09-10 MSTP Question Thread

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Is anyone working on the Duke secondary?

I'm a little unclear about MSTP questions #3: What is your special field of interest in medicine?

Do we actually have to pick a field and talk about it...what if you have no idea?

 

[alacast]

Is anyone working on the Duke secondary?

Yes. I can nearly see the light at the end of the tunnel....

I have a specific area of interest, so I just wrote about that for a long paragraph.

 

[SBR249]

Hey guys, sorry if this question has been asked/answered before.

How do schools look at re-using material from the AMCAS? By re-use, I mean copy/paste with a few word changes. I'm not talking about the personal statement or any of the big essays, but activity descriptions and such. I really spent some time on those and I think they would fit the bill.

I know some schools specifically say you can and some specifically say "in addition to the AMCAS" but what about schools that don't say anything. Is there a pseudo-convention for this?

And yes, I'm also glanced at the Duke secondary...simply ridiculous. But the good thing is, I heard from a friend of a friend who happened to have sat on the MD admissions committee there that the secondary essays are really just about making sure that you aren't a sociopath or something.

 

[newapple]

Is anyone working on the Duke secondary?

I'm a little unclear about MSTP questions #3: What is your special field of interest in medicine?

Do we actually have to pick a field and talk about it...what if you have no idea?

I emailed the Duke MSTP and apparently this is how they want us to answer this question, just fyi.

"We are interested in your specific research interests. Typically the clinical interests are related to the research interest, but, if this is not the case, for you, please indicate both and tell us something about you plan to mix the two."

confusing...

 

[newapple]

does anyone know if stanford mstp's need to choose a scholarly concentration? would seem redundant.

 

[dmblue]

I emailed the Duke MSTP and apparently this is how they want us to answer this question, just fyi.

"We are interested in your specific research interests. Typically the clinical interests are related to the research interest, but, if this is not the case, for you, please indicate both and tell us something about you plan to mix the two."

confusing...

what is confusing?

 

[newapple]

what is confusing?

confusing because the question was "What is your special field of interest in medicine?" not "what is your special field of interest in research"

 

[yeastfan21]

A few schools ask you to indicate if you would like to be considered for MD-only if you're rejected by the MSTP committee. I am committed to doing MD/PhD but I have decided to select the MD-backup option at these schools. My reasoning is that if all else fails and I don't get an offer by a good MD/PhD program then I could reapply after a year of med school. I'm aware that reapplying may not work, but at this point I just want to keep options open. Any thoughts on whether it's best to apply MSTP-only or MD/MSTP?

I'm basically in the same boat as you (very committed to MD-PhD, but see MD only, with the potential to apply for a PhD later, as a back up if I don't get into any strong dual degree programs), and so I'm hoping someone answers this question.

I'm particularly curious in the case of WashU (whose secondary I'm hoping to fire off today). According to their MSTP office, people who put down MSTP-only get only interviews for the dual degree program, while people who say their interested in both MD and MSTP get an additional interview when the visit, with someone from the Med school. That's not particularly surprising, but this is: If you put down both MD and MSTP, the MSTP committee will only start considering you until after the MD people have approved your acceptance to the part of the program. In other words, it seems like if you put down both MD and MSTP, there's an added threshold you need to pass in order for the MSTP committee to consider you. (Not a tremendous threshold, since if you were competitive for MSTP you'd probably get into the Med school as well. But at the very least this system would seem to put a lot of pressure on that one MD-only interview). Am I understanding this all correctly?

So anyone have any advice/experience/hunch regarding this issue of applying to MSTP only or both MD and MSTP?

 

[yeastfan21]

Medphil asked about what it's like if you're accepted to Harvard MD-only and decide to apply for a PhD through the "second cycle".

I knew about entering a PhD program once in MD, but is that actually entering the MD-PhD program (officially, with the same 2-~4-2 yrs. split, differences, and funding), or is it just getting your PhD along with MD?

You are officially in the MD-PhD program from the beginning. You do 2 years of Harvard Med School, while participating in all the events/advising/etc. for the MD-PhD program, just like the MSTP kids. Then, at the end of your second year, you have to apply for funding (not guaranteed, but not super-competitive either). Then, if you're accepted, you go and complete your PhD, and then finally complete Med3/4 at the end.

