2008-2009 Northwestern (Feinberg) Secondary Application Thread

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is there a way to check our status online, or can you only check the status of received letters/etc after submitting the secondary? thanks!
 
Describe your experiences away from traditional educational pursuits, such as travel or time spent in the work force (other than summer or part-time employment). Specify the time frame. If you have been in school continuously, then describe a non-academic activity which has been formative.

Pretty sure I know the answer to my own question.... But-
Is lab research non-academic since it's out-of-classroom technically?
 
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So I have been struggling with this question for a while - I have a really good example but it my time frame is off - senior year in High School. Is that too long ago to use? I just graduated from college.. Any insight would be great. Thanks!
 
RJones7 said:
So I have been struggling with this question for a while - I have a really good example but it my time frame is off - senior year in High School. Is that too long ago to use? I just graduated from college.. Any insight would be great. Thanks!
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I used a situation from sophomore and junior year of high school. Just make sure you demonstrate what you've learned from that example and how you've applied it in your life, and how it will help you through medical school and as a doctor.
 
hey y'all

so i submitted my secondary this sunday, and I haven't been marked as complete yet. i know it's neurotic, but my letters have been on virtualevals since 6/12, so they're certainly available. has anyone called the office to ask about how long it takes to be complete and when the start giving invitations for interviews? I don't want to bug them, but a number of people have been complete for a while now, and I don't want to be too late because I already received an interview invitation from another school in chicago so I'd like to coordinate them, but that would necessitate hearing back from NW within the next two or three weeks probably. so, anyone know why some people are complete within a day and others are waiting, and when NW plans on starting to send out invitations?
 
yallo said:
hey y'all

so i submitted my secondary this sunday, and I haven't been marked as complete yet. i know it's neurotic, but my letters have been on virtualevals since 6/12, so they're certainly available. has anyone called the office to ask about how long it takes to be complete and when the start giving invitations for interviews? I don't want to bug them, but a number of people have been complete for a while now, and I don't want to be too late because I already received an interview invitation from another school in chicago so I'd like to coordinate them, but that would necessitate hearing back from NW within the next two or three weeks probably. so, anyone know why some people are complete within a day and others are waiting, and when NW plans on starting to send out invitations?
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I am in pretty much the same situation as you (just without the interview invite) - I submitted last week (Thursday night) and I am still not marked as complete. It says they are awaiting receipt of my LORs. It's probably just taking them a while to process all of the applications they've received so far.
 
yallo said:
hey y'all

so i submitted my secondary this sunday, and I haven't been marked as complete yet. i know it's neurotic, but my letters have been on virtualevals since 6/12, so they're certainly available. has anyone called the office to ask about how long it takes to be complete and when the start giving invitations for interviews? I don't want to bug them, but a number of people have been complete for a while now, and I don't want to be too late because I already received an interview invitation from another school in chicago so I'd like to coordinate them, but that would necessitate hearing back from NW within the next two or three weeks probably. so, anyone know why some people are complete within a day and others are waiting, and when NW plans on starting to send out invitations?
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when's your due date? I turned mine in the 5th (my due date) and sent the letters at about 3pm that day, and by the 6th they had everything. I'd say wait a bit and then call, i suspect they may not even look at the group of apps until that due date is up.
 
dcohen said:
when's your due date? I turned mine in the 5th (my due date) and sent the letters at about 3pm that day, and by the 6th they had everything. I'd say wait a bit and then call, i suspect they may not even look at the group of apps until that due date is up.
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As long as your secondary is submitted by your due date and your letters are turned in by November 1, your application will not be considered "late." I'd say wait until the end of next week and then call, especially since others are having the same issue.
 
for essay 2, I'm planning to write about how a personal situation came up that caused me to have to finish college in 3 years, changing my major in doing so, and the stress that I had to deal with regarding to the personal situation, the extracurriculars that I participated in, and the extra course load. Would this be considered non-academic? Part of it was academic but the reason for it was entirely personal
 
doomknight said:
for essay 2, I'm planning to write about how a personal situation came up that caused me to have to finish college in 3 years, changing my major in doing so, and the stress that I had to deal with regarding to the personal situation, the extracurriculars that I participated in, and the extra course load. Would this be considered non-academic? Part of it was academic but the reason for it was entirely personal
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I think that this is fine as long as you discuss how you overcame the impacts of the personal issue and the increased stress rather than focus on the academic impact of the personal issue. I think they want to see more how you handle difficult situations and your reasoning behind your decisions than the particulars of the situation.
 
So i'm wondering if my moral essay for pitt would be applicable for the coping essay...here is the situation:

A couple years ago my brother was dating a girl (both in early highschool) and I took care of his girlfriends little sister (kindergarten) in the afternoons when she got out of school for a couple hours. My brothers girlfriend confided in me that she was being abused by her grandmother. I was obviously uncomfortable with doing nothing at all but i knew that her relationship with her mom was not the best and for all i knew the mother may have been aware of the abuse her self and had no problem with it. Plus, i knew that if i offended the mother and she didnt want me to look after her other daughter anymore, than she would most likely go to her grandmothers after school and this made me uneasy as well. Also, i didnt want my brothers girlfriend to feel like she couldnt talk to me about things. Long story short, i gave a heads up to the school counselor in confidence and also persuaded the girl to seek counseling while letting her know she could always talk to me, etc.

