2010-2011 University of Wisconsin Application Thread

Good luck to everyone applying this year!

Feel free to post any questions and I'll do my best to answer them! Being that I'm entering 3rd year now I won't be involved in admissions as much but I still know a good amount about the process etc!

I am wondering if anyone can give me some more insight into how competitive the Rural Health Program is. The website makes it sounds VERY competitive, but doesn't provide any statistics. How many students will they take this year? How many applied, were interviewed, and were accepted last year? I am very interested in rural health and plan to apply, but am a little concerned that it is extremely competitive. I know I can put down that I would like to be considered for the traditional medical school program, but by the time the rural health program makes its decisions it would be so far into the application process that I would be worried it would be too late to really have a shot at the traditional track.

Any insight would be great! Thanks!!

When I attended their women in medicine program, the lady said they matriculated 15 students into the rural program last year. She didn't say how many they actually accepted. You know, you could just call the admissions office and I'm sure they'll tell you.

Thank you! I will probably call, but just wanted to see if there was anyone on here who has gone through the process that had any insight. Thanks!

Secondary is out! I just got the link via email.

For re-entering all our activities, are you guys just copy/pasting from AMCAS?

Oh no, does this mean I didn't make the cutoff? I am verified but with my current (horrible, below cutoff) mcat score. I retook it June 17th and was hoping that I'd get a secondary in the meantime.
This is one of my top schools =(

Engineer2med said:

Oh no, does this mean I didn't make the cutoff? I am verified but with my current (horrible, below cutoff) mcat score. I retook it June 17th and was hoping that I'd get a secondary in the meantime.
This is one of my top schools =(

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Hey I wouldn't worry about it yet, it's way way early. They probably send it out in batches, and I'm near the front of the alphabet. I literally just got it 30 minutes ago. Hope you get one soon!

Thanks Tippyboat! (great name by the way!)

I just have so much at stake.... a non traditional applicant and have invested almost $10k already to finish up my pre-reqs. Working my 8-5pm day job, then running off to 6-10pm orgo chem classes at night. I hope this pays off. My march MCAT went horribly but I feel the June one went better. We'll see in 3 weeks! Good luck to you, and congrats on getting the secondary!

Engineer2med said:

Thanks Tippyboat! (great name by the way!)

I just have so much at stake.... a non traditional applicant and have invested almost $10k already to finish up my pre-reqs. Working my 8-5pm day job, then running off to 6-10pm orgo chem classes at night. I hope this pays off. My march MCAT went horribly but I feel the June one went better. We'll see in 3 weeks! Good luck to you, and congrats on getting the secondary!

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Wow yeah I can totally understand your stress, that's a lot of pressure to take! But I'm sure these experiences only make you a better candidate so it'll all work out.

As a general question, for the optional essay, why does it sound to me like they only want you to write about something undesirable? Like only if you have obstacles or disadvantaged situations to share? Or is it really just write about anything?

I'm so excited this thread picked up! Madison is my dream school -- it's exciting to have other people to talk with

As for the optional essay, I thought it seemed like they were open to any extra information about us that would help them see us as "whole" people. They mentioned having a privileged life and giving back to people, as well as being disadvantaged. I think if you have something to say about yourself, whatever it is, you should go for it (though admittedly, I know nothing about this process).

Engineer2med, I don't think that your MCAT would keep you from getting the secondary (especially if you marked on your AMCAS that you would be retaking). I also took the June 17th MCAT and I received the secondary, so it should be on its way! (also early in the alphabet)

Haha oh no..I haven't gotten a secondary..even though I got their first email notifying me of a "prelimary screening" at the beginning of June...hmm..probably because i'm in a later batch, even though I submitted on the first?

Good luck everyone! If anyone has any questions about the program feel free to post your questions here or PM me!

I'm kind of bummed I haven't gotten this secondary yet. Do they really send out the secondary based on where your name falls in the alphabet?

Here's a little info for students who've applied and are wondering about the process. This is all based on past cycles so things may be different for this cycle.