So, yes, the program structure is the same; the only difference is the funding for the first two years. From my understanding, most of the Harvard MD-PhD actually do it this way, non-MSTP.

 

[dmblue]

confusing because the question was "What is your special field of interest in medicine?" not "what is your special field of interest in research"

I guess that could be confusing, although I knew what they meant when I filled it out. They just want to know what your clinical interests are, and since it's an MD PhD app/question you should explain how it relates to your research interests.

On mine, I just said that I really didn't know at this point, but explained how my tissue engineering interests related to several different clinical specialties.

However, I didn't get an interview, so take that with a grain of salt.

 

[CielloStelatto]

::crickets chirping::

any news?

 

[friendlybear]

• Hey, I posted this question in the 2009-2010 application thread, but decided to post it here because you guys are more active! Anyhow, this question is for all you folks working on the Stanford MSTP secondary question, "Describe your most significant research experience. Include the rationale, results, and conclusions, and the role you played in each of these components".
• So we've got this disclaimer statement from Stanford: "The AMCAS application has required essay responses to MD/PhD program interest. You may use information from these responses in the sections that follow, but you are required to answer every question on the Stanford Supplemental Application, and it is not sufficient to simply refer to the AMCAS essays"
• I really wasn't sure how to what to do with these conditions and ended up calling Stanford today. Found out they don't want you doing any copy/pasting from MD/PhD essays onto the Stanford secondary. They want a unique essay, "emphasizing more on certain parts, for instance". When I asked exactly what additional information Stanford was looking for, the lady unfortunately couldn't tell me that information.
• This was a bit of a setback for me, because I thought I'd done a pretty thorough job on my AMCAS essays already. Anybody have ideas on what to accentuate/emphasize on the research experience on the Stanford secondary, given the prodigious amounts of information already written in the AMCAS MD/PhD statement and research summary?

 

[SunnyBlues]

::crickets chirping::

any news?

Sigh. Nothing new here! Just plowing through those secondaries... I can see the light now!

 

[dmblue]

• Hey, I posted this question in the 2009-2010 application thread, but decided to post it here because you guys are more active! Anyhow, this question is for all you folks working on the Stanford MSTP secondary question, "Describe your most significant research experience. Include the rationale, results, and conclusions, and the role you played in each of these components".
• So we've got this disclaimer statement from Stanford: "The AMCAS application has required essay responses to MD/PhD program interest. You may use information from these responses in the sections that follow, but you are required to answer every question on the Stanford Supplemental Application, and it is not sufficient to simply refer to the AMCAS essays"
• I really wasn't sure how to what to do with these conditions and ended up calling Stanford today. Found out they don't want you doing any copy/pasting from MD/PhD essays onto the Stanford secondary. They want a unique essay, "emphasizing more on certain parts, for instance". When I asked exactly what additional information Stanford was looking for, the lady unfortunately couldn't tell me that information.
• This was a bit of a setback for me, because I thought I'd done a pretty thorough job on my AMCAS essays already. Anybody have ideas on what to accentuate/emphasize on the research experience on the Stanford secondary, given the prodigious amounts of information already written in the AMCAS MD/PhD statement and research summary?

I don't remember what I did, but I didn't get an interview. It's a really dumb essay question.

 

[Ok2Panic]

Anyone else got a phone call from Hopkins? It kind of unsettled me, especially since I expected my app to just be contributing to their stores of paper to be recycled. They were asking if I had sent my letters, but I just took the MCAT last Thursday and wont have scores anytime soon, so didnt expect anyone to be looking at my file at all. Weeeeird.

 

[SunnyBlues]

Anyone else got a phone call from Hopkins? It kind of unsettled me, especially since I expected my app to just be contributing to their stores of paper to be recycled. They were asking if I had sent my letters, but I just took the MCAT last Thursday and wont have scores anytime soon, so didnt expect anyone to be looking at my file at all. Weeeeird.

No, I haven't heard anything from Hopkins since I completed the secondary online and sent in the paper app. Am also expecting to contribute to their recycling bin, LOL. But you never can tell... That is really strange that they called you!