I'm just not sure if this really works because it doesnt necessarily show any "coping" skills on my part.... but it'd be nice not to have to write a whole new essay 😀. Any thoughts?

If this doesnt work i was thinking of writing about overcoming severe panic disorder only this was 6 years ago. Still, had a MAJOR impact on my growth as a person though. But if you guys think the first works i'll stick to that...
 
How does the front/status page change when your LORs are received? Will it say "Received" instead saying the due date? I'm getting concerned b/c my due date is tomorrow, and my committee letter was sent out ~11-12 days ago (snail mail 🙁), and I was hoping to meet the deadline.
 
daniellema13 said:
So i'm wondering if my moral essay for pitt would be applicable for the coping essay...here is the situation:

A couple years ago my brother was dating a girl (both in early highschool) and I took care of his girlfriends little sister (kindergarten) in the afternoons when she got out of school for a couple hours. My brothers girlfriend confided in me that she was being abused by her grandmother. I was obviously uncomfortable with doing nothing at all but i knew that her relationship with her mom was not the best and for all i knew the mother may have been aware of the abuse her self and had no problem with it. Plus, i knew that if i offended the mother and she didnt want me to look after her other daughter anymore, than she would most likely go to her grandmothers after school and this made me uneasy as well. Also, i didnt want my brothers girlfriend to feel like she couldnt talk to me about things. Long story short, i gave a heads up to the school counselor in confidence and also persuaded the girl to seek counseling while letting her know she could always talk to me, etc.

I'm just not sure if this really works because it doesnt necessarily show any "coping" skills on my part.... but it'd be nice not to have to write a whole new essay 😀. Any thoughts?

If this doesnt work i was thinking of writing about overcoming severe panic disorder only this was 6 years ago. Still, had a MAJOR impact on my growth as a person though. But if you guys think the first works i'll stick to that...
Click to expand...

I ended up using the moral/ethical dilemma from Pitt also, and I think it should work. And if anything mine has less "coping" than yours seems to have.
 
I have been under review at NWU since July 25. That is seventeen days. That is longer than they gave us to finish their secondary 😉.
 
Dear ______,

Thank you for your e-mail. Your recommendations are not in our computer
system, however this is probably due to a delay we have experienced in
downloading recommendations submitted to VirtualEvals. Please note that
we are working with VirtualEvals to download recommendations that were
submitted to them in the past month to month and a half. This delay
will in no way adversely affect your application and your
recommendations should appear in our computer system by Thursday or
Friday of this week.

If they do not appear on your status check page online by end of the week, please contact our office via e-mail or phone (312)503-8206
and ask to speak with Ms. Felicia Luss, who handles the recommendation
downloads from Virtual Evals.

Sincerely,

Northwestern University's
Feinberg School of Medicine
Office of Admissions
 
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does anybody know how to check out the format of the essays before submitting? I don't want my paragraphs to show up as one large chunk 😱
 
Is anyone else having problems with the Northwestern website? I've been trying for the past hour and the connection keeps timing out. Very annoying since I was trying to submit this morning!
 
So my life has been ridiculously crazy lately and I have not gotten things done like I should. My letters of rec just all came in today so I am working on sending them out from schools letter service. While doing this I noticed that I had an Aug 1st due date from northwestern... clearly it is late. Does anyone know how bad it is to turn it in late, does "optimum consideration" = no chance?? I am interested in the school but do not want to waste the money...

I should have been paying more attention I know, the same thing happened with Ohio State but I think it is less of an issue with them...

Any advice would be great, thanks!
 
did u submit the electronical secondary yet? LOR is fine long as before nov
 
Vadd0: Received: 7/18 ; Submitted: 7/21; Complete: 7/25
JoJo23497: Received: 7/31; Submitted: 8/14; Complete: ?
 
Well, my deadline is technically today, and my third essay still isn't done. I think I'll do my best to finish it before I go to bed, because who knows what time today they actually count as the cutoff...

Stupid 2 week deadline...
 
My deadline is August 14... I've had everything filled out except the last essay ("If you have been in school continuously, then describe a non-academic activity which has been formative.") for a couple days, but this one has just been a pain.
 
jgberken said:
ahhh...so you probably have 24 hours-ish to get it done, which is doable seeing as you only have 1 essay.
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Well, I took a nap earlier "today," (had a headache) so I'll probably be up for another 2 or 3 hours. I do my best thinking late at night anyway, so I may write a decent essay. Who knows?
 
Raryn said:
Well, I took a nap earlier "today," (had a headache) so I'll probably be up for another 2 or 3 hours. I do my best thinking late at night anyway, so I may write a decent essay. Who knows?
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haha i know what you mean. just sit down and get it done in 2 hours! then you can spend a care-free day tomorrow.
 
jgberken said:
haha i know what you mean. just sit down and get it done in 2 hours! then you can spend a care-free day tomorrow.
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Nah, because tomorrow I have USC and UCLA planned. I figure I've put them off long enough, and those are more important than almost all of the secondaries I've already finished. I think I may go to starbucks after lunch and not leave until I have *all* those essays drafted... What can I say, I'm a masochist.
 