About half of in-state candidates are interviewed (300/600 roughly) Of those interviewed, about 60% will be accepted.

Of OOS, about 15% will receive interviews (~300/~2000-2400) Of those interviewed, about 1/3 will receive acceptances (~110/~300)

I'm not involved in admissions this year, but I've heard that the committee is taking qualitative factors into account more for this next incoming class, fwiw.

Again, feel free to PM or post if you have any questions.

drizzt3117 said:

Here's a little info for students who've applied and are wondering about the process. This is all based on past cycles so things may be different for this cycle.

About half of in-state candidates are interviewed (300/600 roughly) Of those interviewed, about 60% will be accepted.

Of OOS, about 15% will receive interviews (~300/~2000-2400) Of those interviewed, about 1/3 will receive acceptances (~110/~300)

I'm not involved in admissions this year, but I've heard that the committee is taking qualitative factors into account more for this next incoming class, fwiw.

Again, feel free to PM or post if you have any questions.

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Thanks for your information, it's greatly appreciated! I was only concerned that I have not yet received a secondary...It sounded like they were only screening on the basis of numbers. Granted, I am OOS so maybe they haven't gotten to me yet or simply don't like me.

Still waiting for the secondary. I was eagerly hoping it'd be sitting in my inbox this morning. I'm instate and towards the beginning/mid of the alphabet. I hope hope hope they didn't screen me out already!

Engineer2Med, I got mine this morning, as a Californian...If it's any consolation, other schools (as you'll see in the other threads) have sent secondaries out to "everyone but me" haha.

I'm in-state, name falls near the end of the alphabet, and I just got my secondary email this morning. It looks like no one can submit it until tomorrow in any case. I like the mandatory break, otherwise I'd submit my essay without really proofreading it. I just get too antsy

Oh secondary, secondary, where art thou?

I remember taking the mcat on June 17th in madison and thinking what a great place this school is. Then I had some amazing sushi from somewhere nearby and thought, "perfect, I'm sold"

So secondary...please come my way!

Oh secondary, secondary, where art thou?

I remember taking the mcat on June 17th in madison and thinking what a great place this school is. Then I had some amazing sushi from somewhere nearby and thought, "perfect, I'm sold"

So secondary...please come my way!

For the activities descriptions, how much did you guys change the descriptions from your AMCAS version,..

Asyouwereatrio said:

For the activities descriptions, how much did you guys change the descriptions from your AMCAS version,..

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Seriously, I don't want to spend precious time rewriting activities descriptions...will copying and pasting make me look lazy??

Asyouwereatrio said:

For the activities descriptions, how much did you guys change the descriptions from your AMCAS version,..

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I think for me: ctrl+C, ctrl+V

So are they looking for other activities in addition to the ones we included in the amcas app? Such as smaller clubs/ volunteer events that we didn't include? Seems a bit odd...

But the essay on the other hand, are they asking for a "How will you bring diversity?" sort of prompt or more of space for explaining weak points? I know the essay is optional, but would it hurt not to include anything?

The activities section ultimately shows up as a bar graph, listing off your activities and showing length of commitment. I would give more description in the activities section, perhaps elaborate on AMCAS' version.

Def. do the optional essay- talk about what you bring to the table, what makes you unique and your desire to be a physician.

As Drizz is on rotations now (Hope they are going well!) I can answer questions as well- I am a more non-trad student, so if anyone fits in that category, feel free to ask/pm me.

Even if you haven't received the secondary yet, you may want to start outlining what else you would add about the activities you listed and possible essay responses- it will make your turn-around time faster upon receiving the secondary.

Good luck all- I look forward to meeting some of you during your interview day!

I'm doing the re-applicant essay. I don't think I'm going to do the optional essay, it seems like that one is for disadvantaged students from the example they give.

Still pondering if I'm just going to copy/paste my AMCAS activities. I don't want to look lazy and leave them the same, but I polished my AMCAS ones so much I don't think I should mess with them. But just copy/pasting my activities and skipping the optional essay kinda does make me look lazy...