 

[Ok2Panic]

No, I haven't heard anything from Hopkins since I completed the secondary online and sent in the paper app. Am also expecting to contribute to their recycling bin, LOL. But you never can tell... That is really strange that they called you!

They called at like 9am the morning I was taking the MCAT. Honestly, I'm not convinced that it wasn't someone with a 410 area code just trying to throw me off my game for the test.

 

[SunnyBlues]

They called at like 9am the morning I was taking the MCAT. Honestly, I'm not convinced that it wasn't someone with a 410 area code just trying to throw me off my game for the test.

LOL. Seriously, that is so weird.

 

[friendlybear]

Thanks for the feedback dmblue; well, i guess i'll just work hard to play their game, then.

 

[friendlybear]

Hi again,

I was just wondering if anyone here has gotten a secondary application from UCSF. I'm about a month into their "12-week-period of deciding whether to give me a secondary" (AMCAS verified 7/7/09); haven't gotten anything.

 

[mcp15]

I was also verified 7/7. I got their secondary about a week ago. maybe they just haven't gotten to yours?

 

[JJsMom]

So I have a question about interview topics.

I've heard that if you put something fairly sensitive in an essay, an AdComm committee will potentially push you about it to see if you respond. A lot of my character essays touch on my role as a teenage mom in a ridiculously competitive university (the one they use for any weird, smart engineer in all the movies i.e. Iron Man which, by the way, is super awesome).

I have had some people tell me that the issue might hold me back in the application cycle, especially given its effect on my grades.

If anyone could give me a thought on whether or not this will be pressed at an interview, just so I can prepare a determined response, I would really appreciate it. Thanks

 

[LadyLightning20]

Hi again,

I was just wondering if anyone here has gotten a secondary application from UCSF. I'm about a month into their "12-week-period of deciding whether to give me a secondary" (AMCAS verified 7/7/09); haven't gotten anything.

Yes - I got mine about 6 weeks into their 12-week period.

 

[alacast]

Finally submitted Stanford's secondary today, meaning I'm done with all 20 of my MSTP applications! Woo! I get my life back!

I most certainly don't recommend applying to that many unless you have no responsibilities over your application summer.🙄

 

[ItalianGuy13]

Finally submitted Stanford's secondary today, meaning I'm done with all 20 of my MSTP applications! Woo! I get my life back!

I most certainly don't recommend applying to that many unless you have no responsibilities over your application summer.🙄

Congratulations!! I'm applying to 19 and I've gotten through 4 (waiting on the others, almost verified). Now just 15 more... And I definitely know what you mean about the other responsibilities - I'm working this summer and all I do is work/write essays!

 

[Remuneration]

Vandy asks for institution codes for the other schools to which you're applying. They give you a search tool, but the results for some schools are rather ambigious. Is there a good way to doublecheck that you've got the right code?

 

[URHere]

If anyone could give me a thought on whether or not this will be pressed at an interview, just so I can prepare a determined response, I would really appreciate it. Thanks

Whether or not any issue is brought up is at the discretion of your interviewers. Some may not mention it, others may say something in passing, and there is a chance that some may want to talk about it quite a bit.

There's no harm in being prepared, but you don't need to plan out a speech for the occasion. Just get used to talking about it (all aspects of it), so that you can speak clearly and calmly if the topic does come up.

 

[WW2010]

Is this a "likely letter"? I know someone from my school recently received such a letter from a top program even she has yet completed her secondary.


Dear XXX,

......The MSTP Admissions Committee informed me that you have impressive academic accomplishment and research promise but that they have not yet received your secondary application and/or letters of recommendation. I have reviewed your AMCAS application and concur: you have great potential as a future physician-scientist.

I am writing to you now personally to encourage you to submit your Supplemental Application as soon as possible for one of our XX positions in the 2010 entering class.

……Introduced the school……..

Please let me know if you have any questions about our Program and I hope to meet you sometime soon.

Sincerely,


XXX, MD, PhD
Director, XXX MSTP

 

[CielloStelatto]

Let me guess, northwestern?

