2008 Non-Trad Applicants' Progress Thread

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Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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phoenix1 said:
Just got an interview invite to George Washington!!!!!! So, there, Wake! SOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!! I was complete on 7/12 although my MCAT didn't come out until 7/18. Interview invite was by email. I hope you guys all get invites soon too!
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It's nice to see another non-trad from IL out here. (Although I'm on the East Coast now, Chicago will always be considered home). Congrats on the interview!!

Oh, and still no word from Drexel here either...
 
Captain Fantastic said:
Ortho appt yesterday: the bones aren't perfectly aligned in one of the x-ray views, but the doc believes they'll remodel just fine without surgery. The student on the case was a biochem classmate of mine. It was strange/cool to see her on the other side.

I'm struggling with the "additional info" secondary essay. Being non-trad there are so many things I didn't have time to cover in much depth with the PS. Deciding which one to discuss in this essay is a real kicker. Or maybe I'm just procrastinating and blaming it on writers' block...

Only 8 weeks left in the EDP cycle. That is scary.
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No surgery? Very good news.

Good luck in EDP, your stats and intangibles look pretty darn good. It is probably time to take up a new hobby to get your mind off of the process, wouldn't you say?
 
i've filled out 15 of the 18 apps i've received, hoping to finish them off within the week.. still haven't heard from loyola or new york osteopathic. i was worried that maybe loyola didn't think i was "good enough" cuz they screen apps, but i was looking at an old thread from last year and some people didn't get their loyola secondaries until november, so i'm trying to be patient and just finish up the 3 i have right now. the latest apps i've received were wayne (8/1), vermont (8/3), tulane (8/3), and drexel (8/6). the most annoying thing i realized was that the michigan state (MD) app was due 2 weeks from the date of the email i got from them, but i didn't realize it and ended up turning it in a little over a day late (just after midnight)! i didn't get an error message or "you're too late to turn it in" email, so i'm hoping they give applicants a little leeway and that my chances with them aren't totally destroyed.

anyone else sick of secondaries completely permeating their life and the very essence of their being? i want to feel like a regular person again! 😱
 
suenos said:
anyone else sick of secondaries completely permeating their life and the very essence of their being? i want to feel like a regular person again! 😱
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I don't think any of us will be "regular" people ever again. Or at least not in the immediate future. I'm done with 21 secondaries and waiting on 2-4 more, but I already feel like I'm done with the secondary stage. Next you'll be checking your status to see if you're complete at all of the schools. And then comes the obsessive status page, email and mail box checks. I fear the frenzy only gets worse post-secondary. At least it did for me. I think I liked it better when there was something in my control (the secondaries). I'd like to think that the excitement of interview/acceptance anticipation will die down to a low steady level over the course of the year, but I fear that's an illogical expectation.
 
Squatmaster said:
It's nice to see another non-trad from IL out here. (Although I'm on the East Coast now, Chicago will always be considered home). Congrats on the interview!!

Oh, and still no word from Drexel here either...
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Thanks! Are you applying to all of the IL schools? Or staying on the east coast? I swear, we have the most tedious secondaries out there!
 
phoenix1 said:
I'd like to think that the excitement of interview/acceptance anticipation will die down to a low steady level over the course of the year, but I fear that's an illogical expectation.
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Yeah, uh... let me know how that works out for you. 😉 I've accepted the fact that I will be obsessively checking until I've either managed to garner my first acceptance, or until it's time to start re-applying.. Damn technology allows us the ability to check status anytime and be notified the minute a change is made. So of course, we all respond by checking constantly.

Well, at least I do.
 
Just got LECOM. w00t.

The LOR's were uploaded to Virtual Evals a while ago, so I was a bit thrown when I saw the "LOR Cover Letter" link.
 
phoenix1 said:
Thanks! Are you applying to all of the IL schools? Or staying on the east coast? I swear, we have the most tedious secondaries out there!
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Not all of the IL schools...but I am applying to U of I, U of Chicago, RFU and Loyola. Other than those, I chose a few others scattered about the midwest, a bunch on the east coast, and one outlier on the west coast (Oregon).
 