Are they really going to have us wait until the end of September to give us a "status" update? Maybe it's because I've never done this before, but I never thought their process would take so long haha. I mean..it's over two months that they're going to have us wait.

Asyouwereatrio said:

Are they really going to have us wait until the end of September to give us a "status" update? Maybe it's because I've never done this before, but I never thought their process would take so long haha. I mean..it's over two months that they're going to have us wait.

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It doesn't end in September, most people dont find out they got admitted until November at the earliest. About 15% of people don't find out until January.

Its a very, very long and nervous process.

It can take a lot longer than January to find out if you got in. I was in the very first round of acceptances my year and it was early November. UW doesn't accept anyone October 15 or before except EDPers.

BTW 3rd year here is pretty fantastic! I'm having a lot of fun

How much have you had to travel for your 3rd year? I guess it'll be different if I get in since I'll be in WARM, but I'm still curious.

jgauger said:

How much have you had to travel for your 3rd year? I guess it'll be different if I get in since I'll be in WARM, but I'm still curious.

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I can't say how WARM works for rotations, but I know they told us to expect 4 -6 months for sure, potentially more. Obviously there are exceptions, like if you have children you can ask that your rotations be in Madison area only.

There is an advantage to the away rotations- often there is not a ms-resident-attending hierarchy, meaning you get more hands on with patients and time directly with attendings. You also get a broader perspective on patient populations, whereas if you are always in Madison, you would not necessarily see a lot of diversity, individuals from smaller communities, or understand rural health issues.

I didn't realize that UWisc needed a nonacademic letter until after I submitted the primary.

I haven't taken the MCAT yet so at this point I'm only adding a few schools at a time that send out secondaries to all applicants (according to the MSAR). Today I got an e-mail from UW that they in fact do some minimal screening for MCAT scores. Had I known that I would have added them later after my MCAT scores came back. It's not really a problem, just wasn't expecting that e-mail.

Does anyone know how they go about reviewing WARM applicants? Does it go to the regular committee first and then to the WARM committee or just straight to the WARM committee? I know there is a separate WARM interview, but is that in addition to the regular interview? I would think there would be only one interview, but I'm not sure. Does anyone have any more insight to this? I

Just giving this a little bump. I'm so excited about this school! Madison is absolutely amazing! Has anyone heard anything yet?

Engineer2med said:

Just giving this a little bump. I'm so excited about this school! Madison is absolutely amazing! Has anyone heard anything yet?

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It will be a while until we do. They wont even start looking at apps till september. I agree though, Madison rocks.

Hey all! I just wanted to let peeps know that I am an incoming medical student at UW this year, and I know a bit about the WARM program. If anyone has any questions about WARM, please feel free to PM me! Good luck to all applying!

It's not too hard to only be away for 10-12 weeks if you want. I'm doing everything in Madison except for primary care and half of medicine. There are disadvantages to doing programs away. For example, some specialties are only at the Madison clerkship site in certain specialties.

A lot of the teaching faculty who you'd want letters from are only at the Madison site only. If you're interested in a specialty that you could do away, I'd try to do it in Madison if possible (ob, pcc, peds)

Crelal said:

I can't say how WARM works for rotations, but I know they told us to expect 4 -6 months for sure, potentially more. Obviously there are exceptions, like if you have children you can ask that your rotations be in Madison area only.

There is an advantage to the away rotations- often there is not a ms-resident-attending hierarchy, meaning you get more hands on with patients and time directly with attendings. You also get a broader perspective on patient populations, whereas if you are always in Madison, you would not necessarily see a lot of diversity, individuals from smaller communities, or understand rural health issues.

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I attended the WARM symposium yesterday and had a great time. I am even more excited now than I've ever been about the program. New rural site in my home town which is awesome. Looks like interviews for both programs will be starting either the last friday of september or the first friday of october. Dr. Crouse told me that they should be sending out invites for WARM in the next couple of weeks.

what end date is everyone using for activities that haven't ended yet??

juryyu said:

what end date is everyone using for activities that haven't ended yet??