 

[Ok2Panic]

Wow, I feel like I've been cheated on. What happened Northwestern? I thought we had a personal connection? You were encouraging *me* PERSONALLY to submit the secondary? And yet as soon as I turn around, here you are, encouraging a whole lot of other applicants.

I knew you'd hurt me in the end.

 

[CielloStelatto]

maybe they still like us? they're just not ready to take the plunge into monogamy? haha. I'll forgive them if they accept me 🙂

 

[mcp15]

It's okay, I didn't get that letter from NU, just a "This letter acknowledges our receipt of your AMCAS, please pay us $75 ASAP." So you guys are special after all! 😛

 

[CielloStelatto]

It's okay, I didn't get that letter from NU, just a "This letter acknowledges our receipt of your AMCAS, please pay us $75 ASAP." So you guys are special after all! 😛

but your stats are ridic 👍

 

[hop2it]

I'm basically in the same boat as you (very committed to MD-PhD, but see MD only, with the potential to apply for a PhD later, as a back up if I don't get into any strong dual degree programs), and so I'm hoping someone answers this question.

I'm particularly curious in the case of WashU (whose secondary I'm hoping to fire off today). According to their MSTP office, people who put down MSTP-only get only interviews for the dual degree program, while people who say their interested in both MD and MSTP get an additional interview when the visit, with someone from the Med school. That's not particularly surprising, but this is: If you put down both MD and MSTP, the MSTP committee will only start considering you until after the MD people have approved your acceptance to the part of the program. In other words, it seems like if you put down both MD and MSTP, there's an added threshold you need to pass in order for the MSTP committee to consider you. (Not a tremendous threshold, since if you were competitive for MSTP you'd probably get into the Med school as well. But at the very least this system would seem to put a lot of pressure on that one MD-only interview). Am I understanding this all correctly?

So anyone have any advice/experience/hunch regarding this issue of applying to MSTP only or both MD and MSTP?

WashU will make you have an interview with the med school no matter what. You will also have to approved by the med school before you're accepted no matter what as well. Basically, they say if the MSTP wants you, no one has much of a problem being approved by the medical school.

 

[LadyLightning20]

Is this a "likely letter"? I know someone from my school recently received such a letter from a top program even she has yet completed her secondary.


Dear XXX,

......The MSTP Admissions Committee informed me that you have impressive academic accomplishment and research promise but that they have not yet received your secondary application and/or letters of recommendation. I have reviewed your AMCAS application and concur: you have great potential as a future physician-scientist.

I am writing to you now personally to encourage you to submit your Supplemental Application as soon as possible for one of our XX positions in the 2010 entering class.

……Introduced the school……..

Please let me know if you have any questions about our Program and I hope to meet you sometime soon.

Sincerely,


XXX, MD, PhD
Director, XXX MSTP

Yes, I got this one. I thought it was personal too :-(

 

[CielloStelatto]

Does anyone's status page say NW got your letters? I called and they said take it up with AMCAS.

 

[newapple]

Does anyone's status page say NW got your letters? I called and they said take it up with AMCAS.

Yes; my status page says NW has received my letters.

Did anyone apply to UTSW? Did they send a complete email or do you have to just call and verify that they'd received your letters? (I sent mine via snail mail)

 

[ucbundergrad]

for UTSW do you have to send in letters? Don't they utilize the AMCAS service?

 

[LadyLightning20]

for UTSW do you have to send in letters? Don't they utilize the AMCAS service?

I just checked and my amcas account let me register letters to UTSW, so I'm assuming that they to take AMCAS. It's kind of weird though, to not have a secondary for them and to just sit around waiting for a decision.

 

[newapple]

for UTSW do you have to send in letters? Don't they utilize the AMCAS service?

I think they do use AMCAS but I just followed the instructions on the MSTP website and it said to send the letters to the MSTP office. I also didn't apply MD-only - I don't know if that means anything...

 

[SunnyBlues]

Is anyone else on here applying to Drexel this cycle? If so, have you made sense of their application?

The med application has a link to complete the grad application (if you check "yes" for MD/PhD), and the grad application has a different set of application requirements than those listed on the MSTP website (hard copies of transcripts and three LOR forms not mentioned elsewhere on Drexel's site, in addition to the purpose/research statement and list of pubs).

