2006 VCU Central

[wistarrat]

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I've heard VCU described as a "good middle of the pack school". So, it's not a top 10, but it's not a low tier school either. Apparently it has a pretty strong reputation around the mid-atlantic area, but outside of there it wouldn't really mean too much one way or the other.

For what it's worth, I've found that saying MCV to current doctors packs a greater punch than saying VCU. Not sure how the name change has affected how residency directors view the school... I'm guessing not at all. (IMO that is the only group of people that matter when it comes to trying to impress someone with your pedigree.)

 

[wistarrat]

Hey everyone, I'm still deciding between VCU and another school. Does anyone know what kind of reputation VCU has both in the state of VA and outside of it?

Christi, there were a few things that tipped me over the edge for choosing VCU. I was a nervous wreck in taking the MCAT (like everyone else, I'm sure) and wanted to make sure my school had excellent prep for taking the boards. You essentially have a Step 1 advisor: Dr. Costanzo customizes a study schedule for you based on your performance on exams, which are multiple choice like the boards. The new dean of the school is super-awesome: Dr. Jerome Strauss. He's the guy that will be writing your letter to those residency directors. You can read more about him in the June of '05 Medline. http://www.medschool.vcu.edu/faculty_staff/newsletter/
Also, check out those medlines for medschool news... there's some info about the pass rates and match day.

I liked the fact that the campus is rich with history and downright beautiful. Before getting there, I wanted to lighten up my purse, so I left my camera behind; I ended up just buying a disposable one once I got there! Very pretty area. Very diverse population. Lots of great restaurants of various ethnicities. I know you know VCU's curriculum by now, thanks to Havarti's helpful descriptions. There are tons of study spots on and off campus. If you want to be left alone but not stray from campus, you can. If you want to be surrounded by others studying the same stuff as you, you can. It's a relatively non-competitive atmosphere-- there's a lot of notes-sharing and an honor code. Also, you get a pretty dense syllabus of everything you'd need to know to do well, classes are 8-noon, there is an element of case-based learning, and you have preceptorships years 1 and 2, every other week (if I remember correctly). That means you're likely to have patients in a matter of a few months in peds, internal med, or family care. that's pretty cool.
Hope this helps your decision-making.
Oh, if i've made any mistakes about anything, please let me know.

 

[christi5784]

Christi, there were a few things that tipped me over the edge for choosing VCU. I was a nervous wreck in taking the MCAT (like everyone else, I'm sure) and wanted to make sure my school had excellent prep for taking the boards. You essentially have a Step 1 advisor: Dr. Costanzo customizes a study schedule for you based on your performance on exams, which are multiple choice like the boards. The new dean of the school is super-awesome: Dr. Jerome Strauss. He's the guy that will be writing your letter to those residency directors. You can read more about him in the June of '05 Medline. http://www.medschool.vcu.edu/faculty_staff/newsletter/
Also, check out those medlines for medschool news... there's some info about the pass rates and match day.

I liked the fact that the campus is rich with history and downright beautiful. Before getting there, I wanted to lighten up my purse, so I left my camera behind; I ended up just buying a disposable one once I got there! Very pretty area. Very diverse population. Lots of great restaurants of various ethnicities. I know you know VCU's curriculum by now, thanks to Havarti's helpful descriptions. There are tons of study spots on and off campus. If you want to be left alone but not stray from campus, you can. If you want to be surrounded by others studying the same stuff as you, you can. It's a relatively non-competitive atmosphere-- there's a lot of notes-sharing and an honor code. Also, you get a pretty dense syllabus of everything you'd need to know to do well, classes are 8-noon, there is an element of case-based learning, and you have preceptorships years 1 and 2, every other week (if I remember correctly). That means you're likely to have patients in a matter of a few months in peds, internal med, or family care. that's pretty cool.
Hope this helps your decision-making.
Oh, if i've made any mistakes about anything, please let me know.

Your input is much appreciated!

 

[wistarrat]

Your input is much appreciated!

no problem. (i guess i'm just bumping this off of reaching page 3.)

soo... who needs a roommate? 😳

 

[ShyRem]

Hmm. Last year folks were pulled off (post May 15 from info on the March Update thread last year): 5/18, 5/26, 5/27/, 5/28, 6/3, 6/25, 7/5, and 8/1.

So far this year (according to this thread): 5/15, 5/16, 5/17, 5/18 and nothing since.