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I applied in late July so I picked August as the "end date" for ongoing activities, I picked the month I assumed they would be reading the App.

hey everyone, im an incoming med student as well, so feel free to pm me if you have any questions about the process or how im liking school (after it starts of course).

im also an ooser (ca) and wasn't really exposed to uw a whole lot going into the application process in case you're also coming from that angle. i think it's really an exciting place to be on both the clinical and research ends.

also, if you need somewhere to stay during interviews, let me know... i can hook you up.

juryyu said:

what end date is everyone using for activities that haven't ended yet??

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I am assuming you are talking about the secondary application, which I don't have yet b/c my app is still being verified. However, I would assume you put whenever you think the activity will be done if there isn't a choice for ongoing. For instance, I am just starting another volunteer activity for fun so it will go from Aug 2010-July 2011. I also work as a health care professional, which will be ongoing, so I will put at least Aug 2010-July 2011 (even though I may continue on call during med school). This is just my 2 cents without seeing the seconday yet

Can anyone comment on the student atmosphere here? I have heard that certain schools with ABCDF grades foster a super competitive atmosphere compared to Pass/Fail ones. It seems like the students at Madison are happy and I was hoping to get some perspective on how helpful the students are to each other since they're in competition for the grades.

I talked with a girl in the program who said they recently changed a bit so first year is pass/fail and the other years are graded. She said it does help since students get used to working together right away. She said there are some people who are super competitive, but it hasn't really been an issue - she said there were always students who would work together. From what I've heard, there are more non-traditional students too who are more mature and don't get so obsessed with the competition.

Thanks WiscRD!
I'm super excited for this school. I can't wait until they start communicating with the applicants.

2nd year is more stressful than 1st in terms of grading, but 3rd is going to be more important and most schools have the same type of system for m3, which is potentially more frustrating than any grading system you'll see in the basic sciences anyways. I would say in general the environment is pretty collaborative though. You're always in competition with people for grades at almost any school anyways, but in the end, it's just not that big a deal.

Engineer2med said:

Can anyone comment on the student atmosphere here? I have heard that certain schools with ABCDF grades foster a super competitive atmosphere compared to Pass/Fail ones. It seems like the students at Madison are happy and I was hoping to get some perspective on how helpful the students are to each other since they're in competition for the grades.

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wiscRD said:

I talked with a girl in the program who said they recently changed a bit so first year is pass/fail and the other years are graded. She said it does help since students get used to working together right away. She said there are some people who are super competitive, but it hasn't really been an issue - she said there were always students who would work together. From what I've heard, there are more non-traditional students too who are more mature and don't get so obsessed with the competition.

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There is competition, but you are going to have that anywhere you go- this is the nature of medical school. That being said, pass/fail is pretty sweet for the first year- you can either stress about cramming every factoid into your head, or you can realize the night before the exam that you are confident you can achieve the 80%/etc needed to pass, and get sleep. Your choice as to how to handle it.

There is a lot of encouragement to do group study in M1- it works for some, not for others. You just need to find the study style that works best for you. People send out study guides for courses, links for helpful websites, etc. to the classwide email list.

I am just starting M2, and we are setting up a study group to run through material despite the whole grading thing. The reality is we benefit as individuals by working together. And there is a fair amount of studying (okay, a lot) that will need to be done outside of the group, so someone is not going to be able to avoid studying and still do well.

I think students are happy here as a rule- it is a great school, we have great profs, and they are responsive to the input from students. There is always something to do in Madison, and plenty of places to get away when you need a break.

The M2 class is a little more nontraditional than past classes- not sure about the M1 class yet. But there are still a lot of traditional students as well. It is a great blend of people with totally different backgrounds, and I think it will add to our education.

I saw the M1's gathering for orientations the other day... how is the first week going?