2008-2009 University of Iowa Carver Secondary Application Thread

Getting into Med School is Hard? Not with BeMo.
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who hoo! interview invite rec'd this week. Confirmed for later this month. OOS, upper 3.7s gpa, hit their 10+ mcat section "preference". Invite came 6 weeks after confirmed 2ndary received. Hope the weather's not too cold in Iowa in November. good luck to all, sounds like a great school!
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Congrats! Good luck at your interview. Maybe bring up something about the big win over Penn State.
 
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I hate to needlessly bump this thread and get anyone excited, but has anyone heard anything? I called 2 weeks ago and was told my file had not been presented to the committee yet ... anyone know if the committee has met recently or when they plan on meeting next? Just curious, sitting on pins and needles like everyone else ...

I know they handle the OOS group completely separately from in-state, do they wait and address them in groups on the same day at meetings as well?
 
Can I ask when you interviewed? OOS vs. IS?

Congrats, BTW!! I'm very jealous!
 
I got into Iowa a while back, and I am having trouble justifying some of the other interviews I've been going on (even Columbia). I mean, Iowa is a ranked school and I get instate tuition. Would going to Columbia be worth the extra cash-money? Thoughts?

I really like Iowa, but I wish they had a less competitive grading system, less PBL, a less traditional curriculum, and better access to recorded lectures. But.. I don't really think I am willing to give up instate tuition for these things.
 
Decicco said:
I got into Iowa a while back, and I am having trouble justifying some of the other interviews I've been going on (even Columbia). I mean, Iowa is a ranked school and I get instate tuition. Would going to Columbia be worth the extra cash-money? Thoughts?

I really like Iowa, but I wish they had a less competitive grading system, less PBL, a less traditional curriculum, and better access to recorded lectures. But.. I don't really think I am willing to give up instate tuition for these things.
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i was really impressed withiowa...and i agree with the less traditional curriculum and recorded lectures....ididnt think they had too much PBL though?


I say go on thecolumbiainterview and see if you love it.
 
ChubbyChaser said:
i was really impressed withiowa...and i agree with the less traditional curriculum and recorded lectures....ididnt think they had too much PBL though?


I say go on thecolumbiainterview and see if you love it.
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I don't know about the PBL.. I just assumed they had a lot because they had us do it on interview day, so it must be important to them.
 
Decicco said:
I don't know about the PBL.. I just assumed they had a lot because they had us do it on interview day, so it must be important to them.
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Go to the interview. If you love it, maybe you'll go there. If you hate it, you'll go to a Iowa. Plus, you never know how much $$ they may give you at Columbia.

That's my semi-solicited advice. Can't go wrong with Iowa, though.

Plus... who doesn't love a trip to NYC?!
 
i have an interview in two weeks and was wondering if anyone has any tips/opinions about iowa? how long does it take to hear back on a decision after an interview? congrats to those accepted! i can only hope for a christmas present as good as an acceptance.
 
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Just a quick note on the Instate fees. If you are an OOSer, you won't be eligible for Instate tuition unless you live in Iowa for an year as a non-student.
 
turned down an invite a little while back. hope one of yall got it!
 
skrilladoc said:
i have an interview in two weeks and was wondering if anyone has any tips/opinions about iowa? how long does it take to hear back on a decision after an interview? congrats to those accepted! i can only hope for a christmas present as good as an acceptance.
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If you are interviewing at Iowa in two weeks, it is very unlikely that you will be admitted before Christmas. In my experience they have been vague about their process and will not give you a definite timeframe other than "sometime before March 15th".

But then again, I hope I'm proven wrong and you get in before Christmas. That would be a great present!
 
medseek1 said:
Just a quick note on the Instate fees. If you are an OOSer, you won't be eligible for Instate tuition unless you live in Iowa for an year as a non-student.
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I've heard a lot of places have something like this... but then you can get IS after the first year. Is Iowa strict--as in if you are OOS you are OOS for all four years? What if you have a spouse who is working full time and you have the intention of living there for a while? (works in some states! Change driver's license, get everything in the state.)
 
guestdoc said:
I've heard a lot of places have something like this... but then you can get IS after the first year. Is Iowa strict--as in if you are OOS you are OOS for all four years? What if you have a spouse who is working full time and you have the intention of living there for a while? (works in some states! Change driver's license, get everything in the state.)
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These questions came up (actually, pretty close to word for word) in my Nov interview session. The answer was tuition for OOS students continues to be the same for all years.

A few applicants somewhat protested, the admissions office stated that this was the policy. (i.e. it's not an opinion & not open to being changed)

Suggestion per another person interviewing in a few weeks -- everyone seemed to try to talk applicants out of driving from the recommended hotel (which is functional, albeit cheesy and quite dated) to the interview site. They discuss the free shuttle service rather than the expensive parking. But my parking rate for my rental car was under $11; for me it'd be more trouble and stress than it would be worth to do the shuttle. I'd definitely recommend getting a rental car in order to get a better feel for the campus, which I thought was very nice.