PLEEEEEEASE give me good news SOON!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and the rest of you too. 🙂

House update: We've stripped all the trim off the house, are filling the spaces with foam insulation, retrimming, and working on restaining/sealing the cedar siding on the house (about 1/2 done so far - all the lower stuff of course, left the high stuff for another day). Have one side of the house that's masonite siding repainted, and the part going to the second story on the side repainted. That leaves the back and other side of masonite, the other half of the front cedar siding, and trim. Have about half the trim put back up, need to finish that and paint the trim. Porch still needs to be done. Cement still needs to be done. Lower level is fully painted. Need to weatherstrip the basement door again. Have siliconed the windows. Tomorrow's work: Upstairs hallway baseboards and 6 doors of trim to paint. Also mask the main level baseboards to protect the brand new carpet. Oh, and watch the kids too, and make three meals to feed said children.

This normally wouldn't be so bad (and normally I'd have done more painting, too), but I wrenched my neck three days ago, and it feels like crap. Advil is my friend.

How's everyone else holding up? I'm ready to pull my hair out, for a wide variety of reasons (obviously). 🙄

 

[dakotacassidy]

okay, I dont think you guys understood my post...it had NOTHING to do with why some races get in and some dont. It has to do with how an admissions committee will try to keep the demographics/composition of a class consistent, meaning they will try to replace an applicant who has withdrawn with an applicant of a similar demographic (in this case, prob the similar applicant who has the next highest "vcu rank"). Whether you would like to believe that this goes on or not is your choice but I know for a fact that admissions committees do this. Im not undermining the efforts of those who have gotten it off the list AT ALL, anyone who has made it to the list in the first place has earned the right. Im just trying to suggest that perhaps a "rank" may not be the only criteria used when pulling applicants off the list and maybe this is why we are not told of our place. Im actually a little surprised that you guys dont know this occurs...why do you guys think student composition in incoming med school classes stays relatively constant yr after yr, you think that happens by chance? And by the way mango, I used "Asian female" as a completely random example...I couldve replaced it with polka-dot giraffe and the same would applied

i'm catching up on the weekend posts, but i have to say that i was quite surprised at the reaction this post got. i think it is extremely naive and hmm....to put it nicely, 'misinformed' to think that vcu could maintain consistent minority percentages without doctoring the waitlist in some manner.

 

[madi]

i'm catching up on the weekend posts, but i have to say that i was quite surprised at the reaction this post got. i think it is extremely naive and hmm....to put it nicely, 'misinformed' to think that vcu could maintain consistent minority percentages without doctoring the waitlist in some manner.

Alright, Vizsla really needs to be given a break on this one.

It is common knowledge that EVMS, for example, pulls students off the waitlist to fill an equivalent spot. So, for example, if an in-state student of ethnicity X withdraws from the class, they will scan down the waitlist and look for another in-state student of ethnicity X who is highest on the list. There is a little play in how this works (if in-state X and OOS Y pull off at the same time, they can accept IS Y and OOS X from the waitlist) but it is a factor they keep in mind, and they are quite frank about it.

I don't think it's such a stretch to say that VCU might do the same thing (although I have no knowledge of VCU's practices in particular). It doesn't require keeping seperate lists, just keeping other factors besides IS/OOS ratios in mind when deciding who to accept from the top of the list.

My two cents.

 

[dakotacassidy]

Alright, Vizsla really needs to be given a break on this one.

i was really referring to anyone who might be assuming that no such system exists.

I don't think it's such a stretch to say that VCU might do the same thing (although I have no knowledge of VCU's practices in particular). It doesn't require keeping seperate lists, just keeping other factors besides IS/OOS ratios in mind when deciding who to accept from the top of the list.

this is exactly what i was thinking.

 

[madi]

this is exactly what i was thinking.

Would oops suffice? 😛

 

[dakotacassidy]

Would oops suffice? 😛

haha! totally unnecessary, my original post wasn't written as well as it could have been. i have *no* idea what goes on internally, just assume that 'something' does! 🙂

 

[Vizsla]

a new week has arrived, good luck you guys also, just wondering, are any of you still sending updates or new letters of rec? I keep thinking that with VCU's rank system, its not like anything you send in at this point will change the number they have assigned you

 

[itnstalln]

a new week has arrived, good luck you guys also, just wondering, are any of you still sending updates or new letters of rec? I keep thinking that with VCU's rank system, its not like anything you send in at this point will change the number they have assigned you

Don't applicants receive a score between 1.0 and 5.0? Do you think sending additional information would help discriminate between two candidates scored numerically equal?

 

[Vizsla]

Don't applicants receive a score between 1.0 and 5.0? Do you think sending additional information would help discriminate between two candidates scored numerically equal?