Squatmaster said:
Not all of the IL schools...but I am applying to U of I, U of Chicago, RFU and Loyola. Other than those, I chose a few others scattered about the midwest, a bunch on the east coast, and one outlier on the west coast (Oregon).
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Just curious - what made you decide to leave off Rush? For what it's worth, some of the happiest med students I've met around here go to Loyola and Rush.
 
w0000... FINALLY got Drexel about an hour or two ago. And promptly submitted it, since there are no essays associated with it.

But seriously... 👎thumbdown👎thumbdown👎thumbdown to schools that ask you to fill in a ton of info which is just an exact duplicate of what's on your AMCAS with zero additional details. I mean, come on. They even ask you to break up medical volunteer, work, non-medical volunteer experiences. They receive the AMCAS electronically. It is ridiculously easy for these schools to just query the downloaded data to get what they want.

Oh well. Only need to submit Stritch and Stony, and receive Upstate and Emory. Then I'll be done with these things.. 😀
 
st0w said:
w0000... FINALLY got Drexel about an hour or two ago. And promptly submitted it, since there are no essays associated with it.

But seriously... 👎thumbdown👎thumbdown👎thumbdown to schools that ask you to fill in a ton of info which is just an exact duplicate of what's on your AMCAS with zero additional details. I mean, come on. They even ask you to break up medical volunteer, work, non-medical volunteer experiences. They receive the AMCAS electronically. It is ridiculously easy for these schools to just query the downloaded data to get what they want.
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The least they could do would be to pre-populate the fields with you AMCAS data and just ask you to verify it. Actually, it would be refreshing if they just sent you an e-mail asking you to send a check, and nothing else.
 
Yup, got Drexel today too. I agree that it's tedious how you have to fill in all of your AMCAS info.

MUCH more importantly, I also got an INTERVIEW TO TULANE!!!!! WOOO!!! I was complete on 7/20 (I called, they don't normally advise regarding when you're complete), and got the invite for 10/1, the day before my birthday! My grandfather went there for med school (and my sister for undergrad), so I think my grandmother and sister will be joining me that weekend, and we'll make a family trip of it. SO excited! Oh, and they offer you a one night stay with a med student the night before your interview. I'll definitely take them up on that so I can pick the poor med student's brain.
 
phoenix1 said:
Yup, got Drexel today too. I agree that it's tedious how you have to fill in all of your AMCAS info.

MUCH more importantly, I also got an INTERVIEW TO TULANE!!!!! WOOO!!! I was complete on 7/20 (I called, they don't normally advise regarding when you're complete), and got the invite for 10/1, the day before my birthday! My grandfather went there for med school (and my sister for undergrad), so I think my grandmother and sister will be joining me that weekend, and we'll make a family trip of it. SO excited! Oh, and they offer you a one night stay with a med student the night before your interview. I'll definitely take them up on that so I can pick the poor med student's brain.
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Congrats, Phoenix1! Good luck.:luck:
 
AMPed said:
The least they could do would be to pre-populate the fields with you AMCAS data and just ask you to verify it. Actually, it would be refreshing if they just sent you an e-mail asking you to send a check, and nothing else.
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i.e. Mayo.
 
phoenix1 said:
Just curious - what made you decide to leave off Rush? For what it's worth, some of the happiest med students I've met around here go to Loyola and Rush.
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I left off Rush since they seemed to be the least OOS-applicant-friendly, just in terms of the percentage of OOS applicants they interview, compared to the other IL schools that I chose. Also, my list was getting pretty long, so I had to start making some cuts. You should have told me about the students at Rush before. 😉
 
LECOM's essays: woof.

They aren't difficult, but they are tedious (a generalized "describe yourself and the qualities that will make you a good osteopath" and a "summarize all of your relevant healthcare experiences" - a rehashing of the AACOMAS primary; neither of these has length guidelines). I've got six years of clinical exposure from the bedside to clinical education to policy development; I'm running out of steam writing it. Blah.
 
Rush and Drexel received this morning after a week of a very quiet inbox...

Leaving the only school that I haven't heard anything from yet - out of 29 schools, mind you- as....