Flights -- I've traveled quite a bit. Flights into all of the nearby airports were massively expensive from Denver -- like $1,200 for a flight with a layover with over 2 weeks notice. So I flew into Omaha for $180 and drove 4 hours to Iowa City; rental car ran another $85. If coming from the East, I would have flown into O'Hare probably (chicago) although renting a car and getting out of the city would be a bit more involved.

Interview location -- it's on the second floor. The building is across the street from the parking garage, it can be a bit confusing in that there are several buildings that are attached; tough to tell where each one starts!

I really like the school, the town is quite small, however; it's a college town rather than a city/metropolis type area.
 
Brock Samson said:
Can someone please help me out with a few questions I have about Iowa?

1. What type of curriculum does Iowa have? Traditional, organ or systems based, PBL?

2. How long are you usually in class for during the first 2 years? 8-12, 8-4?

3. How often do they have exams?

4. Do they have recorded lectures and if so is it audio only or video as well?

5. The grading system is honors, high pass, pass, fail right?
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1) Traditional curriculum with a PBL class thrown in there.

2) Class usually runs from about 8 till 2 or 3

3) Exams are roughly weekly from what I've been told

4) No idea

5) Yes
 
herkyMD said:
1) Traditional curriculum with a PBL class thrown in there.

2) Class usually runs from about 8 till 2 or 3

3) Exams are roughly weekly from what I've been told

4) No idea

5) Yes
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I was told all lectures were recorded video and audio, all run by students though.
 
cheasus said:
I was told all lectures were recorded video and audio, all run by students though.
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I thought my student tour guide said that there werent recorded lectures:confused:
 
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Decicco said:
I thought my student interviewer said that there werent recorded lectures:confused:
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I thought there was only one faculty interview? Ive talked to current m2s and they say that many students dont attend class because they can watch the lectures on their own at 1.5x speed. In fact, I was told that there were people in the other room watching yesterdays lectures while todays were going on. The recorded lectures are kind of a turn off for me because Id rather have my class mates be in class with me even though most seem to like it.


edit:
look here: http://medcom.uiowa.edu/meded/?paged=3

under Feb 22nd 2008.
 
Brock Samson said:
I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Do you mind telling me about your experience on your interview, likes and dislikes of the program? I'm suppose to interview later this month but I'm basically out of money with a few more interviews left. I really want to see Iowa but I have to be realistic and choose one last school to visit. I noticed you interviewed at Case too. Did you prefer it to CCOM? I'd appreciate input from anyone that's interviewed or is a student at Iowa.
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I would recommend going to the interview. The facilities are beautiful and there are many opportunities in service and research. If those are of interest to you, check it out.

If you are in-state, the tuition is pretty reasonable (25-27k I believe). If you are OOS, I am pretty sure tuition is alright (upper 30's I think?).

Not sure how it compares to Case, though.
 
exams are weekly, and the school noted that, per student feedback, they had been changed from Monday exams to Friday exams in order to free up weekends from a heavy study load. The info given to spouses/significant others was that they should not plan to see the med students at all on the Thursday before the typical Friday exam.

the school mentioned that they highly value student feedback, and often will make changes like this if there is strong student demand for a similar change.
 
Got an invitation to interview at Carver yesterday. Exciting! I'm from the midwest, but I have never been to Iowa so it should be a fun trip. I notice that they interview up to the end of January, so would I be at the tail end of the interview process, and if so, am I at a disadvantage?

Doing some extensive searching on SDN, I have an idea of what the interview day is like, with the structured part of the interview and whatnot. I am kind of worried about the fact that the interview is a maximum of 25 minutes - I feel like that isn't enough for them to get to know me. I figure I will have to get to the point and be concise. What did you guys think about the interview day compared to the others you've been on?
 
RoadRunner17 said:
Got an invitation to interview at Carver yesterday. Exciting! I'm from the midwest, but I have never been to Iowa so it should be a fun trip. I notice that they interview up to the end of January, so would I be at the tail end of the interview process, and if so, am I at a disadvantage?

Doing some extensive searching on SDN, I have an idea of what the interview day is like, with the structured part of the interview and whatnot. I am kind of worried about the fact that the interview is a maximum of 25 minutes - I feel like that isn't enough for them to get to know me. I figure I will have to get to the point and be concise. What did you guys think about the interview day compared to the others you've been on?
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I honestly thought it was the most enjoyable interview day I had. The structured part of the interview is not bad. 2 simple questions and 1 question about organ transplant shortages or something. Also the CCL session was really fun. The only complaint i would have is the food.

I also dont think you will be at much of a disadvantage, because the way I understand it most of the acceptances seem to come after March when they make the ranked waitlist or whatever it is.
 