I didnt think about applicants sharing the same score...good point

 

[Bee09]

quite honestly bee, my biggest complaint is that they dont tell us where we stand on the waitlist. For a lot of us, if we were told "you are near the bottom", it would be easier to accept our fate and begin working on back up plans. We have ALL put so much time, money and effort into this process, that to withold vital information such as our place on the list just seems absolutely ridiculous. And Im sorry but Im not really jumping at the chance to spend another couple hundred dollars just to submit AMCAS in June if I knew there was a good chance I would be coming off the list in early summer. I dont even know why Im bitching anyways bc I think we all know how waitlists really work ...screw points/rank, if an Asian female or African American male withdraws, they will go seeking the same demographic from the list to keep the class balanced...k im done

first of all, can we talk about something besides vizsla's race comment?

second of all, as far as amcas goes, i would set a personal deadline ie, if you don't hear anything by July 15th, then send in your amcas.

you dont want to end up screwing yourself for the following year, just cuz you were sitting around waiting for an offer that never came...b/c then you will just be waitlisted AGAIN the following year. and yes, i am speaking from personal experience. i waited, waited, contemplated whether i should even be a doctor, waited, contemplated taking august mcats, waited, contemplated applying and then finally applied in september (which i would NOT recommend). like i said, i didnt get in till july, which is a damn long time to be hanging.

if you dont even want to apply again, then that's an entirely different story.

 

[Vizsla]

first of all, can we talk about something besides vizsla's race comment?

second of all, as far as amcas goes, i would set a personal deadline ie, if you don't hear anything by July 15th, then send in your amcas.

you dont want to end up screwing yourself for the following year, just cuz you were sitting around waiting for an offer that never came...b/c then you will just be waitlisted AGAIN the following year. and yes, i am speaking from personal experience. i waited, waited, contemplated whether i should even be a doctor, waited, contemplated taking august mcats, waited, contemplated applying and then finally applied in september (which i would NOT recommend). like i said, i didnt get in till july, which is a damn long time to be hanging.

if you dont even want to apply again, then that's an entirely different story.

ok i guess i should apologize to you guys for hijacking the thread with that post....and july 15 sounds good bee, thanks for the advice

 

[crazy_cavalier]

Any new word about the movement? Blaarghhle.

 

[jj08]

Page 3? For Shame! 😱

 

[ShyRem]

So I take it from the silence that no one has heard anything since 5/18????

 

[nolamd2b]

So I take it from the silence that no one has heard anything since 5/18????

Looks like. I emailed Dr. H today, so I'll pass on whatever she says when she says it.

Stay sane everyone. 😀

 

[tacrum43]

Stay sane everyone. 😀

Easier said than done. I think this is going to be one seriously long June.

Keep the faith everybody. 🙂

 

[christi5784]

I'll be withdrawing from VCU tomorrow...so I hope it goes to one of you guys. I will miss VCU 🙁 .

 

[Highclimber]

I am withdrawing from the waitlist as we speak... good luck to all of you...

Cheers...

 

[Nas23]

christi and highclimber, are you guys OOS or IS?

Thanks for the update. Best of luck to you guys at the med school of your choice.

 

[Highclimber]

OK the system doesn't appear to want to let me withdraw... i don't know what to say...

 

[christi5784]

I'm OOS

 

[Highclimber]

Oos

 

[blee]

The withdrawal process worked strangely for me as well. I had to hit Cancel on a dialog box where I thought I should be pressing OK.

 

[madi]

Thanks to all those who have withdrawn, and much to all the rest of us.

 

[Highclimber]

Well folks its official... The cancel button worked and I have successfully withdrawn my OOS waitlist position. I wish you all the very best of luck!!! (Though i think you are all nuts based on how huge this thread is)...

 

[VPDcurt]

Thanks for withdrawing and thanks for calling us all nuts!

 

[nolamd2b]

Hey all, Dr. H just got back to me (in less than 24 hrs). She said there hasn't been much movement at all on the in-state list and she doesn't expect they'll get to me this year. She recommended I go ahead and turn in my app for next year.

I'm disappointed, but I applied late, so I'm not really surprised & it's nice to have an answer. She also said she's been checking SDN every few weeks and is concerned about how stressful this is for us.

If you haven't emailed her since the 15th, I'd do it. I'm more relaxed now than I've in months!!

Good luck to you all.

 

[cfdavid]

Alright, Vizsla really needs to be given a break on this one.

It is common knowledge that EVMS, for example, pulls students off the waitlist to fill an equivalent spot. So, for example, if an in-state student of ethnicity X withdraws from the class, they will scan down the waitlist and look for another in-state student of ethnicity X who is highest on the list. There is a little play in how this works (if in-state X and OOS Y pull off at the same time, they can accept IS Y and OOS X from the waitlist) but it is a factor they keep in mind, and they are quite frank about it.

