thread so quite? Aren't people excited for this school. I know I am... there is no question that if I am accepted to this school I will be attending it and enjoying every winter in ND. 😀
 
I interviewed last weekend. There are a few good posts in the interview feedback portion of this site if you want to know what you'll be asked, but in general, you need to know your application well, because that's where most of the questions come from. Anyway, good luck in your interview! :luck:

As far as why this thread is so quiet... I'd guess it has something to do with UND being so selective. The cold winters weed people out. 😉

And yes, I'm excited too, and I'll be attending if accepted!
 
Altruist said:
I interviewed last weekend. There are a few good posts in the interview feedback portion of this site if you want to know what you'll be asked, but in general, you need to know your application well, because that's where most of the questions come from. Anyway, good luck in your interview! :luck:

As far as why this thread is so quiet... I'd guess it has something to do with UND being so selective. The cold winters weed people out. 😉

And yes, I'm excited too, and I'll be attending if accepted!
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How'd your interview go? I interview this coming weekend, am very pumped about it. Did they happen to mention anything about a decision timeline? How soon will you know?? Good luck everyone!
 
Anyone else applying INMED?
 
RxMD said:
How'd your interview go? I interview this coming weekend, am very pumped about it. Did they happen to mention anything about a decision timeline? How soon will you know?? Good luck everyone!
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Meh... I'm a terrible judge of these things. I think it went well, though, better than last year (when I got waitlisted). We shall see.

I believe the timeline is something like this: They interview ~150 people over three weekends. Two weekends of interviews are in December, and one is in January. I don't know if they decide as they go along; my impression is that they do not. I think the entire admissions committee meets in January, and your interviewers present your file. You're given a ranking based on your interview performance that's added onto your ND residency points (not sure what they do with WICHE or INMED folks for this) and GPA/MCAT points, and that determines where you're ranked.

From there, I think they take the top 50 or so ND residents on the list, the top 2 or 3 MN residents, 5 WICHE, and 7 INMED applicants. If you end up on the waitlist, you have to wait for a spot in your category to open up before you're offered a place. Hopefully that's not a problem for anyone here this year. 👍

So to (eventually) answer your question, I believe letters go out around the 2nd week of January. I'll try to find my letter from last year; I think it arrived in my mailbox around the 13th or 14th of January, and I had interviewed the 20th of December. As far as I know, everyone finds out at the same time. Best of luck, everybody!
 
RxMD said:
How'd your interview go? I interview this coming weekend, am very pumped about it. Did they happen to mention anything about a decision timeline? How soon will you know?? Good luck everyone!
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US New Reports say that acceptance letters start being send out on Jan. 15th. Also, everything I have heard from friends agrees with what Altruist just posted (notifications all go out together).

mtnman12 said:
Anyone else applying INMED?
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Not I.

Altruist said:
Meh... I'm a terrible judge of these things. I think it went well, though, better than last year (when I got waitlisted). We shall see.
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What, you got waitlisted with a stellar MCAT score and life experience. I thought UND really liked non-trads.
 
in pectore said:
What, you got waitlisted with a stellar MCAT score and life experience. I thought UND really liked non-trads.
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They do, generally speaking, but each case is different. My guess when I got the letter was that I just didn't interview very well. I had a very different experience last year compared to this year; my interview last year was kinda... confrontational... compared to this year's. I did a file review with the dean of admissions after the fact, and my interviewers' comments were ok, but they didn't think I'd done quite enough to show I'm not the same student now that I was when I was 18 or 19. There are enough skeletons in my academic record that I don't think I was waitlisted unfairly.

On the other hand, I know a couple of people with apps similar to mine in a lot of ways who just blew the interview out of the water and got accepted.
 
What in pectore said about the date UND sends out decision letters is accurate. I was off on the date I mentioned earlier. I got my UND letter on Friday the 18th of January last year.
 