I'm calling tomorrow to clarify... just wondering if anyone else is as confused about this particular app as I am. Why would we need to collect our transcripts again? (Isn't that what AMCAS verification is all about?)

 

[SunnyBlues]

I called Drexel's MD-PhD admissions office. We don't need to worry about the second checklist on the graduate admissions page (that's for PhD-only students), but we do need to fill out the graduate school application, which includes a one-page statement about our research interests and professional goals. No hard copies of transcripts or recommendation forms are needed.

 

[CielloStelatto]

I wonder why mayo changed their deadline? edit: just looked, and it used to be on a sunday. now just a monday. mkee.

 

[Kinocilium]

I know I'm kind of new here so I shouldn't be criticizing people, but I'd like to make a suggestion. Can we please have separate posts for each question? It's hard to search for something if it's buried in a 10+ page thread with dozens of unrelated questions, and I think that's probably why we have a lot of reposts. I'd much rather have one question per thread and then if someone has a question that's very similar to the original poster's question they can ask in the same thread.

 

[CielloStelatto]

Def. lengthy or important questions should get their own thread. But the reason I kind of like this one is because it's one of the few mstp threads that i regularly check. It's kind of nice to conveniently know which questions refer to this year's app cycle only. And I like knowing who is applying with me, and such.

glad i could be of non-assistance. 🙄

 

[ItalianGuy13]

So based on the info they gave me, I think I only have to attend the MD interview at Pritzker if I want to be considered for MD-only (if rejected by the MSTP program).

So this brings up another topic. A few schools ask you to indicate if you would like to be considered for MD-only if you're rejected by the MSTP committee. I am committed to doing MD/PhD but I have decided to select the MD-backup option at these schools. My reasoning is that if all else fails and I don't get an offer by a good MD/PhD program then I could reapply after a year of med school. I'm aware that reapplying may not work, but at this point I just want to keep options open. Any thoughts on whether it's best to apply MSTP-only or MD/MSTP?

Just got the Chicago-Pritzker invite today! First one so stoked! Though I think it's MD-only, but they're not very specific. I, also, want to have MD-only as a backup, that's why I put MSTP>MD on the app - so basically I'll have to fly out there twice? Just checking before I schedule.

 

[Ok2Panic]

Just got the Chicago-Pritzker invite today! First one so stoked! Though I think it's MD-only, but they're not very specific. I, also, want to have MD-only as a backup, that's why I put MSTP>MD on the app - so basically I'll have to fly out there twice? Just checking before I schedule.

Wooo! Awesome! Congrats!!

 

[sanktank7]

Hey, has anyone completed their Columbia MSTP secondary app? There is a MD/PhD specific question:

Please describe your goals as a Physician/Scientist. Who are your role models?

Youre supposed to upload a document with the answer to this question (no character limit) so I feel like its supposed to be pretty detailed. I dont feel like writing a thesis about this - honestly isnt it just pretty much a rehash of the "why md/phd question" on the primary??

Anyway, would like some guidance on what others did - dont wanna low ball this essay and then feel like an underachiever...

 

[newapple]

Hey, has anyone completed their Columbia MSTP secondary app? There is a MD/PhD specific question:

Please describe your goals as a Physician/Scientist. Who are your role models?

Youre supposed to upload a document with the answer to this question (no character limit) so I feel like its supposed to be pretty detailed. I dont feel like writing a thesis about this - honestly isnt it just pretty much a rehash of the "why md/phd question" on the primary??

Anyway, would like some guidance on what others did - dont wanna low ball this essay and then feel like an underachiever...

I wrote a little less than a page about why I wanted an MD/PhD, how I would specifically balance my physician and scientist roles, and the physician-scientist whose career I want to model.

 

[andafoo]

Just got the Chicago-Pritzker invite today! First one so stoked! Though I think it's MD-only, but they're not very specific. I, also, want to have MD-only as a backup, that's why I put MSTP>MD on the app - so basically I'll have to fly out there twice? Just checking before I schedule.

Congrats Dude!

Just wondering (for everyone): for those that applied MSTP only, has anyone received any notice or mail from Pritzker??