MY STATE SCHOOL. 😡 😡 😡
 
Sub-TLE. 😉

And I got your e-mail, and I'll have feedback to you tonight (I'm about to go off-line for a bit).
 
Quix said:
Score another one for the non-trads:

I just got an interview invite from Georgetown!
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Congrats, Quix! That's AWESOME! I KNOW this will be your year.

I'm having a pretty great day too - got an invite from the University of Vermont today (and found out I got one from EVMS when I called them last Friday)!

I hope you non-trad lurkers are enjoying the show. You know, I've watched the non-trad progress thread for two cycles now, living vicariously and rooting for non-trad applicants. Kind of eerie to be posting in it myself now.... No, not eerie - GREAT!
 
I got PCOM's invite to complete the secondary application - it's actually pretty cool. They send you a letter (snail mail) with directions to their website and a little CD/DVD thing.
 
Well, I got a rejection from KCUMB today (pre-secondary), but I also got an interview invitation from Nova. That means that all the schools I applied to are accounted for. Now its the waiting game for interview! Good luck everyone, and if anyone's gonna be at Nova on 9/18 or 9/21 I'll be at one of those!

Nate.
 
Wow! I go away for a week and come back to people getting interviews left and right. Congrats guys! I'll have to go away for a week in a few months so that I can come back to acceptances left and right. 🙂
 
pingouin said:
Rush and Drexel received this morning after a week of a very quiet inbox...

Leaving the only school that I haven't heard anything from yet - out of 29 schools, mind you- as....

MY STATE SCHOOL. 😡 😡 😡
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I got Rush yesterday too and already sent. Once I designated I was re-taking the MCAT I got lots of "on-hold" e-mails from schools saying they either got my secondary or will send a secondary after my next MCAT. They figure my app's not complete til then anyway.
 
Secondary away! Yippee.

Pre-med committee interview is tomorrow. It's supposed to give them more fodder for the letter as well as give me a chance to practice interviewing. Wish me luck! :luck:
 
Captain Fantastic said:
Secondary away! Yippee.

Pre-med committee interview is tomorrow. It's supposed to give them more fodder for the letter as well as give me a chance to practice interviewing. Wish me luck! :luck:
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I've got my mock interview tomorrow at my post-bac institution. I fear I'm going to flub expressing myself on the "why medicine" question. It's hard as a non-trad (at least I think so) how far to go back in answering that question, and how much detail to give without talking for too long. Anyone else try practicing answering that out loud and having trouble or have some advice to give? Obviously it's a highly personal answer, so I don't know quite what kind of advice I'm looking for. Hrm. I also have just started reading up on health care analysis, so if I'm asked how to fix the health care system tomorrow (like they ask at EVMS) it might not be very pretty. Perhaps I'll just tell them to pretend it's a GWU interview instead. They're supposed to be very laid back, and not play the "bad cop/good cop" at the interview.
 
phoenix1 said:
I've got my mock interview tomorrow at my post-bac institution. I fear I'm going to flub expressing myself on the "why medicine" question. It's hard as a non-trad (at least I think so) how far to go back in answering that question, and how much detail to give without talking for too long. Anyone else try practicing answering that out loud and having trouble or have some advice to give? Obviously it's a highly personal answer, so I don't know quite what kind of advice I'm looking for. Hrm. I also have just started reading up on health care analysis, so if I'm asked how to fix the health care system tomorrow (like they ask at EVMS) it might not be very pretty. Perhaps I'll just tell them to pretend it's a GWU interview instead. They're supposed to be very laid back, and not play the "bad cop/good cop" at the interview.
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I practiced answering the Why Med question with some colleagues and the way I'm handling it is to hit on the major reasons that draw me to medicine, while leaving a lot of openings for the interviewer to ask me about in more detail. Basically, I'm giving enough information to give them a good idea of why I want to go into medicine, while hopefully piquing their interest in topics I'd like to discuss further (research, mentor, family issues...). It seemed to come off pretty well for me.

BTW: Good luck Captain Fantastic. I had a really good experience with my Pre-med committee interview. The guy really tried to get to know me and figure out the best possible way to write my letter. I hope yours is as enjoyable.
 
Well FINALLY- my last secondary has arrived!!!!!! State school finally made it.....