I don't think it's such a stretch to say that VCU might do the same thing (although I have no knowledge of VCU's practices in particular). It doesn't require keeping seperate lists, just keeping other factors besides IS/OOS ratios in mind when deciding who to accept from the top of the list.

My two cents.

I agree that Vizsla's explanation represents reality. Why is it so hard for some people to understand?? It is what it is. Why beat around the bush??

Anyway, I still have my fingers crossed for you guys that are still waiting to hear from VCU. Good luck and keep the chin up. This process (in general, not just VCU) is nuts.

cf

 

[Apparition]

It's been two weeks since the last batch of offers, which means that people declining already had to withdraw, which hopefully means that another bunch is approaching...

 

[Vizsla]

It's been two weeks since the last batch of offers, which means that people declining already had to withdraw, which hopefully means that another bunch is approaching...

i hope so...

 

[Vizsla]

Hey all, Dr. H just got back to me (in less than 24 hrs). She said there hasn't been much movement at all on the in-state list and she doesn't expect they'll get to me this year. She recommended I go ahead and turn in my app for next year.

I'm disappointed, but I applied late, so I'm not really surprised & it's nice to have an answer. She also said she's been checking SDN every few weeks and is concerned about how stressful this is for us.

If you haven't emailed her since the 15th, I'd do it. I'm more relaxed now than I've in months!!

Good luck to you all.

Im sorry to hear that Nola, but its great to see your attitude about reapplying. And I think earlier in the thread, someone mentioned about how Dr H told them to re-apply which they did, but they ended up getting accepted in July...so you never know. good luck

 

[tacrum43]

It's been two weeks since the last batch of offers, which means that people declining already had to withdraw, which hopefully means that another bunch is approaching...

Makes sense to me. 👍

And sorry to hear about that, Nolamd2b, but like you said at least now you're not so much in limboland.

 

[VPDcurt]

I thought VCU's system was automated so that it sent out acceptances as people withdrew. Is that not the case?

 

[twoACES]

Hey all, Dr. H just got back to me (in less than 24 hrs). She said there hasn't been much movement at all on the in-state list and she doesn't expect they'll get to me this year. She recommended I go ahead and turn in my app for next year.

I'm disappointed, but I applied late, so I'm not really surprised & it's nice to have an answer. She also said she's been checking SDN every few weeks and is concerned about how stressful this is for us.

If you haven't emailed her since the 15th, I'd do it. I'm more relaxed now than I've in months!!

Good luck to you all.

anyone have news about OOSers? i dunno man...seems like the VCU list is slowing down considerably.

 

[Vizsla]

I thought VCU's system was automated so that it sent out acceptances as people withdrew. Is that not the case?

I believe the automated system is for updating an applicants status once they have been accepted but the actual accepting part is done by the adcom members...Im not completely sure though

 

[Vizsla]

anyone have news about OOSers? i dunno man...seems like the VCU list is slowing down considerably.

actually, the waitlists in general (or at least the ones im waiting on) have not had any recent movement at all....and two of these (VCU, EVMS) have a separate OOS waitlist thats "supposed" to move rather quickly...not good

 

[christi5784]

I withdrew today... 🙁 for me, 😀 for you guys...

 

[ShyRem]

Ok. Stressful? You want STRESSFUL? here ya go:

Today is my husband's last day of work. So he's going to be home for a few weeks so we can get the house done being painted inside & out, concrete poured, and stuff packed.

HOWEVER. Last night my daughter broke her clavicle while at karate class. She was supposed to roll, and instead did a nice lovely pile drive onto her shoulder - not a nice inline clavicle fracture, but a nasty looking (yes, even the ER doc shuddered) have ortho docs asking if the bones are poking through the skin fracture. Lovely. She's out for the count, her blackbelt test is now TOTALLY out of the question, and she can't help us pack anything. Nice. Fortunately she's good with pain.

Now, my son has had strep for the past two months. A course of amoxicillian didn't cure it. He gets to take a course of clindamycin next. Took him to the health dept for a post-clinda strep test. So today we get the call it's positive. Still. Trip to the pediatrician this morning ("Can you be here in 30 minutes?" sure... we're all still in jammies and my daughter has a busted collarbone and needs help getting dressed - no problem), yet MORE clindamycin until we get into an otolaryngologist to get his tonsils taken out. LOVELY. So next week he goes to the surgeon for a pre-surg clearance and gets cut into on Friday. HE'S supposed to take a brown belt test on the 17th. Yeah. I don't think so. And I'm *so* looking forward to getting him through post-surg recovery while we try to finish getting the house ready and packed, not to mention the showings that we hope will be occurring during that time.