Vadd0: Received: 7/18 ; Submitted: 7/21; Complete: 7/25
JoJo23497: Received: 7/31; Submitted: 8/14; Complete: ?
monkeygirl09: Received: 8/5; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
 
I submitted on 8/13 at 11:59 AM. Darn olympics gymnastics and those sexy boys 🙂 It's gonna be even worse when the opposite sex performs tonight hehe
 
Vadd0: Received: 7/18 ; Submitted: 7/21; Complete: 7/25
copingmethods: Received: 7/22; Submitted: 8/4; Complete: ?
JoJo23497: Received: 7/31; Submitted: 8/14; Complete: ?
monkeygirl09: Received: 8/5; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
 
chad5871 said:
Have anyone's LORs from VirtualEvals been received yet? According to their website they are still "Awaiting Receipt" of mine. 🙁
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No luck here. I am going to contact them again if they are not marked as received by the end of the day.
 
My status page didn't show that my LORs were received until after I had submitted the secondary. As my deadline got closer, I was getting worried that they hadn't gotten the letters, but in reality they had gotten them 5 days before I had turned in the secondary. (letters were sent via snail mail)
 
azuldelcielo said:
My status page didn't show that my LORs were received until after I had submitted the secondary. As my deadline got closer, I was getting worried that they hadn't gotten the letters, but in reality they had gotten them 5 days before I had turned in the secondary. (letters were sent via snail mail)
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My secondary was submitted on August 1st, the day of my deadline (I was out of town until July 31st). My LORs were uploaded to VirtualEvals on July 17th.
 
Carlin said:
The first interview invites (for people on SDN, that is) for last cycle went out exactly a year ago... Here's hoping! :luck:
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Do you think they came out in order of secondaries submitted? If so, maybe I should've wished I got mine earlier!
 
Kaydubz said:
Do you think they came out in order of secondaries submitted? If so, maybe I should've wished I got mine earlier!
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Hmm, I don't know. I was just looking through the 2008 interview invitation thread and noticed that the first entry for Northwestern was:

Ebizzle (complete 8/08; Invite 8/16, Interview 9/21)
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There are plenty of people this year who were complete well before 8/8, so it looks like Northwestern isn't working quite as quickly as last year. I don't know what order they'll be working in, but I'd have to imagine that they'll go more or less chronologically.
 
Vadd0: Received: 7/18 ; Submitted: 7/21; Complete: 7/25
copingmethods: Received: 7/22; Submitted: 8/4; Complete: ?
Myuuchan: Receuved: 7/30; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
JoJo23497: Received: 7/31; Submitted: 8/14; Complete: ?
monkeygirl09: Received: 8/5; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
 
Vadd0: Received: 7/18 ; Submitted: 7/21; Complete: 7/25
jgberken: Received: 7/23; Submitted: 8/2; Complete: 8/14
copingmethods: Received: 7/22; Submitted: 8/4; Complete: ?
Myuuchan: Received: 7/30; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
JoJo23497: Received: 7/31; Submitted: 8/14; Complete: ?
monkeygirl09: Received: 8/5; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
 
Vadd0: Received: 7/18 ; Submitted: 7/21; Complete: 7/25
chad5871: Received: 7/18; Submitted: 8/1; Complete: 8/16
jgberken: Received: 7/23; Submitted: 8/2; Complete: 8/14
copingmethods: Received: 7/22; Submitted: 8/4; Complete: ?
Myuuchan: Received: 7/30; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
JoJo23497: Received: 7/31; Submitted: 8/14; Complete: ?
monkeygirl09: Received: 8/5; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
 
They didn't give me a deadline... hmmm... probably different for MSTP. They just said "as soon as possible."
 
Vadd0: Received: 7/18 ; Submitted: 7/21; Complete: 7/25
chad5871: Received: 7/18; Submitted: 8/1; Complete: 8/16
jgberken: Received: 7/23; Submitted: 8/2; Complete: 8/14
copingmethods: Received: 7/22; Submitted: 8/4; Complete: ?
Myuuchan: Received: 7/30; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
JoJo23497: Received: 7/31; Submitted: 8/14; Complete: ?
monkeygirl09: Received: 8/5; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
sleepy425 (MSTP): Received: 7/29; Submitted: 8/12; Complete: 8/16
 
Vadd0: Received: 7/18 ; Submitted: 7/21; Complete: 7/25
chad5871: Received: 7/18; Submitted: 8/1; Complete: 8/16
jgberken: Received: 7/23; Submitted: 8/2; Complete: 8/14
copingmethods: Received: 7/22; Submitted: 8/4; Complete: 8/14
Myuuchan: Received: 7/30; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
JoJo23497: Received: 7/31; Submitted: 8/14; Complete: ?
monkeygirl09: Received: 8/5; Submitted: 8/13; Complete: ?
sleepy425 (MSTP): Received: 7/29; Submitted: 8/12; Complete: 8/16

They told me interviews begin on 9/19 this year.
 
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