Total tally: 29 applications, 1 pre-secondary rejection (IU/OOS), 1 pre-secondary hold (WF), and 27 secondaries. :wow:
 
Just contributing to this thread out of thorough elation (I have a similar post in the Physician Scientist forum). I just got invited to interview at NYU's MSTP.

😀 😀 😀

-MSTPbound
 
AMPed said:
I had a really good experience with my Pre-med committee interview. The guy really tried to get to know me and figure out the best possible way to write my letter. I hope yours is as enjoyable.
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It was challenging. Lots of questions about everything: from right to die, to fixing the insurance system, to a solution for underserved/rural areas, to explaining how my engineering background would not be a problem, to what have I learned on the ambulance, to what I will like least about being a physician. I can't remember them all. I stumbled on the Canadian healthcare system question. Doh. I just blanked and couldn't remember which was Canada and which was GB and which was France, etc. Anyway, I can meet with them again later to get feedback on my performance, but I think I did fine.

The interviewers were very pleasant -- joking now and again -- so it wasn't uncomfortable at all. I wouldn't do it again in my free time for fun, but it was good practice and probably as challenging as anything I'm likely to see "on the road."
 
Captain Fantastic said:
It was challenging. Lots of questions about everything: from right to die, to fixing the insurance system, to a solution for underserved/rural areas, to explaining how my engineering background would not be a problem, to what have I learned on the ambulance, to what I will like least about being a physician. I can't remember them all. I stumbled on the Canadian healthcare system question. Doh. I just blanked and couldn't remember which was Canada and which was GB and which was France, etc. Anyway, I can meet with them again later to get feedback on my performance, but I think I did fine.

The interviewers were very pleasant -- joking now and again -- so it wasn't uncomfortable at all. I wouldn't do it again in my free time for fun, but it was good practice and probably as challenging as anything I'm likely to see "on the road."
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Sounds like they were extremely thorough. Congrats on getting it done, though. Next stop, real interviews! :luck:
 
pingouin said:
Well FINALLY- my last secondary has arrived!!!!!! State school finally made it.....

Total tally: 29 applications, 1 pre-secondary rejection (IU/OOS), 1 pre-secondary hold (WF), and 27 secondaries. :wow:
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I'll be there too once I take my second MCAT. The rest of the allo schools are holding my app for the 2nd test.
 
Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it. I was really uncertain about Pitt, in light of what I heard from Beth Piraino last cycle.
 
Captain Fantastic said:
Milk came out my nose. 👍
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Mission-accomplished.jpg
 
Quix said:
Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it. I was really uncertain about Pitt, in light of what I heard from Beth Piraino last cycle.
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VERY happy to hear that...I'll be pulling for you. I haven't been able to follow what happened with their waitlist this summer, but it looks like you're having a great application cycle thus far.
 
:wow:😱:wow:😱:wow:😱:wow:

CREIGHTON INTERVIEW INVITE!!!!!!!!!


TOTALLY unexpected, as I have another MCAT scheduled and most schools will be waiting for the second set of scores to come in. Holy ****. I was literally screaming on the phone with my mom. 😀 😀 😀
 
Well congrats both to pingouin and Quix!! and :luck: on those interviews!!!!!! 🙂
 
I was just wondering however, when you say you're filling out a secondary application, does that mean you are paying a "secondary application" fee?

What does it cost you to fill out 27 applications? Just wondering. Trying to get as much information as possible before I enter the fray June 2008.

Thanks for your help.
 
budhak0n said:
I was just wondering however, when you say you're filling out a secondary application, does that mean you are paying a "secondary application" fee?

What does it cost you to fill out 27 applications?
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Yes, there's a fee associated with each secondary. Plus AMCAS fees. Secondary fees are usually in the range of $70-100, although I've had some go as high as $130 (Georgetown). AMCAS is $160 (I think?) for the first school, and $30 per additional school - and those are charged just to submit your primary to those schools, regardless of if they offer you a secondary or not.

I've applied to 32 schools, and my application fees have been close to $4000. And that's without getting a secondary from three of the schools (OOS state schools). You'd be close to that at 27, probably around $3500 depending on secondary fees.
 
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