Did I mention that night before last the power went out for 6 hours??? Oh, yeah, and I got a tetanus booster yesterday, and it feels like my arm got hit by a sledgehammer today.

And I'm still praying for VCU to come around. Dang. When it rains it pours. Fortunately we're still covered by insurance until July 1.

My life: I couldn't make this up if I tried. If we can make it through this, we can make it through ANYTHING.

 

[tacrum43]

Ok. Stressful? You want STRESSFUL?

Wow. Um...yeah. I guess you win for the stress award. I hope everything turns out okay.

I withdrew today... for me, for you guys...

Thanks! I hope SIU works out well for you (or maybe one of the other schools you've been waiting on will come through as well).

 

[ShyRem]

funny thing, tac.. you ever get to the point where you just HAVE to laugh about it? As in, it couldn't get any worse, so you have to laugh or you're gonna cry? We're there. The laughter is actually quite therapeutic. Doesn't get much done, but therapeutic nonetheless.



My arm still hurts. 🙁

 

[Vizsla]

Ok. Stressful? You want STRESSFUL? here ya go:

Today is my husband's last day of work. So he's going to be home for a few weeks so we can get the house done being painted inside & out, concrete poured, and stuff packed.

HOWEVER. Last night my daughter broke her clavicle while at karate class. She was supposed to roll, and instead did a nice lovely pile drive onto her shoulder - not a nice inline clavicle fracture, but a nasty looking (yes, even the ER doc shuddered) have ortho docs asking if the bones are poking through the skin fracture. Lovely. She's out for the count, her blackbelt test is now TOTALLY out of the question, and she can't help us pack anything. Nice. Fortunately she's good with pain.

Now, my son has had strep for the past two months. A course of amoxicillian didn't cure it. He gets to take a course of clindamycin next. Took him to the health dept for a post-clinda strep test. So today we get the call it's positive. Still. Trip to the pediatrician this morning ("Can you be here in 30 minutes?" sure... we're all still in jammies and my daughter has a busted collarbone and needs help getting dressed - no problem), yet MORE clindamycin until we get into an otolaryngologist to get his tonsils taken out. LOVELY. So next week he goes to the surgeon for a pre-surg clearance and gets cut into on Friday. HE'S supposed to take a brown belt test on the 17th. Yeah. I don't think so. And I'm *so* looking forward to getting him through post-surg recovery while we try to finish getting the house ready and packed, not to mention the showings that we hope will be occurring during that time.

Did I mention that night before last the power went out for 6 hours??? Oh, yeah, and I got a tetanus booster yesterday, and it feels like my arm got hit by a sledgehammer today.

And I'm still praying for VCU to come around. Dang. When it rains it pours. Fortunately we're still covered by insurance until July 1.

My life: I couldn't make this up if I tried. If we can make it through this, we can make it through ANYTHING.

Wow 😱 keep us posted Shy

 

[tacrum43]

funny thing, tac.. you ever get to the point where you just HAVE to laugh about it? As in, it couldn't get any worse, so you have to laugh or you're gonna cry? We're there. The laughter is actually quite therapeutic. Doesn't get much done, but therapeutic nonetheless.



My arm still hurts. 🙁

Yeah, I've had those "you have to laugh not to cry" moments too. Laughing does indeed help.

But then sometimes I feel a little bit crazy for laughing. But at least for the time being I figure I'm allowed to be a little delirious because of the whole waitlist/not knowing where I'll be in 2 months time thing.

As for shots, my dad taught me this trick that if you move your arm around quite a bit right after you get the shot, it helps it not to hurt the next day. It does hurt a little bit then, but it really does work. Motrin helps too. 🙂

 

[Pewl]

"You're Ted, too? But, I thought I was the only one!"

"A pain I know all too well."

"So this is what it's like when doves cry..."

 

[madi]

Hi everyone! I just received the status update e-mail tonight after receiving a very positive e-mail from Dr. H this morning. I'll be going to VCU in the fall, and I hope I'll be seeing ALL of you there!

Good-luck as the waiting continues. I'm rooting for ya!

😀

 

[Nas23]

Congrats Madi! Very Happy For Ya.

Hopefully a few more VCU Crazy SDNers join you too.

 

[Vizsla]

Hi everyone! I just received the status update e-mail tonight after receiving a very positive e-mail from Dr. H this morning. I'll be going to VCU in the fall, and I hope I'll be seeing ALL of you there!

Good-luck as the waiting continues. I'm rooting for ya!

😀

CONGRATS MADI!!! 😀