Altruist said:
They do, generally speaking, but each case is different. My guess when I got the letter was that I just didn't interview very well. I had a very different experience last year compared to this year; my interview last year was kinda... confrontational... compared to this year's. I did a file review with the dean of admissions after the fact, and my interviewers' comments were ok, but they didn't think I'd done quite enough to show I'm not the same student now that I was when I was 18 or 19. There are enough skeletons in my academic record that I don't think I was waitlisted unfairly.

On the other hand, I know a couple of people with apps similar to mine in a lot of ways who just blew the interview out of the water and got accepted.
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Well, best of luck this year! I still can't believe they didn't take you last year with that 39 MCAT...And your GPA isn't THAT bad with all of your life-experience!
 
Tally said:
Well, best of luck this year! I still can't believe they didn't take you last year with that 39 MCAT...And your GPA isn't THAT bad with all of your life-experience!
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I think that I just needed another year of good marks to show my improvement wasn't a fluke. And the 39 is my new score from this summer... I had to retake the MCAT because my result was over three years old, the previous score was 36, which I suppose isn't too different.

After a certain point, I think a high MCAT with a borderline gpa makes a school wonder if you just don't like putting effort into your classes. I had a ton of people ask how they could reject me with my MCAT... I guess it shows there's no magic number that guarantees admission.

In any case, another year of classes and retakes, and a certificate in public health hopefully prove that I'm serious enough about medicine to do well at UND.:xf:
 
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Altruist,

After the interview did you get a tour of the facilities at UND? Also, was there time set aside to speak with a few students after the interview? From the interview invite is seems like you just show up for the interview at UND, where as at other school I have interviewed at the entire day was filled with interviews, lunch, tours, and sitting in on classes/talking to current students at all levels.
 
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jopo said:

After the interview did you get a tour of the facilities at UND? Also, was there time set aside to speak with a few students after the interview? From the interview invite is seems like you just show up for the interview at UND, where as at other school I have interviewed at the entire day was filled with interviews, lunch, tours, and sitting in on classes/talking to current students at all levels.
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Yeah, UND is different from schools with organized interview days... one reason I don't think they're very good at selling themselves to potential students.

That said, when you arrive in the waiting room before your interview, there are 2 student volunteers (first years) waiting for you. They're meant to show you a promotional video that's about 15 years old, but for my group, they talked for a bit and answered our questions (because, by their estimation, the video was lame). The interview took 45 minutes or so, then we went back to the original waiting room. At that point, the 2 students will give you (and the other 3 people with the same interview time as you) a tour of the facilities if you want it, but it's a whirlwind tour.

IMHO, the interview day isn't helpful for deciding if you'd like to attend there. They do a Saturday mini-conference for pre-meds in the fall sometime (October, I think) that's more informational, but that's long past.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'll help you if I can.
 
I got my letter in the mail today. Their postmark date is the 15th, so everyone should get theirs in a day or two.

Not the outcome I'd have liked... I got waitlisted. 😡 Pretty far down, too (#66). Last year, I think there was movement down to about #20 or 22, and that was it.

Best of luck to everyone else.
 
Altruist said:
I got my letter in the mail today. Their postmark date is the 15th, so everyone should get theirs in a day or two.

Not the outcome I'd have liked... I got waitlisted. 😡 Pretty far down, too (#66). Last year, I think there was movement down to about #20 or 22, and that was it.

Best of luck to everyone else.
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Sorry to hear that. I know how you feel, though. I was in the low 30s last year and 50s the year before.

Mine's probably sitting in the mail box at home. *holds breath*
 
I'm disappointed, but I have an acceptance at an osteo school in Florida (LECOM), so I can't complain. I would rather have stayed in North Dakota... but if the worst thing that happens to me is that I get a sunburn next winter, I'll deal with it. 👍

Anyway, hope your letter carries better news, variablistic! Good luck!
 