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It was a really enjoyable day. Don't worry about timing yourself on the 25 minute interview, it is more time than you think and there will be no penalty for going over or anything. If you want to prepare, here is a list of the questions i was asked:


  • Iowa (2 interviewers at same time)
    • (Technically they asked me 3 structured questions then we were supposed to have a discussion. In reality, they kept asking me questions and I kept answering)
    • Structured Question #1: If you had a patient that needed a blood transfusion and surgery to survive but refused it, what would you do?
    • Structured Question #2: Why do you want to become a doctor?
    • Structured Question #3: When have you been faced with a problem and how did you solve it?
    • Why Iowa?
    • What field do you want to go into?
    • Tell me about your trip to Costa Rica?
    • What did you do in Habitat for Humanity and how did that affect you?
    • Tell me about your research.
 
hmmm mine was a bit different....they started with " so tell me about yourself"...then the 3 structured questions..and as soon a 25 minutes was up there was a knock and we said good bye.
 
ChubbyChaser said:
hmmm mine was a bit different....they started with " so tell me about yourself"...then the 3 structured questions..and as soon a 25 minutes was up there was a knock and we said good bye.
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Yeah, that's one thing I saw in my previous thread searches - you get 25 minutes, then the secretary knocks and you're done at that point. So I'm worried about the timing thing.
 
Once again, timing is not an issue. Odds are you will blow through the 3 structured questions in 10-15 minutes and just talk the rest of the time. We kept talking for 5 more minutes after the knock anyway.
 
I did not feel as if the 25 minutes was a long enough time to get a feel for someone. After the three questions you only have 10-15 minutes for them to ask you a few questions and it is up to you to make sure that you hit all of the "points" that you want.

I was not able to do this, and neither were other people I talked with about the interview. 35-45 minutes would have been better. Just keep in mind that after the structured portion you have very little time to sell yourself, so use it very wisely.
 
This interview felt weird to me. It is so crammed for time, and then there's the pre-arranged questions, and you have to deal with two interviewers at the same time. I really enjoyed the rest of the day a lot more. Great school though, too bad I have to wait for so long to hear anything about my status.
 
just accepted via email... i thought i was in the final pool for sure... guess not! =)
 
september 15th, first interview date, good luck!
 
anyone interviewing dec. 17th? good luck to everyone interviewing this week. tell us about your experiences if you interviewed recently :)

does anyone know the amount of interviewees at iowa and the number of acceptances given?
 
176 accepted of 419 interviewed out of state
129 accepted of 260 interviewed in state
 
cheasus said:
176 accepted of 419 interviewed out of state
129 accepted of 260 interviewed in state
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I am hoping your numbers are accurate!

in my interview group we were all out of state, the adcom person said something about 10% of our group -- I thought it was that 10% would be accepted, but that was a month or so back and maybe I remembered that wrong. It would be great news if she intended to say that 10% of OOS would actually attend, and that (as per your e-mail) 42% OOS are accepted.

thanks for posting!
 
Here are the numbers from US news:


IS: 321 applied, 260 interviewed, 129 were accepted, 99 enrolled
OOS: 2635 applied, 419 interviewed, 176 were accepted, 49 enrolled

I think phospho made an accidental typo
 
DoctorDeMan said:
IS: 321 applied, 260 interviewed, 129 were accepted, 99 enrolled
OOS: 2635 applied, 419 interviewed, 176 were accepted, 49 enrolled

I think phospho made an accidental typo
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Thats more like it :thumbup: 77% of those accepted in-state attend. Cool!
 
RoadRunner17 said:
Anyone have any description of what the 1 hour CBL session is like?
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Its really chill. Basically they give you a scenario and to start out with you have a few minor details like 49 y.o female presents with abdominal pain. You then talk about and the facts, possible causes of the pts pain, and what else imay be helpful in order to make a differential diagnosis. Then you go on to the next page where a little more info is given to you and your group repeats what was previously described. This goes on for a bout 50 minutes at which time your proctor ( we had an M4) wraps up the case with you.
 
So I got an interview invite today.

I'm kind of excited because I've never been to Iowa or the midwest (save Illinois when I was 4). It seems like the campus is lively and there is plenty of ways for med-students to blow off steam there. However, Decicco's post concerns me.

I would prefer to go to a place with a collegial environment rather than a competitive one. Can anyone shed more light on the issue? Is the school really that competitive and if so do students seem tense etc because of that?
 
Anotherface said:
I would prefer to go to a place with a collegial environment rather than a competitive one. Can anyone shed more light on the issue? Is the school really that competitive and if so do students seem tense etc because of that?
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Despite the grading system, the huge majority of students are not competitive with each other or cut throat, etc. The reason why I don't like the grading system is because I think it will be a bit more stressful, trying to get those higher grades. The student body seemed very nice.
 
Decicco said:
Despite the grading system, the huge majority of students are not competitive with each other or cut throat, etc. The reason why I don't like the grading system is because I think it will be a bit more stressful, trying to get those higher grades. The student body seemed very nice.
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Thanks. It would be nice to avoid such a stressful environment, as I feel that happier students who do things on their own terms can be more successful than those that are pressured. That and I would greatly appreciate still having hair after four years ;).

Hopefully, my tour and interview will reassure me about IOWA.
 
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