Altruist said:
I'm disappointed, but I have an acceptance at an osteo school in Florida (LECOM), so I can't complain. I would rather have stayed in North Dakota... but if the worst thing that happens to me is that I get a sunburn next winter, I'll deal with it. 👍

Anyway, hope your letter carries better news, variablistic! Good luck!
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You still want to stay in ND even with the temperatures lately!?!?! jk

Sorry to hear about the waitlist. I guess I am one of the lucky ones, and I am fairly sure I am going to attend. How knows though, maybe there will be a lot of wait list movement this year and I'll see you in the fall.

Anyone else get accepted?
 
I was accepted today even though I thought I was originally waitlisted (based solely on the size of the envelope). I have also been accepted to 2 other schools and am still on the fence about which of the 3 I want to attend. And this decision is a lot harder than I originally thought it would be.
 
I was accepted to UNDSMHS as well and will definitely be attending. Yeah the size of the envelope was definitely a disappointing sight, but then another school sent out acceptance emails rather than letters.
It took a lot of soul-searching/SDN reading to decide on UND but I feel like I've made the right choice.
 
I got my letter today---accepted. The only downside is that I have a UW interview coming up on February 5th and OHSU on February 18th...and UNDSMHS wants an answer by February 17th. Don't know how I'll swing that. I loved my experience at UND, but I do want to keep my options open until I have to decide...

Anyone else interview at UW or OHSU and UND and have any feedback for me??
 
MorCwbll said:
I got my letter today---accepted. The only downside is that I have a UW interview coming up on February 5th and OHSU on February 18th...and UNDSMHS wants an answer by February 17th. Don't know how I'll swing that. I loved my experience at UND, but I do want to keep my options open until I have to decide...
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Why don't you send your letter of acceptance and deposit and still go on the interviews if you feel it necessary. That way you will have the acceptance in hand and you will get to see what other options are out there. And if you are more impressed with the other schools and are accepted then you can take that acceptance and still get your deposit back from UND as long as this happens before May 15. This information applies to all schools and is available at www.aamc.org/students/applying/policies
 
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Crevec said:
Why don't you send your letter of acceptance and deposit and still go on the interviews if you feel it necessary. That way you will have the acceptance in hand and you will get to see what other options are out there. And if you are more impressed with the other schools and are accepted then you can take that acceptance and still get your deposit back from UND as long as this happens before May 15. This information applies to all schools and is available at www.aamc.org/students/applying/policies
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Will do. Although I am not sure if the school is required to refund my money. In the grand scheme of things, 100$ is nothing. I was not worried about the money as much as the ethics of the situation. My mind is now at ease 🙂. Thanks for your reply.

What schools are you choosing from?
 
MorCwbll said:
Will do. Although I am not sure if the school is required to refund my money. In the grand scheme of things, 100$ is nothing. I was not worried about the money as much as the ethics of the situation. My mind is now at ease 🙂. Thanks for your reply.

What schools are you choosing from?
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I don't know about you but I guess I would be looking at the other interviews to make sure that you are certain about your choice and so that it can give you a peace of mind. Or at least peace of mind that you made the right choice for school with all of the information available to me at the time. I don't know how unethical it is because there are a lot of factors that need to be considered in choosing the school that you will ultimately attend.

As far as the schools that I am choosing from I have been accepted to UND, Eastern Virginia Medical School and Albany Medical College. I am also on the waitlist at a couple of other schools. And right now I am leaning slightly towards one school but would like to get more information about all of them before I make my final decision.
 
Well, over the last week I have debated which school to attend and am now sure I will be at UND in the Fall. I can't wait. If anyone else is sure they are going to attend UND feel free to PM me.
 
Are the UND letters of acceptance conditional? e.g. must have pre-requisites completed and must provide a final transcript upon graduation before matriculation?
 
OnceND said:
Are the UND letters of acceptance conditional? e.g. must have pre-requisites completed and must provide a final transcript upon graduation before matriculation?
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Yes
 
well i guess I will will be there this fall too.......
 
jopo said:
Jeez, don't sound too excited.
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........Oh trust me I am....it is more of a matter of fact that I still don't believe that I was accepted. I had to call the school and clarify. So just for you...WOOHOO!!!!
 
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